Out of the box experience

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The last two weeks have been nothing short of crazy. A documentary we had started working on in 2003 finally draws to a close. Today we showed it to our main supporter, who stated that it was an important historic film. That felt good.

GPS

Anyway, I have no problems confessing that I am a gadget freak. That is gadgets that promise to make life easier. I also have no problems admitting that I am excellent at losing my way, when driving to the unknown (hey, I even managed to get lost inside a lighthouse). Combine these two with my seeing an offer for a GPS wayfinder, an you won’t be too surpized to hear that I am now a happy owner of a Garmin c550.

I bought it one morning on my way to a location I had no clue where it was. Also, I did not have time to read any manuals or spend time on installing the GPS. Here I was delighted. I just took out the handy machine, pluged it into the 12V connection and within a minute it was running. It is extremely easy and intuitive to use, with a thought-out menu system that lets you make quick choices. No reading of the manual necessary.

I had to drive for about 90 minutes, and the c550 predicted the arrival time within exact to the minute.

Excellent out-of-the-box experience

It takes out the stress from driving to unknown places. Having used it for a while now, I also realize that it makes driving safer when you are a bit tired. Plus, it is great fun for my 4 1/2 year old daughter, as she loves to chose the language that is spoken. On a sidenote, it is fun to hear the Norwegian voice, as Garmin has chosen not to use a standard Oslo accent, but a more soulful one from the west-coast. The German voices are unfortunately very standarized, as are the American ones. My brother has a GPS with a bavarian accent, and it is just such a pleasure listening to it.

After some use you will necessarily find some faults in every machine. The c550 is no exception to this. When the car is parked in a garage over night, the c550 often needs a reboot in the morning, otherwise it will not connect to the GPS satellite system. Another quirk is that once you are used to the smart menu of an iPod, the mp3 playing capabilities of the GPS are a bit clumsy. Also, controlling the music takes a bit too many clicks. Once you have chosen your music, the player does not automatically return to the map view. The music stops whenever an anouncement is made. It would be much better if the music were just muted down a bit.

Some of the road data is inaccurate. Ocasionally the GPS recommends a gravel way over a proper road. Some data is outdated; one-way roads show up as, well, two-way roads.

It reacts fast to changes, such as ( – especially in the beginning – wilfullly) taking wrong turns. After a short break an alternate route is suggested.

Carbonized? Not yet.

Apple user have to wait a while before Garmin offers support for the world’s best OS. They have a OSX version in the pipeline, but that has been postponed almost as often as the new Windows OS.

So, in order to update the firmware and upload some photobox data, I fired up my Windows machine (which had been gathering dust for the last year or so). After installing the necessary software from Garmin, nothing happened. That was a quick reminder of why I had completely stopped using Windows. It just sucks. Facing the option of re-installing Windows in the vain hope that I could then update my phone, I chose to wait til January, when the new deadline for Garmin’s OSX version passes.

The c550 has bluetooth capabilities, which means that you can use it as a hands-free for your mobile. Having had some trouble with my Sony Ericsson p990, it was a relief to see how easy it was to hook up. Makes driving safer, and saves you brain some radiation.
Recommended.