zūmo® 590LM Thoughts

[nt650hawk]

zūmo® 590LM

anyone have this puppy?

I've got a trip to LV and will want to have real GPS rather than a Cellphone as I probably will get to some dead cell service areas. Its been a while and I think it is time to pick up something.

[TheIglu]

Or you could just download maps offline to your cellphone so connection isn't necessary.

[obsolete]

Or you could just download maps offline to your cellphone so connection isn't necessary.

How do you do that?

[TheIglu]

How do you do that?

Let me google that for you

[obsolete]

Thanks dick!

[markbvt]

Cell phones still make spectacularly shitty GPSes unless you just want to take a quick route from point A to point B. For some reason, none of the GPS app developers have yet targeted the demographic that needs a more feature-rich GPS. If you want to do any real route planning, a standalone GPS receiver is still the way to go -- and not one of the cheap car units, but a more advanced one such as the Zumo, or an Oregon or Montana.

I've been thinking about the Zumo 590LM myself. It finally brings the Zumo line more or less into feature parity with the more advanced handhelds (my aging Oregon 300 has extensive track recording/following, trip computer, etc features that the Zumos have only had a pale imitation of since their inception). It also has a much larger/higher-res screen than the handhelds. But the drawback is that it costs $800. Or you could get a Montana 600, install the City Navigator map set on it, get mounts for bike and for car, and still spend hundreds less.

If you do want to just stick with your phone, you can look into some of the more advanced GPS apps that store maps onboard instead of accessing them online. Garmin and Tomtom both make their own versions, but the best one I've found in terms of price and features is Copilot (for iPhone; haven't checked to see if there's an Android version, though I'd be surprised if not). Copilot does allow multipoint route creation, but you have to do it on the device -- can't create a route on your computer and upload it to the device, as you can with the Garmin standalones.

--mark

[nhbubba]

I'm not sure if the value of a standalone, purpose built/designed GPS unit vs a crappy smart phone with a nav app are what the OP was fishing for. I have an opinion on that-and it may be already illustrated in this very post.

My personal opinion is that the Zumo devices are too expensive. I have mounted Nuvi 25xx and 24xx devices to my motorcycle and am very happy with them. The 24xx I broke in a non-motorcycle related incident. I replaced it with the 25xx series this summer. I carry a ziploc baggie to put over it in case of rain. Does the job and then some.

Features I'd look for include the ability to work with pre-programmed routes like those that Dave shares for his rides. I think lifetime map updates are worth shopping for too. Other than that.

[SteveM]

Gino,

You're welcome to borrow my 550 as you did before if you decide not to buy

Steve

[RandyO]

My personal opinion is that the Zumo devices are too expensive.

I wouldn't mind the expense, if they continued to support earlier Zumos, my 450 was obsolete and unsupported by the time it was 2 years old

[nhbubba]

Of course it's obsolete. It's a tech toy. Waddayah expect?!

I'm curious what you mean by "unsupported". I haven't had that issue with my nuvis. I can still get maps for the pos nuvi 200w my mother paid for the lifetime maps bit on umpteen years ago. Accessories are, however, a bit few and far between. And I don't exactly expect them to warranty it or anything.

[RandyO]

Of course it's obsolete. It's a tech toy. Waddayah expect?!

I'm curious what you mean by "unsupported". I haven't had that issue with my nuvis. I can still get maps for the pos nuvi 200w my mother paid for the lifetime maps bit on umpteen years ago. Accessories are, however, a bit few and far between. And I don't exactly expect them to warranty it or anything.

yes, I can get maps, the data format that Garmin uses has not changed, but I cannot get repairs or parts, I have had to resort to aftermarket services that do not guarantee waterproofness and have discovered that my Zumo is no longer waterproof and my touchscreen is failing yet again, 4th time

[nt650hawk]

Gino,

You're welcome to borrow my 550 as you did before if you decide not to buy

Steve

Still liking the Bass Ale are you? Thanks Steve. I'll keep you in mind.


as mentioned above the cells a nice for point to point but if I am looking for more customized and optional application (Curvy routs) it seems like the GPSs are the way to roll.