Garmin 2497 vs 550

[scrubjaysnest]

After a three month comparison of our new Garmin 2497 LMT and our older 550 I cannot say one works better then the other.

Both are Garmin Nuvi series:
Some differences:
2497 has traffic, the only place it worked was in El Paso; wanted to route you around I-10 construction by putting you on even busier surface streets.
Not a 550 feature

School Zone warning pops up about 1/2 mile before you get there.
Not a 550 feature

Deleting routes from the app menu is tedious, one at a time. A 4 step process.
A menu choice with select all in the 550 as an option.

The 2497 doesn't come configured to use any file manger program, such as Windows Explorer( except windows 8) to delete the actual temp user routing file for the device. Any will work with the 550. The 2497 can be reconfigured so any file manger will work. Its a secret, go to the auto forum in forum.gpsreview.net for the secret.

Sometimes the 2497 gives the wrong time estimate, will eventually correct.
When going from Three Rivers SP or any where in the Tallahassee area to the house always gives an incorrect turn even with the correct route. At about 30 miles before the turn it corrects itself.
Have never seen this with the 550

What we like about the most, displays symbols on the 1/2 mile scale for gas stations, rest areas etc. The 550 doesn't

Better then 90% of the time we found laundry mats without trouble with it. The 10% appeared to be gone out of business. The 550 doesn't do this to my knowledge.
It remembers searches you have done by category which is a nice feature the 550 doesn't have.

Point and shoot for a destination is about the same, neither will pick the best route; it is shortest or fastest so caution is needed in a strange town.

We had no problems with address searches unlike the on line reviews say. It always started nearest to us. The 550 does start you with zip code first option the 2497 doesn't.

Another on line complaint was hard to see in sunlight, we had no problem with this even the sun was directly on it. The 550 does have a brighter screen though.

For routing to geocaches we use the 550 as the 2497 doesn't have that feature.

You have to use Garmins' Base Camp to load the 2497 with routes, Mapsource can't find the device. To get around the things I don't like with Base Camp; I build the routes in Mapsource and then import to Base Camp.

Over all the 2497 isn't a bad GPS device, I prefer a straight forward menu system to a smart phone wanna look like interface.


We updated to the 2497 LMT as a result of not being able to update maps in the 550, not enough memory. There are work arounds for that on the forum.gpsreview.net site also.

[scrubjaysnest]

While working with Mapsource I have found out it will communicate with the 2497 on windows 7 and above. I'm being dragged kicking and screaming from my old XP machine
That means I don't have to mess with Base Camp, Garmin's other free mapping software.

[scrubjaysnest]

Garmin has just released a firmware update for at least the 2xxx through 3xxx models. It is 4.7.0 and for me the big thing is a menu choice to delete trips from the trip app. You'll still need to delete the actual files and waypoints with a file manager.