Garmin Zumo 550 GPS

After much encouragement from fellow BMW riders who congregate at my local dealer, I decided to purchase a Zumo 550 GPS for my coast to coast ride starting Friday (July). The package will arrive July 5 so I don't have a lot of time to fiddle with the installation prior to departing. Here are a few questions I would like to resolve before installing and heading west.

1. What is the best place to mount the device on a R1200RT?

2. Can I power the device through the power outlet with an adaptor on the upper left side of the bike instead of feeding the power directly to the battery?

3. If fed through the battery, do I have to remove all of the tupperware to hide the wires?

Any other advice, cautions, downloads, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

GSMoto31

The search feature of this forum is a great place to start.

You can use the power outlet to run it, I use a standard cig lighter socket on both my bikes for my Zumo. You will just need to add the plug to the units power cord. I got a plug that had a built in fuse, so I was able to shorten the cord to the length I wanted. You will need to keep the inline fuse with the BMW socket since its fuse is too high amperage.

mtfrench said:

Can I power the device through the power outlet with an adaptor on the upper left side of the bike instead of feeding the power directly to the battery?

Click to expand...

The CAN-Bus bikes are prewired for the BMW GPS unit. Go to the Hexhead forum for details to plug into the factory connector, and for the $25 part to make the connection. Be sure to follow the links to other forums for even greater detail, especially regarding the purpose of the mysterious third wire.

BMW is now selling their own branded black Zumo that communicates with the bike. But no internet discounters, unless Chicago BMW is doing it.

Fred

Congratulations on your purchase. You'll love it.

I would suggest, for a variety of reasons, connecting it directly to the battery. For one thing, if you run it through an accessory socket, it will shut down every time you turn off the bike. I know there's a "do you want this to run on battery" warning, but you'll forget. It draws almost no power and can remain on for hours.

You'll need to strip some of the tupperware to run the wires, but no big deal, really.

You're going to want a cool mounting solution, may Touratech or Gadget Guy, but the RAM mount that is supplied with it is more than adequate and will get you to the rally. Perhaps some vendors will have a deal on something for you.

First thing: when you receive the unit, go to Garmin's website and determine what version of firmware the unit is running. If it's not the latest (it probably won't be) update it at Garmin's site. It's quick and easy (Mac or PC) and will give you oodles of new features.

Buy an HDSD card (4 gb). That's the largest this will hold, and you can download a ton of pictures and/or songs for the MP3 player.

I just added XM to mine and I'm really enjoying that. I'm riding to the rally from California and will need some long-lasting entertainment.

You're cutting it close, but you should be able to get it up and running. It's my first GPS and I'm a total noob. I did it; so can you.

I have a complete US/Canada BMW dealer and indie shop database for the Zumo. If you send me an email, I'll send it to you.

Here's another thread that may be of interest.

Take a look at www.zumoforums.com. There is tons of info on how to use your new gps including mounting instructions. On mounting, I bought the resivoir mount from Cyclegadgets.com. I got the centered one and it works well. It is very secure, but blocks the left mirror slightly on my R1150. You might want to consider the offset item. I went straight to the battery and it works the way I want. Use the fuel gauge. Although the bike has one, the Zumo low fuel warning is a 'one touch' link to all the nearby gas stations. Also, you might want to consider the security screw offered on the 'general info' section of the Zumo forum. The supplied screw and driver are a PITA. Good luck on your relationship with Jill. She cops an attitude with me everytime I don't do exactly as she says.

As for where to mount the GPS, the mount for BMW's GPS can be purchased separately and Garmin GPS' can mount directly on it, so can other AMPs based farkles. It gives you the factory look without the factory price. The part number is 71 60 7 687 853 for the complete kit.

<img src=http://www.webparts.com/cycles/fiche/217_11.png>

Cheers!

...mount for BMW's GPS can be purchased separately...

Dave,

Using the BMW Nav III mount for the Zumo is an interesting option. After a lot of searching and reading I was about to go with the Gadget Guy Kit II for my R12RT. However, at over $200 for all three needed parts, it seemed a little too pricey for me. When I called Garmin to be certain that the Zumo would fit on the BMW mount, they said "absolutely not." Maybe they were just being cautious or never heard of anyone doing this. Did you encounter any problems with the coupling? In addition, I have Suburban Machinery bar risers on my RT. Would I need to get longer bolts to secure the BMW mount? Thanks for any details you can offer!

Mike

The first GPS I had on the BMW mount was a Garmin GPS 60C. It had a three bolt pattern and two of which lined up fine, and the third I just used a small screw in to the plastic. This was fine, but I found the screen too small to read (cough geezer cough). Next GPS is a marine/auto unit, the 276C. It comes with the marine mount which just happens to be the 4 hole AMPs pattern. This bolted perfectly to the BMW mount, no Frankensteining required. So long as the mount pattern on the Zumo is the same as a Garmin marine unit, it should world perfectly, otherwise, there is always Mr. Frankenstein.

The spacing for the holes is 38 mm horizontally, and 30 mm vertically (1-1/2" x 1-3/16").

<img src="http://www.lowry.ca/pics/2006 07 19/GPSMount.jpg">

I'll be at the rally if you want to see it.

mtfrench said:

Dave,

Using the BMW Nav III mount for the Zumo is an interesting option. After a lot of searching and reading I was about to go with the Gadget Guy Kit II for my R12RT. However, at over $200 for all three needed parts, it seemed a little too pricey for me. When I called Garmin to be certain that the Zumo would fit on the BMW mount, they said "absolutely not." Maybe they were just being cautious or never heard of anyone doing this. Did you encounter any problems with the coupling? In addition, I have Suburban Machinery bar risers on my RT. Would I need to get longer bolts to secure the BMW mount? Thanks for any details you can offer!

Mike

Click to expand...

I don't have a Zumo, but it has a four hole mounting cradle that the Zumo attaches to, then you can mount that four hole mount to the various BWM bike specific mounts. What the Garmin person probably thought you meant was to attach it to the BMW cradle which also mounts on those four hole BMW bike specific fixtures. The BMW cradle is specific to the 26xx, 27xx, and 28xx Garmin units, mount wise only, and also the Navigator II and III mount wise and electronically.

jrtexas

I love my 550. I just used the stock mounting hareware and mountd it to the right handlebar, works great!

Regarding the mounts: Maybe it's just me, but I prefer the GPS to be mounted in a static posistion. My gripe with the Garmin III mount made for the 1200RT (or the GT for that matter) is that it is down low and moves with the handle bars. Plus your eyes need to glance down momentarily. The Zumo comes with tons of options for mounting on your handle bars, but your handle bars are always moving around.

BMR Products http://bmrproducts.com and Touratech make mounts for your dash where you can keep it center mounted and you don't have to take your eyes off the road.

Below shows the BMR shelf for the 1200RT. They make a $15 bracket with the four AMPs holes for your Zumo to be mounted.