Zumo 550 to Zumo 665

[cyclemed]

Hi All

I have two Zumo 550's both with GXM30 antennas for XM, traffic and weather. Both 550's have been replaced at least once through the Garmin refurb program. On one of them, the touch screen is acting up and Garmin tells me they are now discontinued and cannot do refurbs. My questions:

1. Is it worth buying a screen on ebay and repairing myself? What kind of success have you had? Best place to order from, etc.

2. At this point should I just get a new 665 with XM? Probably would get two do I have the same set up as before.

3. If I do #2, can I get the 660 and use my GXM30 or do I need to order the 665 which comes with the GXM40

4. By chance are the power cables the same for the 550 cradle as the 665 cradle or will I need to rip apart two bike again to reinstall.

Thanks for the info as I am sure many of uou have gone through this already.

 

[Big-B]

The 660 does not have XM, if you want XM you need to go with the 665. Of course the cradles are different they make more money that way.

 

[cyclemed]

Thanks. I saw the cradles are different as the unit cases are not the same. Was wondering the the power cables are the same so I can use the same one already wired for the 550. Plus I have my J&M CB2003 wired to the old cradle as well so I can just swap that out.

Thanks

 

[Mudslide Miller]

That's the one thing I hate about the 665 over my old 2820. The power cable to the 665 is hard wired to the cradle so the cradle lives on the bike with only the option of putting a waterproof cover on it when you're not using the Zumo. Love the GPS, hate the mount. Dumbest set-up ever!! Garmin had their head up their arse when they designed this one.

 

[SilverHound]

That's the one thing I hate about the 665 over my old 2820. The power cable to the 665 is hard wired to the cradle so the cradle lives on the bike with only the option of putting a waterproof cover on it when you're not using the Zumo. Love the GPS, hate the mount. Dumbest set-up ever!! Garmin had their head up their arse when they designed this one.

^^^^Agree 100%. As said, unfortunately there is no way/no how to use the 550 cable with the 660/665.

 

[RaYzerman19]

Fix the 550! EZ to do if you buy the assembly (digitizer + LCD screen). I'm not a fan of the 66x series, the 550's work great, higher resolution/brighter screen although it's smaller. Save your pennies for that 590 one day............

 

[Fontanaman]

Fix the 550! EZ to do if you buy the assembly (digitizer + LCD screen). I'm not a fan of the 66x series, the 550's work great, higher resolution/brighter screen although it's smaller. Save your pennies for that 590 one day............

+1 and here is how I did it.

 

[ndivita]

Thanks in part to the analysis seen in this forum I have opted to take a bit of a step backward. I had a Zumo 450 for 6 years. Worked great. Then I got a Gold Wing with factory navigation. I gave the Zumo to my brother before I fully grasped how awful the Honda factory nav worked and how practically unusable it was. Then I tried valiantly to turn a Nexus 7 tablet into a dedicated motorcycle GPS. That experiment failed but taught me a lot. I've dismissed the 660 and 665. I've dismissed the 590 and 350. I've dismissed the Tom Tom. Too pricey and/or balky and/or overdone with features I don't need or want. That leaves.... A nice used 550 complete with mounting and power hardware. Seems to tick all the boxes. Should arrive today. Yes it may be an unsupported device in the eyes of Garmin but something tells me it will serve my purposes.

 

[Fontanaman]

Thanks in part to the analysis seen in this forum I have opted to take a bit of a step backward. forward. That leaves.... A nice used 550 complete with mounting and power hardware. Seems to tick all the boxes. Should arrive today. Yes it may be an unsupported device in the eyes of Garmin but something tells me it will serve my purposes.

Fixed it for ya. A good 550 is the best options for sure. As long as my 550 is running a fixable I will keep it. I got Lifetime maps and beside that what other support is need from Garmin? None!

Enjoy your 550.

 

[ndivita]

I'm hopeful the used 550 unit I receive today is fit as a fiddle. If so it should do the job. My effort to convert a tablet to a motorcycle GPS did for that project what the Hindenburg did for travel by zeppelin minus the fire.

 

[TechJunkie]

The screen on my 550 delaminated and then one day just quit working while on a trip with my wife. I bought the kit on ebay and fixed it myself. It is still water tight and touch sensitivity works like it did new. I am 100% satisfied with my 550.

 

[ndivita]

The screen on my 550 delaminated and then one day just quit working while on a trip with my wife. I bought the kit on ebay and fixed it myself. It is still water tight and touch sensitivity works like it did new. I am 100% satisfied with my 550.

I hope mine does not face that issue, at least now, but if it does, I may be contacting you!

 

[RaYzerman19]

I'd say order a spare LCD/digitizer and keep it around....... if yours hasn't been replaced or you don't know the history..... you'll need it one day.

 

[ndivita]

Zumo 550 received, updated, connected and mounted. While the music feature is clunky and delivers poor audio quality, the unit is otherwise just what the doctor ordered. I'll use the iPhone and the Sena for tunes. Great sound there. The phone integration is nice. A couple of power connector screws and a thumb security screw are on the way. 16 gig SD card allows full map coverage. Back to the future. So easy to hook up securely.