cyclemed
Well-known member
Hello All:
It appears the time has come to upgrade my two Zumo 550's to either the 665 or the 590. My 550's have the GXM30 and I use the XM Radio every time I ride. Traffic and weather are nice but not necessary. Here is my question for those of you who have had to make this same choice.
1. The 665 has Radar Weather vs Cartoon Weather of the 550 so I suppose it is more useful than the 550 weather. Is it worth retaining and getting the 665?
2. The 665 has XM which I use almost exclusively when I ride and in my cars that don't have XM. I could leave the 550's in the cars but I still think I want XM on the bikes. The 590 has Pandora capability and would involve streaming but data plans do not support all day streaming.
3. The 590 uses the newer operating system and supposedly is better at routing and such.
4. The GXM40 antenna is now discontinued meaning I can buy new but will be hard to find as a replacement if something happens to it. This was done as of June 2015. By comparison the GXM30 went obsolete January 2015. Apparently Garmin is getting out of the XM business and developing their own technology for music interface such as Pandora with your smart phone.
Overall the 665 with GXM40 is $699 MSRP and available cheaper while the 590 is $899 also available cheaper. Torn between getting the 665 as an upgrade to the 550 and retaining XM, traffic and weather or the 590. Let me know your thoughts as I am sure many of you had the same thinking.
Thanks,
It appears the time has come to upgrade my two Zumo 550's to either the 665 or the 590. My 550's have the GXM30 and I use the XM Radio every time I ride. Traffic and weather are nice but not necessary. Here is my question for those of you who have had to make this same choice.
1. The 665 has Radar Weather vs Cartoon Weather of the 550 so I suppose it is more useful than the 550 weather. Is it worth retaining and getting the 665?
2. The 665 has XM which I use almost exclusively when I ride and in my cars that don't have XM. I could leave the 550's in the cars but I still think I want XM on the bikes. The 590 has Pandora capability and would involve streaming but data plans do not support all day streaming.
3. The 590 uses the newer operating system and supposedly is better at routing and such.
4. The GXM40 antenna is now discontinued meaning I can buy new but will be hard to find as a replacement if something happens to it. This was done as of June 2015. By comparison the GXM30 went obsolete January 2015. Apparently Garmin is getting out of the XM business and developing their own technology for music interface such as Pandora with your smart phone.
Overall the 665 with GXM40 is $699 MSRP and available cheaper while the 590 is $899 also available cheaper. Torn between getting the 665 as an upgrade to the 550 and retaining XM, traffic and weather or the 590. Let me know your thoughts as I am sure many of you had the same thinking.
Thanks,