Which GPS To Buy Now

[jfheath]

I will certainly never buy an XT2 based on what I now know.

isn't an XT2 the better upgrade to the XT ?

Do you mean when changing from an earlier Zumo eg from 34x, 39x or 59x ??

It's difficult to say - I don't think that there is anyone on this site (yet) who can make a strong comparison one way or the other between the XT and XT2. The XT was a massive improvement in some ways over the previous Zumo 595 - in terms of screen visibility, processing speed and some very interesting devlopment in the use of tracks and route planning tools.

Personally, I am keen to get my hands on an XT2 - but I am not going to buy one without knowing whether or not they have addressed some of the issues that the XT has. I would probably take the plunge if I had the Zumo 590 or the 595 - but I'd keep the originals.

I don't believe every negative thing that I have read about the XT2, but without some information about what is happening and in what circumstances, it is impossible to comment one way or the other.

[lkraus]

I don't know that the XT2 is intended to be an upgrade to the XT. It is newer, and has some additional features which are mainly aimed at the off-road rider, and uses the Tread app. For a street rider, I don't see any advantages that would make the higher cost of the XT2 worthwhile.

[JD Hog]

Here is a comparison between the XT and XT2 from the Garmin Website.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/compare/?c ... uct=679804


I do love my XT and have added this locking device that works for XT and XT2
https://www.motopumps.com/shop/zumo-xt-security-lock

[rbentnail]

I will certainly never buy an XT2 based on what I now know.

isn't an XT2 the better upgrade to the XT ?

Not to me it isn't. The Faster Roads instead of the old Faster Time will often add miles and hrs to my desired route. It's a horrible way to route on the fly which I do often by picking a destination on the XT itself without using computer software to create a route.

[carolinarider09]

I apologize for asking this question again but..... I found a used Zumo 595LM for sale on Ebay. The price is $400. It's a bit more than I wanted to pay but, before I push the button and make the purchase, is there anything I should know about the unit.

I have and am still using my 550, my 665 and my 660. I was going to make this my primary GPS for road trips on the bike.

I guess I do have another question or two.

Can I still use GPX files to form routes with the 595? I am not using Basecamp for route development. I have an older method that has worked for years now. But it only develops GPX files that will form the route.

GPX files are also how I sort of file routes away for future use.

Is XM radio an option on this GPS. I have not seen anything that suggests that you can use SiriusXM radio but.....

I am close to pushing the "button" on the purchase. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[jfheath]

I apologize for asking this question again but..... I found a used Zumo 595LM for sale on Ebay. The price is $400. It's a bit more than I wanted to pay but, before I push the button and make the purchase, is there anything I should know about the unit.

I have bought two recently, both boxed, both complete and in excellent condition. I paid £150 to £200

1. The battery fades extremely quickly. But they work well in the cradle. Make sure you get the cradle(s) in the uk, we have car cradles, which come with a bulit in speaker. The 590/595 do not have speakers like the 660 and XT has

They are usually LM versions eg 595LM. That means lifetime maps. Make sure you know which maps are provided with it.

Make sure it has the full wiring harness with it.

I guess I do have another question or two.

Can I still use GPX files to form routes with the 595? I am not using Basecamp for route development. I have an older method that has worked for years now. But it only develops GPX files that will form the route.

GPX files are also how I sort of file routes away for future use.

Yes definitely. But the 590/595 both introduce via points and shaping points in the gpx file - different from the 660. But if you use a start and end and shaping points for the rest, the 595 will behave in a similar way to the 660. How your routing behaves otherwise will depend very much on which software you use. Basecamp is the best option, but others work - usually with compromises.

Is XM radio an option on this GPS. I have not seen anything that suggests that you can use SiriusXM radio but.....

I am close to pushing the "button" on the purchase. Any feedback would be appreciated.

No - not in the ones that I have had. But we don't have XM in the Uk.

In my opinion, the 590 is a better option. The 595 introduced a couple of minor glitches. But it is still a more predictable unit in my opinion than the XT.

This will give you some additional info about routing with the later Zumos - 59x 34x 39x XTs

viewtopic.php?t=521

[zumokaren]

I'm also considering a Zumo 595 for some upcoming travel. It sounds like it would still work great with my existing GPX files for route planning. Battery life is my main concern if I'll be using it for navigation each day in South Korea https://gowithguide.com/korea Do you think a 595 would be sufficient or should I look for something newer like the XT for better battery performance?

[Oop North John]

I'm also considering a Zumo 595 for some upcoming travel. It sounds like it would still work great with my existing GPX files for route planning. Battery life is my main concern if I'll be using it for navigation each day in South Korea https://gowithguide.com/korea Do you think a 595 would be sufficient or should I look for something newer like the XT for better battery performance?

This year I used a 595 for my 2 weeks bike trip, and occasionally the 595 had glitches, eg losing satellite reception, mapping being inaccurate, and on hairpin bends (there was a lot of them where I was going) there were times when there was a short cut down a side road, which the 595 would have liked me to take - this is more to do with the road speeds than a 595 error. I've tweaked the battery connectors in the 595 and never had an issue with battery life.

Previous two years I took an XT, and on both of them it almost didn't come back due to the routing algorithms being illogical / unhelpful / different to every other Garmin GPSR I've had.

But, the XT has a lovely screen, but for me, trusting the navigation from the device is more important that looks. YMMV.

[jfheath]

For what it is worth.

I had a 590 which I converted to a 595. The 595 displayed lots of the habits that the XT went on to display - but I never noticed them. The 590 didn't.
The 590 in my opinion is the most predictable Zumo that they have ever brought out - in terms of point to point navigation.

I bought the XT. Damaged my 590, and found a cheapish newish 595 to replace it. But by then I had found out how to tame the XT to do what I wanted. Most of which you know about and is well documented on here. I gave my 595 to my brother.
Then I missed having it, so bought another newish cheapish 595 - mainly for reference. Discobered that although you can change a 590 to a 595 by installing the later software, the change to a 590 from a 595 is not so succesful.
Then I found a broken 590 - which had intact the part that was irrepairable on my 590 - the main board. So bought that and repaired my 590.

So I had the 590, 595, XT all fully working - and all came in handy on a course I was delivering for a motorcycle tour company.

I did well to resist buying the XT2, until about 6 weeks ago. Now I know it is a new toy, and I haven't worked out what it does wrong yet. But it behaves much better than the XT. The 590/595 cradle is no longer fitted to the bike. The XT2 cradle is in prime position, the XT cradle sits unused in secondary position.

The XT2 has some new issues. Reports are that it still deomstrates RUT behaviour, but one of the first things I checked was whether the XT2 repsonded to the mImport byte fix. It does. It also responds to the re-saving method - the XT2 has a copy facility to allow a route to be copied and given a different name. That copy has the mImported byte set to '0' - ie a saved route.

My obeservations are that it is much quicker to respond to a deviation from the route - it seems to have some safeguard to stop it from repeatedly finding the closest point which is behind you - But I have yet to test this properly.
It has a different routing algorithm. It doesn't seem to automatically head for the nearest faster road.

My initial feeling is that I like it. It has quirks of course, but nothing so far that I cannot get rounds, and I think it is behaving much better than the XT. The next few weeks will tell when I get some time to plan new test routes.

(The XT has scuppered my favourite test route - It used to recalculate the 'wrong' way, and I would take my preferred way - and that initiated the RUT situation which would wait until is was less than a mile from the next route point before it gave in and calculated ahead. The XT2 calculates the way that I intend to take - and I have no solid test data for that. So I have to start from scratch ....

But I have 4 perfectly good satnavs to choose from. The XT2 is the only one that goes with me at the moment.

It isn't a recommendation. It is probably better than you would read in a magazine, but that sets a pretty low bar !
Just information from me - which may be worth something. Or not.

I keep adding new stuff to that Poll I set up. viewtopic.php?t=2858