Upgrading from Zumo 550 to 660

[krussell]

ZumoForums regulars already know some of this, I'm posting here for riders that maybe considering jumping to the 660 from the 550.

 

Decided a while back to get a Zumo 660. Ordered from Garmin with the AMA discount. It arrived yesterday, the day after I sold my 550. I love the new unit, but it's not a simple upgrade from a mounting and cabling perspective.

 

First the mount. It no longer locks, it's a simple push button release. If you, like me, left your 550 on the bike all the time that's not going to work with the stock mount. Just a different mindset, I'll need to be sure and grab the Zumo every time I walk away from the bike.

 

 

I'm not a RAM mount fan. I have a BMR CoPilot shelf with their adjustable GPS mount right up front and center. This puts the GPS above the instruments and much closer to road view. The 660 mount has a protrusion at the bottom where the cable enters that prevents it from mounting on anything that has material below the mounting holes. Certainly the BMR mount is in that category, and I suspect many others too. :-( Not a big deal, but I'll have to make some sort of spacer to go between the Zumo mount and the BMR mount. I'm just going to do this with a piece of plastic from TAP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok, so the mount is good. Now the cabling. First, the 550 mount had connectors that the cables plugged into. This was great, because if I had to pull the bike apart I could just unplug those cables and remove the entire BMR shelf and set it aside. The 660 has a molded cable that plugs into the mount. About 3 feet or so down that cable it branches out into audio out, audio in, power, and miniusb for the traffic receiver if you have one.

 

 

For anyone with a up front and center mount like the BMR, Migsel, and others, this fan out occurs somewhere in the middle of the tank. Depending on your cable routing choice, the cable may not be long enough to get past the tank, which leaves you making the connections somewhere in them middle. Hopefully they will come up with a version of the mount that has a longer cable.

 

The other problem with having a molded cable at the mount end is you can no longer easily remove the mount if you run that cable under the tank or tupperware. I've decided to work around this by just coiling the cable under the BMR shelf and connecting it to the 550 connections I have there. I may think of something better long term.

 

My 550 power was sourced via a switched output of a Centech AP-2. For the 660, a direct battery connection or an unswitched output is likely fine, as you aren't going to leave it on the bike due to lack of security. If you plan to leave the GPS on the bike in the garage you may want it switched though.

 

I like the new unit, it's very fast, display is nice, etc. A few new things, a few old things missing. ZumoForums have some comparisons, I'm not going to repeat that here.

 

I'll post an update once it's mounted.

[10ovr]

Would love to see a pic of the 550 next to the 660,,Just to see the deference .

[krussell]

Would love to see a pic of the 550 next to the 660,,Just to see the deference .

 

I was hoping to provide some comparison shots, but the 550 left before the 660 got here. That was a good thing cash flow wise. :-)

 

 

[bayoubengal]

I wired mine today. I chose to splice into the previous owner's 550 cable that was wired to the battery. Already had the inline fuse. Only thing I didn't like was the odd cable length. I ended up rolling mine up and using small pull ties to secure them below the triple clamp but it does not look as neat and tidy as I would like. I didn' want to go cutting wires yet as I'm not sure which ones I'll use.

 

I was left wondering if their cable length specs work for any bike...

[krussell]

Wired mine today as well. Connected it to the 550 cables, just had to cut the 550 power cable. Coiled up all the excess cable under the BMR shelf and zip tied the heck out of things. It works great, haven't tried it with the autocom yet.

 

I put spacers on my mount, the mechanical side was fine. I don't like the way the BMR Zumo mount looks, I'll post a pic in the next day or so.

 

The 660 is different in many ways, so far I'm liking it.

 

The current setup will get me through the summer, and I'll do something better when winter comes.

 

The 660 display does not handle direct sun nearly as well as the 550.

 

 

[hopz]

This is an FYI and should not be taken as authoritative. Please check with Zumoforums.com for the latest... but.... as of now....

 

Since there is some interest in moving from the zumo 550 to the 660 there have been some "interesting" reports now that the unit is being delivered.

 

Apparently the software of the 660 does not allow planning of a route on mapsource then downloading to the unit with your route intact. The reports say you can make a route and download it but the 660 software calculates a route using its algorithm and it may or may not follow your planned route. This may not be an issue if you do not care if you ride a particular route or not, but in some cases it might be a real problem. Such as if you wanted to ride an Iron Butt, or perhaps do a long tour in unfamiliar territory.

 

It apparently respects your avoidances and preferences, but not necessarily your route.

 

Garmin has been alerted but so far there has not been a definitive response to the issue.

 

I need to add that there are many favorable reports about the 660 and anyone thinking about the 660 over the 550 might consider reading the discussions over at zumoforums.com.

 

I have no dog in this fight, but I thought it best to report what is going on to those considering the 660 over the 550.

 

FYI.

 

edited for clarity...

[krussell]

Here are pics of my interim install.

 

 

 

 

[RichEdwards]

Got my 660 on Friday. My problem will be mounting the GPS on three different bikes.

The GS and the Street Triple already use a form of RAM mount, so they may be easy. But the GT uses the BMW mount. I'll post my solutions when I arrive at them.

[krussell]

Got my 660 on Friday. My problem will be mounting the GPS on three different bikes.

 

Are you planning buying extra mounts, or moving a single mount? For multiple mounts the push to release style of the 660 is much nicer than the unscrew to release 550 mount.

[hopz]

Apparently Garmin is having some second thoughts about the 660 software (see my post above) and has suspended shipments for the time being.

 

If you have ordered and are awaiting delivery you might have a little delay.

 

See this:

http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php?topic=8796.0

[RichEdwards]

I will be buying another mount/wire harness (they are inseparable) for the GT but the one included with the Zumo 660 will do double-duty on the GS and the Street Triple. I too have noticed a software problem, but mine came when I tried to register my unit. I couldn't do it. The 660 works fine so far in the car. I'll try it on the Street Triple today using battery power (I haven't had time to wire it to the bike's power yet.) Garmin software engineers are working on the problems. When all is ok, I'll get my free upgrade to City Navigator NT, 2010 version which was recently released.