Dead Zumo 660

[R184]

Well my new Zumo 660 died. It was sudden and unexpected. I've had the unit for several weeks and had been very happy with it's performance.

The wife & I had just finished a short AZ trip last weekend, where I used it in the car mode. Worked just great and when I got home, it went back on the bike. Was running errands around town and stopped for a haircut. I took it into the shop with me, where it sat in my jacket pocket. When I was done and put it back on the bike, it wouldn't sucessfully reboot.

The welcome screen would come on, the maps would download, then a blank screen. This happened in the bike cradle, the car cradle, when attached to the PC by a USB cable and in stand alone mode.

Spent a couple of days exchanging e-mails with the nice people at Garmin support. I tired the fixes on their web page & they sent a number of proposed fixes, including downloading new software (how do you download software to something that won't boot up?) and how to hard boot a Quest (My Quest never died, but is now happily retired). It was when I checked some of the GPS sites that I found out some of the early units (including a lot of the AMA discount models) had a fatal flaw in the firmware.

When I mentioned the unit was a AMA discount unit and an early model, the next e-mail said to send it back and they would send me a new unit.

Now yes, I know the saying about how you should never buy 1st year new technology, you need to give the manufacturer time to work out the bugs. And that paper maps never have a meltdown or have batteries that go dead (but they can blow away!). But I paid my money and took my chances.

Should hopefully have my new (and improved) 660 back in a couple of weeks, until then I guess I'll just have to muddle around the old fashion way.

 

[mpmarty]

I feel your pain. I'm quite happy with my old quest 2 unit and just downloaded 2.02gb of updates. These new software updates are dated 2010 and are a great improvement over the four year old stuff I had. Much nicer rendition of maps and better guidance. Although the screen is small it works for me and with the twenty hour battery life of the unit I can take it into the Motel and play with route changes in the evening for the next days travels. Gotta love technology! By the way the update changes the programming on your computer as well as the unit itself. Be sure to get it if you can.

 

[Semper_Fi]

I had a similar event but with a 550, that i bought off the web - I think it was gpsdiscounts.com or something like that.

Anyway went thru a troubleshooting scenario with the Garmin rep - she diagnosed it as terminal and told me to send it in.

One week later I had a totally new unit - no questions asked.

Let me add something, the unit I orginally bought was a refurb, and they replaced it with a new unit.

The two times I needed to get customer support or service from Garmin - they have been spot on - I do not expect anything less for your replacement.

 

[cfargo]

You can't beat Garmin Technical Support they are the BEST!!

 

[LRider]

My 550 froze last year. Great Garmin support. The easy fix was to simply remove and then put back the same battery. A reboot of sorts.

 

[Greg_K]

If you do not buy a gpsduring the first model year, you will most likely never get one. Like all electronics, models only last about a year (two at the most) before they are no longer manufactured and the new model comes out.
I have a 550 and have been very happy with it until recently. It seems as though my touchscreen is going bad. If I recalibrate it, it may or may not work for a few days before having problems again. Looks like I'll be spending some cash to have it refurbished this winter since it has been out of warranty for about 6 months. On the other hand, several others in my local club have them as well and have had no issues. Sh*t happens.
Hopefully, after they send you a new unit you will have several years of trouble-free use.

 

[tommcgee]

I'm on my second Zumo 660. The first had software issues. They sent me a new one in the box, complete with all cables, mounts, adapters. etc.

That's the good news. The bad news is that it still shuts down at least three times in 200 miles. It's MP3 player-related as near as I can tell.

 

[R184]

Well, as promised, Garmin sent me a new 660 to replace the old one. And the unit arrived earlier than promised. It's back on the bike and so far everything is working great.

 

[R184]

Well my "new" replacement 660 died. Same problem as the 1st. Was on a car trip and using the car cradle/mount this time. Worked great on the 1st part of the trip and removed it from the car cradle at my hotel. When I turned it on in my room, to plan my next days travel, the same problem that my 1st unit displayed surfaced. I would turn the unit on, it would start to load the maps, almost be done, then turn off. I tried on listed Garmin on-line fixes, but nothing worked.

Shouldn't be a Bluetooth or MP3 problem, since I wasn't using or had these features turned on. Shouldn't have been a battery problem, since this a 2 month old unit and had been charging for the last 100+ miles.

Been almost a week now and still waiting to hear back from Garmin.

I still think Garmin is a great company and have 3 other GPS that have worked great. A retired Quest, which got bounced around on a dual sport and my K bike. Just it got old and I needed a unit with a bigger screen & to do more. I have a Nuvi, never a problem. And a Trex, which is used on various road and mountain bicyles. No problems there either. But it seems there may be some fatal problems with the 660.