Garmin 590

[trimannn]

My old GPS finally burned out so I broke down and bought a 590. Not sure I'm happy with it yet considering how much it cost but one thing I'm not real happy about is the miles of cable I won't be using in the power cable. I know about the mod that can be done to it but I was just wondering if anyone else has one and how did you wire it up? There's not a lot of room for extra wiring to beginning with. Did you cut the cable and do the mod or did you just tuck all the extra cable someplace?

 

[OX-34]

I'm currently running 3 Garmin GPS devices. The 590, a 660 and an even older 550.

I have my 590 audio wired through a Starcom system under the rider seat. All 3 have power from an Eastern Beaver PC-8 fuse block in front of the battery on the right side. There is ample space for the wires so I didn't cut anything.

 

[Juan]

I use a 560LM. It's wired from the aux lights connector (white with three prongs) which is located behind the mass of cables near the battery. The extra wiring of the 590Lm is bunched by cable tie and put in the space above the tool kit.

 

[trimannn]

What year bikes? Mines a 15 and there isn't a whole lot of room near the battery and what there is is pretty much taken up by the Eastern Beaver 3CS.

 

[Checkswrecks]

I ride into DC daily, where there are no gas stations or support, so ditched the POS stock tool kit and have my own in the topcase. Where the POS OEM tool kit went is lots of space for stuff like the extra wire coiled up, relays, etc.

 

[OX-34]

I ride into DC daily, where there are no gas stations or support, so ditched the POS stock tool kit and have my own in the topcase. Where the POS OEM tool kit went is lots of space for stuff like the extra wire coiled up, relays, etc.

Yeah, that space exactly ::025::

 

[talcon]

My old GPS finally burned out so I broke down and bought a 590. Not sure I'm happy with it yet considering how much it cost but one thing I'm not real happy about is the miles of cable I won't be using in the power cable. I know about the mod that can be done to it but I was just wondering if anyone else has one and how did you wire it up? There's not a lot of room for extra wiring to beginning with. Did you cut the cable and do the mod or did you just tuck all the extra cable someplace?

I just mounted mine - plugged it into switched power at the aux light lead near the battery - tucked all the extra cable up over top of the toolkit, and ran the USB port just outside the right side cover so I can still use it. I'm bluetoothing to the headset and phone.

 

[jettcity1]

I just got my 590 LM installed and turned on, it sure seems like a nice unit so far. I would like to figure out how to upload some map data (for free of course).
Any suggestions?
Interested in the specific PNW trails and routes in NW Wa. state.
Note: I am technically challenged and my attention span is in nanoseconds.

 

[JRE]

I just got my 590 LM installed and turned on, it sure seems like a nice unit so far. I would like to figure out how to upload some map data (for free of course).
Any suggestions?
Interested in the specific PNW trails and routes in NW Wa. state.
Note: I am technically challenged and my attention span is in nanoseconds.

For just the maps themselves, they should be loaded into your unit. If not connect to your PC using the software and do any necessary updates (should be pretty straightforward). If you are looking for custom stuff...

You're probably not going to be very happy if it's anything like my 660 because I'm pretty tech savvy and I found it to be problematic depending on the source of the data and how it's formatted/composed. It's been 6 months or so since I've done any fiddling with maps so I'm forgetting the specifics already but there are routes and tracks and they are handled differently. Routes can only be imported if they meet certain criteria - seems like it has something to do with waypoints. Again, I forget a lot of it because it's confusing depending on your source for the routes/tracks. It's great to plan them on Google maps and then export but it's a very convoluted process for the Zumo's. Then there's the 2 software applications from Garmin - basecamp and mapsource. Basecamp is more modern and user friendly but has issues with many Zumo models that you won't know abou tuntil you are trying to use the maps on the GPS (handy huh?). Mapsource looks very antiquated but a lot of people prefer it.

Anyway, here are some links I had saved you can use to do some reading...they are titled Zumo 660 but I think it applies to the 590 as well.

http://forums.gpsreview.net/discussion/29695/route-planning-software-for-zumo-660
http://www.stevemanes.com/content/using-google-maps-garmin-zumo-660
https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?325322-Basecamp-with-Zumo-660&p=731789#post731789

This will be a handy tool - http://kml2gpx.com/