Compact, rugged GPS receiver with fast auto-routing, voice guidance including announcement of street names, color display with touchscreen, worldwide base map, pre-loaded detailed maps of all of Europe plus USB interface. Multi purpose device with waterproof housing and therefore well suited as navigation system in vehicles but also for all kinds of outdoor activities (hiking, biking etc.).
The model GARMIN Nüvi 550 provides fast automatic route calculation - including multiple intermediate destinations if required - plus visual and voice guidance, is easy to use, has a large, easy to read color display with touch screen, an extremely sensitive antenna and an integrated worldwide base map. It is very well suited as a navigation system in cars, but thanks to its waterproof housing also for outdoor activities. You can easily
switch between the three modes car, bike and pedestrian.
It has 1.85 GB built-in memory to store detailed maps with even more information, such as local roads, hotels, restaurants, public buildings and points of interest. This model comes with pre-loaded maps of all of Europe which occupy approximately 1.7 GB of memory including various language files. The remaining 140 MB memory is available to store additional detailed maps, waypoint files and pictures.
This model also has a speech
computer to announce the names of the roads. In addition, the GPS has a slot for an optional microSD memory module to store additional maps or data and an USB connector to exchange data with a computer. The device is powered by a user replaceable, rechargeable battery. It supports a TMC receiver to incorporate traffic news (TMC receiver available as an option). The Nüvi 550 provides navigation information outdoors, in a car, in a train or even in an airplane (see
MapSource examples).
Contents: Features - Navigation - Overview - Main Pages - Price - Options - Maps - Downloads - Order
- Integrated 12 channel receiver with very sensitive built-in antenna.
- Three pre-defined settings (profiles) for use in a car, on a bike or for hiking. Topographic map of Switzerland and bike mounting kit available as options, rsp. included in our Nüvi 550-Pack.
- User interface in 32 languages: Afrikaans (South Africa), American English, Arabic, British English, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and four asian languages.
- Voice prompting in 39 languages: Afrikaans, American English, Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, British English, Bulgarian, Canadian French, Cantonese, Catalan, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, European French, European Portuguese, Finnish, Flemish, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Mandarin (China), Mandarin (Taiwan), Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Taiwanese and Turkish.
- Integrated worldwide base map with countries of all continents including major cities and major highways.
- 1.85 GB built-in memory to store detailed maps with even more information, such as local roads, hotels, restaurants, public buildings and points of interest. This model comes with pre-loaded maps of all of Europe which occupy approximately 1.7 GB of memory including various language files. The remaining 140 MB memory is available to store additional detailed maps, waypoint files and pictures.
- Routing speed: 15 (see GPS Routing Speed for details).
- Supports FM traffic news receiver (TMC receiver available as an option). Receives and processes traffic news messages broadcasted by radio stations. If the GPS receives a message about a traffic jam, blocked road etc. along the planned route, it can automatically compute a detour. Traffic news messages are broadcasted by many radio stations in various European countries including Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. These messages are
broadcasted for free and do not require any subscriptions. The TMC receiver works independent from the car radio and finds stations with traffic news messages automatically.
- Slot for microSD memory card (µSD memory cards available as options).
- The travel kit provides the following features:
- Picture viewer, displays pictures and provides various options, such as zooming, rotation etc.
- World clock
- Calculator
- Currency converter
- Measurement converter
- Suited as a hand held device or to be used in any kind of vehicles. Comes with power cable and mounting kit with suction cup for quick mounting and dismounting to easily remove the GPS receiver (seamless switching between cars, theft protection etc.), does not require any installation.
- Large, illuminated, easy to read LCD display with automatic backlight adjustment. Dimension: 72x54 mm (2.8x2.1 inches), resolution: 320x240 pixels, 65536 colors
- Easy to operate via touchscreen.
- Manual or automatic switching of the display between daytime and nighttime, based on time and the current position (changes the colors of the display between sunset and sunrise for more comfortable viewing) Daytime: bright background, nighttime: dark background.
- Device is waterproof according to IPX7 (resists about 30 minutes in 1 meter (3 feet) deep water).
- Powered by built-in replaceable, rechargeable battery (lasts up to 8 h) or by an external 12/24 V power source, e.g. from a car's cigarette lighter (power cord included). Additional battery packs available as an option.
- Short time to first fix (TTFF¹: approx. 15 seconds after a warm start, meaning there are valid coordinates of the satellites available, or approx. 45 seconds after a cold start, meaning there are no valid coordinates of the satellites available).
- Data exchange with PC via USB connector (connection cable available as an option).
- Supports WAAS
- Firmware stored in Flash-Memory, can be updated by the user
- Operating temperatures -20 .. 55°C (-4° .. 1310°F)
- Dimensions: 107x85x23 mm (4.21x3.35x0.9 inches)
- Weight: 215 g (7.6 ounces)
¹) TTFF: Time To First Fix, time until the first information about the local position is acquired.
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- Automatic computing of a route to a user selected destination including optional via-points.
Various options to control route computation including manual and automated sorting of via-points.
- Automatic re-calculation of the route when leaving the planned route.
- Automatic re-calculation of the route when receiving a message about a traffic jam or a blocked road along the planned route
(TMC receiver available as an option).
- Guidance on the display (visual guidance) and voice guidance via the loudspeaker (acoustic guidance).
Also announces road names with navigation instructions.
- Fast route calculation and re-calculation.
Finds routes 15 times faster than the GARMIN StreetPilot III, see GPS Routing Speed for more information.
- World map with zoom function.
- Pre-installed detailed map of Europe (City Navigator Europe NT)
- Information on the map displayed in 5 levels of details.
- Find waypoints, cities and exits.
- Extended search function for points of interest, addresses and intersections.
- Stores up to 1000 waypoints with name (up to 30 characters), icon (choice of more than 80 symbols), image and phone number. Supports categories to organize waypoints.
- Current elevation above see level
- Current time
- Current bearing
- Current, average and maximum speed
- Trip duration and distance (Odometer)
- Supports metric and U.S. units
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To table of contents
Main Menu |
Text Entry |
Select Destination |
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- Status bar with GPS signal strength, navigation mode (car, bike, pedestrian), status of the battery (only shown when running on battery), current time
- Search destination
- View map
- Stop navigation (only shown if there is an active route)
- Compute a detour (only shown if there is an active route)
- Adjust volume
- Tools (system settings, information about current position, manage data, image viewer, world clock, calculator etc., see Tools 1..3 below)
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- Field for text entry
- Delete last character
- Keyboard
- Back to previous page
- Keyboard mode (language)
- Switch to numbers
- Finish text entry
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- Selected address
- Current navigation mode, distance from current position to address, estimated travel time from current position to address
- Start navigation to this address
- Back to previous page
- Show current address on map
- Save current address as waypoint
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Tools (1 of 3) |
Tools (2 of 3) |
Tools (3 of 3) |
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- Settings (system, navigation, display, time, languages (text and speech), map, safety and alarms)
- Current position (coordinates and elevation, nearest address, nearest intersection, find nearest hospitals, police stations, gas stations and road side assistances, save current position as waypoint)
- Wherigo (see www.wherigo.com)
- Help about using your Nüvi 550
- Back to previous page
- To next Tools page
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- Image viewer with various features such as enlarging or rotating images and slide show
- Route management
- Show compass page
- Manage your own data ("Home", erase track, manage your own waypoints)
- Back to previous page
- To previous Tools page
- To next Tools page
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- World clock showing current time at different locations
- Calculator with four basic operations
- Unit converter to convert units such as distances, areas, volumes, speed, weight etc. in metric and american units.
- Back to previous page
- To previous Tools page
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Map (day mode) |
Map (night mode) |
Map (topographic) |
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- GPS status
- Map in 3D view in day mode with current position (blue car)
- Current speed
- To main menu
- Current heading
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- GPS status
- Map in 3D view in night mode with current position (blue car)
- Current speed
- To main menu
- Current heading
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- GPS status
- Topographic map in with current position (blue triangle) and travelled path (track*, blue line)
- Current speed
- To main menu
- Current heading
*) The current track is not only shown on topographic maps, but also on road maps, depending on the current settings.
Requires an optional map, such as topographic map of Switzerland |
Route on road map |
Route on topographic map |
Autozoom |
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- Direction with distance to next turn and type of turn
- Name of the road onto which you will turn
- Road map with current position (blue car), planned route (pink line), next turn (white arrow) and current speed limit (sign with red circle)
- Current speed
- To main menu
- Estimated arrival time at final destination
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- Direction with distance to next turn and type of turn
- Name of the road onto which you will turn
- Topographic map with current position (blue car), planned route (pink line), next turn (white arrow) and current speed limit (sign with red circle)
- Current speed
- To main menu
- Estimated arrival time at final destination
Explanation: If you install a topographic map in addition to the already installed road map, then the topographic map will overlay the road map. However, if the topographic map does not support auto routing, then the GPS will compute the route based on the road map, but it will be shown on the topographic map.
Requires an optional map, such as topographic map of Switzerland |
- Highly zoomed map with detailed view of next turn (will be display automatically when approaching a turn)
- Change scale ("-" and "+")
- Direction
- Distance to next turn
- Estimated time to next turn
- Massstab ändern ("-" und "+")
- Back to previous page
- To previous turn
- To next turn
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Route |
Vias |
Directions |
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- Planned route (pink line) with current position (blue triangle), start (green flag), vias (orange flags) and final destination (black and white flag)
- Back to previous page
- Length of the planned route
- Estimated travel time for the complete route
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- Start of the route
- Vias (you may move or delete each via point)
- Insert new via point
- Back to previous page
- Re-calculate the route, the GPS may optimize the order of the vias to find the shortest route
- To the next vias
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- Type of and distance to next turn
- Direction
- Back to previous page
- Show route on map
- To the previous directions
- To the next directions
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Compass |
World Clock |
Unit Converter |
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- Compass with current heading
- Current speed
- Current elevation
- Current time
- Distance to destination
- Back to previous page
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- Cities with time and day of week (choose cities from list)
- Time and date at current position
- Back to previous page
- Show world map with daylight and night
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- Type of convertion
- Input (amount and unit)
- Result (amount and unit)
- Back to previous page
- Choose unit (distance, area, volume, speed, weight, temperature, currency)
- Clear input field
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This model has been discontinued; however, you can still order options for the Nüvi 550.
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All options for the GARMIN Nüvi 550 in detail, find maps here.
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Quick start manuals, owner's manuals and firmware upgrade for GARMIN Nüvi 550:
- Quick start manuals:
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- Owner's manuals:
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- Firmware Upgrade:
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If Adobe Acrobat Reader is not installed on your computer, you may download and install it for free. |
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To order the GARMIN Nüvi 550 as well as options please:
- Click on the price or the shopping basket symbol
to add the item you wish to purchase to the shopping basket.
- If the shopping basket does not work, please use this form.
Please read our terms and conditions.
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Specifications and packaging of the products are subject to change without notice.