Garmin Zumo 220: Works well, but.......

[vito]

About a month ago I bought a Garmin Zumo 220. I wanted a motorcycle specific GPS device but didn't want to spend the big bucks for the top models with all the bells and whistles. The 220 works very well as a GPS navigator, the screen handles glare well (much better than my auto Garmin that I also tried to use before), and the battery life is double that of my auto-designed Garmin. The "but" is for a few disappointments. While at $399 it is cheaper than the bigger models, it is still a sizable cost, and I assumed it would come with the newer features that even the cheap auto based Garmins have, such as telling you which lane to be in for an upcoming turn (it doesn't have that feature), nor does it offer lifetime map updates. But the biggest issue is that the handlebar mounting hardware that it includes (which is fairly elaborate, sticks up about 8 inches over the handlebar and looks ridiculous) cannot accommodate the power line I bought from Powerlet to work with Garmin's (it has the same mini-USB end that Garmins require, with the other end sized to fit into the Powerlet power receptacle). I could use this mount if I run the GPS on battery, but that would limit me to about 4 hours max per trip. While Garmin provides a car power adapter, and a USB power adapter, it does not include an A.C. adapter. So if you take this GPS on a long motorcyele trip, unless you buy the A.C. adapter separately you will only be able to charge up the GPS's battery by plugging it into someone's car power slot or hooking it up to a computer via the USB cord. Fortunately I had previous bought, for about $12, a simple handlebar mount onto which I can snap the new 220 to, and it seems quite secure. But if I had not already had this mount, and spent the $400 for the 220, despite all of the gadgets in the box from Garmin I would not have been able to attach it to my bike while using the power from my bike's battery via Powerlet. Maybe just a small thing but I wanted to warn others. I see now that Garmin offers another model, the 395 (or something that starts with a "3") and maybe that model comes with better hardware, but if you buy the 220 be aware of its limitations. If I had to do it over again, I think I would spend the extra several hundred and get the more full featured models like the 6 or 7 series Zumos.