Zumo 550 woes

[Joevelocity]

After a couple rainy days at the EOM this year (yeah next time I will bring a cover), my Zumo base took some rain or warping damage, even with the flimsy rubber-magnetic cover over the connection leads. To be honest I am not 100% sure this is water related versus just temperature, or faulty base-related.

I now have power cutting in and out and audio only in the right ear unless I press on the base of the Zumo mount to force a harder connection. Very Aggravating. I have no problems with it on the car mount - FYI

I now have a message into Garmin Support to see if they can replace it...I have had the unit about 6 months.

Wondering if any one else with a Zumo 550 has had such issues? Or if anyone had any advice on the best way to get Garmin to pony up a replacement base.

Thanks for any info.

 

[FuzzyRider]

I don't have any direct experience with Garmin but a friend here at work has called Garmin support and got a new rubber protector cap and a new security screwdriver for free. They seemed to be very easy to work with.

 

[jwilly]

This is a known problem and Garmin will just send you a new bike mount with no questions asked. Someone at EOM told me about this and now I'm having the same issue that started yesterday.

To whoever told me that: Thanks

JW

 

[mdisher]

Garmin replaced my mount free of charge all it took was a phone call.

I understand it does depend on which support rep you get, but it does help to play nice.

My issues were:

- Rubber covers rotted off.

- Lost my Security Screw.

- Base no longer made reliable connection to unit. It seem to expand too much when it was warm after say sitting in a parking lot. I'd have to squeeze the mount to get static free audio.

The mounts were back ordered but I did get it in a couple of weeks.

Most of these issues are common to some generation of mounts which apparently they have changed.

During EOM I too got water in mine and it dicked up the XM radio at the connector for Saturday and half of Sunday's ride. Was fine home on Monday.

I too will cover mine with a baggie if it's being left out just in case.

 

[Foxhuntr]

Mine has had an issue with just going dead after a couple of long days. They sent me replacement batteries which fixed the problem for a while. I then discovered that if I took the battery out and reseated it the problem went away, so now I'm after them to replace/repair my unit and they aren't being quite as responsive.

When I got extra base units for my wife's bike and my second bike they didn't include two little cable screws I needed and they sent those right away.

Oh, and two of my base units had the rubber caps break off, so my wife took some backpack strapping material and made new straps which are much more durable and look pretty good too.

Generally I give their customer service a B or B+.

 

[twowheelnut]

Hmmmm, faulty bases you say? Interesting. Might explain the sudden development of sporadic static with my unit.

Thanks for the info, gents.

 

[jwilly]

Hmmmm, faulty bases you say? Interesting. Might explain the sudden development of sporadic static with my unit.
Thanks for the info, gents.

That's how it starts, at least in my case. When you get the static move the unit around in the base and see if it goes away?

JW

 

[mdisher]

Hmmmm, faulty bases you say? Interesting. Might explain the sudden development of sporadic static with my unit.
Thanks for the info, gents.

That's how it starts, at least in my case. When you get the static move the unit around in the base and see if it goes away?

JW

And or squeeze it top to bottom and see if it clears up for a short amount of time :/

 

[Joevelocity]

And or squeeze it top to bottom and see if it clears up for a short amount of time :/

That is exactly what fixed mine....until the next bump. :angry:

 

[twowheelnut]

Yep and yep did those suggestions. I took some contact cleaner to it yesterday - that helped a bit. I gotta wonder what Garmin is thinking about with a flat surface contact area. Seems to me that this would invite problems.

 

[Lake Powell]

After a couple rainy days at the EOM this year (yeah next time I will bring a cover), my Zumo base took some rain or warping damage, even with the flimsy rubber-magnetic cover over the connection leads. To be honest I am not 100% sure this is water related versus just temperature, or faulty base-related.
I now have power cutting in and out and audio only in the right ear unless I press on the base of the Zumo mount to force a harder connection. Very Aggravating. I have no problems with it on the car mount - FYI

I now have a message into Garmin Support to see if they can replace it...I have had the unit about 6 months.

Wondering if any one else with a Zumo 550 has had such issues? Or if anyone had any advice on the best way to get Garmin to pony up a replacement base.

Thanks for any info.

I had the rubber connector cover also rot and cracked off. I also had the same situation with the audio cutting out, I sprayed some silicone lubricant on the pins on the mount and made sure they could easily extend and make contact with the Garmin. Since then I havn't had any problems

 

[nitelife]

To whoever told me that: Thanks
JW

Yer welcome!

New base is much better. Better rubber cap and the security screw does not work its way down on its own.

A couple of you know that my Zumo died at EOM. Well, it never came back to life. I suspected the 5 hours of rain I rode in did it. I called Garmin on Monday and was given a RA & UPS # to send it back. I boxed it up and mailed it on Tuesday. On Friday a brand new retail box was on my doorstep. They shipped it Tuesday before they even received my old one. Now I have a spare cradle just in case :yahoo:

 

[dcarver]

After a couple rainy days at the EOM this year (yeah next time I will bring a cover), my Zumo base took some rain or warping damage, even with the flimsy rubber-magnetic cover over the connection leads. To be honest I am not 100% sure this is water related versus just temperature, or faulty base-related.
I now have power cutting in and out and audio only in the right ear unless I press on the base of the Zumo mount to force a harder connection. Very Aggravating. I have no problems with it on the car mount - FYI

I now have a message into Garmin Support to see if they can replace it...I have had the unit about 6 months.

Wondering if any one else with a Zumo 550 has had such issues? Or if anyone had any advice on the best way to get Garmin to pony up a replacement base.

Thanks for any info.

I had the rubber connector cover also rot and cracked off. I also had the same situation with the audio cutting out, I sprayed some silicone lubricant on the pins on the mount and made sure they could easily extend and make contact with the Garmin. Since then I havn't had any problems

Me too. I also took a pink eraser to the contact pads then applied some Cramolin red to it.

 

[Joevelocity]

Just wanted to close the topic. I got a response from Garmin techincal support today. The product specialist did say this is a known problem and they are replacing my Zumo mount with a "next version" mount.

Thanks for those who responded.

 

[jwilly]

I have a new mount on the way as well. I thought Garmin's customer service was excellent! The guy apologized a few times that I was having issues and was disappointed that it was going to take a few days for me to get the mount.

Thanks Nitelife for the heads up at EOM!!

JW

 

[mdisher]

I really like my Zumo...

There are certainly things that can and should be address, most of them could easily be changed in software.

It's not as though the unit and mounts haven't had issues though.

- A high percentage of units have just up and died, though thankfully Garmin has stepped up to the plate and replaced the no question asked.

- The mounts have had issues, from the material they made the rubber covers with to connectivity issues. By my count they are on at least their 3rd rev of the motorcycle mount.

It claims to be water proof but as a number of us experienced at EOM, that's not really the case.

My biggest fear?

That Garmin will give up on this market because of all of these issues. The motorcycle market isn't all that big, and while we do pay a premium, if they have to replace a large percentage of units and mounts (which appears to be the case) The risk for them may not be worth the reward in sales $

 

[Scab]

The risk for them may not be worth the reward in sales $

I don't know about that. The founder easily landed in the upper bracket of the richest peeps in America. That dude is making some serious coin off these gps thangs.

 

[mdisher]

The risk for them may not be worth the reward in sales $

I don't know about that. The founder easily landed in the upper bracket of the richest peeps in America. That dude is making some serious coin off these gps thangs.

No doubt, the GPS market is HOT... But I suspect that as a portion of the whole, the 'motorcycle market' for which the zumo is targeted, is probably far smaller than any of the other segments: Auto, Boat, Personal devices, etc.

Other than Marine units, no other units require the same type of features that seem to be causing most of the issue (water tightness, able to with stand extreme temperatures and of course the vibrations).

All I'm saying, is that this particular 'niche' may not be worth it overall.

It certainly wouldn't surprise me if one day they said; Oh you're using xyz unit on a motorcyle? We don't make GPS's for motorcycles, only boats and cars.

 

[Scab]

Yeah, I hear ya, he's just so rich it pisses me off.