Yes, I'm still very happy with the Zumo XT2. I use a Garmin for longer trips or when details on the map are going to be important to me, which is most of the time when I'm using a navigation device. For more leisurely around town riding I sometimes use the
Beeline Moto II instead (especially on the vintage bikes) which is mostly a convenience and aesthetics choice since it just rubber-bands on. My most recent longer trip with the Garmin Zumo XT2 was on my Moto Guzzi V7, so I apologize for a bit of thread derailment for a trip report from a different bike, but it is relevant to the Garmin and a bit to the Honda Trail. I had previously used the Garmin XT (not the 2) on my V7, so the RAM-style mount I already had on the bike required slight adjustment to fit the larger screen size of the XT2 into a good position. The same mount and power connection wiring from the XT work on the XT2.
Near the end of March I rode from the Chicagoland area to the Northern Colorado Front Range over two days with no advanced route planning other than having traveled between the two areas many times before and knowing I'd overnight in Lincoln, Nebraska to visit a friend there. The first day I stuck to the interstate and it wasn't particularly exciting other than rain and seeing some flashy rigs at Iowa 80 The World's Largest Truck Stop. The second day of the trip had high winds and higher gusts, so I was more hands-on with the Garmin and used "avoid highways" to stay off I-80 and keep to back roads so I could ride slower and avoid having wind gusts push me onto the shoulder. The topographic view on the Garmin showed Nebraska Highway 23 with some hills and valleys breaking up the great plains, so I gave that a try and boy was it a beautiful ride in the rolling hills with very little other traffic, and the landscape mostly broke up the wind. That scenic detour was the highlight of the trip. One of my lessons from the trip though was a repeat lesson to not pass gas stops even on a bike with ~200 miles range. Just because there's gas stations up ahead doesn't mean there's the right fuel for any vehicle! The Goose asks for 95 R.O.N. which is 91 (R+M)/2 or "Premium" at most US pumps, and many of the back road gas stations only had 87 octane or diesel. I used to carry an emergency bottle of octane booster until I learned that their advertising is misleading and the octane points it raises your tank of gas
often only work out to about 0.1 octane on the scale we see at the pump. I ended up detouring up to North Platte for fuel, a silly jaunt of riding straight north for a while instead of toward my destination, but I have stopped in North Platte enough to see the sandhill crane migrations that I knew it has full services (including premium fuel) and would be a good lunch stop anyway. Sure enough I did spot some migrating cranes! North Platte was far enough west at that time to be clear of the stronger winds so I-80 was comfortable riding again. That's a situation where using a phone GPS app that not only shows you gas stations but also what fuels they have (example: Google Maps) is advantageous over the Garmin, and that's how I determined there wasn't premium fuel close ahead on NE-23. I don't blame my lack of route planning though, as weather throws plans out the window and the high winds were why I was on back roads instead of the interstate. A takeaway from the trip that's relevant to the Honda Trail 125... sure it doesn't have ~200 miles of range, but ~100 miles is a pretty reasonable interval to find a gas station at in
most of the USA and an advantage to the Trail is that all it calls for with a stock engine is Regular fuel which is easier to find than Premium. Same as when I did
the reverse end to tend of this trip on the Honda Trail 125 before, I am still learning my lesson to take a break and fuel up when there's an opportunity to rather than when the tank is nearing empty.
Garmin Track Log file displayed in GpsPrune. Note that the route is right to left as I was heading west, but the "altitude" profile is left to right.
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Old Joliet Prison
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Cockpit view with the Garmin XT2. I have a 3D printed "bumper case" installed on it to protect it from drops, and there's a tether that attaches to my handlebar bag so if it were to somehow unclip from the mount (more likely that I accidentally don't clip it in all the way) it would stay with the bike.
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Colorado on the flat side and my Moto Guzzi V7 850 touring setup.
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I expect to travel between the same endpoints along a different route later this year on the Honda Trail 125, and I plan on using the Garmin XT2 for that as well.
