New Garmin Zumo XT Review - Updated
- Thread starter Greg Rice
- Start date
openstreetmaps.org
I was going to use them for a planned B2B ride starting in Matamoros, MX. Mexico is not part of the installed maps of the ZumoXT. Since Matamoros is not known as a friendly area I wanted to be sure to get in/out as quickly as possible. Downloading that small area of routable streets is well within OSMs ability. But from what I saw of their routability I am a little skeptical of using it on a large scale. YMMV
Hope this helps.
I was going to use them for a planned B2B ride starting in Matamoros, MX. Mexico is not part of the installed maps of the ZumoXT. Since Matamoros is not known as a friendly area I wanted to be sure to get in/out as quickly as possible. Downloading that small area of routable streets is well within OSMs ability. But from what I saw of their routability I am a little skeptical of using it on a large scale. YMMV
Hope this helps.
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I had some disagreements with some of the routing choices of the ZumoXT a few times and ended up using Waze to resolve the issue. One incident of great note was when she wanted to route me 40+ miles out of the way to avoid a road closure. Mind you that that road closure was the I-40 bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, TN. Another incident was in Washington DC when all traffic was diverted off of the Beltway for some reason. Garmin didn't understand why I diverted to surface streets and wanted me to immediately get back on the Beltway. Waze immediately understood what was happening and routed me to another part of the Beltway (after allowing me to bag the Bonus). In both instances Garmin finally got the gist of what was going on and followed suit. My main issue with Waze is that I am running it on a 1st Gen iPhoneSE so the 4.0" screen is very small.
I like the idea of the SmartDevice based navigation aids due to their ability to receive updates from other users in near realtime. But I don't have a large enough screen on my current device nor do I have touchscreen friendly gloves for that not-large screen. Maybe in the future I could have nice things but for now the XT is 'da bomb'!
I like the idea of the SmartDevice based navigation aids due to their ability to receive updates from other users in near realtime. But I don't have a large enough screen on my current device nor do I have touchscreen friendly gloves for that not-large screen. Maybe in the future I could have nice things but for now the XT is 'da bomb'!
A 7" WiFi Android tablet can be had pretty cheap, relatively speaking. Unlike apple devices, you do not need the more expensive cell-enabled version to get a GPS chip. Use your network enabled device as a hotspot for connection to the interwebs. A tethered stylus makes manipulation pretty easy without removing your gloves, when safely parked alongside the road, of course... 
A weirdness that I've seen.. I run with the "Cities Ahead" panel showing, which shows not just cities but rest areas (along interstates, mostly..) Sometimes it seems to get "stuck" showing "Rest Area" as the next "city" on the list, refusing to update the list without restarting the unit. It seems to happen most often along stretches where rest areas/waysides aren't explicitly named - as a software engineer, I assume there's some name collision bug happening, but either way, a minor annoyance, for sure. It doesn't happen often, but when it does I roll my eyes and think "oho its doing THAT thing again.."
Mine has reacted to raindrops since the start, others on the Zumo forums have reported this as well. I don't think a change of screen will help. I tilted mine slightly more forward and its ok now. 2 of us were out recently and were routing point to point for a photo rally. 2 XTs. At one point in a maze of narrow roads both XTs literally took us round in circles, back to where we started. We had to resort to a Tomtom to get us out. Both XTs were set to fastest route. At one point farther on it routed us on motorway (interstate) which we knew was not our original plan, but we assumed the motorway would be faster. When we reviewed it that evening it had added over 40 miles to a 110 mile trip. There's no way that was a faster route, it was just wrong. The XT is a great tool, but it's not the Nirvana in GPS we all seek!
I cannot accept that rain triggering screen inputs is normal or acceptable. I'll see what happens with my replacement unit, but in my having owned Garmin units for years, including BMW branded units, as well as my current BMW VI unit this has never been an issue.
I won't accept it as normal nor will I cover the unit or tilt it down out of the rain. It's a design flaw for sure if it persists.
I agree something is off with the XT routing, on a recent trip the XT was off by over 100 miles compared to google maps. I was able to get it close by selecting shortest distance vs fastest route, but still at times it was a few miles different.
I won't accept it as normal nor will I cover the unit or tilt it down out of the rain. It's a design flaw for sure if it persists.
I agree something is off with the XT routing, on a recent trip the XT was off by over 100 miles compared to google maps. I was able to get it close by selecting shortest distance vs fastest route, but still at times it was a few miles different.
Its not just Garmin, my Tomtom Rider 550 does it also, however, you can adjust the sensitivity of the Tomtom touch screen. My XT is an early one, they may have fixed it? The last example I've read about was December 2020. The placement of the unit on the bike and the type of bike will of course determine each units exposure. There are also instances of water ingress and failure of the screen. All of the cases I've read have been met with immediate, prompt replacement by Garmin, so kudos to their customer service.
I just confirmed that the Zumo XT does, in fact, use a capacitive touchscreen. Prior generations use resistive touchscreens.
To me, that goes a long way toward explaining wet performance. All those people bleating for years about how they "needed" a higher-res screen (why??) got their wish with the XT, but it came at a cost. You want high-res, you have to go capacitive.
From Garmin's website:
To me, that goes a long way toward explaining wet performance. All those people bleating for years about how they "needed" a higher-res screen (why??) got their wish with the XT, but it came at a cost. You want high-res, you have to go capacitive.
From Garmin's website:
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I can confirm the rain definitely affected the screen for my new XT as well, during the IBR. Pretty annoying. That, plus the extremely flaky routing algorithm it is using (compared to 1. Google Maps, 2. My trusty Zumo 350, and 3. My own local street knowledge in my home area) has not inspired much trust for me in my very good-looking new toy. I ended up disregarding the XT routing more times during the rally than trusting it. I hope Garmin updates the routing software soon.
In addition, so far the excellent weather/traffic integration has been useless to me because the Drive phone app (on Android) completely takes over phone call voice routing, even if you disable that function in the app (I prefer to run the phone calls directly from phone to Sena). Calls are static-filled and hard to hear, forcing me to completely disable the BT connection between phone and GPS during the IBR.
All in all, so far the unit has been a functional disappointment.
In addition, so far the excellent weather/traffic integration has been useless to me because the Drive phone app (on Android) completely takes over phone call voice routing, even if you disable that function in the app (I prefer to run the phone calls directly from phone to Sena). Calls are static-filled and hard to hear, forcing me to completely disable the BT connection between phone and GPS during the IBR.
All in all, so far the unit has been a functional disappointment.
My replacement will be here Wednesday. Hopefully Garmin has made a screen calibration change or something.
I've solved 99 percent of the odd routing issues and the phone and app issues are new just started happening during the last few days of the IBR. Hopefully that's a bug that Garmin corrects because it was a huge pita.
There is a mega thread on Adv about the XT and these issues aren't really being discussed, makes me wonder if they are isolated or if we are edge use case users.
I've solved 99 percent of the odd routing issues and the phone and app issues are new just started happening during the last few days of the IBR. Hopefully that's a bug that Garmin corrects because it was a huge pita.
There is a mega thread on Adv about the XT and these issues aren't really being discussed, makes me wonder if they are isolated or if we are edge use case users.
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My XT also had some odd screen issues in the rain during the IBR - although by the sounds not quite as bad as Marc's. At the time I attributed the "ghost" inputs to my tank bag cover billowing in the wind and possibly brushing against the bottom side of the screen.
I concur with Steve though, that the connection of cell-to-GPS is worthless as it seemed to have connection issues and call quality was worse that direct phone to headset connection. I also use Siri voice commands which didn't want to work when connected through the GPS.
My final setup for the IBR was to connect the GPS to a cell-enabled tablet for the smart data (traffic) and connect my cell phone only to my headset. But even with the dedicated device (tablet) feeding smart data to the XT, the Drive app still needed restarted a few times.
For me, the screen is really the only redeeming quality and reason for keeping the XT. My old 595 has 99% of the same functionality, plus TPMS, if only the screen would be better.
I concur with Steve though, that the connection of cell-to-GPS is worthless as it seemed to have connection issues and call quality was worse that direct phone to headset connection. I also use Siri voice commands which didn't want to work when connected through the GPS.
My final setup for the IBR was to connect the GPS to a cell-enabled tablet for the smart data (traffic) and connect my cell phone only to my headset. But even with the dedicated device (tablet) feeding smart data to the XT, the Drive app still needed restarted a few times.
For me, the screen is really the only redeeming quality and reason for keeping the XT. My old 595 has 99% of the same functionality, plus TPMS, if only the screen would be better.