Zumo XT Review

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McRide

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I think a few of you will be moving to the XT.... for the screen brightness alone. It's well built like the 595 and has a larger screen. Out of the Box, powered up on battery and took the unit into the direct sun, wearing a gray tee-shirt and viewed from all angles... it's as bright as the 595 should have been, very readable, more pixels, very clear. Overall, the XT operates like the 595, but is better on many levels.

Install:

If you have hardwired a 590/595, it's all quite straightforward, but time consuming to route the cables behind the dash, around the battery and thru the fairings on the way to a switched fuzeblock under the saddle.. I considered just using the 595 power cable and exchanging the XT mount but noticed the 'black box' transformer factory wired to the XT cable. As far as I could tell, it's a necessary part of the XT power supply. I also took the opportunity to install a replacement 'black beak', so the whole effort took about 8 hours. Registering, formatting SD Card (3 times), installing 'Garmin Drive' on the phone and Pairing to Android and Sena was no more than a few minutes. All devices are instantly recognized. I loaded MP3's onto a 64GB Mini SD and inserted into the back of the unit but the Music was not showing in the XT Music Player, although it did see the Android BT Music. Took a while to understand that the MP3's needed to be (old school) drag and dropped via the provided USB plugged into the laptop, and then go through loading an XT Drive via the online 'Garmin Express', then finding the XT Drive on the Laptop, open that, then load files into that XT Music folder. There is no instruction on simply transferring files via the included BT or WiFi. Sheesh... Anyway, the tunes sound good and hopefully Garmin will explain how to do this BT/WiFi, including also buying online tunes and direct download to the XT...  maybe?

On a Ride:

The Screen is very responsive, even with gloves without conductive tips. The Icons are right sized for big hands, even though they are smaller than the 595, they are logically organized around the Map screen perimeter. The View Map Screen has an always-on icon to change between 2d and 3d, and topography can be added to both.. nice. Like the 595, a mini Music Player can be shown alongside the Map, or a full Music Player is just one click away. Where the 595 had me sometimes searching for an icon, the XT has that better designed. The Volume Mix for Spoken directions, Music and other Prompts is just one click away from the Map and have separate volume bars. But at 35mph I had 'Karen' telling me how to get to the coast and it was very loud so I lowered her to 50% and hit the freeway. But now she's effectively whispering at 80mph. I can't find a Speed Adjusted Volume option. Maybe you will. I havn't tried any route manipulation but I did pass a turn and Karen repeated herself twice quickly, then recalculated. The mounting 'claw' is not as positive as the 595, but once on, it's like a rock and easily released via button on back. I have the XT attached to the included Ramball/Amp Plate and inserted into a Ramball Collar/Amp Plate (Amazon) to reduce the overly long ball-to-ball connector that comes in the Garmin box. I have it all screwed to a Dash Shelf and the sightline is perfect. It does both portrait and landscape by just turning the unit either way. Did I mention that the screen is bright and instantly readable in both the sun, and grey clouds? A sunshade will not be needed. IMHO, the Zumo XT is a keeper.

 
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