Seeking 396 Owners Opinions

[twowheelstom]

Seeking 396 owners opinions on your trustworthiness and your experience of the power cord attached at the cradle and bike power to the gps. I have a 2006 Zumo 550 and my wife gave me her ok to buy an upgrade, the 550 works but I don't like the dots in street names on the screen, and the 550 only has 1.2GB internal memory, I'd like more memory, but mostly I'd like a bigger screen, plus I see an online store in Canada that has the 396 on sale. Did your 396 ever lose 12v bike power when riding? Just wondering how stable bike power is to the 396 at the cradle.

[Island Rider]

I've owned a 396 since they were released. Never had a power failure while riding on any motorcycle.

[MSTOCK27370]

I switched out a 450 for a 396. The mount is very secure and I have not had any power issues when riding. Also, I spent some time working on an improved display theme for my 590. The new Theme makes the display MUCH easier to read. The roads stand out much more clearly. I added the Theme to my 396 and it also improved the display readability greatly. The theme is posted on this site in another thread. I'll find it if you're interested.

Found it! Make sure you go to the last entry and download Auto Club 04.zip. viewtopic.php?p=13538#p13538

As an aside - I was going to give my 450 to a friend who has not used a moto gps yet. When I removed it the touchscreen failed and I can't get it working. If you'd like to re-home your 550, I will pay shipping. No need for any mounts or wire harness, just the device. You can sell the cradle and harness.

[twowheelstom]

Michael, thx, I downloaded your theme zip file to my computer, it extracted to a folder, it's a kmtf file, do you just install that kmtf file in the Garmin folder on the Zumo GPS?

[twowheelstom]

As an aside - I was going to give my 450 to a friend who has not used a moto gps yet. When I removed it the touchscreen failed and I can't get it working. If you'd like to re-home your 550, I will pay shipping. No need for any mounts or wire harness, just the device. You can sell the cradle and harness.

MSTOCK, I have a question, before I let my 550 go, can you confirm that the 396 will display full street names on maps instead of dots in the street names like my 550 does?

[MSTOCK27370]

"________________________
MSTOCK, I have a question, before I let my 550 go, can you confirm that the 396 will display full street names on maps instead of dots in the street names like my 550 does? "
_____________________________

Absolutely. Full display of street names.

[MSTOCK27370]

Michael, thx, I downloaded your theme zip file to my computer, it extracted to a folder, it's a kmtf file, do you just install that kmtf file in the Garmin folder on the Zumo GPS?

YES. There is a folder on the GPS. I will have to check to see it's name and location. You copy the .kmtf file into the folder, and then there is a screen on the GPS that will let you select from whatever Theme files are stored. You can load lots of different Themes and compare them. IMO this Auto Club 04 theme is the best. Your default Garmin theme will still be there, and you can always return to it.

[twowheelstom]

thx, I just bought a 396, now for phase 2, getting bluetooth audio options figured out for the 396

[MSTOCK27370]

Michael, thx, I downloaded your theme zip file to my computer, it extracted to a folder, it's a kmtf file, do you just install that kmtf file in the Garmin folder on the Zumo GPS?

I just attached my 396 to my PC. The .kmtf files are in Themes/Map/

Once you copy the file to the device, boot it up in normal operating mode.
Go to Settings, then Map & Vehicle, then select Map Theme. You should have the Auto Club 04 there to select.