XT vs XT2

[JohnS1955]

I've had an XT for the last 2-years, after several years of a revolving door of ghosting Nav6 units. I like the XT. I create routes using Basecamp, MRA and inRoute. I don't use the Drive app for anything. I copy GPX route files from PC/Mac directly to the XT, either Internal Storage or the SD Card.

I'm at crossroads moving forward. I've read much here about issues with the XT2. Between reading about Tread/Explore messing with routes, complications with collections, and miscellaneous problems with the touch screen, I'm having doubts about moving away from the XT. I'm almost to the point of picking up another XT on eBay to have a new backup unit to be able to stay with the model for the foreseeable future.

Any thoughts on this? Am I overthinking the comparison and is moving to an XT2 a non-issue?

[jfheath]

Both units have their problems

The Explore App for route planning is a non starter - it doesn't plot routes in the normal Via Point / Shaping point way. It plots straight lines with corners. The XT then receives that info and plots a route that passes through the corners / vertices.

The only good thing in my opinion to come out of the Explore facility was the introduction of collections. But I chose to run my XT1 without Explore set up - therefore no collections.

The XT introduced this weired routing behaviour in certain circumstances. I could alway make it doi it by forcing a recaclualtion - by pressing skip. Thereafter, the nature of the route changed if you went off route:

i) it would calculate the best way back to the original route. If the best way back involved going to the place where I left the route (ie a U turn or a loop around the houses) and I ignored it - it would 'forever' try to get me to go back to the point where it asked me to turn back last time.
And that sequence repeats - in my test cases - expecting me to go back and take a 29 mile trip to reach the original route which was less than a mile in front of me. RUT behaviour.
ii) All route points become optional. If I pass through them, fine. If I didn't and the original route is spotted some way ahead, then all intemediate route points - via and shaping - were ignored. Not just ignored, actually removed from the route and the screen.
iii) Many route points had their names changed and locations slightly altered druing the transfer/import process.

These behaviours were stopped by making the XT believe that the route was saved - as if it had been created on the XT itself. Deviate from the route and its prime objective was to get you to the next routing point ahead. If you by pass a shaping point, but rejoin the route after the shaping point, it would not try to take you back.

That behaviour to me is perfect, and exactly how the 590 behaves when the trip planner app with its via and shaping points was first introduced.

You can make the XT behave 'properly' as if it is a saved route in a number of ways - all of which are documented on here - but ask if you can't find them.

1. Load the route, set it going and then back out and save the active route.
2. Use an app developed by @FrankB - SetTriptoSaved - to 'fix' the route.
3. Use another app developed by @FrankB , called TripManager and use that to put your route onto the XT which bypasses the transfer/import process. As a result, all names remain the same and in the same position, the trip is regarded as 'Saved' and the route behaves perfectly.


The XT2 does not fix any of the issues I listed for the XT. They are all present - but the devastating effect is even more pronounced. The Tread App seems to change the route completely, as if it is ignoring the shaping points, calculating the route using the via points and then putting the shaping points back onto the new route that it has calculated.

For me, the Tread App is an excellent idea, but it is unusable for planning a real route where you place shaping points in order to force the route to take particular roads. Unless you place the points in the order in which they will be visited, then it ends up being a real mess. When using the Tread route planner app, it was almost impossible to move a shaping point because they are all called 'shaping point'. Garmin seemed to have responded to this by completely removing the facility to re-order the shaping points at all. And now, if you re-order via points, all of the shaping points that you plotted are deleted.

If you make the route entirely of Via Points, and then change some to shaping points, the app will move the route onto a nearby faster road, and take the shaping point with it. But I've noticed before that Garmin seem to release updates of work in progress rather than waiting for the complete solution. ***. So maybe this is a sign that something is being done about it.v

The synchronisation process has a habit of changing any route imported into the Tread APP or into the XT2 to take roads that the shaping points were placed deliberately to avoid. I sent videos of this happening to Garmin.

You can use the XT2 with the Tread App installed, but without allowing it to store data and / or synchronise. This gives acces to the other data that the XT2 can use - Weather, upahead places, traffic etc.
Using @FrankB 's TripManager to transfer routes and not allowing synch to take place, gives you control of the routes that you plot. They stay intact, and place names remain intact.
The XT2 screen has fully operational collections - far better than the XT1 - and they are there whether or not Tread's synch functionality is installed.

The only downside is that routes cannot be sent to the Tread app to transfer to the XT2 by BT unless Tread is allowed to synch. (Unlike the Drive App and the XT1). But since it is the synching that causes all of the issues, that may not be such a big issue at all. You have to use the USB cable.


I have the 590, 595, XT1 and XT2. The 59x cradle I took off a while ago. The XT1 and XT2 cradle are still on the bike. Last weekend was the first time that I ran the same route on both devices for a long time. Normally I go out with just the XT2 - it has behaved itself now I know how to use it, but none of that help has come from Garmin. All they have done is 'fixed' the fact that the feature to re-order shaping points does not work is to not provide the option at all. It used to be there (albeit faulty). Now it isn't there.

Between us on this forum, we have managed to tame the XT2 into our way of working. But it has taken a couple of years, and I'm a bit of a nerd when it comes to issues like this.

[JohnS1955]

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I'm going to do some searches of what you've posted in the past on everything you outlined here. Again, much appreciated.

What I'm taking from this is that I shouldn't shy away from an XT2 moving forward. It's just of a matter of "taming" it by using it according to best practices that you've documented. Also, you didn't mention any outstanding HW issues that would preclude trusting it in extreme heat/cold or other possible situations. I still have bad dreams about the ghosting on my Nav6 that popped up at the most inopportune times. I did read posts here from early 2023 XT2 adopters discussing touch screen problems, but not so much recently. Any last input on this would be welcome.

[jfheath]

I've noticed that my XT2 doesn't repond to my glove presses when riding in certain parts of the screen.
But I try not to do that anyway.
The XT2 has an option to lock the screen so that rain drops and button presses are not recognised.
Like the XT it gets a bit sensitive if it gets hot. Normally not a problem if it is in the moving air though.

You can get a handlebar controller for the XT2 - which Santa dropped donw the chimney in December. Not exaclty issue free, but I find it useful for changing the display on the right of the screen - displaying Trip data, weather up ahead, traffic up ahead and for manual zooming in and out of the map (you have to have auto zoom turned off). So the screen sensitivity or lack of it is no longer an issue.

There are a couple of times when the BT connection has dropped, and instructions then do not come through. It eventually reconnects itself and it then dumps all of the missed instructions one after the other through your ear piece. I have not found out exaclty when it does this.

Would I buy the XT2 again. Yes I think I would. But if you had asked me that a year ago the answer would have been a resounding no.

The screen is super bright. The XT is bright - but put them next to each other and it makes the XT1 look dim / yellow.
Physically the plastic casing is almost the same height and maybe the XT2 is 5mm wider. But the XT2 has less of a black border around the edge of the screen - so everything is slightly clearer and brighter.

But all bets are off if you are asking me to use them with the Explore App synching to the XT1 and the Tread App synching to the XT2.
If those two were not an option, I would be putting my trusty Zumo 590 back onto the bike. Even with its dim screen and it battery that runs out after a few minutes of use. The 590 is the most reliable Zumo that I have come across out of the box.

Note that Trip Manager which helps to sort out many of the issues is only available for PC - and you must connect the Zumo by USBB cable.
And Basecamp will work with both XT1 and XT2.

XT2 comes with maps for much of the world available to download free.


BUT - if I hadn't wired in my handlebar controller and found it very useful when riding - I was seriously thinking of selling my XT2 and going back to the XT.

The XT2 will clip into the XT1 cradle and is powered by it perfectly well. I have an XT1 cradle on my desk powered by a transformer suppling 12v to the XT1 cradle and its cable with the step down black box which supplies 5v to the cradle. I use that for both the XT1 and XT2. IT works and charges perfectly well.

You cannot clip the XT1 into an XT2 cradle though.

[jfheath]

Thank you so much for the detailed response. I'm going to do some searches of what you've posted in the past on everything you outlined here. Again, much appreciated.

What I'm taking from this is that I shouldn't shy away from an XT2 moving forward. It's just of a matter of "taming" it by using it according to best practices that you've documented. Also, you didn't mention any outstanding HW issues that would preclude trusting it in extreme heat/cold or other possible situations. I still have bad dreams about the ghosting on my Nav6 that popped up at the most inopportune times. I did read posts here from early 2023 XT2 adopters discussing touch screen problems, but not so much recently. Any last input on this would be welcome.

I'm on my way to putting together all of the fixes in one place so that you don't have to glean it from my lengthy posts. If you need a list before then I'll happily provide one.

Point is that I like the XT2. I like the proper implementation of collections. And when I go out, I take the XT2. Very occasionally I take the XT1 as well, but its a safety net that I have never needed.

The touch screen fails to respond in the corners with gloved hand, but I shouldn't be doing that anyway, and the handlebar remote has been a boon. That has had its start up issues but I note v6.10 has some fixes. Expensive and not quite what I expected, and doesn't always work - but I have yet to test the fixes, and I still like it.

Anything specific that you want to know, let me know. Pm me if you like. I'll try to help.