Has anyone had issues with the GPS that comes with the Limited?

[GMac]

I've had the Spyder for about two months now. After the first month or so I started to get a horrible screeching sound coming out of my speakers. It quit by itself after about thirty seconds but then about an hour later it started again after I had shut the bike off to get gas and I found that the sound was coming from the GPS itself. After that it started making the same sound occasionally, then not making any sound at all (either through the speakers or the headset). I had plugged it in and done the update as they ask using the Garmin software (I actually did it a couple of times). It finally quit working completely.

After taking it to my dealer, they had me contact Garmin. I did and just over a week ago I got a new one from Garmin. Plugged it in on Memorial Day for our trip up to Rockport and it worked just fine. On the trip back, it started making a familiar noise and then quit giving me any kind of sound. It has worked intermittently since then until today. It started to work again this morning but the voice sounded like one of the Chipmunks (and I hadn't done a thing to the settings). It then failed completely on the way home and won't restart at all.

I'm going to go back to the dealer again tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone else had any issues - and at this point I'm wondering if it's something with wiring somehow (or contacts maybe) instead of the actual GPS unit itself since it's done the same thing twice. I don't actually use the GPS all that often and when I'm not using it, it's zipped up inside the holder that came with it and the rubber boot has always been over the contacts when not in use so I don't think there's anything else I could have done.

Any suggestions would be helpful (I did do an internet search and found that it appears the same GPS unit is rebranded for Harley also and found two other situations that seemed to be similar to mine).

Thanks!!!!
Gary

 

[grumpybob]

Have not had any problems with mine, 2012 RT. Might try cleaning the contacts on the RT for the GPS or it my not be seating completely. Road jarring or vibration may be working it free enough so the contacts are not getting a good seat after riding a while. My best guess.

 

[eddieshep999]

Maybe your dealer or a friend with a Spyder RT Limited could swap over the GPS that would give an indication if its the GPS or the Motorcycle Mount

One of the best websites for all things connected with the Garmim Zumo GPS Units is this one

http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php?action=forum

Post a thread or do a search on the Zumo website and they may be able to point you in the right direction

I hope you get it sorted - My Zumo 660 on my Spyder RT-S SE5 2010 Model is great and I have not had any problems apart from when I picked up the Spyder and the Power connections came apart due to a poor crimp
It would run on its battery but no power from the Spyder - Once sorted no other issues

 

[gorcutt]

No problems on mine, works just fine.

 

[harrypottar]

Again not much help but a vote of confidence that mine works ok. With it doing it on two Zumo's I would suspect the mount or harness.

Like the previous poster said have the dealer try another GPS from another spyder or try your GPS on another Spyder. Have them check the mount and harness.

harry

 

[Illinois Boy]

You should have also received the car mount and power cord with your GPS. It should have been in the box...

If not... talk to your dealer.

If you did, then hook-up the GPS in your car and see if it does the same thing. If so, then it is likely the unit itself. If not, well then... you have a problem with either the wiring or the mounting bracket for the Spyder.

 

[GMac]

This is actually an excellent idea...

You should have also received the car mount and power cord with your GPS. It should have been in the box...

If not... talk to your dealer.

If you did, then hook-up the GPS in your car and see if it does the same thing. If so, then it is likely the unit itself. If not, well then... you have a problem with either the wiring or the mounting bracket for the Spyder.

...and I DO have the car mount piece, but the problem is that now the GPS simply doesn't work.

It's charged (or it was when it quit working) and it won't go past the "CanAm" screen when it starts to boot. This is true on the mount or off the mount or even plugged in to the USB cord. Sometimes it doesn't even get to that point and will simply give me a black screen. This has been the case since it flaked out on me yesterday (and the same behavior of the first unit I had). This is why I think there has to be a problem in the wiring or mount somewhere that must have fried the unit.

If I had a new one I would try it in the car first though it would have to be for a long period of time to ensure it didn't do the same thing (since it worked on the Spyder at first as well - both times).

 

[NancysToy]

If it won't run on the proper USB cable, it is a bad unit. Afraid you'll have to contact Garmin again.

 

[eddieshep999]

You could try the factory reset which is listed in the manual :-

Resetting your Zumo

If the Zumo stops functioning - Turn off the Zumo and then turn it back on
If this does not help Press and hold the Start button for 8 seconds
Turn on the Zumo again and the Zumo should start normally

Another thing to try is to remove the battery and then reinsert it - There have been cases where the Zumo just stops working usually taking out the battery and reinserting it seems to reboot the Zumo and they come back to life

 

[GMac]

I should have said I tried that already....

You could try the factory reset which is listed in the manual :-

Resetting your Zumo

If the Zumo stops functioning - Turn off the Zumo and then turn it back on
If this does not help Press and hold the Start button for 8 seconds
Turn on the Zumo again and the Zumo should start normally

Another thing to try is to remove the battery and then reinsert it - There have been cases where the Zumo just stops working usually taking out the battery and reinserting it seems to reboot the Zumo and they come back to life

On the first one I had already tried that when I spoke with the support tech at Garmin and he had me try it again before deciding the unit was fried. I tried all of it with this unit as well. I also tried setting it back to factory defaults after reinstalling the software through the Garmin software (Webupdater and Garmin Express). At this point it won't come on to let me try that again though.

 

[harrypottar]

Just one thought, is it getting charged from from the spyder. Either leave it plugged into the USB for a while or next time you go for a drive stick it in the car mount to charge. Just throwing this out there with it not even turning on.

harry

 

[NancysToy]

Just one thought, is it getting charged from from the spyder. Either leave it plugged into the USB for a while or next time you go for a drive stick it in the car mount to charge. Just throwing this out there with it not even turning on.

harry

Good point!

 

[GMac]

I just came back from the dealer

Just one thought, is it getting charged from from the spyder. Either leave it plugged into the USB for a while or next time you go for a drive stick it in the car mount to charge. Just throwing this out there with it not even turning on.

harry

It is charging BUT it may not be charging fully. At this point, I believe this unit has been fried like the last one, but the dealer thinks it may have something to do with not having a "full" battery on the Spyder. I don't have any additional electrical equipment on the bike but for some reason when I start it, it frequently turns over once and stops, then the computer goes wacky for a second, restarts, and then the bike starts up fine (though it turns over very slowly when I push the button until it's started). I described this to him and then it actually did it when he came out to look at it (it's been "iffy" as to whether it will do this or start with no issue). I honestly didn't think too much of it since I've never ridden any other Spyder and just thought it was "normal".

He thinks that because the battery isn't completely charged as it should be it may have led to some kind of improper voltage that did very bad things to the Garmin. I have a battery tender that I use for my Honda and I'm using it as I type this on the Spyder and will keep it on overnight. The dealer said that they had a Spyder that did the same thing (low battery, not damaging the GPS) and after keeping it on the Tender overnight it seemed to solve that particular problem.

I'm going to have to call Garmin and get yet another unit sent out but at least we MIGHT be onto what the problem is (though I have no idea why the battery would be low without any additional electronics installed on it - strictly factory).

 

[NancysToy]

You have just described the classic symptoims of a loose battery connection, loose gound, or bad battery. I don't know what to tell you about a tech who suspected it, but didn't bother to check further. If it was this way from day one, it was likely a pep issue...when the tech failed to tighten the battery connections properly. That is pretty common.

 

[GMac]

The connection doesn't APPEAR to be loose...

You have just described the classic symptoims of a loose battery connection, loose gound, or bad battery. I don't know what to tell you about a tech who suspected it, but didn't bother to check further. If it was this way from day one, it was likely a pep issue...when the tech failed to tighten the battery connections properly. That is pretty common.

...but then I freely admit to being mechanically challenged (and that's being very nice about it).

They didn't suspect anything before because I hadn't mentioned it. I've only had it about two months now and simply never knew it was acting poorly enough that I should mention it (other than the GPS problem and I didn't mention the other issue when I initially brought it in for the GPS a couple of weeks ago so they didn't have any reason to suspect it) so that's really my fault and not theirs.

The person that suggested I try this (putting it on the battery tender) is the owner of the dealership and he seemed to think it may correct the problem and would be the easiest solution. I want to think he's right and that they didn't do anything wrong when they put it together (loose connections, etc.) because they certainly didn't offer to check all of that when I was in today, but I realize that may not be the case. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt right this minute and hope this corrects it. If not, I'll be going back armed with the information you gave me and I won't be a happy camper at that point.

Thank you!!!
Gary

 

[harrypottar]

Highly recommend a battery tender, all my gear is always on battery tenders. This will keep your battery topped up but won't help if you battery connections are lose.

Note the dealer may have tightened them at PDI, but like most motorcycle the spyder vibrates and they do come lose.

I'm house bound at the moment but if your riding around RI/MA I would be happy to look at your GPS. I'm on the border of MA/RI/CT not too far from Vanilla Bean.

harry

 

[GMac]

I greatly appreciate the offer.

Highly recommend a battery tender, all my gear is always on battery tenders. This will keep your battery topped up but won't help if you battery connections are lose.

Note the dealer may have tightened them at PDI, but like most motorcycle the spyder vibrates and they do come lose.

I'm house bound at the moment but if your riding around RI/MA I would be happy to look at your GPS. I'm on the border of MA/RI/CT not too far from Vanilla Bean.

harry

I had it on the tender for the last four hours or so - went out and had a solid green light which means it should be good to go. Took the tender off, put the key in and turned it, computer and lights came on fine, pushed the start button and it went completely dead. No power, no nothing. Tried to connect the tender again and it wouldn't even sense that it was connected (had a flashing red light no matter what I did).

I had only connected it using the clamps rather than actually attaching to the posts. The dealer suggested that first to see if it made a difference rather than removing the panels that he said was necessary to install the line properly (and I don't know that I could do it anyway - like I said earlier, I'm NOT mechanical). I say this to stress that I could not have possibly loosened something somewhere and not tightened it back up again.

So now I have a completely dead machine sitting in the driveway. There is definitely something not connected right somewhere!!! (I don't know for certain if that is what was causing the problem with the GPS or not, but I'm sure it didn't help).

 

[NancysToy]

Sounds like you have a dead short in the starter or starter relay or a major wire, or something was drastically miswired. You are lucky it didn't start a fire. Your Spyder needs serious help. Have it towed to a competent dealer.

 

[Illinois Boy]

I had it on the tender for the last four hours or so - went out and had a solid green light which means it should be good to go. Took the tender off, put the key in and turned it, computer and lights came on fine, pushed the start button and it went completely dead. No power, no nothing. Tried to connect the tender again and it wouldn't even sense that it was connected (had a flashing red light no matter what I did).

I had only connected it using the clamps rather than actually attaching to the posts. The dealer suggested that first to see if it made a difference rather than removing the panels that he said was necessary to install the line properly (and I don't know that I could do it anyway - like I said earlier, I'm NOT mechanical). I say this to stress that I could not have possibly loosened something somewhere and not tightened it back up again.

So now I have a completely dead machine sitting in the driveway. There is definitely something not connected right somewhere!!! (I don't know for certain if that is what was causing the problem with the GPS or not, but I'm sure it didn't help).

GPS units can be sensitive to power fluctuations. They also can sometimes be caused to have software problems when plugged into a computer via the USB cord. Mostly is you remove them too quickly when it is still setting itself up. This is somewhat rare with the Garmin though, compared to other brands (don't ask).

However, this appears you have electrical problems with your Spyder overall. One also has to wonder if they hooked-up the GPS harness wrong.

I would at this point have your conversation with the dealer... sorry to say.

Good luck to you.

 

[MouthPiece]

I've had the Spyder for about two months now. After the first month or so I started to get a horrible screeching sound coming out of my speakers. It quit by itself after about thirty seconds but then about an hour later it started again after I had shut the bike off to get gas and I found that the sound was coming from the GPS itself. After that it started making the same sound occasionally, then not making any sound at all (either through the speakers or the headset). I had plugged it in and done the update as they ask using the Garmin software (I actually did it a couple of times). It finally quit working completely.

After taking it to my dealer, they had me contact Garmin. I did and just over a week ago I got a new one from Garmin. Plugged it in on Memorial Day for our trip up to Rockport and it worked just fine. On the trip back, it started making a familiar noise and then quit giving me any kind of sound. It has worked intermittently since then until today. It started to work again this morning but the voice sounded like one of the Chipmunks (and I hadn't done a thing to the settings). It then failed completely on the way home and won't restart at all.

I'm going to go back to the dealer again tomorrow but wanted to see if anyone else had any issues - and at this point I'm wondering if it's something with wiring somehow (or contacts maybe) instead of the actual GPS unit itself since it's done the same thing twice. I don't actually use the GPS all that often and when I'm not using it, it's zipped up inside the holder that came with it and the rubber boot has always been over the contacts when not in use so I don't think there's anything else I could have done.

Any suggestions would be helpful (I did do an internet search and found that it appears the same GPS unit is rebranded for Harley also and found two other situations that seemed to be similar to mine).

Thanks!!!!
Gary

I have a question or two. First, when your GPS starts to "power up" or go through the stage of "loading" do you hear the little "blip" sound? Further, do you hear the "blip" sound when choosing options such as "where to" versus "map".

Second, if you don't hear the blip sound, is this when you don't hear the "audio directions" from the female voice? OR, If you do hear the "blip sound" when the GPS is loading, do you not then hear her voice.

Third, do you find that the GPS does not query whether you want to have it turn off OR continue under battery power. (There usually is a message asking the above). If it does not show this message, does the lack of directional voice or blip occur afterwards when you go to use again?

I'm interested in your reply because I am experiencing just about the same issue as you. My remedy has been to literally beat the back side of the GPS (Zumo 660) and most of the time this resolves the problem. It has nothing to do with the contacts with the holder. (at least on mine)

Chris