New Garmin Zumo XT Review - Updated

keithu

Premier Member
IBA Member
IBR Finisher
Off topic, but something discussed in this thread. For those of you using waterproof phones, does the touch screen work when it's wet?
It varies depending on the phone. I found that the Kyocera touchscreens worked decently while wet, but like Kerri said they lost some precision. My Cat S48C touchscreen is almost useless if the screen is wet, however. I use it in my hot tub and I have to make sure my fingers are dryish before I use the phone.
 

Auburn

Premier Member
I have two XTs. One failed last weekend on a ride. I stopped to fuel up, let the XT time out and shut down. When I started the bike it did not auto start up. The other one did. Since I was in the middle of a BBG run, I just used the other one to finish the run.

I tried to do the "soft reset" by holding the power button for about 30 seconds. That didn't work. I checked the other XT in the same cradle to make sure it would power it on when the key was cycled. Everything worked there. I suspected it was probably the battery. Since I have two XTs, I pulled the backs on both XT, and used the good one's battery to see if it would start the failed XT up. No go. Then I took the battery from the failed XT and used it to start the good XT. It came up, and indicated the battery was at 100%.

Then I called Garmin support and went through everything with them. Bottom line Garmin agreed it is an internal issue with the unit and had me package it up and send it in. They will send me a new one to replace it.

I bought both units in April 2021.

Just wanted to put this here to document the issue incase others have one. I learned there are no replacement batteries for the XT available on the market - found this out as I was anticipating the need for one. Here is a video for taking the back off the XT if you should need to. The back has an oring style seal, and is easy to remove. One or two of the screws are shorter than the rest, so pay attention to were they go.
 

Shawn K

Professional Cat Confuser
Premier Member
I learned there are no replacement batteries for the XT available on the market
Are there any identifying numbers printed on the battery? It's unlikely that Garmin alone uses a proprietary battery. It's more likely (in my mind) that there's not anything marketed as a replacement, but there are still lots of places where a replacement can be sourced. I used to do a lot of that kind of thing in another life.
 

Auburn

Premier Member
Are there any identifying numbers printed on the battery? It's unlikely that Garmin alone uses a proprietary battery. It's more likely (in my mind) that there's not anything marketed as a replacement, but there are still lots of places where a replacement can be sourced. I used to do a lot of that kind of thing in another life.
here is a picture of it:
 

SteveAikens

Premier Member
IBR Finisher
I bought an XT when they first came out. Roughly two months in, it died. Wouldn't take a charge from a charger or the mount on the bike.

Garmin had me box just the XT and send it to them, they replaced it with a new unit and told me to remove the bike connection and toss it all, then reinstall it all with the new system.

Fast and easy and I have no complaints. It all works as advertised.
 

Rusjel

Premier Member
My eyes are pretty good and I reckon I can get by with the 4.3” display versio, but is there anyone who can’t live without their bigger screen?
 

Firstpeke

Well-Known Member
My XT has been okay, albeit the first one went back as it wouldn't do certain functions at all.....

Just got a Navigator VI and it is clearly inferior, despite being more expensive... the only really good function I think is that it displays multiple icons which give you lots of information when on an IBA ride.... we shall see how it performs on my Norway trip and hopefully EE2E attempt in a few weeks time.
The XT will plot the whole EE2E but I will be doing it in three segments, the Navigator won't as it has the old Garmin 660 trait of saying the route is too long and it will display more data later...... you hope....
 
Original Post: Aug 9, 2020

I had a quirk yesterday regarding the Fuel Status system. At one point an Alert came up saying that it was not in its Motorcycle Mount and the Fuel Status went completely away, even its listing in the menus was gone. But the unit was still charging. This morning I saw that it had changed itself to Automobile mode so I changed it back to Motorcycle mode and the Fuel Status returned.

Hope this helps someone else in case it happens to you.
Followup to this issue:

This issue has come up a few times since this post but I have caught it before the fuel status got out of hand (I keep a separate tripmeter for fuel on the 478). When transferring a route from Basecamp, the XT will pickup which routing profile I calculated it with. (i.e. Auto or Motorcycle) When I initially load the Trip/Route from the Trip Planner app all is well. But when I make a change to that Trip/Route (dropping/adding a waypoint or adding a fuel stop) the recalculation is done based on the routing profile in Basecamp. In my case I was calculating the route using the Auto profile in Basecamp (since it fits my riding choices fairly well) and the XT was picking it up during the onboard recalculation. This puts the XT into Automotive mode which does not recognize the fuel status/motorcycle mount.

I have a case open with Garmin about this so I will keep y'all posted.
 

MotoToph

Mototoph
Premier Member
Followup to this issue:

This issue has come up a few times since this post but I have caught it before the fuel status got out of hand (I keep a separate tripmeter for fuel on the 478). When transferring a route from Basecamp, the XT will pickup which routing profile I calculated it with. (i.e. Auto or Motorcycle) When I initially load the Trip/Route from the Trip Planner app all is well. But when I make a change to that Trip/Route (dropping/adding a waypoint or adding a fuel stop) the recalculation is done based on the routing profile in Basecamp. In my case I was calculating the route using the Auto profile in Basecamp (since it fits my riding choices fairly well) and the XT was picking it up during the onboard recalculation. This puts the XT into Automotive mode which does not recognize the fuel status/motorcycle mount.

I have a case open with Garmin about this so I will keep y'all posted.
Settings in Basecamp and Zumo need to be the same.
 

Sportsterpaul

Well-Known Member
I don’t recall if this information is included in this thread but thought to share that the tiny screw which secures the power cord to the mount base is a 0/32x1/8th Phillips head. When transferring from one bike to another I dropped this in the driveway, never to be seen again. Even after an exhausted search with a magnet. My local hardware store did have them in stock, yea! They may be the same size as those used in eyeglass hinges.