How this connector work under heavy rain?

 

Its been on the bike since new for one year and have not had a problem yet, including heavy washings...DL

 

For the folks who don't have a fairing here's what I used. It's called a Power Port (J&P Cycles). It's the larger round black thing to the right of the tach.
I then got the little USB converter for two devices that dlongo used. It just plugs into the power port like a cigarette lighter.
I can now use both my GPS and my GoPro camera at the same time and not worry about battery life.

 

It appears that "lifetime" relates to the GPS, not you or me. I'm glad I didn't buy lifetime maps for the 450, as that probably would not have been a wise investment.

I bought the original four years ago and a year or so later they replaced it with a refurb after it started randomly though rarely shutting itself off while attached to the cradle and powered by the bike. The replacement (current unit) did the same thing so I assumed it was normal and didn't complain about it further.

I have had good luck with refurbs in the past, though have only had this one GPS refurb. My take on this is that these are units that have failed and fixed, which would make me think would be potentially even more reliable than new units since the problems have already surfaced after the "burn-in" period and were fixed.

I may take an earlier suggestion to call to Garmin and try for an upgrade (refurb or new), and if so I will have to consider several things. Several months ago I did email them and they denied that this was possible, even though there's a smattering of cases where they did make such an offer. Knowing how this works, if they did offer to take my 450 in trade for a 550 or 600-series refurb I'd have to factor in the cost plus the fact that it would only have the basic warranty of 90 days. Your warranty follows from the original unit, and mine is two years out of warranty. So, if I was able to get a 550, 660, or 665 refurb I would also have to buy a MC cradle (660/665 only), as it would not come with any accessories (no XM antenna, cradles, etc.). So, let's say it dies at 100 days, I would in theory have to buy another refurb--and on and on, which could get expensive if it was a consistent practice. OTOH if the price was low enough it might be worth springing for. Any comments on that? I'm speculating based on a few suggestions that others have been given this offer in the past.

 

I don't know what I will do either when my 550 dies this time. It lasted four years the first time and I am a little over a year into my refurb's life.

I had the lifetime map update with the original. I e-mailed Garmin and asked them to allow me to use the lifetime map update on the refurb and they did so right away. Only problem is my 550 is out of memory and can't hold anymore of my lifetime updates. I will have to load them on an sd card if I update anymore.

I try to be careful about spending money, I don't have a whole lot to spare. I dind't mind the price of the new zumo when I thought it would last for years and years like most computers do. Now that it seems four years is a good life, it makes me reconsider, but I like it so much I hate to do without it.

I have tested my zumo against the onboard nav systems in a Ford truck, a Chrysler car and my wife's Lincoln.

The zumo is much easier to use and picks better, more direct routes than those three. I was hoping Garmin had these longevity issues worked out by the time I was ready to upgrade, but it doesn't look like they are there yet.

Dennis

 

My wife has a 550, and has the same memory problem. So what I do is install the regional map. It fits in memory. If we go someplace not covered on that region, I reload the region we are going to be in.

 

I was able to delete a tremendous amount of unused data such as foreign languages and voices from mine that got me by this last time. I have an sd card in the zumo anyway, just haven't studied how to use it for map updates yet. That's what I prefer to do next time instead of only doing regions.

Dennis

 

Nuvi, Ram mount, plastic bag for rain protection.
Works fine.

 

If it does fail (and it will) I would suggest contacting Garmin support and see what they will offer you. If it is still being supported for service they should offer you a refurb for $150 plus your old unit. They may even offer you an upgrade to a 600-series Zumo for only a bit more.

To update the thread, I now have a 665 refurb that I received from Garmin. I called them and was given several options, all quite generous IMO considering there were no official options for me with my 450, and I decided to go with the newer model. My options were (1) a new 660 or 665 for a modest discount, not huge but better than I could get anywhere else, (2) a 550 refurb, and (3) a 665 refurb. The latter was surprisingly not much more than the 550, so I went with that, but there are some caveats that the Garmin rep made very clear to me before I decided.

1. If you go with a refurb you'll get only a GPS and battery, so everything else must be purchased separately. I obviously needed a MC mount ($60) but decided to pass on an auto mount ($35) and the XM antenna ($150+) to make it a complete kit. I don't really have much interest in XM and use my smartphone's GPS in the car.

2. The warranty is 90 days or the remainder of your old unit's warranty. In my case the 450 was out of warranty and this makes the purchase risky, indeed costly if the unit dies every 91 days.

The good part is that the 665 is a relatively new model and it is destined to be supported for at least a few more years. The 550 was recently discontinued, so it is a matter of time when they will deny service for it too, and I just don't trust the hardware buttons on that model. If someone were to offer replacements it would be different, but I don't consider pencil erasers and rubber plugs to be suitable substitutes for the real thing. Digitizers will die in time on any model, but they can be replaced easily and cheaply without Garmin's help. They just don't seem interested in selling parts, so Garmin's only offering to fix a bad digitizer is a refurb, that is if they still even support the model you own.

I've had the 665 now for a few days and used it on a long ride yesterday. From what I can tell it is a step up from the older generation of Zumos (450/550) in serveral ways. Here are some observations:

Pros:

1. The one hardware button (on-off) is a different design and seems to be robust enough.

2. Has a nifty lane-assist feature, a window that pops up with a photo-quality illustration of your upcoming turn, showing which lane to use in your approach. This doesn't happen on every road but has popped up for me so far on multi-lane roads with off-ramps.

3. Shows the speed limit on most roads next to the actual speed.

4. The interface is generally more user-friendly.

5. The unit boots faster.

6. The gauge values at bottom of main screen are configurable. I don't think this was available on the 450.

7. All wiring is contained in the MC harness, so there is no audio plug exposed to the elements as before.

Cons:

1. MPH gauge in main window and circular compass and values in the Trip Computer are harder to read because they are smaller. I wish these could be adjusted, as there is enough room to make them bigger.

2. Navigation voice is harder to hear, even when at 100% volume. My hearing is not good, so consider this a personal observation rather than a condemnation. I found this feature irritating on the 450 and still do, so I switched it off.

 

I have a old 350 garmin it has been through lots of rain and still works. do not worry about screen brightness because it plugs into aux of radio and tells me where to go.