Garmin has announced the zumo 590LM, a new top-of-the-line motorcycle navigator that seems destined to supplant the 665LM.
The 590LM is packed full of features for the two-wheeled road warrior. They include:
- Glove friendly 5″ touchscreen
- An MP3 player
- iPod, iPhone and Pandora compatibility (the latter works with some Android devices)
- Music control on the 590LM screen
- Traffic info, weather and live weather radar via the Smartphone Link app
- In-helmet voice directions and hands free phone control (requires Bluetooth-enabled headset or helmet along with a compatible smartphone)
- Fuel-resistant, UV resistant, waterproof (IPX7) design
- Tire pressure monitoring system compatibility
- Garmin VIRB action camera compatibility
- Garmin Real Directions
- Active Lane Guidance
- photoReal Junction View
- Round-trip routing (by time, distance or location)
- Curvy roads routing
- TracBack
- Removable battery
- Motorcycle mount included
- Also includes mount and power cord for in car use
- Garmin custom map capability
- Lifetime maps for US, Canada and Mexico
- Service history log
- 3D terrain
- Dual orientation display
- Slide in windows to show upcoming POIs and traffic
It also appears to offer voice command:
“Users can also call points of interest through the zūmo Bluetooth interface – perfect for last-minute change of plans or a quick stop for food and fuel.”
The zumo 590LM is expected to be available this month at an MSRP of $799.,99. More info here.
About Rich Owings
About time!
Has Garmin abandoned the high end auto GPS market?
At times over the past few months I’ve wondered, but I don’t think so. The 3597LMTHD is the 6th most popular auto GPS on Amazon and ranks #165 among all electronics sold there. I suspect that is too large of a market to abandon, but the upgrade cycle may move to 18 months instead of 12.
The automotive nuvi line was never really considered “high-end” to GPS “experts” since they have always been dumbed-down units compared to the earlier Street Pilots which allowed a very high degree of configurability. Maybe the “highest-end” nuvi was the 8×0/8×5 which allowed many features and options not provided on other models. Too bad is was slow (despite running Linux) and had odd quirks like *always* being in stand-by mode (it never shut down unless the battery was removed) depleting the battery in a few days to a week if not connected to some type of power source and having truly bad sound quality & volume despite it’s dual forward firing speakers.
High end to Garmin then because their Prestige line up hasn’t been updated in some time.
Sergey, don’t forget the Nuvi 5000 – it was basically a Nuvi 800 with a 5″ 800×480 screen and no voice recognition. I still have mine! The Nuvi 5000 didn’t have the “standby issue” of the 8xx series…. because it didn’t have a battery (one of Garmin’s really questionable design decisions) 🙂
This Zumo has some interesting specs. Custom Maps compatibility is a first in the ‘On the road’ series. I wonder if it’s also BIrdseye compatible? All other devices with custom map compatibility work with Birdseye. The Birdseye page doesn’t list it, but neither does the custom maps page.
Also it’s curious how they say you can get traffic info with a Smartphone Link subscription, but on the specs page it says it isn’t compatible with traffic and won’t route around it….
And I wonder what “topo map compatible” means? Will it display a topo in the same style as the Montana (for example)?
Glad to see some new features crossing over into the “On the Road” series. But I think I’ll pass on the $800 pricetage. :0
Was just looking at the specs over at GPSCity and it says the screen is transreflective. I think that would be a first for a Nuvi or Zumo, wouldn’t it? With a 5″ dual orientation 800×480 screen, removable battery and topo/custom map compatibility they seem to be positioning it for handheld use as well. It’s about the same size/weight as a Montana. 🙂
I think you’re right about it being a first. Montana screens are smaller though (4″ vs 5″) or I’d suspect they might just be economizing by using the same screen across multiple models.