DON'T Buy Garmin Zumo XT2 GPS until Engineers make it work WAY better!!

Not Best, Worst designed GPS Garmin Zumo XT2. If you love wasting your ride time planning routes, buy it. It will not let you route plan your route. Don't buy Garmin Zumo XT or XT2 until their engineers redesign it. Frustrating waste of ride time. Adventure bike, dirt bike GPS.
In hindsight I would do as others have suggested get a tough phone or tablet on Amazon and just use google maps. I learned that this XT2 is also too big so if you get a tablet/phone make sure it fits well on your bike. The XT2 is fine on the Tenere 700, fits great! But on the Beta 300 it seems like a large screen TV, a bit too much.

[@mickloftus7910]

I love my XT2, I suggest you learn how to use it before slagging it off! Most, technical gadgets, usually don’t work, because of user error, I’ve done the Pyrenees, the Balkens! Spain, Scotland, on, off road, no problem.

[@wetlifesports]

To some degree your right. However, IMO it still has room for lots of improvement. If your a main road adventurer, which 99.9 of folks are its is ok. If your trying to get deep it starts to get annoying. Its hard to force it down a route its not aware of. Just powering it up out of the box can be tricky. They say nothing about that in the directions. I'll bet they get a ton of them back only to learn later it needs all sorts of special treatment to get to come alive.

[@wetlifesports]

The mount is ok but 2 of my buddies have had theirs fall off and it was just dumb luck we found them. Again, if your just riding roads and occasionally hit a nice gravel known road, it's ok. If your going deep it needs lots of improvement.

[@wetlifesports]

I definitely think it needs a more in your face set up so you know 100% its going to change a custom route you loaded. I know it has settings to allow redirect or not but I don't like the fact that I have to keep that in mind on every route I build or load. It should notify you with a big Notice either way and make those features more fluid yet obvious. Many of our rides start out very custom digging deep and therefore we need to turn off all the reroute features. Then once we've done our tough technical ride that may have been unknown to Garmin, we want to go home or go to the nearest gas station, then we need to turn on the reroute stuff. This needs alot of improvement.

[@wetlifesports]

I often find it very unintuitive in that basic settings are burried in areas that don't make sense to me. Some settings I think should be easy and quick to do become a hunting mission.

[@DQDramaQueen]

Alarmingly unprofessional Garmin GPS software, Mine just arrived yesterday, still in the box, and I'm returning it... today! Thank you for the review.

[@wetlifesports]

Maybe play with it a bit to see if it works well enough for some rides. Try within return window. It is definitely frustrating for me but my brain tells me the way things should work. These particular engineers are very different thinkers to me.

[@wetlifesports]

I would like it to follow my custom track Unless it offers me the option of its own ideas. When it wants to take over it should put up a big QUESTION, "WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE A SHORTER ROUTE" etc, etc.. then i could say, yes or no.

[@toddclapperton5242]

Maybe you should learn how to use a gps. I have a Zumo xt2 and think it’s great. I use it for adventure riding. If the road or trail is not in the gps database then it cannot navigate if it doesn’t think there is a road or trail. Get additional maps such as backcountry maps or trail maps. You can also create a route from a track, ride the trail the first time to save your track and save it as a future route. Learn to navigate and use a gps!

[@wetlifesports]

Yes, its pretty good. Still I think it needs vast improvement. I didn't like it adjusting my plotted route without telling me. I think it needs a quick button to get you back home or to the start of the recorded route. The fastest route back at the end of the day or in an emergency. I don't want to use 5 other mapping software systems. I paid 600, I want it to do the job better. Some folks don't mind spending crazy numbers of hours making it work.. I'm not that person. I want to ride, not become a software engineer just to use a gps. It has too many critical settings burried too deep that have to constantly be flipped back and fourth or your going to get misdirected unknowingly. Yes, it has good stuff but it could be much better. I've have some experience with this stuff. Been using these system in Boats, cars, airplanes, etc.,since they came on the market. Boat nav stuff for years is so horrible I see tons of boaters barely bother to use it. Just try to update the clock on some of them and your in for a half day...Much of this stuff is way too over complicated and unintuitive. IMO these engineers or designers don't work with enough non engineer users to make it a better more intuitive tool. Just MO. Its good you like it.

[@stephenbrady7173]

I'm looking for a new GPS, and came across your video. I use an old Navi model currently. Have you tried using Garmin's Basecamp software? you can use it to make routes on your computer, and even load alternative maps that have more dirt roads in it as well. Hoping I gave you some direction to a solution.

[@wetlifesports]

Thx, my friend uses it but doesn't like it. He says just use Google "My Maps" i never saw it until he showed me. Ive had limited sucess with Tread. It got us close today but there were roads beyond where it allowed me to plot. Its amazingly disjointed. I never thought it would be so complicated. We're in Moab at the moment. Thx

[@FrankMorello69]

Did you set the map layer on topographic setting? Before putting in a route/track?

[@wetlifesports]

Played with it but not sure where I left it.

[@FirstName-qq6rq]

Hi, I did the same mistake buying Zumo 590 in 2015 before my trip to Pyrenees Mountains (Spain/France). And I knew it did not have option for enduro style roads/tracks at that time. It was and still is UNINTUITIVE interface. Wondering how many people wasted their money on this unfinished product? But unfinished for 9 years?

[@wetlifesports]

Yes, I don't get why they can't make it friendly. What are you using now?

[@FirstName-qq6rq]

@@wetlifesports "I don't get why they can't make it friendly" - I guess they are lacking the proper collaboration between the Product Development Team and CX team (Customer Experience team). Google Maps, it is not ideal but...and I do not do off-road/trail ride. I should sell my Zumo590 right after the trip in Spain in 2015, cos it lost its value over the years just sitting on the shelf.

[@wetlifesports]

​@@FirstName-qq6rqThx, on major trip now. It did something today I'll never understand. I built a route in "Tread" loaded it, selected it, rode it and 30 minutes in found out it decided to ​do its own route. I understand it has different settings, etc. But to build a route specifically and load it and hit start then have it ignore my route blows my mind. At minimum it should have warned me and forced me to accepts a route change. Crazy..!!! The customer service was horrible as well, disconnected, never called back.. i called again with further assurances they would call.. never did until I left a feedback, days later. I think ill sell it while it may have some value.

[@patrick87100]

Did you sell it? Im trying to find something similar but not garmin. Take care

[@wetlifesports]

No, used it for the last 20 days on a big trip. It helps alot but is also very frustrating. I think i would just buy a second smart phone and use google maps.

[@patrick87100]

@wetlifesports thanks. Currently, I'm using the quad lock wireless charger with my phone. Seems to be a common answer about the fancy GPS. Hopefully, they debug & catch up in the near future. Take care good sir

[@wetlifesports]

@@patrick87100 thx.