ZUMO 350 Freezing

[Dirt_Dad]

Any chance are you using a pre-programmed route in the unit when it freezes? If not, you can stop reading now.

If so, I've had my Zumo choke and die every time I loaded a particular route. I could view it in Preview mode, but loading it would cause the GPS to shut off. In preview mode I could see some bad anomalies in the route. The route was very corrupt. Fixing the route in City Navigator corrected the situation.

Sorry to hear you are having such a frustrating time. Garmin also sent me a replacement for my 665 in the last two weeks. The refurbished unit they sent works exactly the same as the one I sent back to them. No improvement in any way. It's annoying.

 

[Travex]

I have had a number of GPS's over the years and had problems with most at some time. I've have to say, yours would have been used for target practice by now..

The are two things you might try. Shield the body of the gps against random electrical pulses or engine electrical noise.
I know this may seem far off, but you have done the rest, beside the shotgun ::025::

Now, let's say it is not the unit, but in the wiring to the unit. Trace the wiring from the unit connection back to the supply. Also one more thing.
I do not have the same garmin unit, so my question is, does yous have a mount the snaps on to the gps, or a simple plug that supply's power.

If it has a mount, this could be the culprit. As you ride the bike, a simple bump can disconnect and cause the problems.

This is some of the problems I've had and they may help you..

Well that was hoot! )

All good thoughts there. It's mounted in the factory mount and that in turn is mounted upon an SW-MOTECH vibration-damped quick release GPS holder. Although I hadn't mentioned it, I originally thought that the connection was the problem. I have it wired in through the aux connector using the correct pins. In the event there might have been a short somewhere I had installed an LED so I could visibly see if there were interruptions... None. Further, when turning the ignition off the unit displays the choice of whether to leave it on or off. If there were a power interruption I'd think the same thing would occur. Expanding on that, your thinking brings to mind that I hadn't tried running it on it's battery alone to isolate. That will be done tomorrow. I hadn't tried shielding it from extraneous RF but have tried a choke. Also tried was roughing/cleaning the two contact pins and their mating surfaces on the GPS with an eraser.

I'm grateful for the chuckles and advice... Thanks!

Any chance are you using a pre-programmed route in the unit when it freezes? If not, you can stop reading now.

If so, I've had my Zumo choke and die every time I loaded a particular route. I could view it in Preview mode, but loading it would cause the GPS to shut off. In preview mode I could see some bad anomalies in the route. The route was very corrupt. Fixing the route in City Navigator corrected the situation.

Sorry to hear you are having such a frustrating time. Garmin also sent me a replacement for my 665 in the last two weeks. The refurbished unit they sent works exactly the same as the one I sent back to them. No improvement in any way. It's annoying.

Good thoughts there as well. It freezes whether I've selected a route, waypoint, or simply in map mode. We'll see what Garmin will do this last time. I'm out of patience with the matter and will likely be referring it to the correct sources for a proper solution. Sorry you're in the same boat. Best of luck to you and thanks for your thoughts!

 

[Travex]

Update with a Bandaid fix.

From a very helpful user in another forum I learned the following:

I called to Garmin Finland today. I talked to the boss and told about freezing issue. This is what he said:

Garmin knows the issue and tries to solve it as soon as possible. New software update will follow in a month or so. PROBLEM is most likely with the FUEL CONSUMPTION

I placed mine in Car mode today and went 325mi without a single freeze. Typically, a few miles or more have elicited freezes ever since I received my new replacement unit. I'll use it in this mode and hold off escalating my complaint until I can determine, first if an update is forthcoming, and second if it's effective.

To clarify: I bought the most expensive motorcycle GPS model available only to down-grade it's operation to Car mode which is the equivalent of my daughter's sub-$200.00 Garmin unit. Yeah... That sounds about right.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

I hear ya. My issue was not any different with the refurbished unit they sent me. I sent them a follow-up email telling them that, and they stopped responding to me. I know several others from the zumoforum have reported the same problem, so I hope they'll fix it in the next release.

 

[Travex]

New 2.60 update released. I've updated mine but won't be riding for a few days to test it. Was told by Garmin that "the update will probably fix the freezing problem". They also acknowledged that using car mode and turning off fuel tracking were work-arounds. The absence of denial was refreshing.

(43.29 MB)

Changes made from version 2.50 to 2.60:

Added the option to display a clock on the map page.
Added the ability to enter location coordinates using European coordinate systems.
Improved address entry functionality.
Fixed the display of speed limits that are enforced only at certain hours of the day.
Fixed an issue that caused audible traffic alerts to repeat.
Fixed an issue that caused the device to shut down when used with some 3rd-party GPI files.
Fixed several search issues.
Fixed several map-drawing issues.
Fixed several display formatting issues.
Improved software stability.

 

[20valves]

I've been considering a 350LM to replace my much loved but no longer supported 276C. Now I'm clutching the old 276C tighter than ever.

 

[Travex]

I understand the feeling. I very much regret not hanging onto my Zumo 450.

 

[Travex]

500mi today without a freeze with the 2.60 update. MC mode, no fueling calc, one destination with auto-reroute. In addition to no freezing it was very nice to have normalized auto-zoom working again. It was very annoying having a far out view when a tighter visual reference was required.

I'll consider Garmin's work complete when I'm able to use the fuel feature. Never had a problem with that on a much older Zumo 450, but I digress.

Funny that Garmin released an update to fix a problem they never had. If I could spank them in any way, it would be to say that customers (aka people), respond much better to the truth rather than evasion of it.

Sincere thanks to each of you for sharing your experiences and suggestions. ::003::

 

[Travex]

New 2.70 update info. If this fixes the fuel tracking problem I'll be satisfied.

______________________________________

zumo 350 (GCD File) software version 2.70

as of June 13, 2013

(45.39 MB)

Change History
Changes made from version 2.60 to 2.70:

Fixed an issue with postal code searching.
Fixed an issue with fuel tracking.

 

[Travex]

A bit off topic here, but looking through the features today I saw that when using the unit converter app/Currency, that the last update is dated 9/8/2011.
If someone is aware of a way to update this feature aside from the typical update conventions that have obviously failed it'd be good to hear from you.
Thanks

 

[Travex]

Another day, another problem.

Had a very nice ride through the Allegheny National Forest in PA today. When I was about 175mi (furthest point from home), I thought that the ride was so good that I'd go back the way I came so I used the Track Back App. Nope.
It calculated for several minutes then offered up a pop-up error stating that it could not calculate the route. Once OK'd, that was followed by the red "Stop" option being visible on the map screen, although no waypoint or destination was set.

Just trading one mistake for another with this damn thing. Not that the Track Back app is a big deal to me, but I have used it on occasion and it was handy. Now I'm learning not to count on that any more.

Glad I didn't buy a cheap GPS... I'd be having all kinds of trouble.

 

[viewdvb]

As per my much earlier reply, it seems that your problems are all in the software. I sympathise entirely. I am sick of manufacturers from Garmin and Microsoft to Ducati thinking that it is acceptable that we do their R&D for them. Too often, the pressue to bring a product to market outweighs that fact that it DOESN'T WORK PROPERLY. Don't they realise that the bad feeling this generates can destroy their future sales. No- the only thing that matters is this year's bottom line. Your comment on not buying a cheap GPS reminds me of a trip I did recently with a friend who bought a super cheap Chinese model (under $50 US). His logic was that, if it misbehaved, he had the satisfaction of hurling it against a wall and pulling out the replacement he carries! I see his point.

 

[Travex]

Well that couldn't have been put any better or more succinctly. Thanks for your thoughts viewdvb!

 

[José ribeiro]

Had the same problem with two units. Solution: Do not use the fuel control system.

 

[Travex]

With fuel calc enabled there were no failures in over 300mi so far today. In fact, the fuel feature now includes a nifty yellow top banner cautioning end of tankful with a sliding animation that also worked properly and smoothly. Routing to my destination was normal and auto-zoom also worked properly. I'm not going to count my chickens quite yet, but it appears I may finally be getting the product I bought over a year ago. Could this be? Is it finally exiting BETA?

You'll not find many users as disappointed as I've been with this unit, but I have to say Garmin may have finally nipped this crap in the bud. ::003::

 

[Travex]

Over 300mi today with multiple destinations set, fuel calc enabled, 3D, and auto-zoom. No problems encountered. Have an 8k+ ride coming up so that should be the truest test. Judging by the absence of posts it appears the major problems may have been addressed.