For those of you who like the black HD Zumo 550 unit already pre-loaded with the HD locations...why not just order it and all the other accessories from Chicagoharley.com or some of the other online discounters for 20% off MSRP? This will narrow the price gap between the standard Zumo 550 from other discounters and the Harley unit. You may still pay a bit more, but you'll get a black unit (if that's what you like), have all the Harley locations loaded, and not feel like you've been financially sodomized by the MOCO. Sometimes you just have to pay a little more to get what you want.

 

Yep, pay for the startup screen. That's free too. Any jpeg of the proper size can be used as the startup screen. As for the HD dealers, that file is also free from www.poi-factory.com and unlike the preloaded MOCO file, the updates are free as well.

For those that want a black unit but don't want to pay $$$$ for it, Home Depot sells Krylon and masking tape for about $5.

Here's a link to the HD Dealers POI http://www.poi-factory.com/node/1995

Here's the Shield for the splash screen. Load it to the SD card and then "Wrench", "Display", "Change Splash Screen"

 

I did my own Christmas shopping this year and bought the Zumo 450 from Amazon for $375. I also added the car mount and electrical hookup for another $92.74 for a total shipped to me for $468.13. I installed it on my 2001 SERG on Christmas day along with the HD lighted mirrors, which are great, (I bought these through Chicago HD at 20% off). As my bike has the J&M 2003 CB intercom unit on the left side of the handlebar I had to mount the zumo ball mount with the ball on the bottom of the handlebar. This put the zumo lower and pretty close to me which worked good. I also used a disc player adapter to hook the Zumo to the stereo which is hooked to my J&M headset. This also worked real well.
One thing about the Zumo that still bothers me is that there were 7 preloaded songs on it and one of the mounts had some scratches on it. Before I call Amazon I was wondering if the songs come loaded for a reason or did I get refurbished unit. It was advertise from Amazon as new? I am looking for an SD card and found a 2G one for $26 on Amazon which seems to be the best price for that size. The SD card is for more music storage

 

Buick,
They were just demo songs and not good ones at that. Most people delete them anyway.

When you load the music onto the SD card, do it in a file directory setup just as you would on a hard drive. "MP3", "Artist", "Album Name" "Songs". Don't just dump all the music onto the card or it will cause the Zumo to slow down the startup as it has to log all of that music each time it starts.

 

Here's a 4 gig card at BB for $13...

SanDisk card @ Best Buy

 

good info..thanks...

 

Like Wecroft said, you can use any 240x320x72ppi JPG you want. Here are a few I've downloaded, and am currently using the first.

As for his suggestion to use Krylon on the GPS body, probably made in jest, I wouldn't do it. The brushed aluminum looks good with the black caps, which are in the 550 kit but not the 450. They can be purchased for <$20 on-line.

Even if purchased from an on-line HD dealer like Zanotti's you still don't come close to the deals available on a 550. Remember that the 450 is the same GPS but with a few add-on features deleted (XM, Bluetooth, auto-mount, AC adapter). At $350 or less I think this is the bargain of the group if you are primarily interested in a GPS.

 

Zumo 550 for around 500; the coloer is not black, but my wallet hs more green and it' s a great macihine!

 

the hd is a garmin 550. why pay extra for color scheme, and it does not come with mounts. with the 550 you get every thing you need for both bike and car set up. ( check out hd forum sponser techncyclegear they give a discount to forum members )

 

After owning the Quest1 from HD, I learned a valuable lesson...If its available elsewhere...DON'T buy the HD version. You are paying hundreds extra for an HD logo, and very little else.

I got my zumo 550 last fall, its a great unit, and I got it for almost 3oo less then the HD one. I can use any photo I desire for the splash screen, and I can install and update POI's for HD Dealers, and Hundreds of other custom POI's availble at POIfactory.com

Want golf courses? they have them, chain resturants or hotels..yep..So many things you won't believe..