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

[GMac]

Hi - I'll answer as best I can from memory...

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

It won't power up now so I can't test it for you or I would.

When it was starting to power up (but wouldn't move past the CanAm screen) it wouldn't make the little "blip" sound. At that point, it simply wouldn't go any further and didn't make any sounds.

Prior to that happening, and prior to it making the horrible screeching sound and the sound in general cutting out, then yes, it did make the little "blip" sound when it loaded and when you used the touchscreen. For awhile (on both of my units) it worked fine with no sound - and that meant no "blip" sound and no voice sound either. The touchscreen worked perfectly, the mapping portion worked perfectly, simply no sound. The weird part was that even during this "phase" it would occasionally start working fine, including the voice. At one point on Sunday before it stopped working altogether, it did something even more odd. It had been working in the morning (with no sound, but working) then suddenly the sound started working, but the voice sounded like one of the Chipmunks (from the Christmas record). I hadn't done anything to the sound setting to change the voice (and to my knowledge, I didn't pay extra for the "chipmunk" voice) so I have no idea why this happened. It did this for about ten or fifteen minutes, then just as abruptly went back to the "working fine but no sound" mode. It was sometime later in the morning that it froze and quit working completely.

It does (did) always ask if you want to continue without power and I always chose "shut down" and then just started it up later. Because it always showed that message I can't really answer your last question.

I have smacked the back of it a couple of times - not because I thought it would help but simply because I was frustrated. It didn't do any good though - either it continued to not work at all or continued to work in "no voice" mode, depending upon when I did it.

I don't know if that helped you at all but I hope you have more luck than I have had!!
Gary

 

[GMac]

You were right on the money with it being some kind of battery problem

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.

It went back to the dealer because after putting it on the battery tender and trying to start it, it simply died and had no power whatsoever. I hadn't loosened anything (just used the clips rather than installing any kind of wires) so I knew it wasn't that but it reacted similar to the way a car would if I hadn't tightened a battery cable onto the post.

The dealer found that the cable from the battery that lead to something he called an "o-ring" wasn't seated well. It evidently was barely making a connection. This led to problems with it charging properly and starting properly. The dealer didn't want to have to wait for a part so they cut the wire and resoldered it (he said it was probably a better connection now than a new one would be). They ran all of the tests and everything seems like it's working the way it should be now.

We're really hoping that this will fix the problem I've had with the two GPS units I've had. They both gave me the same problems and he thinks it's entirely possible that the issue could have been that the voltage they were receiving was so screwed up because of the wiring problem that it could have fried them. I have to wait to get a new one (again) from Garmin, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

In the meantime, I still think it should be illegal to have this much fun riding any vehicle!! In spite of some of my issues I'm in love with my Spyder!!!

 

[Fusionfool]

Go to the Garmin web site and allow it to load new version this should correct your issue.

 

[GMac]

I'm afraid it wasn't that simple

Go to the Garmin web site and allow it to load new version this should correct your issue.

I used both Garmin's WebUpdater client and their Garmin Express software and updated the unit as soon as I received it. Garmin themselves while on the phone agreed that I had done all that I could on my end. It appears that they were somehow fried because of the power variance that they were receiving through the docking cradle. The battery wasn't connected properly (it was tightened properly but the end of one of the cables wasn't sealed (crimped?) correctly to something on the other end (this is according to what the dealer told me when they brought it in to look based on other power related issues I started having). I just received my third one in the mail today - I'm hoping the third time's the charm.

 

[rcturner]

If your Limited is a 2012, the only place you should need to go is back to the dealer. The problem should be theirs. Anything you might do could change that.

 

[GMac]

The dealer simply referred me back to Garmin initially for this.

If your Limited is a 2012, the only place you should need to go is back to the dealer. The problem should be theirs. Anything you might do could change that.

Garmin sent me a second unit which was also promptly fried. After finding that it did this to two units in a row that's when I suspected it wasn't just the Garmin. I took it back to the dealer again at that point (the bike had finally died completely and had no power to anything). After they checked it over thoroughly there WAS something not connected properly - a wire from the battery to something the dealer called an "o-ring" wasn't making a good connection. They cut and resoldered this wire and I'm having no issues now at all. We THINK it was a problem with the voltage not being correct because of this issue and this is what fried two Garmin units. Garmin sent me another (third) unit which is connected now and at this point I haven't had any further issues.