garmin zumo xt? | GTAMotorcycle.com

garmin zumo xt?

matthew

matthew

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Is the garmin zumo xt all its cracked up to be?

My fleet of Streetpilot 2720's are feeling a bit long in the tooth. From what I can tell. there's no maps newer than 2019, the screen digitizers need to be replaced and the plastic shell around the power cord is starting to crack on a few, so I think it's time I replace them.

The reviews of the zumo XT are all very positive. Big screen, bright screen, good interface. The Zumo 396 seems to be pretty good as well but I'm learning towards the XT

I have zero interest in using a cell phone with maps. I only want a dedicated GPS.
 
I like my Garmin Zumo. If it breaks I’d get another but it’s been solid. Before that I tried using the car GPS units but they were all lacking something and weren’t weatherproof. If you can get a deal on one or even a certified refurbished unit then you won’t be unhappy.
 
jc100 said:
I like my Garmin Zumo. If it breaks I’d get another but it’s been solid. Before that I tried using the car GPS units but they were all lacking something and weren’t weatherproof. If you can get a deal on one or even a certified refurbished unit then you won’t be unhappy.
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Which Zumo do you have? The XT?
 
Best gps by far. Bought my ZumoXT last year with a lockable touratech mount.(it's pricey) I toured na last summer in some of the worst storms ever. It's everything it claims to be and more. Worth every penny.
 
Best gps by far. Bought my ZumoXT last year with a lockable touratech mount.(it's pricey) I toured na last summer in some of the worst storms ever. It's everything it claims to be and more. Worth every penny.
 
jc100 said:
I like my Garmin Zumo. If it breaks I’d get another but it’s been solid. Before that I tried using the car GPS units but they were all lacking something and weren’t weatherproof. If you can get a deal on one or even a certified refurbished unit then you won’t be unhappy.
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I like my zumo 595. Bought it used on Kijiji from someone who had upgraded to XT.
Have ridden in storms, No issues. Screen on 595 wasn't as bright and washed up in direct sunlight. I heard XT 's is much better.
Nothing beats a dedicated GPS, go for it.
 
I had the smaller one from Costco (396), but it went dead just before the warranty ran out so I took it back.
I ended up getting an XT from them. Looks like they no longer sell them.
Glare from the sun is an issue as the screen is very reflective.
The interface with the bike/phone/music/camera isn't 100%, I'm still working on getting everything synced up.
I believe that there's an optimum order to connect the devices to each other which I missed.
When I first connected everything, I would get music from Spotify playing right away, which wasn't easy to turn off or turn down.

Once you get a route up on it and provided you're not riding towards the sun, and getting glare, it's easy to follow.
 
I have both the Zumo 395 and the XT.

The XT is at least two generations newer than the 395/396, as well as being the flagship model vs the 395/396 being the entry level model.

As mentioned above, the screen is a lot nicer on the XT. It's brighter and they've moved from a pressure-sensitive screen to a very sensitive capacitive screen (similar to smartphones) that still works with gloved hands. It has a sensor which will detect if it's mounted in landscape or portrait and adjust the display according.

The XT has a lot of bells and whistles that I'll probably never use - XM, Sirius, a Bluetooth link to your cell phone for weather and traffic. But the best feature of the XT is the fast draw and refresh. On the 395, if you scrolled through the map, it would take forever to redraw the new sections - depending on how detailed your map is. With the XT, screen updates are super-fast.

If you're used to how fast your smartphone is, do not settle for an older generation GPS. The slow re-draw will drive you crazy.
 
Lightcycle said:
I have both the Zumo 395 and the XT.

The XT is at least two generations newer than the 395/396, as well as being the flagship model vs the 395/396 being the entry level model.

As mentioned above, the screen is a lot nicer on the XT. It's brighter and they've moved from a pressure-sensitive screen to a very sensitive capacitive screen (similar to smartphones) that still works with gloved hands. It has a sensor which will detect if it's mounted in landscape or portrait and adjust the display according.

The XT has a lot of bells and whistles that I'll probably never use - XM, Sirius, a Bluetooth link to your cell phone for weather and traffic. But the best feature of the XT is the fast draw and refresh. On the 395, if you scrolled through the map, it would take forever to redraw the new sections - depending on how detailed your map is. With the XT, screen updates are super-fast.

If you're used to how fast your smartphone is, do not settle for an older generation GPS. The slow re-draw will drive you crazy.
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I remember the days of StreetPilot-III. Don't get off course as it can't recalculate until you pass the next intersection and then shows you a solution that no longer works and recalculates again. Just for fun I told it to route from east coast to gta and it took something like 30 minutes to give me the solution. Every road on the east coast was labelled "road". Made navigating to an address hard. It seemed to have most roads in the map though so good for wandering.
 
Lightcycle said:
I have the TT locking mount. This is definitely a lot cheaper.

But I also see myself losing that locking pin in no time at all. Probably just me though...
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Non-captive pin is a design fail (either fully captive pin or integrated tether would work fine). How often do you need to take it off? Can you get maps/routes into the gps while in the mount?
 
GreyGhost said:
Non-captive pin is a design fail (either fully captive pin or integrated tether would work fine). How often do you need to take it off? Can you get maps/routes into the gps while in the mount?
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The XT can connect via Bluetooth or Wifi to a cloud-based service called Garmin Drive to upload routes. But if you're transferring GBs of maps, better to do it over USB.

As for how often to take it off, even though we have locking mounts, we always remove the GPSes when we're parked for the night. Just don't want to tempt fate. On a long trip, that's often enough that I definitely will lose that locking pin if it's not captive. Even stuff on a tether eventually gets broken off, because, well.. I'm not a very good motorcycle rider...
 
Lightcycle said:
The XT can connect via Bluetooth or Wifi to a cloud-based service called Garmin Drive to upload routes. But if you're transferring GBs of maps, better to do it over USB.

As for how often to take it off, even though we have locking mounts, we always remove the GPSes when we're parked for the night. Just don't want to tempt fate. On a long trip, that's often enough that I definitely will lose that locking pin if it's not captive. Even stuff on a tether eventually gets broken off, because, well.. I'm not a very good motorcycle rider...
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Thanks. I was thinking like 2" cable tether to allow pin removal. When pin is installed (every time you ride), loop is only 1.5" and not subject to damage (or ripping off fingers) behind the screen.
 
As much as I love my dedicated GPS unit, I think with TFT display screens becoming more common, we're eventually going to see BT integration with smartphone-based GPSes. It makes no sense to have two separate screens when you can merge them. That way, your phone is safe in a pocket or somewhere in a pannier where it won't be exposed to the elements.

BMW already is experimenting with casting the maps app from your phone to the TFT on the R1250RT:

P90403156_lowRes_bmw-r-1250-rt-tft-di.jpg
 
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