Garmin announces the Nuvi 500, Nuvi 550

Today, Garmin announced two new GPS units that are similar to each other called the Nuvi 500 and Nuvi 550. The interesting thing about these GPS units is that they are both capable of helping when driving, or when outdoors such as hiking. One of the main differences between the 500 and the 550 is that the 500 provides US only maps, while the 550 comes with maps of North America.

Both of these devices sport 3.5-inch screens, full street maps, waterproof touchscreens, as well as handy topology maps. It comes with a swift toggle system to switch between maps, and it also comes with a compass. The topology maps and the compass should both come in handy when outdoors. They also have support to load photos as well as sharing photos. It has something called Route 66 guide, which means it will display special POI’s or landmarks along highways.