Zumo User Forums

The image on the right shows the settings that can be changed for each vehicle. These settings appear in the Map & Vehicle section -> the Navigation, Driver Assistance and Display menus. In the image on the right, I have placed a green tick alongside a setting if each vehicle keeps its own setting.

So for example, you could set the ‘Car’ vehicle to have a Calculation Mode to ‘Off Road’.

Likewise you can set the motorcycle mode to have a Calculation Mode of ‘Faster Time’, and the Car Calculation Mode to ‘Shorter Distance’. Subsequently whenever the Zumo is switched to Car mode, it will calculate a route by finding the shortest distance between route points.

If you keep different settings for each vehicle and you then prepare two identical Trips in Basecamp except - one is for a car, one is for a motorcycle - then if the XT needs to carry out its own calculations, it may well come up with two different routes - because of the different preferences the XT has for each vehicle.

As well as having three usage modes, the Zumo recognises how it is being powered, and initialises itself slightly differently in each situation:

When the Zumo is powered by the USB cable - the Zumo switches to the vehicle that it was in use the last time that it was powered by the USB cable.

When the Zumo is powered by the bike’s cradle, it switches to the vehicle that was in use when it was last powered by the bike cradle.

When it is powered by battery - either when it is just turned on, or when external power has been removed, the Zumo does not change its usage mode.

So - if you change the vehicle mode to ‘Car’ when the Zumo XT is being powered by the bike cradle, the next time you insert the Zumo into the bike cradle, it will switch itself to Car mode. (Think about that for a minute).

Similarly, if you are configuring your Zumo with the battery charger plugged in, the Zumo will think it is in the car cradle. Unless you change it, you will be programming the settings for the car, not the bike.

If the XT loads a motorcycle route when it is in the car cradle, it does not switch it back to car mode when the route has finished. The next time the car cradle is used, it will switch to motorcycle mode.

I keep the Zumo in Motorcycle mode for both cradles. I use Faster Time with no avoidances, and make sure that Basecamp uses Motorcycle Profiles - again with Faster Time and no avoidances. I find this gives a close match between the route created by Basecamp and the route created by the XT - should it ever recalculate.

The XT usually warns you if it is about to switch its vehicle usage mode.