astainback

I own the Garmin GPSMAp60csx and love it!
I have been thinking about getting one for the car.
Which do you guys recommend?
I would like to have the track feature on it. I really enjoy using/playing with the tracks from my 60csx.
I have been reading a lot, and it seems that the 500 is the way to go, but I am not sure.
I can't tell the difference in the 500 and the 550. It looks like it is the maps that are loaded on it.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

MTalvola

They'll all record your track and allow you to save it for future use. Are you talking about using GPS to actually "track" a vehicle so you can see where it's been remotely? That will require different hardware.

astainback

No, I meant track like the 60csx tracks.
With trackpoints that you can later look at on the pc.
For trails and whatnot.

HumVee

astainback, the nüvi 500 & 550's are good choices. You are correct that the only difference between them is the pre-installed map set they come with - which is further confused by the fact that different sub models are available with maps loaded for different countries. The simplest explaination for their differences is that the 500's come with topographic maps and City Navigator NT road maps, but the road maps are reduced in coverage (to just the lower 48 United States in the version you're likely interested in, SKU # 010-00700-10). The 550's come with a full road map (all of North America in the model you'd likely be interested in, SKU # 010-00700-01), but no topographical maps.

Both models have microSD card slots, so you can add extra storage capacity and load more purchased maps onto them (or even free ethusiast maps). They have Routing capability, as well as waypoints - so you can plan and store your routes for a trip in advance. They can be set to create tracks, and you can use TracBack to return to a previous point in your track. In fact, the feature set is very similar to your GPSMAP 60CSx (but no digital compass or altimeter).