New Garmin Zumo... 590LM

[Fred W]

My point in apologizing was just the neither of us has experience on the new 590 in this regard, only the 2 generations old 550 and 1 generation removed 66X. I do hope to change that soon, but am having trouble finding the change between the sofa cushions for a new 590.

I'm hoping that, considering that they went to the considerable effort to allow screen rotation to portrait format, which is more of an "off-road" useful feature, that they unit will actually handle the off-road use even better than the 550 with its limitations.

 

[RichDoyle]

Getting ready to buy a Micro SD card for music storage. Does anyone who what the LARGEST card you can actively use?

I've had no problem with a 16GB. The 590 manual say that the card must be FAT32 format, which has a nominal limit of 32 GB.

 

[RichDoyle]

The 590 does have some provision for an off-road mode. You could download the manual from Garmin and see what you can see.

 

[Fred W]

Yeah thanks, Rich. I actually did that as soon as they put up the .pdf file.

It is a typical Garmin owners manual, which is to say sparse in details.

 

[Tanker]

I apologize to the OP. We really should have taken this off to another thread, but it may also apply to the 590LM. Time will tell.

No apologies needed Fred.

I'm hoping this GPS goes above and beyond my expectations and finding out what it will be capable of is very important to me.

Now, I just need the 550 to fail and use it as a 20% discount on a trade in.

 

[GalaxyBlue]

Getting ready to buy a Micro SD card for music storage. Does anyone who what the LARGEST card you can actively use?

I've had no problem with a 16GB. The 590 manual say that the card must be FAT32 format, which has a nominal limit of 32 GB.

Yeah, I am sure the 16 will work fine, But with the 128gb on the market, I want to use that for my entire music catalog! I was hoping someone had tried this. I guess i will be the test subject.

 

[RaYzerman19]

I apologize to the OP. We really should have taken this off to another thread, but it may also apply to the 590LM. Time will tell.

No apologies needed Fred.

I'm hoping this GPS goes above and beyond my expectations and finding our what it will be capable of is very important to me.

Now, I just need the 550 to fail and use it as a 20% discount on a trade in.

Consider selling it...... they still fetch $300 or so, which is more than 20% off.......

 

[ionbeam]

Getting ready to buy a Micro SD card for music storage. Does anyone who what the LARGEST card you can actively use?

I've had no problem with a 16GB. The 590 manual say that the card must be FAT32 format, which has a nominal limit of 32 GB.

Yeah, I am sure the 16 will work fine, But with the 128gb on the market, I want to use that for my entire music catalog! I was hoping someone had tried this. I guess i will be the test subject.

32 gig is going to be the maximum size SD card. I shoot a 64 gig in my camera and had to get a new card reader for my computer. If Garmin says FAT32, then 32 gig is all she'll handle.

 

[Tanker]

I apologize to the OP. We really should have taken this off to another thread, but it may also apply to the 590LM. Time will tell.

No apologies needed Fred.

I'm hoping this GPS goes above and beyond my expectations and finding our what it will be capable of is very important to me.

Now, I just need the 550 to fail and use it as a 20% discount on a trade in.

Consider selling it...... they still fetch $300 or so, which is more than 20% off.......

Good point! Perhaps I should just get one and keep the 550 for the sled. Hmmmm,,,,,

 

[Fred W]

That's a pretty good idea. But I have become so attached to my old reliable 550. If the new 590 turns out to be anything like the 660 was, I'd be pissed I ever got rid of the 550. Hmmm...

I think maybe a 2 step upgrade approach may be the wise path. Buy the new one and check it all out, and only if it does turn out to be all that and a bag of chips, only them sell off the 550 to recoup some of the new one's cost.

Back to the sofa cushions...

 

[RichDoyle]

I had been having a problem with my 590 locking up in various ways when using BT headset + iPod interface (via USB) AND the Smartphone link - this last being the determining factor. Communicated with Garmin about it, which they couldn't seem to reproduce. But the most recent 590 SW update seems to have cured this problem. (There seem to be SW updates every week right now.)

 

[TomInPA]

I got the weather and traffic apps. The weather app gives live radar for the area as well as alerts and road conditions. The radar image can be animated to show tracks of storms or precipitation moving through your route. The app works as long as you have service to your phone, so in remote areas, you will be without coverage, but for most locations I ride there is enough data coverage to keep the situation updated. For $4.99 this is less than one-month of XM weather and as long as there is data, the information seems comparable.

I have not tried out the the traffic app on the road, but what I see so far is that construction and road closures locally are shown as well as speed and traffic issues on local roads that FM traffic does not even cover. So far, the traffic information seems very dense. Traffic information is also contingent on cell service, but anyplace that traffic is a concern, that shouldn't be a problem. $14.99 is kind of expensive for an app, but if the information is good, not a problem. I'll get out and check the on-the-road effectiveness soon.

 

[TomInPA]

Screenshot of weather data. The arrow in the upper left corner animates the radar image. Weather data comes in from both U.S. weather service and Environment Canada. For some reason, I was getting the EC feed today during the rain showers in the area. In addition to the radar screen, there is also road conditions (wet, snow/ice, and other), and alert areas. The information is only available on the Garmin unit, with much less information being displayed on the phone. Maximum zoom for weather data is 12 miles, and default zoom is 20 miles as shown below.

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks for all the info Tom. I will probably be getting this unit sometime in the future. I like the WxRadar overlay, but sure wish it had higher resolution.

 

[Fred W]

Agreed that the Wx overlay is pretty low res, but I imagine that is intentional to keep data transfers (And charges) to a minimum, and it seems like it will get the job done. What about greater than 20 miles? Seems like the wider shots will be most useful to see what is coming your way.

 

[TomInPA]

Agreed that the Wx overlay is pretty low res, but I imagine that is intentional to keep data transfers (And charges) to a minimum, and it seems like it will get the job done. What about greater than 20 miles? Seems like the wider shots will be most useful to see what is coming your way.

You can zoom out to the 50 mi scale. I have no idea what the area displayed is, but I'd guess 250 radius miles. For me that shows all of Western PA, Ohio, WV and part of New York. It's a good macro-pic of the weather and road situation. Oh yeah, I finally figured out the screenshot function.

 

[TomInPA]

Getting ready to buy a Micro SD card for music storage. Does anyone who what the LARGEST card you can actively use?

I've had no problem with a 16GB. The 590 manual say that the card must be FAT32 format, which has a nominal limit of 32 GB.

GPS City reports that the 590 can handle and index a 32 and 64 GB SD cards. That should take care of a trip.

 

[indiojoe]

Has anyone had charging problems? Unless my 590 battery is fairly well charged it does not stay on while connected to the craddle mount while riding, If it is charged my bikes charging system takes over and it works fine,

Thanks

 

[Biquer]

How about routing quirks, has it inherited the 550 and 660 trick of taking you off a road and bringing you back onto the same road for no reason or inserting ghost detours etc etc? Or is it a first for Garmin and it does what you ask it to?

 

[Fred W]

That last bit is due to the way the route was setup, not the GPSes fault. You have to zoom in and look at where the route shaping points are landing when you place them. The other reason it will do that is because it thinks that way is faster or shorter distance (depending on what you have selected in defaults)