Zumo 600 and Scala Rider G4

[okiestar]

Bummer day Sunday. Had a new 660 all hard wired up to our RSTD.

Wife and I wear the Scala G4 headsets.

Updated software and firmware on all devices.

I'm just relaying my experience. Not intended at all as a bashing on any product.

 

We messed around and rode about 300 miles to test it out. I can't come up with any pro's at this time, so it's the cons that had me remove the tank and seat again last night to package the garmin zumo up for return. This was a new gps, not a refurb.

 

1. The screen was totally washed out. I understand there are aftermarket products made to shield or cover the screen. Not going there. For over 600 bucks, I should be able to view the screen in daylight. Being a motorcycle, my reason to purchase though was the bluetooth voice to headset ability.

2. Voice nav is crisp and clear in the car. Through the headsets, I experienced a lot of static and could not understand the street names or directions even around my neighborhood where I knew what the gps was supposed to be saying. Wife and I could not communicate through the intercom to each other clearly until I disabled the bluetooth on the gps.

 

So for us, it's back to good ole' paper maps and spontaneous trips with more stops to rest our aging buttox numbness and point our fingers on the map to figure out where we're headed.

[saddlebum]

I have the Tom Tom Rider 2 it couples with the scala blue tooth headset and my cell phone and it works great. Voice transmission and reception are crisp and clear. Even while riding cell phone conversation is excellent, actually even better than using the cell phone by itself. I decided to get a bluetooth gps for my car so I could use my cell phone hands free. I purchased both the garmin and the tom tom and ran comparisons on them for about a week. The garmin was terrible with conversation's constantly using the phrase (say that again). The tom Tom on the other hand was excellant. I returned the Garmin and kept the Tom Tom.

Getting back to the rider models The tom Tom as well was not very impressive in bright sunlight which was a bit disappointing for something designed for a motorcyle, But this was my only complaint. I did purchase an anti glare screen and the Glare Stomper shade for it and they do help for most but the harshest sunlight conditions. The tom tom does not have the capability to hard wire the sound into the scoot but I feel this can be overcome with a small simple modification to the motorcycle mount since it only contacts 2 of the four pins on the gps were as if you purchase the car mont for it all for terminals are contacted giving it external speaker capability.

[Dave77459]

Not sure if this is related, but my Garmin *handheld* GPS (a GPSMAP 60CSx) is very visible in bright sunlight. But, when I wear my polarizing sunglasses and have my faceshield down, the screen is black. It's a matter of polarized screen fighting with my polarized sunglasses + face shield.

 

I don't use spoken directions (not available on my GPS). I do use them on my phone, and I'd rather shut it up. I don't find spoken directions at all useful, and even when I set the phone to a nice English accent, it is annoying. I'll keep my "Beep (look here)" GPS.

 

All that said, my Scala Rider G4 has worked well with Bluetooth devices.

 

Dave

[okiestar]

I too am impressed with the G4. It's completely changed our riding experience. Very nice headsets. We've ridden 10 hour days and the only problem was the occasional static from long standby times. Tapping the A button off and back on fixes that.

 

As for the Zumo 660, shield up, shield down, didn't matter. Washed out, unviewable screen from 0 - 100% brightness.

 

I had the garmin 765T at first on a handle bar mount. It worked very well for audible nav instruction through my G4. Designed for a car though, it would immediately drop the bluetooth connection when my wifes G4 unit was turned on. So I'd be fine as long as she was off and silent. Not a good combination for her

[Marcarl]

I got the 660 and can see it all the time, it's out in the open, and I wear sunglasses. Can't speak for the blue tooth, don't use it, just use the hard wire through the IC and that works fine, no issues. I'm thinking you got a bad 660.

[top]

I have the 550 and only time I have a problem is when sun is over my shoulder. Don't use the voice feature except in cage....After 3 yrs of use I wouldn't travel without it.

[saddlebum]

I had the garmin 765T at first on a handle bar mount. It worked very well for audible nav instruction through my G4. Designed for a car though, it would immediately drop the bluetooth connection when my wifes G4 unit was turned on. So I'd be fine as long as she was off and silent. Not a good combination for her

yes but that has to be a good combo for you......I would stick with it.