Warning: Zumo Dies; They all do this

[Dr. Strangelove]

well, maybe they don't, but a whole lot of them do. They will spontaneously not work in cradle or on battery. You could have just finished a 5 hour ride, stop for coffee; turn bike over and blank screen from Zumo. Won't work on battery either.

This is a known fault with the zumo. It may be the battery, it may be the software. It appears Garmin doesn't know. (Look at zumoforums.com and search on dead zumo or zumo dies)

There is a treatment that works MANY times, though not all. Remove the battery and re install it. Make sure the contacts on the battery are clean--but they will be. You'll need a tiny hex wrench to remove the battery and , yes, Virginia, it is a PITA.

Failing the battery out and in, you can wait, but it may or may not come back to life spontaneously.

So far this is NOT a reason to avoid the zumo, and the battery trick does not cause loss of memory or routes or settings or preferences.

Hope this helps

John

verbum satis sapiente

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ok, time for followup

It died again this morning and when I tried to remove the battery, the 2mm hex screw's head was stripped. Can't get the damn battery out. Great!

I searched the zumoforums and , sure enough, this has happened to people also. Some have replaced the hex with a 3mm philips head screw. The tech rep said that would void the warranty.
I am now sending the unit back to them. I tried to get them to cross ship and they wouldn't even though I would give them my credit card number. They said they had a low inventory.

It dies like this at least once a week. When I was in Texas last week it went 4 days before dying.

John

[rdsmith3]

That is too bad. sorry to hear about this.

I have had my Zumo since December 2006. I use it every day, either in my car or on my bike, and I have never had a problem with it shutting off.

(I am having an issue with the audio out jack on the car cradle, but that is relatively minor).

[Max Continuous]

Hey John

That is a shame about the Zumo. I guess they are still getting the bugs sorted. I have the old faithful 2610, when it finally dies, I will get the Zumo. The one weak link for me has always been the Garmin Mapsource software. Just never really liked it much. Then I found this, which is much easier. You can now send info from Google maps to your device.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_p1x-fL2zc

[Dr. Strangelove]

Hey, Paul

That MapSoucre software is non intuitive for me. I agree with your assessment.

I expect the replacement by the end of the week???

Mine is not an isolated problem.

Take care

John.