Garmin Zumo XT2 Review

 I started using an old smartphone for off-road navigation, as many do. There are some decent apps for this, most support offline navigation (often with a subscription). There are some upsides and downsides to this approach:

Pros

• Generally you can use your old out of contract device for this. Load the maps while on WiFi before leaving home.
• This is a device you likely already have. No additional cost.
• Performance varies based on the device but is generally good even on fairly old devices.

Cons

• If you use your primary phone for this you risk damage and loss. I have seen many phone holders break on the trail. 
• If your phone has optical image stabilization in the camera, mounting it to handlebars will eventually destroy that. 
• The screen is made for bare hands and you may struggle in bright sunlight to see it clearly, especially with tinted goggles, sunglasses, or a tinted helmet face shield.
• The battery will drain fast having the display always on bright. If this is your primary phone, now you have a dead phone battery. On a motorcycle you can add a charge port if it doesn't already have one but the USB cables often fall out with the intense vibration and shock from off-road motorcycling.

After an accident that I believe was caused by me struggling to see the navigation, I decided it was time for better navigation. I looked at the options. I already had a Garmin InReach and fenix watch so I decided to get Garmin navigation which integrates with these devices. The Garmin Zumo XT2 was on sale so I bought one. This was over a year before the XT3 was available. 

Garmin is a very mixed bag for sure. They have some very high quality hardware and advanced features. I love my smartwatch and InReach. Garmin battery life is amazing. I also have their rescue plan and the SOS can be triggered with the Zumo, the watch, or the InReach.  Garmin's software is very complicated and cumbersome to use. They have multiple apps that do basically the same thing but only work on certain devices. The apps for the XT2 are different than for the XT, or XT3 for some unknown reason. In order to get a GPX route on my XT2 using a PC, I have to have Tread installed on my phone. I don't directly use Tread but it is the conduit between my PC and my Zumo. Here is how I get a GPX file from something like OnX on my PC to my Zumo XT2:

1. Find the GPX file you downloaded on your PC.
2. Open Garmin Explore website in your PC browser.
3. Upload the GPX to Garmin Explore. Always upload it is a "track" and NOT a "route". Yeah, this is confusing when I consider it a route. More on that later.
4. Once you can see the route in Garmin Explore website, now it is ready to sync to the Zumo through your phone.
5. Now open the Tread app on your phone. Just open it. You don't do anything else with it.
6. Open the Explore app on your Zumo and let it sync.

There are other ways to get a GPX file on your device but this works for me so I stick to it.

Routes versus Tracks. Yeah, let me explain. So a route to Garmin is apparently just a rough guideline of a few points of interest you want to visit. This works about like Google Maps routes. Say you select a destination town miles away and Google Maps find the best route there. You decide to stop for lunch so you add a lunch spot to this route. Now it has 2 points on your route. Google Maps will dynamically route you there. The Zumo routes work this same way. It tries to find the best route between the GPX points. This works fine on paved road generally. However, off road it gets lost. It tries to get you back to major roads between points. Never use routes off-road. Always import the GPX file as a track. The Zumo will simply navigate your track point-by-point. You need a GPX file with many points so each segment between the points is very short. GPX exports from OnX, GAIA, and most others will give you a nice dense GPX file for this. 

On road navigation with the Zumo XT2 is great. You can navigate to a place like you would with Google Maps and it generally works well. There is a nice shortcut for home so you can navigate home with one click. It shows what roads are coming up next, and other very useful features. Off road navigation lacks this. You can see your GPX track you loaded, and you can see where you are on it. 

My Zumo XT2 broke on one of my rides. I crashed onto rocks and the impact broke the mount and the back plate of the device. Garmin warranted this repair, sending me new parts right away. They sent a refurbished Zumo XT2 and mount. This was over a year after purchase too. This is great warranty support for physical damage which most warranties generally do not cover stuff like this. However, the refurbished Zumo XT2 had an issue where it would stop responding to the touch screen. A hard reboot would often fix it temporarily. I contacted them and they promptly sent me another unit which has been working fine. 

Overall I am content with the Zumo XT2. I wish it had better off-road capabilities. I suspect the Zumo XT3 is better here. Garmin also makes a very similar (but more expensive device) the Tread which is more focused for off road. The XT3 have many significant upgrades over the XT2. It has double the internal storage, more precise GPS, supports additional maps via Tread, and a much faster processor. It even supports a Garmin Catalyst app. 

Husqvarna 701 Enduro Extra Fuel

I have a 2023 Husqvarna 701 Enduro motorcycle. I love this bike. One of the challenges with this design is there are not many options for carrying additional fuel for longer rides. The stock rear-mounted fuel tank carries 3.4 gallons, which gives a range around 160 miles (I average about 50mpg). The low fuel light generally illuminates at around 135 miles. This is adequate range for the vast majority of my rides. Occasionally we want to ride a longer loop that has not fuel stations and I need to carry extra fuel.

I started with a cheap Amazon 1.3 gallon Rotopax copy fuel can. It was under $40, and very poor quality.

The plastic mount broke on the first ride so I reinforced it with through bolts.

There were still several issues. The aluminum plate was cantilevered off the side of the rear luggage rack. When riding in rough terrain the luggage rack would flex. I was concerned with fatigue failure longer term. I attempted to find another anchor point but there is not any point available on is bike. I even considered pannier racks to mount the can but I preferred to not add all that bulk and weight. I also wanted to carry the fuel as low as possible in the bike.

Zion Day Ride September 2026

 

Las Vegas summers are hot. Luckily we have places nearby which are cooler in the summer. One of those areas is Southwest Utah (Zion, Bryce, Brian Head, etc.). A friend and I organized a motorcycle ride starting in Virgin Utah, and making a 160 mile loop through Zion (highway 9) and Duck Creek Village, riding mostly dirt roads in the area. We had nine people join, including one from Virgin, one from Cedar City, and the rest from the Las Vegas area. From Las Vegas it is about 2 hours to Virgin where we met up at the Zion Park & Ride lot. 

Here is the proposed main loop: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/share/content?share_id=01M1YR2G90TNQ7QTW0N4HMA14X 

I also created an OnX folder for more than the route: https://webmap.onxmaps.com/offroad/share/content?share_id=01M0NWH0C1K0FR6S7PCP8AJTK6

We had to go around a section that allowed me to route on OnX but was private, gated, and posted (circled in pink). We took the route highlighted in green.

There is gas at Deer Creek, about half way through the loop. This is a fairly easy adventure ride (from what I can tell). The hardest section on OnX is a 4/10 but that is only about 1.5 miles.

That hardest section was the Harris Rim Loop Connector. As we got to that section, a couple other riders had just climbed it. I talked to one of them who said it was awful and that we should avoid it. However, there is not a decent option so we rode it anyway. We all made it through just fine. 

The photo below is us gather up at the end of that connector trail.

Here is a Cardo Ride overview of our route.

Here is a YouTube playlist of several videos from the ride: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR8gXJFpgGoE&si=qOAuTucZV4psbW-A 

Cardo Ride: https://riserapp.com/trips/1945988

Google Photos: https://photos.app.goo.gl/pBQgHUcJY1mJFoPz7

Lost Coast BDR-X 2026

 

After baking in the Las Vegas heat all summer, the Lost Coast BDR-X looked particularly inviting. I put a ride plan together to ride this route, but in a different way. We stayed near the center of the official figure 8 route at the Bear River Casino near Fortuna, CA. My ride plan had 3 sections, mostly following the BDR-X route but using the Bear River Casino as our center hub. The routes in brown are my ride plan. 

We completed my first day ride plan as planned.

I got off course and headed towards Garberville for a bit before figuring it out and correcting course. It rained most of the time but mostly light rain. The route was full of curves and scenery.

It was wet.

We got great ocean views, and parts of it ride right along the ocean. Here is a video of highlights from the ride from Bear River Casino to Shelter Cove.: https://youtu.be/7eqj1sbR1cA .

We stopped for lunch and gas in Shelter Cove. The rain had mostly stopped so we ate lunch at the Surf Point Coffee House, right on the ocean. Video from King Peak Road to the Surf Point Coffee House: https://youtu.be/9ZuuL78G2_c

I would recommend the Surf Point. Good food and great views. After lunch we got gas at the store in Shelter Cover and headed South following our route. We finally got to Usal Road, the more challenging part of this BDR, especially in the rain. This would be easy if it was dry but the wet clay was a bit slick. It was not super wet so we were lucky.

The further South on Usal Road we went, the drier it got. We got some great views where it rides along the hills overlooking the ocean.

Yes, I know I need a haircut.

Usal road YouTube video: https://youtu.be/HqVxW8JvpFI. This starts North of Usal and continues to highway 1.

By the time we got to highway 1, the rain had mostly stopped and the sun was out at times (but still quite cloudy). We stayed the night at Fort Bragg as planned.

We had dinner along the Noyo River, just down the road from the hotel. We had planned to eat at the Noyo Fish Company but it was closed. We ended up at the Sea Pal Cove which is a fish and chips place.

Here is the Cardo Ride track from this day of riding: https://riserapp.com/t/nZeipwZBb18j and Rewind: https://img.riserapp.com/photos/videos/rewind/1918714-rewind.mp4 . It took us about 6.5 hours between Fortuna and Fort Bragg. If it were not raining, we may have investigated more of the spur trails. We rode to the Saddle Mountain Viewpoint but we were in the fog.

The next day we had breakfast at Denny's in Fort Bragg and looked at the weather forecasts.

The forecasts were not good. As we head North, the forecast called for increasing rain up to almost an inch with 10 to 10mph winds. That is no fun to ride in so we just took highway 1 to highway 101 back to the Bear River Casino where we were staying. We got lucky and only had very light occasional rain on the way back. We got back by 10:30am, loaded the bikes, and had lunch at Jack's Seafood Restaurant in Eureka. After lunch, we decided to check out the Avenue of the Giants.

YouTube of Avenue of the Giants: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD9A3UPa2gs8

Looking at the next day forecast was also looking dismal so we left the next morning. Our plan for a 3-day ride turned into a 1 day adventure ride, and a highway ride back to Fortuna the next day.

Here is the YouTube playlist for this ride: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX5Dr8FexgVw .

This was the complete opposite of Las Vegas weather so it was a nice break for us after cooking all summer. We got some great views and really enjoyed the first day. 

This is the longest section of BDR I have done. The next closest was about 45 miles of the Colorado alternative harder route where we went over Ophir, Corkscrew, Cinnamon, and Red Mountain passes (although not in order and we did not ride Hurricane Pass).