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DriveSmart 51 vs 55

 
Mon, 02/25/2019 - 5:07pm

Has anyone been able to find any differences between the DriveSmart 51 vs 55? It's time for me to buy a new GPS Unit and other than potentially new internals and newer hardware, I don't see the difference between the two. I tried using the compare tool on garmin's website, but found no difference at all.

‹ Blue line showing where I've been garmin 2797 nearly out of space ›
Mon, 02/25/2019 - 5:51pm

Check here

https://www.gpscity.com/compare/drvs51lmts&drvs55lmt

Look at the differences under Display, dimensions and weight.

More:

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/552072#specs

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/666927#specs

Mon, 02/25/2019 - 7:22pm

Couple of things to consider ...

The 55 has built in traffic receiver, the 51 has no traffic receiver. On the 51, if you want FM traffic capability, you would need to add the GTM-36 or GTM-60 power adapter/traffic receiver (at additional cost).

The 55 uses the new Garmin Drive app. The 51 uses the older Smartphone Link app. I am not real clear on the differences between the Drive app and Smartphone Link, but maybe some of the other members know. I do know that the Drive app is bundled with free traffic camera and weather features where these are extra cost add-on's in Smartphone Link.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon
Tue, 02/26/2019 - 11:48pm

I have the Garmin 65 and the

I have the Garmin 65 and the biggest impact to me was the new app and the fact that it captures data from Galileo Satellites(as well as GPS satellites). This gives it better accuracy than any previous unit.

Wed, 02/27/2019 - 7:14pm

Darn, I just got the

Darn, I just got the DriveSmart 51

Wed, 02/27/2019 - 7:14pm

But I saved the power cord

But I saved the power cord traffic receiver from my broken 3597.

Wed, 02/27/2019 - 9:44pm

That should work!

HowardZ wrote:

But I saved the power cord traffic receiver from my broken 3597.

That should work well for you as far is traffic is concerned. Give us a follow up comparison after you have used the 51 for a while.

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Alan - Android Auto, DriveLuxe 51LMT-S, DriveLuxe 50LMTHD, Nuvi 3597LMTHD, Oregon 550T, Nuvi 855, Nuvi 755T, Lowrance Endura Sierra, Bosch Nyon
Thu, 02/28/2019 - 11:29am

Last Parking Spot

The 51/61 units have a "Last Parking Spot" App. The 55/65 units do not, even though the manual saye they do.

In my latest call to Garmin about this issue Garmin says that it won't be added it to the 55/65 units.

Other than that, I find the 55/65 superior to any GPS I have owned. The Galileo sats really do improve the accuracy overall, and a substantial improvement in elevation accuracy.

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wil01