rodskogj
Guest
I got a Zumo 550 for Christmas (present to myself actually) and had a chance to test it on a 900km trip a few days ago (mixed freeway, back roads, dirt roads and 4wd tracks).
The Zumo is a great device and easy to use and I am overall very happy with it. The unit comes with 2 mounts,1 car (suction cup mount) and 1 motorcycle (RAM with U-bolt for handlebar). The unit knows which mount its in a changes some functionality accordingly. For example, when in the car mount you get a full keyboard for entering addresses and when in the motorcycle mount you get a glove friendly ‘scrolling letter bar’. Overall, the touch screen works well, but some of the buttons are still difficult to get right with gloves on (i.e. selecting a city from a list), but this is just a minor issue.
One thing to note, There is no built in speaker or headphone jack on the unit. It must be plugged into a mount AND powered for audio to work. The car mount has a speaker built in as well as an audio jack. The motorcycle mount has a auto jack and mic jack.
I have my Zumo hooked up on a Migsel mount on a R1200GSA (2007), and the RAM part of the mount is rock solid. Even after hours of really bad and jarring roads the GPS still held rock solid in its original position. I initially had some concerns with the cradle itself, wondering if the locking mechanism would open by itself on bad roads (I did not use the ‘locking screw’), but I had no issues with that. My only cradle related issue relates to the ‘locking screw’ itself. After lots of bad roads the screw actually screwed itself in a bit, requiring a bit of finger dexterity to undo it. I have now removed the screw completely.
Satellite lock is quick. By the time the unit is fully powered on you will have a lock (~1 min?). The lock is also quite strong and I have even gotten a satellite lock while sitting in my sofa in the living room! Route calculation and recalculation is also fast, no more than a few seconds.
MP3 player is surprisingly nice to have (never though I would use it much, but its right there so why not!), but music can not be controlled from the main map screen (except for volume), so I was constantly flicking between the map and the MP3 player to skip songs.
Fuel gauge is a bit of a gimmick, but once again, nice to have. Its easier then resetting the trip meter every time you refuel. Also, the fuel gauge is not activated when in the car mount, so if you swap the Zumo between car and bike it will not mess up the fuel meter!
On the 4wd tracks I had to zoom in to 300m resolution to see the track I was on, even with map detail on the highest. This was a bit disappointing as you get no sense of overall distances at that zoom (using City Navigator Australia v7.0, [standard on Australian units])
Autozoom and auto-recalculate route have been covered in posts by others. I agree, Garmin’s current setting is annoying! Garmin, give us some options please!
My other GPS is a Garmin eTrex Vista which I have had for the past 4 years. The Zumo is definitely much more bike friendly, but the Vista had many more features (although not all are relevant for a bike GPS, some where still nice, such as, Sunrise, Sunset, ETE, compass heading etc. Garmin please???). For a bike the Zumo wins hands down, but for other use (ie hiking) the Zumo would suck and I’ll stick with the Vista. The Zumo is definitely a purpose build Auto GPS and not dual purpose.
My biggest complaint is the mounting position on the GSA (above the speedo). It’s a long reach to adjust anything on the GPS. I hope Garmin (or Touratech) come up with a 4 button ‘remote’ for the Zumo that can be handlebar mounted (like their ‘Handlebar Controls Rallye 5’ for their motorised roadbook)
Overall, thumbs up on the Zumo
. Its pricy, but is your budget can afford it it’s a nice unit.
The Zumo is a great device and easy to use and I am overall very happy with it. The unit comes with 2 mounts,1 car (suction cup mount) and 1 motorcycle (RAM with U-bolt for handlebar). The unit knows which mount its in a changes some functionality accordingly. For example, when in the car mount you get a full keyboard for entering addresses and when in the motorcycle mount you get a glove friendly ‘scrolling letter bar’. Overall, the touch screen works well, but some of the buttons are still difficult to get right with gloves on (i.e. selecting a city from a list), but this is just a minor issue.
One thing to note, There is no built in speaker or headphone jack on the unit. It must be plugged into a mount AND powered for audio to work. The car mount has a speaker built in as well as an audio jack. The motorcycle mount has a auto jack and mic jack.
I have my Zumo hooked up on a Migsel mount on a R1200GSA (2007), and the RAM part of the mount is rock solid. Even after hours of really bad and jarring roads the GPS still held rock solid in its original position. I initially had some concerns with the cradle itself, wondering if the locking mechanism would open by itself on bad roads (I did not use the ‘locking screw’), but I had no issues with that. My only cradle related issue relates to the ‘locking screw’ itself. After lots of bad roads the screw actually screwed itself in a bit, requiring a bit of finger dexterity to undo it. I have now removed the screw completely.
Satellite lock is quick. By the time the unit is fully powered on you will have a lock (~1 min?). The lock is also quite strong and I have even gotten a satellite lock while sitting in my sofa in the living room! Route calculation and recalculation is also fast, no more than a few seconds.
MP3 player is surprisingly nice to have (never though I would use it much, but its right there so why not!), but music can not be controlled from the main map screen (except for volume), so I was constantly flicking between the map and the MP3 player to skip songs.
Fuel gauge is a bit of a gimmick, but once again, nice to have. Its easier then resetting the trip meter every time you refuel. Also, the fuel gauge is not activated when in the car mount, so if you swap the Zumo between car and bike it will not mess up the fuel meter!
On the 4wd tracks I had to zoom in to 300m resolution to see the track I was on, even with map detail on the highest. This was a bit disappointing as you get no sense of overall distances at that zoom (using City Navigator Australia v7.0, [standard on Australian units])
Autozoom and auto-recalculate route have been covered in posts by others. I agree, Garmin’s current setting is annoying! Garmin, give us some options please!
My other GPS is a Garmin eTrex Vista which I have had for the past 4 years. The Zumo is definitely much more bike friendly, but the Vista had many more features (although not all are relevant for a bike GPS, some where still nice, such as, Sunrise, Sunset, ETE, compass heading etc. Garmin please???). For a bike the Zumo wins hands down, but for other use (ie hiking) the Zumo would suck and I’ll stick with the Vista. The Zumo is definitely a purpose build Auto GPS and not dual purpose.
My biggest complaint is the mounting position on the GSA (above the speedo). It’s a long reach to adjust anything on the GPS. I hope Garmin (or Touratech) come up with a 4 button ‘remote’ for the Zumo that can be handlebar mounted (like their ‘Handlebar Controls Rallye 5’ for their motorised roadbook)
Overall, thumbs up on the Zumo
