New Garmin Zumo XT

Ah, all this complexity just to get guidance to where you are going. ;) That's the reason I love my simple, cheap Chinese GPS units - easy to update, easy to do routes, easy to change routes on the fly, icon for throwing away errant waypoints, etc. It was easy to solve the involuntary exodus of the unit if the security screw gets loose - I cut a short piece of aluminum with a rubber strip on the end, velcroed it to the cradle sun hood so it light presses again the top of the unit, got a cheap office paper clamp on the end of it, and problem solved. :biggrin:
 
amorley said:
Negative
- Basecamp on my Mac would not recognize the Zumo XT, but on my PC it would. Garmin Express on the Mac recognizes the XT :oops:
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Fixed this problem. A new security feature in MacOS Catalina requires you to explicitly give access for apps to access external volumes.
 
ST1100Y said:
Another gripe of the XT raises it's head:

Audio alarm for speed limits cannot be turned off... (courtesy of the US product managers)

Maybe not such an issue in the vast wilderness of norther Murrica, over here in ze dense populated old world the thing pings every few hundred yards, putting serious strain on the rider's nerves...
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speed alert.jpg

Looks like it can on mine.

Chris
 
GryST said:
New doesn't mean better :). Get an ole Nuvi 1450 or 1490 and don't look back
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I know it has BT, but from what I read, it only used BT for phone conversations. Can you hear the GPS directions through a BT transmitter in your helmet?

Chris
 
Daboo said:
Looks like it can on mine.
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Not what I'd meant...
Over here the folks complain about a [chord] ringing any time a posted speed limit (sign aside the road ;) ) is ahead, like when approaching city limits, settlements, etc...
 
I could obviously be wrong, but I don't believe any "car" GPS has BT instructions.
The idea or thinking probably behind it is that if you're sitting in a car, you can hear the directions through the speaker.

Chris
 
GryST said:
Yeah, your speed limits can change every 50 meters :)
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Pretty much... ;) (way worse in Switzerland though... :rolleyes:)

So that feature (or programmers ignorance) might be OK in North America, where the nearest settlement is like 80 miles out, but really annoying here in ze old world...
 
I'm sure at least some higher end car navsats have BT. Maybe to connect to a compatible car's BT audio system and/or a phone for hands free if the car doesn't have BT.
 
ST Gui said:
I'm sure at least some higher end car navsats have BT. Maybe to connect to a compatible car's BT audio system and/or a phone for hands free if the car doesn't have BT.
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That's all I've known the car satnavs to have. I think Garmin learned their lesson with the Nuvi 550 and Zumo 550 years ago when both had the same features, but one was supposedly for car use and the other for motorcycle use...and the motorcycle version was 2-3 times more expensive.

Chris
 
That depends. ;) If you're moving, great. If you're not, or you're going slow...that's not so great. In fact, it is a recipe for disaster.

Plus, my bike has a windshield that doesn't block the wind (and rain) nearly as much as some.

Chris
 
GryST said:
Understand that I'm not against the new units like XT. It is a very good nav, but my point is that Garmin software is not consistent from one nav to another.
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And then some. It seems as though they introduce features and then forget how they work. And the tech support don't use the same terminology that Garmin themselves have defined in my experience.

ST1100Y said:
Audio alarm for speed limits cannot be turned off... (courtesy of the US product managers)
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Mine doesn't have a checkbox next to the motorcycle icon for Speeding alert, but if you click on the bar, there are two options - to turn on or off, Inside the City and Outside the City, and you can set a 0, 5, 10, 15 ,20 mph leeway for both of those.

But try 'Volume' from the main screen and select 'Mixer'. There are four volume sliders - Navigation, Media, Phone Calls, and off the bottom, so you have to scroll the screen - Proximity Alerts.
Whether or not it still cuts the music volume when you have proximity alerts turned right down, I haven't noticed.
 
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On my post-retirement ride from Seattle to Utah's five national parks, we hit rain all day long from Seattle to our first stop in Baker City, OR. We had rain virtually the entire way, and some of the hardest rain I've ever seen for the last couple hours. No choice. Reservations were made for each night and we couldn't wait it out.

So a weather-proof GPS for me is essential.

I tried to go cheap before my post-retirement ride. I haven't run across many who are as cheap as I am, or "frugal" as my squadron commander called it. But after almost missing a freeway exit because I couldn't see the screen on my car GPS and couldn't hear the speaker at 60 mph in freeway traffic...and then having another problem later as I made my way to a motel for a rally***...I decided to bite the bullet and bought the 595. I was never sorry after that...except when it fell off the bike. :rolleyes: I had visions of trying to peer into the washed out screen of my car GPS during that ride and ruining the whole experience, all because I tried to go cheap...and that after being willing to spend far more than that on the motels, food and gas.

It isn't just the cost of the GPS to consider. It is the cost of the hassle. And although I lost that 595, I got my money's worth out of it over many years and many many miles and smiles.

***It wasn't just the inconvenience of missing the freeway exit that bothered me. It was the potential for an accident that bothered me. And I took the wrong turn heading to the motel and went down a narrow side street. As I was trying to turn back the way I came from, I almost dumped the bike. It was then that I realized the cost of repairs to the tupperware could easily have been as much as a motorcycle GPS.

Chris
 
paulcb said:
Most TPMS systems are not BT. Looks like Garmin Zumos use ANT technology, not BT. Maybe the XT is different?

My point is, don't assume you can just buy the sensors and it will work with a SW update, unless Garmin specifically says so for the XT.
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The Zumo XT does not support the ANT interface. While it has Bluetooth, I have not seen any reference for support of any TPMS sensors
 
Installed my new Garmin Zumo XT GPS on KBiK.

Used it last week for a 3,500 drive by car up to Virginia Beach and back. Love the clear and bright screen. Very easy to use. Used a Wunderlich Multipod mount that I bought a while back but had not used. It blocks the view of the speedometer, but I cannot remember when I bothered to last look at that!

Wired it into my PDM60 with my other farkles.

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jfheath said:
Mine doesn't have a checkbox next to the motorcycle icon for Speeding alert, but if you click on the bar, there are two options - to turn on or off, Inside the City and Outside the City, and you can set a 0, 5, 10, 15 ,20 mph leeway for both of those.
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The European users are pretty miffed, doesn't matter how fast or slow you're moving, the proximity alert for [posted/change or speed limit ahead] is like the evil: always and everywhere...
No one found a way to mute this yet...

One went through the process of writing an email, and got the following response:

"...After internal research, we have to inform you that there is no way to deactivate the acoustic alarm on changes of speed limits ahead. This was decided by the product managers in US..."

Doh... :(
 
In which case they are a distraction when driving. Especially when the location and value of speed limits is not accurate In the maps.

Riding aids must not be a distraction. The phrase not fit for purpose springs to mind.
 
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