Zumo 396 music ability

[Sleuth]

Hi all,

Sorry this is on the Zumo 395 page, but the Zumo 396 is not (yet) in existence. Please feel free to move it as required.

I am in the process of switching from the BMW Nav IV to a more modern Zumo.

One of the requirements is the ability to play music via an onboard player. (If it can stream via Bluetooth, I will end up with no phone and it will die when I need it the most,)

Does anyone know if the 396 can play music via an onboard player or just stream it?

Thanks very much and best regards
Sleuth

[electro_handyman]

What I have read of the 396, it is basically a 395 with WIFI.
According to the user manual, the Media Player app in the zumo will play music stored on the zumo, or from a bluetooth connection, or Pandora via a wifi link.

Here's a link for the manuals(U.S. version):
https://support.garmin.com/support/manu ... country=US

[Sleuth]

Thanks for the reply.

The 396 appears to be a stage up from the 395.

Hopefully it wil be better with telephone than the BMW Navigator IV.

Thanks & best regards
Sleuth

[Sleuth]

Hi, status update.

I will be updating from the Nav IV to the 396, at some point sooner rather than later.

The biggest surprise was who is doing it.
I asked for quotes from:

• An independent Garmin dealer, who seemed to be an expert in Sena & Garmin (at least they have resolved my issues.)
  An Independant BMW garage close by
  Also the Authorised BMW dealer.

I expected the BMW dealer to offer the latest BMW Nav VI (€1000 + fitting) and suggest that it was the best one for me. However they stated the 396 was the better option for my model BMW, and unless I was looking at replacing her not the best option. BMW Dealer Not wanting lots of money! The price they quoted was in line with the independent BMW Garage, also as they know the bike I have faith they will do a good job, so they get the contract.

While it does not hurt to get various quotes, sometimes the ones you expect to be expensive & outsiders can surprise you. Don't dismiss someone just because they are likely to be expensive.


Now I have to search out a replacement intercom for next year ...

[radarusa]

Hello Everyone, Just picked up a Zumo 396 and trying to figure how all the goodies work

[Sleuth]

Hi Radar,

I have made the jump, and ordered it from the local BMW garage, currently the 396 is out of stock in the general vicinity. What are your initial thoughts on it? How well does the bracket hold the GPS? etc etc

Best regards
Sleuth

[radarusa]

Hi Sleuth, well the bracket is really the same as the Zumo 660 series, but the release button is now on the underside,I have not had any problems so far. I found the best deal for me was Amazon, I started a credit card with them and got another 70.00 off the price, so at this point a real win for me. The MP3 player seems just fine, but, I stuck with the old MP3 folder format, 20 songs per folder, yep, 3940 songs, all special charters removed from all MP3 tags and right now my SD Card has 197 MP3 Folders. It is a 64Gig SD card. The music plays just fine here on the desk and I would expect the same thing on the bike.

I had problems with my Zumo 660 playing MP3's and randomly they would skip, I just recently reformatted the SD Card using SDCard.org formatter and the MP3's on the Zumo 660 have not skipped since. So, I did use the SD Formatter on the new SD Card I have in the Zumo 396. The display is smaller than the Zumo 660 but it is square which gives it the appearance that it is bigger. Overall, so far I am happy with it, I have a few trips coming up so we shall see how well it really works.

[Sleuth]

Hi Radar,

Thanks for the report.

To upload I use the Sync function on Windows Media. This creates folders based on Artist, album etc so I never get more than a few per folder.

I also have experience the skip effect, or worse still the auto shutdown. I will give the formatter from SDCard.org a shot, and see what happens.

I am surprised that the screen size is smaller, as I thought it was the same.

Best rgeards
Sleuth

[Harald]

I'm currently using a Zumo 660 but am considering an upgrade to the 395.
On the 660 I had many seperate folders by artist and album so no problems with playing music. I did have random shutdown problems until I figured out that I had a couple MP3's that were corrupted and would cause the 660 to fail. Regrettably, I don't remember what scan program I used to ferret out the bad files but I do know that I had no more problems after deleting the offending files. Something to look for.....

[Harald]

The music plays just fine here on the desk and I would expect the same thing on the bike.

Let us know if it works. I have a report from someone on the FJRforum that it won't work off a SD card - it only works from internal memory. That would be crazy if true. The 395 manual is not clear whether music can be on the SD card.