For our big Mexico and Central America trip last fall, we decided on the Garmin Zumo XT for our GPS unit. It worked out flawlessly for us, and we couldn’t be more pleased with a unit for mostly on-road riding. The Zumo XT is a beautiful 5.5” display that is easy to use, works extremely well, and produces a beautiful, clear and crisp picture. The touchscreen works flawlessly. We also paired the Zumo XT with Garmin’s Group Ride Radio to try it out. We’ll talk more about that below. Overall, the Zumo XT got us to where we needed to be, and when we did get lost, it wasn’t because of the Zumo.
You can head over to Garmin’s website for a deep dive into all the features and benefits of the Zumo XT but we at least wanted to do a quick mention of our favorite features.
Features we love:
- Turn-by-turn directions and visuals that go along with them.
- Time countdown in the corner of the screen.
- Track Recorder is helpful in our planning for the next day and super fun to look back at throughout the trip(s).
- Awesome music feature – easy to use while riding that pairs with your phone and helmet comms.
- 3 map viewing options – street view, topo, and bird’s eye view.
- Pairs seamlessly with our Garmin Inreach (if you don’t have an inReach by now, it’s about time you get one. Check out our review of the inReach Mini here).
- The touchscreen is smooth.
The Group Ride Radio is an accessory you can add on to your Garmin devices to get a few extra benefits (visit garmin.com for compatibility specifications). We decided to try it out and it’s really nice to have group location sharing, especially for off-road riding. The location sharing came in handy a few times while in big cities and getting separated but ultimately, this feature shines off-road.
You can track and see your friends if everyone is riding with the Group Ride Radio. We love the GRR for the tracking feature, but it also comes with a communication feature. The communication feature for us isn’t super beneficial but would be awesome for side-by-sides or ATVs. You can essentially use the Zumo XT as a two-way radio and connect the radio into your helmet comms or use the provided handheld mic. While the range is good, it’s not easy to use while riding as you have to push the button on the device to talk. For us, since we always have helmet comms, it didn’t really come in handy. We do really like the handheld mic if we are going out on photo missions. Usually, the one taking photos has to take their helmet off and loses comms when doing so. Now, with the handheld mic, the photographer can use that to communicate with the rider (through their helmet comms). Otherwise, we don’t really use the handheld mic. If you’re looking at the GRR for a SXS or ATV, we think you’d use the handheld all the time.
For us, the Group Ride Radio isn’t worth the additional $350 per unit simply because we don’t get enough use out of the features. We also use a different unit when we’re riding off-road that gives us location sharing. The Zumo XT is an ideal unit for touring, and any trips like the one we made in the fall through Mexico and Central America. The unit we use off-road doesn’t give nearly the touring features that the Zumo does, and we firmly believe that each one shines in different environments/riding situations. In an ideal world, in the future Garmin will build the Group Ride Radio features into their GPS units.
We put a ton of trust in the Garmin Zumo XT because we are poor planners/preparers. We hardly used the units before heading to Mexico/CA and hoped everything would work out. And to no surprise, we had no issues throughout the entire trip. We also were riding in some extremely humid conditions which never had an impact on the unit. The Zumo XT will be with us on many future adventures, keeping us on our route and helping us to get back on it if we shall get off route. If you have any questions be sure to leave them below and we’ll get back to you. If you’re interested in purchasing the Zumo XT, using our provided links earns us a small commission on your purchase. We appreciate the support!
*We received this gear for free in exchange for a review, however, it’s important to know that all thoughts are our own.
Zumo XT
479.99
Pros
- Intuitive and easy to use out of the box
- Turn-by-turn directions are amazing
- Clear and crisp day and night (though there are about 30 min a day when the sun is just right that makes the screen hard to see - likely unavoidable for any screen))
- Can load pre-mapped tracks and routes onto the unit
- Updates quickly and easily when you connect to home wifi
Cons
- *the only two cons are unrelated to the Zumo XT so the 9.5/10 score is overall. The Zumo XT is 10/10.
- 1st - We don't think the Group Ride Radio is ultimately worth the additional $350 for our needs
- 2nd - We don't like Garmin's mapping software "Basecamp" It's hard to use and very tedious.
