Garmin Zumo XT - Best moto GPS yet???

[Mulley]

It appears that Garmin has finally gotten serious after losing market share to free cell phone apps. The Zumo XT is almost everything we expect from a modern GPS.

I have to check out some reviews now and see if it's as good as it sounds. I think it's time for an upgrade.

They finally come loaded with street, satellite images and topo maps with lifetime updates. That's a biggie.also comes with Wifi, Bluetooth, integrated audio , cell phone linking with playthrough and phone call control, file sharing.

It ships with a hardwired charging motorcycle mount that appears to be a Ram mount.

TripAdvisor is included with POI database for routing to food and lodging etc.

Integrated inReach pairing (inReach device required).

Weather  traffic warnings. Tons of other stuff. At face value this looks like the best GPS ever made. Finally Garmin got their act together.


https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/679804

[Gam]

I have it, but really haven't used it yet, been riding the KLX since the KTM has recall which affects the rear brake and the KLX has the Montana mount on it. I can tell you this much, I know I like the interface much more than the Montana.

[Mulley]

@gam keep us informed. I'm very interested. Also hoping to get a KTM 790/890 ADV R or Norden 901. Curious to how the mounting location works for you.

[Gam]

Mounting position works fine, that is a Motopumps GPS mount, clear view of the TFT display, this is about the only mount which doesn't have a vibration problem and that can be articulated. This GPS is a little dumbed down from the Montana, but because of that I find that I use more of the features, just easier to access. I found out with my first long route that it has a maximum of 29 via points per route compared to 50 on the Montana, but when I downloaded to the zumo it automatically split the route, my experience  with the Montana was if you had 51 via points it would load that way and show the route just long enough to get you so far from home you didn't want to go back and then the route just quit.  Problems so far....I can't load a route from the memory card, have to put it on the internal storage,  can't see 24k TOPO, you can see it on the internal memory but it is not recognized under "maps" on the GPS. Of course, no GPS is going to cure Basecamp issues so you still have to check the route for dead end stubs and such.

[kylepeterson]

if y'all haven't read the thread on adv yet... you might wanna check out the gripes and praised placed upon garmins latest attempt at GPS stuff...


https://advrider.com/f/threads/garmin-zumo-xt.1431553/page-74

[Gam]

I lost my Zumo XT this week coming back from doing the MABDR. Rode the whole MABDR without a problem with it, but coming back on the interstate, I was doing somewhere between 75 and 80 and went through a big dip on the road and it just came out and blew away. Something to be said for tethers.

[Mulley]

I lost my Zumo XT this week coming back from doing the MABDR. Rode the whole MABDR without a problem with it, but coming back on the interstate, I was doing somewhere between 75 and 80 and went through a big dip on the road and it just came out and blew away. Something to be said for tethers.

That sucks.

Will you be buying a replacement? I guess that's the ultimate determination of a unit's value. Will you buy it twice?

[Gam]

Yeah, I'll buy it again.  I'm not really fond of electronica, and for me in addition to the larger, brighter, more readable screen as compared to the Montana,  access to the features was much more intuitive to me, and I really used all the bells and whistles. 

[norton73]

I lost my Zumo XT this week coming back from doing the MABDR. Rode the whole MABDR without a problem with it, but coming back on the interstate, I was doing somewhere between 75 and 80 and went through a big dip on the road and it just came out and blew away. Something to be said for tethers.

That sucks.

Gonna do a ride report on the MABDR?  I assume you did it on the KTM.

[Gam]

Yeah did it on the KTM, I didn't take a lot of pics, so I have to get the guy that went with me to send some for a report.