Garmin DriveSmart 55

[JEBar]

well, our Garmin Dezl 760LMT that was purchased back in Jan 2013 has failed .... in speaking with three different folks at Garmin's customer support, they all said that something inside our Dezl no longer recognizes an effort to update its map software .... that failure directly affected us three times during our recent trip from NC to SD and back .... all three time we were trying to locate a place in an area of new construction .... after telling our current needs/wants in a GPS today, which have changed considerably since 2013, all three support reps recommended we consider their DriveSmart series .... after a good bit of research and reading we chose their Garmin DriveSmart 55 and Traffic, GPS Navigator with 5.5” Display, Simple On-Screen Menus and Easy-to-See Maps ===> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M98Z8DD?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details ..... it cost just under half as much as our Dezl and was literally overnighted to us by Amazon .... first impression is favorable .... installing all of our saved locations did take a while but with Garmin still using basically the same system as we are used to, doing so wasn't a problem .... it is considerably smaller than the Dezl which did work well in our Sportchassis but blocked to much of the view out of the window of our Chevy 1500 .... with us switching the GPS between 3 different vehicles, its really nice that the new model 55 used all the same dash and windshield mounts we purchased for the Dezl .... another big plus with its smaller size is it should work well with our, hopefully, soon to be purchased BEX ..... looking forward to seeing just how well it works

 

[Rickb]

I recall my first navigation system - my wife with a roadmap in her lap, barking out directions. We’ve come a long way. BEX will likely be factory equipped with an off the shelf dash display or at minimum a convenient cell phone mount to use for music and navigation purposes……..and hopefully front and rear mount factory or optioned speakers with reasonable sound quality.

 

[JEBar]

our first navigation system was the same as yours .... well before our trips I'd mark our route with a highlighter . .... one day while going around the south side of Chicago she told me to get off at the next exit .... I couldn't believe it but she insisted and I took the next exit ..... turned out to be a huge mistake .... who knew that the highlighter I used was exactly the same as the one the map used for area under construction ..... I had one heck of a time getting turned around and back out on the interstate headed in the right direction ..... very quickly thereafter I purchased our first Garmin

 

[JEBar]

earlier this afternoon we had to drive to a nearby town .... mounted and used our new Drive 55 for the first time .... biggest observation, the much smaller screen is going to take some getting used to .... its very clear but the print is mighty small .... voice info also very clear .... vehicle speed changes color when it goes about 4 mph over the posted .... it really works well with our Chevy 1500 .... so far, so good

 

[Rickb]

earlier this afternoon we had to drive to a nearby town .... mounted and used our new Drive 55 for the first time .... biggest observation, the much smaller screen is going to take some getting used to .... its very clear but the print is mighty small .... voice info also very clear .... vehicle speed changes color when it goes about 4 mph over the posted .... it really works well with our Chevy 1500 .... so far, so good

Does Drive 55 offer a Model option with a larger screen? After all the years of using navigation I’d be ‘lost‘ without it and it probably saved my 54 years of marriage.

 

[JEBar]

Does Drive 55 offer a Model option with a larger screen? After all the years of using navigation I’d be ‘lost‘ without it and it probably saved my 54 years of marriage.

yes .... link to Amazon list of different models ====> https://www.amazon.com/s?k=garmin+d...x=garmin+drive+smart,aps,119&ref=nb_sb_noss_2 .....biggest is about the same size as our old DEZL 760 which is right at 7"