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Bought a 396 today
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 4:56 pm
by twowheelstom
wish me luck.
I just bought a refurbished Zumo 396 from gps city Calgary Canada, it's my 3rd 396,
the 1st new 396 I returned it for an exchange on a new XT,
Had the XT for a year then sold it in a private sale, then bought a 2nd new 396,
sold that 2nd 396 in a private sale and now bought my 3rd 396, this 3rd one is refurbished.
I'm going to try my luck again on the 396
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Fri Feb 13, 2026 10:12 pm
by Peobody
Good luck!
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2026 2:19 am
by jfheath
I do not know the 396, but I believe that it came out sometime around the time of the Zumo 595 and before the XT1.
If that is the case, then this document (download the pdf in post #1) may be of some help.
viewtopic.php?p=3205#p3205
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2026 2:35 am
by MSTOCK27370
twowheelstom wrote: Fri Feb 13, 2026 4:56 pm
I'm going to try my luck again on the 396
I have two 396 on two BMW Airheads. I like them very much.
One of the things I did with my 590, and have transferred to the 396 is the Garmin KMTF, map themes files.
I would have to root around to find the old post, where I provided a modified map theme. If I can't locate it, I can always post it again. The version I created, makes the map background and road colors modified to make the map as easy to read as possible. Of course that's a very subjective evaluation, but the change is not destructive and is easy to switch back to what ever theme or default that you were running before.
Edit - I looked back. and found my old post. It is in the 590/595 sub-forum, called Zumo 590 Map Themes, dated December 2023. Follow the thread of posts, until you get to my last UPLOAD of the final edit to the Auto Club 04 theme. I'm using that theme on all 3 of my Zumos (396, 590).
Edit - Jfheath:
viewtopic.php?p=13538#p13538
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2026 1:39 pm
by rbentnail
MSTOCK27370 wrote: Sat Feb 14, 2026 2:35 am
twowheelstom wrote: Fri Feb 13, 2026 4:56 pm
I'm going to try my luck again on the 396
I have two 396 on two BMW Airheads. I like them very much.
One of the things I did with my 590, and have transferred to the 396 is the Garmin KMTF, map themes files.
I would have to root around to find the old post, where I provided a modified map theme. If I can't locate it, I can always post it again. The version I created, makes the map background and road colors modified to make the map as easy to read as possible. Of course that's a very subjective evaluation, but the change is not destructive and is easy to switch back to what ever theme or default that you were running before.
Edit - I looked back. and found my old post. It is in the 590/595 sub-forum, called Zumo 590 Map Themes, dated December 2023. Follow the thread of posts, until you get to my last UPLOAD of the final edit to the Auto Club 04 theme. I'm using that theme on all 3 of my Zumos (396, 590).
Edit - Jfheath:
viewtopic.php?p=13538#p13538
^This, absolutely! And in that thread I linked to
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=178&hilit=theme that helped me figure out how & where to "do it" with themes. I change themes regularly based on where the sun is.
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sat Feb 14, 2026 3:34 pm
by twowheelstom
MSTOCK27370 wrote: Sat Feb 14, 2026 2:35 am
Map Themes, dated December 2023. ... of the final edit to the Auto Club 04 theme.
I found those theme files saved in a folder on my windows computer, I remember installing them and trying them out on my previous 396 that I sold, now I have to learn the 396 all over again lol
when the 396 arrives
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2026 4:57 pm
by twowheelstom
I have a 2 button 1Mii ML300 bluethooth receiver, I wll need to figure out how to set it up with the 396 and my wired earbuds, I forget so much
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2026 7:51 pm
by twowheelstom
my plan is to use a bluetooth adapter with earbuds for 396 audio rather than using the cardo HD bluetooth half-helmet headset
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Sun Feb 15, 2026 8:37 pm
by lather
I have a 396. Don't like it as much as my 390. Also prefer my 395. I use a custom map theme in eacj taht I made with
https://www.pinns.co.uk/osm/theme_editor.html
Re: Bought a 396 today
Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2026 8:47 pm
by twowheelstom
I have a small ML300 bluetooth adapter/receiver and wired earbuds, but in testing for audio from the 396 I can't get navigation voice audio to play through the adapter, so then I paired a cardo spirit HD receiver/headset to the 396 and I get navigation audio on the 396 yahoo
, next plan is to install some mp3 music files from my PC computer onto a 32gb microsd card then install that card into the 396
I noticed that the 396 maps are NA 2022.20, i think that's a 2021 year version.