Garmin weirdness - I never expected this.

[BLUE MULE]

When I purchased my new RT in May 2011, I also had my dealer put on the Garmin Zumo 660 ( the Can Am version ). Got the whole set-up installed before I took delivery. We all know these things cost some $$$$, but I'm directionally challenged, so I went ahead and did the deed. All was well. Recently though, the power button basically quit working ( most of the time ) and the voice commands went wonky ( getting the chipmunk voice, instead of the Aussie babe ). So basically I have a mechanical problem and a software problem. Now I know that I can fix a lot of the software problems by hooking the Garmin up to my computer and going to their site and finding what I need, but since I've got a broken power button, I figure I'll just send it in to Garmin and they can fix both issues and be done with it. Boy was I wrong! Spoke to customer service to get my RMA #, but since the unit was a " specialty unit " she had to hook me up with the OEM department. Spoke to Peter - nice guy - but what happened next was what left me a little confused. NO WE CAN"T FIX YOUR GARMIN. You'll have to contact whoever you bought it from and they'll have to deal with it thru their Garmin distributor. WHAT? REALLY? It's apparently a specialty item and they are not allowed to even recieve them into their warehouse. So GARMIN can't fix my GARMIN. I'm of the impression that the only thing different about this than a normal Garmin Zumo 660 is that Can Am has loaded some additional dealer location info on the unit and the nifty Spyder Icon. But, because of this they won't touch, recieve, or repair my $$$$$$$$$ unit. Now don't get me wrong, everyone at Garmin was very polite and understood my predicament - they were just following policy I'm sure, but really? So what to do?

Well I contacted my dealer - Cowtown ( Fort Worth ) and talked to Gilbert. He told me he had not run into this, but suggested that a call to BRP might be in order. He said he would call them and see what he could do. His theory was that since I purchased it new with the bike and I was still within my initial two-year warranty, they should replace it. I like his thinking! So that was today - we'll see what comes of a call to BRP. Hopefully, it will all work out, otherwise I'm out about $700.00 for a new one because I can't get the old one fixed. Catch-22 don't you think. Anyone else run into this?

Thanks for listening!

Kyle

[otter28169]

It is very odd that you had that kind of trouble with a garmin product. I have never had any issues, but then again my garmins are in the truck, not on the spyder. Let us know how that works out for you.

[spyderpoop]

hope it turns out for the good for you but dont get your hopes up as BRP dont seem to take any care on all the problems on this site like I mentioned before I emailed them 3 times and never even got a reply the company has our money and just dont care

[kevorama]

I was leery of the proprietary set up of the Garmin/BRP marriage and price, just in case what happened to you happened to me. I have a Garmin 2555LMT Auto being delivered tomorrow and all I'll have to do is to put a 12v cig lighter through my speaker grill. The voice is loud enough to hear without running it through a special cable for the bike's speakers.

I wish you luck, my friend.

[CyncySpyder]

Because you had it installed at time of purchase, you never bought the unit from Garmin but from your dealer AKA BRP & yes, its covered under the 2 year BRP warranty. Your dealer needs to step up for you & get BRP to do what they need to do to correct the problems, simple as that.

Our first Garmin 665 series (not BRP issue) had similar issues that you listed, and no amount of software revisions corrected the issues & eventually sent it in and recieved either a new one or refurbished one in no time & have had no further issues since.

Hope everything gets worked out to your satisfaction & in a timely manner.

[BLUE MULE]

Because you had it installed at time of purchase, you never bought the unit from Garmin but from your dealer AKA BRP & yes, its covered under the 2 year BRP warranty. Your dealer needs to step up for you & get BRP to do what they need to do to correct the problems, simple as that.

Our first Garmin 665 series (not BRP issue) had similar issues that you listed, and no amount of software revisions corrected the issues & eventually sent it in and recieved either a new one or refurbished one in no time & have had no further issues since.

Hope everything gets worked out to your satisfaction & in a timely manner.

I don't agree. In your statement you say because I didn't buy the unit from Garmin - well, think about it, do you buy anything from the actual manufacturer? I rarely ever buy anything from the manufacturer - I go to a distributor like Walmart or Best Buy. Heck, I didn't even buy my Spyder from the manufacturer, I bought it from an authorized distributor-so that doesn't hold water. I called Garmin with the idea that I could and would pay the " out of warranty repair charge " which for the 660 is $160.00 according to the Garmin website- I told them this when I called and was clear about it. Perhaps I should have stated that in my first post-my bad. It should have been that easy-no hassle. Shouldn't matter where I purchased it from whether it be BRP, Best Buy, or Target. If I buy a product manufactured by someone, I should be able to get it fixed by them or by one of their service providers don't you think? A straight up NO is unacceptable.

[BikerDoc]

I had a problem with the Zumo 660 that came on my 2012 and the dealer replaced it in a heartbeat and returned the defective unit to BRP. From following problems on here for over three years now, i see an awful lot of cases where the quality of the dealer is everything in terms of how problems are resolved or simply shuffled around forever..

[ABQAndy]

I bought a 2012 RT Limited (factory install of the Zumo) and I had a problem with the bluetooth not working. I contacted Garmin and they had me reload the firmware. This didn't correct it so they said to mail it to them and they replaced it with no problem. The only thing that I see different from yours is that I didn't notice that any dealer or spyder specific data was loaded on the Zumo?

[motoford]

I don't agree. In your statement you say because I didn't buy the unit from Garmin - well, think about it, do you buy anything from the actual manufacturer?

If the speakers in your new car die do you call Bose or the dealer that sold you the car?

[MarkLawson]

I don't agree. In your statement you say because I didn't buy the unit from Garmin - well, think about it, do you buy anything from the actual manufacturer? I rarely ever buy anything from the manufacturer - I go to a distributor like Walmart or Best Buy. Heck, I didn't even buy my Spyder from the manufacturer, I bought it from an authorized distributor-so that doesn't hold water. I called Garmin with the idea that I could and would pay the " out of warranty repair charge " which for the 660 is $160.00 according to the Garmin website- I told them this when I called and was clear about it. Perhaps I should have stated that in my first post-my bad. It should have been that easy-no hassle. Shouldn't matter where I purchased it from whether it be BRP, Best Buy, or Target. If I buy a product manufactured by someone, I should be able to get it fixed by them or by one of their service providers don't you think? A straight up NO is unacceptable.

Possibly, from Garmin's perspective, you bought a product they built to BRP's specifications, albeit partially. This could very well place it in a category where Garmin will refer you to BRP as it is their custom built GPS.

I ran into this situation with a pool cover that the manufacturer built to a retailer's specification.

[MouthPiece]

I have been experiencing similar problems with my Zumo 660. It would not "load" to the home page, but instead stayed stuck on the initial Garmin logo. To remedy this I would take the back of the battery off and take the battery out and put it back in. When I did this sometimes it would power up to the home page and sometimes it wouldn't.

When I got it to work, and would stop my spyder, many times it would not power down or go to the screen advising that it would shut down from battery mode in 27 seconds. Then again sometimes it would. It just has been inconsistent now for sometime. I also had problems with the power button. I won't say it was broken, but it just didn't function right. Additionally, the voice "Jill" sounded like a chipmunk at times.

Bottom line I went to the Garmin website and did the support help. They gave me a download and at least for now it seems to have fixed the issue. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the ticket and I won't have anymore problems. It was as though I was having a bad connection, but hopefully this download will be the solution.

Chris