WARNING - Garmin Zumo XT hot-shoe connector weakness

[simoncrewe]

There is also Bert Klein, a Dutch guy who printing covers on demand, normally black or with logo. Find him @ Dutch XT facebook, or b.klein@chello.nl

That is the guy who made mine, good quality & arrived in about 2 weeks.

[mastercore]

Nice little side hussle for the bling boys

[Oop North John]

Nice little side hussle for the bling boys

Not seen any on ebay, yet!

Plastic bag will be getting used I think until something more aesthetically pleasing is available

[mito]

You're not alone.
Defect on arrival, one week ago, and still waiting for a solution from reseller or Garmin Support...

Find here an image of my stuck "PONGO pin" and damaged rubber seal: https://www.bmwmotos.com/foro/attachmen ... pg.201521/

It has zero minutes use... defective on arrival.

[mastercore]

So it is time for an update on my support case with the pin damage on the hot-shoe of the Garmin Zumo XT powered cradle.

Its been 2 weeks since I started this thread and probably a few day more since I began my support case with Garmin about this.

I was juggled between Garmin international to Garmin Germany support. (I prefer to deal with international support staff because I am a native English speaker living in Switzerland). The German support also took some time to comprehend my case (don't know if this was due to my poor German or something more deliberate from them)

About 4 days ago they acknowledged that this part has failed and they will send me a new one.
I responded in a calm, respectful, but stern way that a cable replacement is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my inconvenience due to this problem. I am off course referring to installation cost. To install that cable cost more than half of the Zumo XT itself!
By the time the cable is replaced, it will surpass the cost of the unit!

I thought it noteworthy right now to mention that in general do not expect prompt replys from Garmin Support.
I answered all their replies within 6h, but they take about 3-5 days to react.

So it is now over 2 weeks and I have not seen a replacement cable.
I have a tour coming and thought there would be plenty of time to get a new cable in before departure, but I did not account for the lethargic support.

Finally, I suggested to them that a win/win solution that would temper my reaction on social media and on forums like this would be if they were to go some way to compensate for the high cost of cable re-installation by giving some credits toward digital downloads.

They came back with a very emphatic reply that this is not possible because of their policy!


So in summary,
- they have pledged a new cable to me, but it is still not in hand, so I still can't install it. This is despite me telling them of the time issue.
- they have carefully avoided acknowledging that there is any systematic problem with this connector despite there being already several others that have come forward in this thread with the problem.
- they are loathed to acknowledge or admit that this part represents a substantial installation investment for motorcyclists, so would be nice to hear some kind of recognition of this fact.
- considering they have digital products on sale which do not represent any fixed cost of sale, it would be easy for them to give a coupon toward a digital download to go some way to compensate for this weak design.



So be warned those that come across this thread while still in the analyzing phase for the Garmin Zumo XT.

I want to be clear that I am pretty happy with the device and it does what I want it to do. Navigate me along GPX tracks, and record GPX tracks.
I have to say that doing street navigation works IF the Garmin can find the address, and so far it has disappointing in that regard several times, but then again I feel it a little unfair because I compare it to my experiences with Google maps.

[simoncrewe]

So it is time for an update on my support case with the pin damage on the hot-shoe of the Garmin Zumo XT powered cradle.

Its been 2 weeks since I started this thread and probably a few day more since I began my support case with Garmin about this.

I was juggled between Garmin international to Garmin Germany support. (I prefer to deal with international support staff because I am a native English speaker living in Switzerland). The German support also took some time to comprehend my case (don't know if this was due to my poor German or something more deliberate from them)

About 4 days ago they acknowledged that this part has failed and they will send me a new one.
I responded in a calm, respectful, but stern way that a cable replacement is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my inconvenience due to this problem. I am off course referring to installation cost. To install that cable cost more than half of the Zumo XT itself!
By the time the cable is replaced, it will surpass the cost of the unit!

I thought it noteworthy right now to mention that in general do not expect prompt replys from Garmin Support.
I answered all their replies within 6h, but they take about 3-5 days to react.

So it is now over 2 weeks and I have not seen a replacement cable.
I have a tour coming and thought there would be plenty of time to get a new cable in before departure, but I did not account for the lethargic support.

Finally, I suggested to them that a win/win solution that would temper my reaction on social media and on forums like this would be if they were to go some way to compensate for the high cost of cable re-installation by giving some credits toward digital downloads.

They came back with a very emphatic reply that this is not possible because of their policy!


So in summary,
- they have pledged a new cable to me, but it is still not in hand, so I still can't install it. This is despite me telling them of the time issue.
- they have carefully avoided acknowledging that there is any systematic problem with this connector despite there being already several others that have come forward in this thread with the problem.
- they are loathed to acknowledge or admit that this part represents a substantial installation investment for motorcyclists, so would be nice to hear some kind of recognition of this fact.
- considering they have digital products on sale which do not represent any fixed cost of sale, it would be easy for them to give a coupon toward a digital download to go some way to compensate for this weak design.



So be warned those that come across this thread while still in the analyzing phase for the Garmin Zumo XT.

I want to be clear that I am pretty happy with the device and it does what I want it to do. Navigate me along GPX tracks, and record GPX tracks.
I have to say that doing street navigation works IF the Garmin can find the address, and so far it has disappointing in that regard several times, but then again I feel it a little unfair because I compare it to my experiences with Google maps.

I am very sorry that you & indeed many others have had this failure & totally agree that Garmin should foot the bill in terms of labour to replace the cable. I am dreading my failing, but I am sure it will happen.
I am surprised however, that you thought they were going to admit the problem & indeed cover the cost to have the new cable installed, unfortunately that was never going to happen.
I used to work for a major German car manufacturer & they never or very rarely admitted product failings.
My major concern is that Garmin need to sort this problem swiftly, as I would imagine the replacement cables that they are dishing out at the moment will fail also. I am in the lucky situation that I can renew the cables myself, but it is an hour or so of my time.
Like you, I am really happy with such a great unit, sadly let down by a stupid component failure - where have I heard that before?

[mastercore]

I am a furniture designer so I work regularly with parts testing and life cycle analysis.
If I were the designer at Garmin overlooking the Zumo XT, and I had a cable connector pin failure like that during testing, this would have been a huge red flag. The unit is intended for motorcycle use and it would not take a genius to figure out that most customers would install the cable as nicely as possible, i.e. build it into the bike faring etc...
This would mean a weakness in this cable would represented a much larger impact on the customer side than just the weakness itself. Sending out a new cable to sufferers of this defect would not deflect bad feelings toward the company.

If it were me, I would have either:

• refocused efforts to improve quality of the cable pins / or some mitigating steps to prevent them from so easly being damaged, or

• redesigned the cable so the part that is integrated into the bike does not need to be ALL replaced in the case of a failed pin. Maybe splitting the cable and installing a waterproof connector right up close to the hot-shoe plug. If a pin breaks, unplug it and replace it yourself.

Off course honesty is a pre-requisite to address problems with product failures properly. It also usually works pretty good with customers in general.

[mastercore]

The posti just made his rounds and delivered the replacement cable. It must have already been in transit when I posted yesterday.

At least I can not get my defect cable replaced before my tour.


I feel this is the last time I hear from Garmin on this issue, unless I push it.
then again, I expect they will invite me to fill out some satisfaction survey, the results of which will be promptly binned and not counted in their corporate customer satisfaction statistics.

[simoncrewe]

The posti just made his rounds and delivered the replacement cable. It must have already been in transit when I posted yesterday.

At least I can not get my defect cable replaced before my tour.


I feel this is the last time I hear from Garmin on this issue, unless I push it.
then again, I expect they will invite me to fill out some satisfaction survey, the results of which will be promptly binned and not counted in their corporate customer satisfaction statistics.

As I have convinced myself that my cable will eventually fail, especially as I have started using the bike again post lock down, I have purchased an angled USB cable to use in the event of it failing on a trip & leaving me in the lurch.

Disaster planning!

[mastercore]

Should simply not be like this gentlemen.