What's the secret? I just bought a widescreen Garmin 285WT for $120 new and the only small holes in the case I see are the on/off/lock switch, speaker and USB connector. If you put some electrical tape over those or shield those holes a bit (I won't use the speaker anyways), where could water come inside when it rains? The 285WT is less than half the price of the 550 and has a much nicer bigger screen. Or am I missing something else?
Where's your SD card slot located? The 550 uses microSD located inside the waterproof battery cover. You can't upload any custom routes to the 285WT, that would be a deal breaker for me.
Oh yeah, forgot about the SD card slot. It's on the side on the 285WT. That would require an extra piece of tape. I only use my GPS to get from A to B with as many detours as possible. :) And explore the backroads but have an easy way out when I am lost. Errrr, unsure of my present location and destination...! Finding POI's are also important but all GPS units can do that.
The 285WT uses MSN direct which is canceling soon, I'm guessing all the sellers want to get rid of them before that happens. From my nuvi 500 the battery door at least has a sealed gasket around it. Which also houses the sd card. I'm guessing the rest of the unit is sealed i.e. between the display and front case and between front case and rear case. I would assume the 285WT isn't. You could always take it apart and use silicone around the unsealed parts.
I don't care about the MSN Direct or traffic information. There is no traffic where I live and ride. :) The 285WT basically is a 255/265 in any other way. But I am not too impressed with this Garmin unit so I probably exhange it for a TomTom. The TT seems to have many more ways to customize. I also have a TT 910 GO but that's a bit heavy and I think the vibrations of the bike will kill the built-in hard drive pretty quickly. Thanks for the replies so far. I am also thinking about the RAM Aquabox but that seems a bit bulky.
There is waterproof which has a specification of IPX7 and there is rainproof which is IPX6. Your nuvi285WT meets neither of these build specifications for water resistance. Nothing is sealed against water/dust infiltration on your nuvi. That includes: all opening's in the case, the display, the case mating seams.
The service is actually not shutting down until the end of 2011, so that's hardly "soon". I kinda like the feature - it's really neat to plan a route on your computer and send it via MSN to the gps out in the car, and have it waiting when you get out there. When my son's driving, if he needs directions and has his Nuvi 680 and MSN cable, I can look things up for him and send him routes and favourites the same way.
I bought a 285WT for my brother for christmas, and he likes the MSN direct features as well, but 2011 is too soon. Maybe I'm weird and expect my GPS units and features to last for many years and not just 1 year. It still works without the MSN cable and it was cheaper than the 255W which is essentially the same unit. Still a good deal.
