GPS info - Garmin zumo 660 vs 590

[Paco Bulto]

Hi Steve,

Yes, mine is front and center for me, using the Ram replacement bolt for one of the handlebar mounts and a short Ram arm. As you say, right in line with the speedo and easy to see with a glance and easy to reach if I want to make a change or adjustment. Works for me.

[stevegrab]

Well the QWERTY keyboard is much better, a bit small but not much smaller than on my Nuvi. Not sure why they had the other one as the default.

Paco/Fred,
OK, that is a different spot than I thought you were describing, I was thinking of the bolt on the clip on, I've seen some of those and the GPS moves a lot, and has clearance issues with the screen or other controls. Your way is pretty much in the center and doesn't move much, not that different from my setup on sport bikes (mounts are using the tank bolt near stearing head). This would work on my Ninja 650, it has similar handlbar setup and I have not yet put a GPS on that bike (not used for trips much).

Anothre question for those with Zumos and the special connector with the pins in the cradle, if you use it on multiple bikes, do you just order additional stuff from Garmin (another wired cradle, and the plate with ball that connects to it)? I'm assuming you're not swapping the cable from bike to bike. The bikes I use my current GPS on already have a cig light adaptor in place for power, I may leave that in place to provide power options for other things. And I move the entire RAM mount setup (cradle and connectors) from bike to bike as needed. Each bike just has the ball.

I noticed the car cradle has the mini USB jack on the back, I tried to use it to provide power to the unit and that didn't work. I wonder what it is for, quick skim of the manual doesn't say. Maybe it is for a traffic receiver, similar to the connection on the MC cable.

I got lots of learning to do... last night I went through all of the settings and cleaned some things up.

[RIDEMYST]

You can also pick up some good information on the Zumo on this site:
http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php

[DirtFlier]

[...I'm assuming you're not swapping the cable from bike to bike....Steve]

The 660 has a huge mass of cables, most of which I don't use!  Fortunately, my plug-in for 12v is under the plastic so I can also hide all that cabling down there but if I had to use a plug-in on the handlebar, it would be a real bleeping mess.   

ps.  Jim - thanks for that tip on the Zumo Forum.  I joined this morning.   

[touringman]

You're right about the spider web of wires with the 660 Tosh! I was only interested in the GPS function, so I weeded through the wires, got rid of the excess, shortened the whole mess, and simply wired the pos. and neg wires to a two prong sae plug. Every bike (and Scooter) are pre wired and ready to go. It's relatively simple, and works very well! Syd

[Paco Bulto]

When I first installed my 660 on my Super Tenere, I used the Garmin motorcycle mounting plate and cabling, which, as mentioned has a lot more conductors than needed and you then end up with the mounting plate always installed, even when you don't have the GPS on the bike. When I wanted to use the 660 on my 2 DR350's, I found a simpler method. I used the automotive mounting plate, plus an adapter that has a Ram size ball on one end and the Garmin size ball on the other end. I then bought a hard wire 2 conductor cable that has the plug for the auto mount plate on the other. That would allow me to simply swap the plate and adapter from one DR to the other and all I would have left when not installed was the cable end that plugs into the auto mount. I later just bought another auto mount plate, so I have one for each DR.

[NinjaBob]

Wow, Garmin model designations are weird! I assumed the Zumo 6xx series was newer than the 590 and way newer than my 390 but the opposite is true. POI factory has a Garmin release date list http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42240.

[stevegrab]

Wow, Garmin model designations are weird! I assumed the Zumo 6xx series was newer than the 590 and way newer than my 390 but the opposite is true. POI factory has a Garmin release date list http://www.poi-factory.com/node/42240.

Almost as bad as some of the BMW bike stuff where they had a model with a 600ish number that was really an 800 (or vice versa). Or the Triumph Daytona 595 that was really 900-1000ccs.

Thanks again for the feedback everybody.

[Brick]

When I first installed my 660 on my Super Tenere, I used the Garmin motorcycle mounting plate and cabling, which, as mentioned has a lot more conductors than needed and you then end up with the mounting plate always installed, even when you don't have the GPS on the bike. When I wanted to use the 660 on my 2 DR350's, I found a simpler method. I used the automotive mounting plate, plus an adapter that has a Ram size ball on one end and the Garmin size ball on the other end. I then bought a hard wire 2 conductor cable that has the plug for the auto mount plate on the other. That would allow me to simply swap the plate and adapter from one DR to the other and all I would have left when not installed was the cable end that plugs into the auto mount. I later just bought another auto mount plate, so I have one for each DR.

So Fred... was this a bunch cheaper than buying the normal $40 gps mount? Did you say you wired each bike with the one wire and just moved the mount from bike to bike?
Thanks



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[Paco Bulto]

Hi Brick,

This is the automotive mount that is about $40 on ebay. Cheaper than some of the MC mounts, but the advantage that I was looking for was not having to have the MC plate mounted on each of my bikes. Instead I only have to have the hard wire cable on each bike and can then move the GPS and mount to whichever bike I want to use the Zumo on.

The mount is here: http://tinyurl.com/hyfqea4

And the adapter is here: http://tinyurl.com/zjvp9ls

Cable s here: http://tinyurl.com/z44ssu7

These are on ebay. You may find better prices elsewhere, but my objective was easy mounting on several bikes without having the permanent MC mounting plate on each bike.
So, you only need a  $10 cable for each bike and then you can move the mounting plate from bike to bike and when not in use, you only have the Ram ball on the bike, instead of the MC plate that comes with the 660. And you don't have those extra wires that are not needed that come with each MC kit.

[DirtFlier]

Senor Paco,

This opens up some interesting possibilities.  For now, I have my ancient Zumo 550 on one bike and the 660LM on the other bike.  The LM lives in a TouraTech locking mount but I have the original mount that came with the 660 but I'm fairly sure it's one with the "bundle of snakes" for wiring.  :-(

Tosh

[Brick]

OK Fred... got it Thanks for the further explanation.

Tosh, the snake of wires is really not a big deal. They are all inside a nice cable until they get down a distance. Just tuck them in behind all that plastic and only worry about the two bare end wires that are already stripped and ready to apply the connector of your choice. I just run mine to my FZ1 Fuze Block. http://www.fuzeblocks.com/ once there you can select if you want it on a hot circuit or a switched circuit. 

[dpippin]

I use my 660 on more than one bike and don't need all the bundle of wires that came with the GPS.
So I cut out all of the wires except for the 12V connections and spliced in an SAE connector that picks up 12V from the matching connector on each bike.
The Garmin cradle for the 660 GPS has a RAM ball so I can connect it to whatever bike I'm using.
Simple and effective.

[stevegrab]

You guys are the ultimate farklers and giving me some good ideas, just not sure I'm as skilled at some of the DIY stuff.

I think I found the solution, replace many of my older bikes with one new sport touring bike

I really have no need for the car mount (new car has built in, and I could use my old NUVI in a rental if needed) so I may use the car mount to make a second mount setup on a second bike similar to what Fred did (I'd need the double ball, could use cig adapter since I have a power outlet of that style).

[touringman]

Your set up is exactly the same as mine Doug! It is universal for all the bikes, and relatively simple. Syd