| Author | Message | ||
     Ccryder |
I have heard many comments about "wonky" screens on the 450 and 550 Zumos. I have two 550's and one screen/ display has been going down hill over the past year. One option is to send it back to Garmin for a $100 screen/ display replacement or for $150 a total refurbish. The next option is to replace the display and touch screen yourself. I found the procedure here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52 8905 I found the display with touch screen on Ebay for ~$50, shipping included. As promised the seller shipped the display and touch screen from Hong Kong in ~10 days. Twenty mins of unscrewing and playing with real small components completed the job. With a #6 Torx and steady hands it's not a bad job. If anyone needs more info, give me a shout. Neil S. | ||
| Sifo |
I'd be more interested in how to fix the "wonky" directions my Garmin will sometimes give. Try to drive south in IL from one point on 57 to another point on 57 and it will want you take almost any rode but 57.  Good to know about the ability to get your own refurbishment parts though. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Any time my Zumo gives me weirdo directions it's been because I have some setting in Avoidances that I forget about - highways, toll roads, etc. You want wonky? The GPS in my Mazda is nearly worthless. I haven't found a SINGLE POI I've ever looked for... EVER. Not one. And from a park to drive home, I live dead east from it. It was going to send me 10 miles SOUTH, the turns east for a bit, then head back north those 10 miles and then head east to home. Crazy. | ||
| Sifo |
I've tried playing with the avoidance and in some cases it does make a huge difference. Some of the cases I have no idea why it does what it does. I've actually thought about emailing Garmin to ask them why certain routes get such hinky directions. At least I find at least 50% of the POIs. More than once it has lead me up to a two track in the middle of nowhere. A couple of weeks ago in TN I picked a BP station that was supposed to be nearby. As I was getting less than a mile away I remember thinking that this didn't look like an area where I was going to find a gas station. To my amazement right where it took me to, there was a group of pipes sticking out of the ground inside of a small fenced area with a BP sign on the fence! I damn near fell off my bike laughing, but I still NEEDED gas in the middle of I don't know where! Wonderful roads though that I would never have been able to navigate without the GPS. | ||
| Snub13 |
My 550 gives crazy directions sometimes as well. Drives my wife (She uses it for work in the car mount) bonkers. Then when it recalculates is sounds like it's giving you an attitude...WTF! | ||
| Sifo |
One thing I don't understand is that I caught it doing twice on my trip a couple weeks ago... It will suddenly "recalculate" in the middle of a route. It did that once when I was less than a 1/4 mile from a turn it was telling me to take, suddenly "Recalculating" and then told me to go another 12 miles or so and turn. Another time it just recalculated until it came up with a message saying "Cannot calculate route. OK". NO IT'S NOT OK... I FOLLOWED YOU DOWN A FREAKING RODE THAT JUST TURNED INTO A FARMER'S FREAKING DRIVEWAY! NOW I HAVE NO CLUE WHERE I'M AT! | ||
| Snub13 |
Another thing my wife gets pissed about is that sometimes it takes forever to "acquire" a satellite. Anyone else deal with that? | ||
| Sifo |
That can be very model specific and can often be solved with an external antenna. Mine is pretty good for the most part unless I'm indoors. Inside of a car might make things slightly worse than on a MC. | ||
| Ccryder |
I have two 550's purchased about a year apart. One acquires sats quickly, the other can be problematic. If it doesn't acquire in 2-3 min., I turn it off and restart, useally that works. My screen was so bad it would cycle through the various modes by it's self and even into various test modes all w/o a touch from me. I could tap on the center and the lower right would highlight. Besides the touchscreen issue, mine have worked pretty darn good. later Neil S. | ||
| Xl1200r |
I've found that mine takes much longer if it's turned on someplace far away from where it was last used (for instance, when the last place I used it was L.A. and then the next time I turned it on I was in NY). | ||
| Borrowedbike |
Of if the trip log is full. Clear out the trip long and it'll find Sat's much faster. | ||
| Hootowl |
Paul...your move. | ||
| Seanp |
I did that to fix mine, and it worked like a charm. Unfortunately, I must have done something to the audio, as it no longer puts out any sound. So sometime I've got to fix that, although it's been a few months and I haven't missed it *too* much. | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
My Zumo550 sometimes doesnt respond to touch commands. Would replacing the screen cure that or is it a software issue? | ||
| Ccryder |
That's the way mine started and over a year got worse. You can change just the touch screen but it is glued to the display and a PITA to get off and then properly aligned for replacement. For an extra ~$25 you can do both and not have any worries. Neil S. | ||
| Snub13 |
I'm not sure if I've ever saved any thing to the trip log....or does it do that automatically? I'll have to check that out when I get home. Thanks | ||
| Froggy |
Be sure to periodically check for software updates (not the maps). I had some issues a while back that were fixed when I ran the update utility. | ||
| Sifo |
Good point Froggy. Mine isn't out of date though. Checked for updates about a month ago. My biggest complaint is just funky logic choosing routes sometimes. This really confounds me because I've checked against all the big online maps and they all seem far more reasonable with their route selections. Usually it's not a big deal, but I've gotten to playing a game with the Garmin. I just call it outsmart the Garmin. I keep an eye on the shown ETA when I'm about to ignore a turn it tells me to do. Once it's recalculated a new route that incorporates the direction I've chosen I check the new ETA. I've had it literally take hours off of the route the Garmin was suggesting. That was with it's preferences set to select the fastest route and the only avoidances was to avoid ferries. I keep wondering if TomTom is better in this regard. Does anyone have any experience with both systems? I'd love to hear from someone who's seen what my complaint is and can compare to TomTom. | ||
| Sifo |
Just as an example... And I would be interested if someone can duplicate this experiment... I just did a route between two cities Tinley Park, IL to Effingham, IL. My Garmin comes up with a route that starts on 57 gets off and takes your down 49 then eventually jogs back to 57. 57 is a great highway (for the purpose of a highway). The route winds up being 205 miles with an estimated time of 3:46. Compare to the same route by Google maps that goes straight down 57 in 187 miles and an estimated time of 3:19. That's a big difference on a very simple route! Can anyone please try this on their Garmin or better yet a TomTom. I'd really like to confirm if it's just a quirk by model or manufacturer. I've been told that the mapping logic is the same for all the models for a given manufacturer, but don't know any way to confirm. Mine is a Nuvi model 500 or 550, don't recall which one exactly. | ||
| Ccryder |
It automatically saves to the trip log. When it gets full it archives part of it. | ||
| Sifo |
You can clear the trip log data under the My Data menu. I'm not sure if you can turn it off though. I've never notice a difference, but virtually never clear the log. I also don't usually have problems acquiring satellites. | ||
| Tiltcylinder |
Sifo, been lead to many a 'gas' station that was just a weed covered lot (with islands and pipes) or a convenience store that no longer sold gas. Then of course the low fuel light is on and the nearest one is 15 more miles away. Always thrilling. I'm sure the maps in my Mio are at least 6 or 7 years old, occasionally takes me in 'random' directions (off the highway for a few miles, then back onto the same highway) but never gets me lost and the shortcuts down dirt roads are great. | ||
| Ccryder |
I never cleared mine until yesterday. I'll have to see if my other 550 acquies the sats quicker now. It is my older one so that could have been an explaination. The way gas stations/ quick marts open/ close the suggestions from the POI is kinda iffy. Better to be a little conservative than to risk pushing if you are not too familiar with the area you are riding. Time2Ride Neil S. | ||
| Sifo |
Sifo, been lead to many a 'gas' station that was just a weed covered lot (with islands and pipes) or a convenience store that no longer sold gas. Then of course the low fuel light is on and the nearest one is 15 more miles away. Always thrilling. I'm sure the maps in my Mio are at least 6 or 7 years old, occasionally takes me in 'random' directions (off the highway for a few miles, then back onto the same highway) but never gets me lost and the shortcuts down dirt roads are great. I'm mostly OK with the stale data in the POIs. I can understand how and why that happens. Those "short cut" from obvious routes that are far more efficient, while often entertaining when I'm out for fun, are unacceptable for a device that is supposed to help you get efficiently from point A to point B. It has provided some great roads that I never would have worn my tires on otherwise, and some very entertaining lunch discussions with riding buddies about the chosen route. | ||
| Slowride |
Neil, I have a 450 and about 3 months ago after a weekend trip in the rain for all 3 days the screen started to come apart. It wouldn't accept commands and started acting up. I chose the $140 replacement option. They had me a Replacement unit with a different serial in less than 5 days. The unit they sent back just flat out does every thing quicker. The touch screen is sensitive and very responsive. Acquiring sats can be interesting some times, as 9 out of 10 times it finds them within the start up time, but every now and then... it will take about 2 mins. Overall, I am really glad I did the exchange. That would be my vote. | ||
| Froggy |
Sifo, I punched in those two cities, and used the default place it put me, which appears to be Oak Park Ave in Tinley Park, and Willow St in Effingham for the destination (assuming I'm reading it right) Total route is 190 miles, 2h 44 min estimated (which varies based on the average speed it learns). Here is a summary of the directions Left onto 167th st (travel 2.7 miles) Right onto I57 (Travel about 180 miles with no input) Exit 165 right to I57/I70 Exit 162 right to US45 Left on US45 south Left of Fayette Ave Right on Willow St Arive at Effingham on left. Map version City Navigator North America NY 2009 Zumo 550, software ver 4.70 Map detail - most System GPS Mode- WAAS Navigation tab. Route Preference - Faster time. Vehicle type - Car/Motorcycle, Avoidances - Enabled, only "traffic" picked. Recalculation mode - Prompt Hope this helps. This is my second Zumo 550, I also have a Quest and three Nuvi 265WT units, and never had this nav issue. | ||
| Rich |
When my 550 screen acted up a couple years ago(out of warranty), I sent it in and they replaced it free of charge. No problems since. | ||
| Ccryder |
I tried talking with Garmin many times but all I got was the garmin 2-step, try this, try that and more. I tried everything they suggested but to no avail. Finally they offered the $100 or $140 replacement/ refurbishment. I opted for the home remedy and saved MUCH aggravation and at least $60. It works perfectly now and that was the intended result. | ||
| Hammer71 |
I was thinking about this one but havent really checked into it yet http://www.teletype.com/p/3500.html | ||
| Ratbuell |
Hm... My Quest II works just fine. Sure, it's Atari-based...but it works and refuses to die   |
