Caveat Emptor re Garmin

[Kenneth Gill]

So let's hope that Garmin has people that are also members of MSTA and take the time to share this around the company.

[OldButNotDead]

Jim,
I went back and reread your original post.  Something is really fishy there.  I have done the equivalent of that several times.  This may have already been said by someone else, but what I had to do was load a clean copy of Base Camp on the new machine.  I had to have my registration up to date in myGarmin so it showed the unit I was updating on it.  Then I loaded Garmin Express which loaded the new maps on both the new computer and the unit. 

I'll swear updates have been different to load on every new unit or modification to map files.  I thought they had it whipped though.  On my last two Zumo's and two Numi's Garmin express detected the unit, found space for the files and put them in the right place to include an SD card.  Don't feel too bad, you should talk to some guys from Australia, Garmin isn't just user unfriendly over there, they are user lethal.

[fxk]

Not quite a ZOMBIE-ZUMO thread... yet.
I have an tolerate-hate (vs. love-hate) relationship with Garmin, particularly the ZUMO.
I have a 550 and a 590LM.  The 550 has made me want to conduct a ZUMO-toss.  The 590 has more than a few issues, including that ridiculous wiring harness and the "improved" screen- but I digress.

The 590 I bought refurbished.  Day one, on battery after charge, the unit would immediately state the battery was low and went into that nearly useless power-save mode.  After the trip to LaCrosse, it got worse.  I bought a new battery (also ridiculously expensive) and the behavior continued.

I generally hate customer service from anywhere. If lucky, you get the apology department where they are only authorized to present an apology - no action.

So Garmin - I chose a chat with Garmin CS.  Slow.  But after supplying a bit of information, and after about 20 minutes of chat-and-wait, they offered to exchange the unit even though it was out of warranty!  They even sent a prepaid label!  Color me surprised!

We'll see when it gets back.  That problem will be fixed, but it will still be a... Zumo.  I'm still about ready for a two-handed ZUMO-toss competition. We can chat about that later.

frank

ps. I have tried the phone/phablet thing - screen is still barely readable, and without glove modification, capacitive touch-screens don't work with gloves.  Maybe GoldWing fingerless gloves?  Ah... no.  The ZUMO at least has a resistive/pressure-sensitive touch screen that works with REAL gloves. One of the few redeeming features. (sigh)  The worst aspect of this whole GPS thing is that the ZUMO is best-of-breed for motorcycles. (very big sigh)

[stevegrab]

My biggest complaint with my Zumo (660) is the poor design for plugging it in to charge, or connect to the computer (which apparently doesn't charge, or not well). Had some growing pains before my trip with getting it charged.

Was also extremely frustrated that it had limited custom routes, especially when I got more for STAR than could fit. I ended up storing them on the card, and then importing them (and deleting others) as needed.

Some learning issues along the way, turn off MC mode, turn off recalculate, etc. and things worked better.

One observation on "time to arrival" calculations, I believe these are done based on some average over the lifetime or since some data reset of each particular GPS. Was traveling with my brother, using either MSTA routes for STAR or ones he created, and my time was often shorter than his. Then I realized I rode 200+ miles to his house on highway cruising speed, much higher than we ride on back roads, so my average was higher making my arrival times shorter. Many times we thought the routing was actually different.

Great tools, but we still need to think for ourselves, learn and adapt, and have some patience with new things (not my strong suit).

[HawkGTRider]

I've still got, and use, some old 27xx series StreetPilots. When I create a route for them in BaseCamp, the routes don't change when I pull them up on the GPS. I can't say that's the case for either my newer 660 or  new 395. When you import routes to them, they recalculate everything, and it's not unusual to end up with routes that have changed. I don't care at all for that aspect of the newer technology.


I still have mapset v5 and v7, which are still installed on some old StreetPilot 2610 units, on an old laptop. I've run into the same thing Jim Randall is experiencing. If I didn't have those ancient laptops that are not so slowly dying, I wouldn't be able to load functional routes on the 2610s. When I can no longer do that, I'll give them away or toss them....I like using them for routes even though the mapsets are relatively ancient. And I don't have any way to load the maps for the 2610s or the 27xx series on my new laptop.


It's like Garmin decided that if folks were trying to use their old units longer, they'd just have to figure out a way to make them less and less functional.