New Garmin Zumo... 590LM

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I installed the 590 over the weekend, I added it to my J& M system, which means even more wires. I put the J& M Bluetooth in the grove box and most of the wires under the gas tank above the heat shield. Everything works really good. The sound through J&M is great. The problem i ran into was the tire monitor. The value stems I use are the metal L shaped . The Sensor on the front sticks out to far, when the wheel turns it does not clear the brake unit. It calls for a metal tire stem, Who has a straight stem? Have anyone else had this problem?

Thank you for all the input on the 590.

 
I recently installed the T-stems from tpms.ca..... allows the sensor to sit on top in between the calipers and the short part of the tee sticking sideways. Benefit here is you don't have to remove the sensors to add air.

Previously I had 90 degree that came with the Doran system, but they are too tall and stick out to hit the calipers..... ran with them at about 45 degrees to clear the caliper, and had to mount the front sensor inside the tire.... OK except when you want to change a sensor or remove a sensor (for storage season) or in your case, the batteries in the sensor...... with the T-stems all is EZPZ.

 
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I have had a 550 for 8 years. An annoying feature is it when it imports a track it will do so by creating a route based on the internal map installed. It may or may not be true to the track / breadcrumb.

Off pavement riders need the ability to import a track / breadcrumb without messing it up. The Garmin 476c was the gold standard for GPS and had this ability.

Does the 590 alter tracks as the 550 does?

Yeah I maybe on the wrong forum - may have to check out the AV forum. Someday I'd like to get a dual sport bike again - maybe a WR250R set up for serious dual sport riding and I want a GPS that works for that too.

 
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The zumo 550 will always recalculate any route that it imports that was not originated on the same version maps as what is running on the gps at the time of import. Even if you take an older route and recalculate it on the current maps version before sending it to the device, it will still recalculate. It has a maps version tag buried somewhere in route code that triggers this.

The 66X series zumos did the same thing and I suspect that the 590 will too.

For importing those tracks that you don't want t o be changed, you might try this:

Go into your zumo setup and change the Navigation settings, Route Preference, to "Off Road". When / if it recalculates on import it will not attempt to snap the route to the closest road, or reroute it when it doesn't think that one exists. I'm not positive, but it may not even recalculate it at all.

As always, you should leave the recalculate mode set to either "Off" or "Prompted", but that will not affect the recalculate that occurs on import..

You might also want to get hold of a copy of the US 24K topo maps for your part of the US (they are not key protected like the street maps are) and load those on both your computer and your GPS. If you need some help doing that (the loading) let me know by PM. I have the Northeast US loaded on mine and it actually runs them pretty well. You select to either run the topos or the street maps, not both. Though the topos do also have most roads included, it doesn't have any POIs like fuel, hotels, businesses, etc. Just mountains, lakes, streams, trails, etc.

 
You might also want to get hold of a copy of the US 24K topo maps for your part of the US (they are not key protected like the street maps are) and load those on both your computer and your GPS.
Where might one get that map? I'm being lazy here as I'm at work, but is that available on the Garmin site? After picking up a DR650 I'm looking at my 550 doing both street and off road use.

 
You might also want to get hold of a copy of the US 24K topo maps for your part of the US (they are not key protected like the street maps are) and load those on both your computer and your GPS.
Where might one get that map? I'm being lazy here as I'm at work, but is that available on the Garmin site? After picking up a DR650 I'm looking at my 550 doing both street and off road use.
I used to have a DL1000 and took it off pavement frequently. Tracks created by others and generally available on the web such as the Backroad Discovery routes are available. The problem with the 550 is it will not import the track accurately. When the 550 imports the track it creates a route based on the internal map.

Heaven help you if the track includes road or trails not included in the map in your GPS. The stupid thing would not accurately import a track I laid down.

Let's say a 1 mile section of road is missing in the internal map. The GPS will create a route going back and forth to the ends of the road in the internal map. Imagine a circle that is 2 degrees from being complete say 358 degrees. The GPS will take you from 1 to 358 degrees because it does not know the way from 358 to 360 degrees.

The Zumo 550 is not a good offroad GPS. I believe the Garmin Montana might be the way to go. The AV rider forum might be a good place to start research.

Over the years I did see a big improvement in the maps. More gravel road were included making the 550 a bit more useful to follow gravel roads but if the road is not in the map you will need some good paper maps and local knowledge.

I sold my Vstrom and only have the FJR so the 550 is fine for my current activity. If I go dually again the 550 will not be with me.

 
Fontanaman, Copy that. Thanks. I've got a friend who recently picked up a Montana. I'll check that out as well as getting his topo map
smile.png


 
You might also want to get hold of a copy of the US 24K topo maps for your part of the US (they are not key protected like the street maps are) and load those on both your computer and your GPS.
Where might one get that map? I'm being lazy here as I'm at work, but is that available on the Garmin site? After picking up a DR650 I'm looking at my 550 doing both street and off road use.
I used to have a DL1000 and took it off pavement frequently. Tracks created by others and generally available on the web such as the Backroad Discovery routes are available. The problem with the 550 is it will not import the track accurately. When the 550 imports the track it creates a route based on the internal map.

Heaven help you if the track includes road or trails not included in the map in your GPS. The stupid thing would not accurately import a track I laid down.

Let's say a 1 mile section of road is missing in the internal map. The GPS will create a route going back and forth to the ends of the road in the internal map. Imagine a circle that is 2 degrees from being complete say 358 degrees. The GPS will take you from 1 to 358 degrees because it does not know the way from 358 to 360 degrees.

The Zumo 550 is not a good offroad GPS. I believe the Garmin Montana might be the way to go. The AV rider forum might be a good place to start research.

Over the years I did see a big improvement in the maps. More gravel road were included making the 550 a bit more useful to follow gravel roads but if the road is not in the map you will need some good paper maps and local knowledge.

I sold my Vstrom and only have the FJR so the 550 is fine for my current activity. If I go dually again the 550 will not be with me.

Did you read my prior post?

Ever try importing any of those routes with the Route Preferences set to Off Road?

Ever load the topo maps?

I don't think the 550 does all that bad off-road. No it is not a Montana, but it is useable and it's better than the Montana for onroad stuff. YMMV

 
Fred, I did read your prior post. I have attended GPS seminiars and it is a well know fact the Zumo 550 has the limitations I have noted.

I have the Western USA 2008 100k topo map installed in my Zumo's onboard memory. The entire thing will not fit. The topo maps do not support routing but are useful for finding campsites and looking at terrain.

 
Yes, I'm aware of the memory limitations of the onboard memory. You have to load the topos onto an SD card if yopu also want to have street maps. I load all of my maps (entire NA street and Northeast 24K topos) onto a single SD card using this procedure and it takes up less than 4GB, leaving 4 GB for music MP3's or whatever on an 8GB card.

I have and use the 24K topo maps and I can route on them fine. Of course you don't get the entire US when you go to 24K detail. Running the 24K topos on the zumo is OK too. You just need to switch to "Track up" or "North Up" view otherwise the contour lines look crappy with 3D view.

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.

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

 
Yes, I'm aware of the memory limitations of the onboard memory. You have to load the topos onto an SD card if yopu also want to have street maps. I load all of my maps (entire NA street and Northeast 24K topos) onto a single SD card using this procedure and it takes up less than 4GB, leaving 4 GB for music MP3's or whatever on an 8GB card.
I have and use the 24K topo maps and I can route on them fine. Of course you don't get the entire US when you go to 24K detail. Running the 24K topos on the zumo is OK too. You just need to switch to "Track up" or "North Up" view otherwise the contour lines look crappy with 3D view.

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.
I see no reason to not have this conversation here Fred. Some folks may have expectations of the new product that we have covered here. It is good to know what your product delivers and what it won't.

 

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