Garmin Zūmo XT2 Assessment [Motorcycle GPS Navigator]

The brand new Garmin Zūmo XT2 provides display screen measurement, brightness, and enhanced performance to the extremely regarded Zūmo XT. With a $100 MSRP uptick from the XT mannequin, the $600 Zūmo XT2 has a 15 % bigger display screen and is noticeably brighter than its predecessor. The brand new Tread smartphone app for the XT2, which isn’t backward appropriate with the XT, provides performance; it’s a vital replace. I mounted the XT and the XT2 side-by-side on the Final Motorcycling Yamaha Ténéré 700 Mission Bike to get a stay, visible comparability whereas driving.

I’ve loads of expertise with Garmin GPS merchandise for vehicles and bikes. I began with the Garmin eTrex 20 years in the past on my grime bike for navigating 200-mile off-road rides by means of the Mojave Desert. I mounted a Garmin Nüvi on my Honda Spirit 1100 and saved a sandwich bag in my pocket to cowl it when it rained. In 2020, I bought the Zūmo XT. It has led me on excursions far and extensive, by no means letting me down. The XT2 makes planning, sharing, and group driving an actual related expertise.

Earlier than the Garmin Zūmo XT2, I had two selections when my driving buddy requested me to share our subsequent journey’s waypoints. I might map it out on Garmin Basecamp, export it to my exhausting drive, after which electronic mail it to him, or go to a web based map program, key in all of the waypoints, after which export them in KML format, convert them to GPX factors, after which electronic mail them to my buddy.

Now, utilizing the brand new Tread app on my iPhone (Android can also be obtainable), I can map out our route and reserve it. From contained in the Tread app, I can provoke an electronic mail or textual content of the GPX file to my buddy, skipping many steps—and it routinely syncs to the XT2. If I create the route on the XT2 and reserve it, it’ll routinely sync to the Tread app, after which I can electronic mail or textual content the GPX file to my buddy.

Each the Tread app and the XT2 permit me to set a begin level, add stops and shaping factors, discover fuel stations, meals, locations to sleep, and factors of curiosity, and simply create a route section or the entire route for our journey.

Garmin calls the brand new Zūmo XT2’s on-screen journey creator a “visible route planner”. Creating entire routes on each the Tread app and the XT2 is intuitive. This characteristic makes it very straightforward to alter your route as a result of climate, or when discovering a brand new focal point. You save the route in your telephone and share it wirelessly. When exterior of cell service protection, it can save you to a microSD card in your XT2 and hand it to your driving companions to add the old-fashion manner.

The Garmin Zūmo XT2 retail field holds the 12-ounce GPS unit, a USB-C cable, a common motorbike handlebar mount equipment, and an influence wire that connects on to your battery with included crimp-on ring terminals. Garmin telephone helps confirms that the XT2 mount attracts one milliamp when related to the battery straight, even with out the GPS within the cradle.

I secured the supplied U-clamp and RAM mount riser to the crossbar above the Ténéré 700 speedo, subsequent to my XT mount. For energy, I related to an adjunct energy connection that’s stay solely when the secret’s on. The XT and the XT2 can’t be powered for navigation by their USB-C ports. Additionally, the XT2 suits into the XT cradle, however the XT doesn’t match into the XT2 cradle.

Earlier than I opened the field, I downloaded and experimented with the Tread app on my iPhone 14, creating a number of future rides to get to know the app. I then opened the XT2 field and went by means of its straightforward setup process. I clicked round on the varied screens and noticed that each one the waypoints and routes I had within the Garmin Discover app from my earlier XT planning and use had been already on the XT2. The brand new routes I had created, simply attending to know the Tread app, had been already synced to my new XT2!

In the event you and your driving accomplice or group are in a cell service space, you possibly can activate the brand new Group Trip characteristic of the Tread app and the Zūmo XT2. It makes use of mobile system connectivity of your telephones to present everybody on the Group Trip a visible location reference on their Tread app map. If the group will get separated, everybody can see the place everybody else is, and re-establish the journey when everybody will get again collectively.

An surprising characteristic of the Tread app location visualization is {that a} non-riding individual, reminiscent of a nervous vital different who stayed house, can see the place you and your Garmin Zūmo XT2 are through the Tread app. To watch the journey, the opposite individual wants the Tread app and a private Garmin account, although not a Garmin GPS unit. A six-character Group Trip code created by your XT2 offers entry, and will be delivered through electronic mail, textual content, or QR code.

If you’ll be out of cell vary, Garmin has a Group Trip Radio accent ($400 MSRP) that attaches to the XT or XT. Everybody operating the Group Trip Radio may have a connection as much as two miles for map location and voice communication.

We didn’t check the Garman Group Trip Radio, however that is the way it works: In case your group is in an space the place the Tread app has no cell connectivity and low visibility between riders—as a result of tight turns, timber, hills, or different obstacles—somebody may miss a flip and lose the pack. With the riders having a Group Trip Radio connected to their very own XT or XT2, the group can see every rider, and every rider can see the group. As well as, you possibly can communicate over the Group Trip Radio through the unit’s bodily hand-held microphone or by means of your related Bluetooth helmet communications unit. Additionally, you possibly can speak when out of regular helmet comms vary. Nevertheless, the interface is a bit clunky—you should press a push-to-talk button in your GPS display screen.

The Zūmo XT2 is waterproof, rated at IPX7, which suggests I don’t should put a sandwich bag over it when it rains, however I don’t take it scuba diving in search of a shipwreck both. The display screen is vibrant and clear, even with the solar shining straight on it; I by no means had a problem seeing it. I’ve used it with winter gloves, summer time gloves, and within the rain—the display screen is all the time responsive. The stay visitors characteristic, fed by means of the Tread app, helps keep away from slowdowns or surprising route closures.

The TracBack characteristic reverses the course you’re on and directs you out the way in which you got here in. I forgot it was there and created a crumb line of waypoints on a journey after I was involved that I is perhaps unable to seek out my manner out of an unfamiliar forest. TracBack is way more handy to make use of. When the unit is related to Wi-Fi, you possibly can replace maps and preserve its software program present.

Utilizing the brand new XT2 and the older XT side-by-side for a 470-mile day, they had been completely in sync. They concurrently confirmed the identical pace, motion, flip indication, and alerts. Nevertheless, regardless of the pair being on a good airplane at eye degree, I discovered myself checking the XT2 extra actually because the bigger display screen was simpler on my eyes.

Creating routes on the Tread app and on the Zūmo XT2 is straightforward. The visible imagery of interchanges depicted beside the route is useful in congested areas. The XT2 has straightforward on-screen route planning, a big brightly lit display screen, and lengthy battery life. The Tread app offers you with connectivity and performance. Put this all collectively, and the Garmin Zūmo XT2 is a big improve over the XT for planning performance, display screen brightness, and show measurement (although not decision), making it effectively well worth the $100 further asking value.

Garmin Zūmo XT2 Quick Details

• GPS: 10 Hz Multi-GNSS Positioning
• Dimensions (W x H x D): 6.15” x 3.5” x 1.0”
• Weight: 12 ounces
  Show sort: TFT touchscreen
• Show decision: 1280 x 720 pixels (six-inch diagonal)
• Battery sort: Rechargeable lithium-ion
• Battery life: As much as 7 hours (5 hours when one hundred pc backlit)
• Inside storage: 32 GB, plus microSD card slot (as much as 256 GB)
  Bluetooth connectivity: Normal
• Wi-Fi connectivity: For software program and map updates

Garmin Zūmo XT2 Worth: $600 MSRP