What GPS are you using?

[Garandman]

Based on some conversations on the Yankee Beemers site, it appears that a lot of people who have GPS's only use a small number of the features.

In past years I used to give GPS seminars (boating related) to raise money for a family sailing program. It appears there might be interest in such a program for motorcycle-oriented GPS's.

I currently own both the Garmin Zumo 550 and 660/665. So I wanted to get some idea of what people are using and if they'd be interested in a seminar on using them.

So this is a survey to get some idea of interest. All proceeds would be donated to a charity. The courses would probably be held on a winter weeknight at my offices in Westborough, MA, PEabody, MA, or Auburn, NH (next to Manchvegas).

Multiple choices are allowed.

[mycirus]

On my 550 I use the Nav, route planning and tracking, the MP3 feature with an SD card and finding points of interest. Also comes in Handy to park at a hotel parking lot and call the ones in the area to find best rate. Its nice the GPS gives you the phone numbers. It has Blue toothe but I dont use it.

[DucDave]

Garmin 450 - Meets all my needs...!

[RandyO]

Garmin 450 - Meets all my needs...!

Zumo 450 for me too, exceeds my needs

[Wanderer]

Garmin 2610, but also looking at the zumo 220

[markbvt]

I'm not a big fan of the automotive-oriented GPS units, which includes the Zumo line. Too watered down, IMO. I use a Garmin Oregon 300 handheld (now replaced by the Oregon 450 in Garmin's lineup). I like it because it's more compact but still offers good screen resolution; it's vertically oriented rather than horizontal, which is more useful for viewing maps and seeing what's ahead; it's waterproof and rugged; and it has far more features than the automotive-oriented models.

Among those features:
- Ability to display topo map on top of the City Navigator street mapset, which means autorouting still works when a topo map is being displayed (even a non-Garmin topo map). Additionally, ability to store as many different mapsets as I can fit on a storage card and switch between them at will.
- Ability to display two, four, or six information fields on-screen in addition to routing directions -- I have mine set to display time of day, speed, distance to destination, and distance to next turn/viapoint when a route is active, and time of day and speed only when no route is active. Lots of options of what information you want displayed in each field.
- Extensive track features, including recording/saving tracks, making them visible (in different colors) on the map without following them as a route, creating a route from a track, reversing a track, wirelessly sharing a track with other Oregon or Colorado users, etc.
- Ability to store far more routes, tracks, and waypoints than a Zumo -- this really comes in handy when planning a long trip.
- Much longer battery life should the power adapter fail on a trip, and it takes AAs so replacing batteries is always easy.

I could go on, but you get the picture. And this doesn't even take into consideration the Oregon's many features that aren't relevant to motorcycle riding. (And it doesn't mention the basic features it shares with the Zumo, such as the ability to prepare routes ahead of time on your computer and upload them to the GPS unit.)

The only features the Zumo series has over the Oregon are ones I don't care about, such as spoken instructions, built-in MP3 player, etc. I don't need the spoken instructions because I put the GPS in a place I can glance at it to keep myself informed, and if I want to listen to MP3s, I'll use my iPhone.

--mark

[Stromper]

Oregon 300

I find the manual amazingly simplistic

Allegedly I can go from google maps routing to it but I haven't made it work. Seems to hide the file in the wrong place.

I have this for geocaching but it seems fine for the bike is waterproof though it does not seem to do audio instructions like the little one.

[nt650hawk]

I have a gamin 255 I stick under my tank bag map area.

[gadget]

Hardware:
Droid X

Apps:
My Tracks for Rides
Navigation for generic travel
Google maps for directions
Angry Birds for traffic jams

[brewmaster]

Just got my first GPS this season (they call them SatNav's over here). It is the Zumo 660 and I have really liked using it. So far it has worked very well in England, France and the Netherlands for me. I am still getting used to using all it's features but overall it is helpful. A fun game is to put it into the tank bag and ride until you get lost then pull it out to get home or where you are going... doesn't take long in another country let me tell you.

[dankatz]

ZUmo 450 and Nuvi 500. I took the Nuvi 500 with me to Europe on my trip, planned trips on Microsoft Mapping program and downloaded them to the Nuvi which is waterproof. Was perfect for my needs, though for $200 didn't have all the functionality of some of the more sophisticated ones.

[Eric Baker]

My noggin. Either I'm following someone in a group group ride, or I'm just out riding with nowhere particular to be and no real time limit. I just like to explore. If I do get a little lost, I just ride until I find something I know.

[Stromper]

If you can't get really lost your not trying

Forest, dirt road, sun set, low on gas, hear banjo music

[leftlane]

Bleeding edge. I use a 660 and a 665, loaded for bear with extra maps and all those features Mark doesn't think they have. ;-)

[Garandman]

If you can't get really lost your not trying

Forest, dirt road, sun set, low on gas, hear banjo music

..And alone with no cell service. The road got worse after this.

[JohnnyX-14]

..And alone with no cell service. The road got worse after this.

" The road got worse after this."

You must have been following my son and I when he was first learning to
use my Zumo 550 in the White Mountain area.

[NobodySpecific]

on the street bike I use my Droid X with the apps that gadget mentioned, but I don't have a mount for it on the XT, so I use my Tomtom Rider (which I hate, because the cradle stopped charging the stupid thing) which is at least weatherproof, and I don't care if I crash with it since I didn't pay for it (x-mas gift from an ex) and they don't sell new cradles anymore. Battery doesn't really last long enough for serious rides, but Mark leads all of the rides I go on anyway, so I pretty much use it as a speedometer and for general geographical awareness.

[lrrs182]

Using my iPhone with tomtom app. Lets me rock out to some Rage Against..... then interupts with directions. I havent wanted to put a mount on the duc so I typically use a sport arm band. If Im riding 2up or my girl is alongside on her 748 I use my bluetooth thru my chatterbox that I soldered hi end earbuds into,

[markbvt]

I use a 660 and a 665, loaded for bear with extra maps and all those features Mark doesn't think they have. ;-)

I know you can load some extra maps on the Zumo and change the information displayed in some of the info fields, but what else am I mistaken about? Because I've used my dad's Zumo 660 and found it kind of frustratingly limiting.

It does have a nice screen though.

--mark

[JohnnyX-14]

I know you can load some extra maps on the Zumo and change the information displayed in some of the info fields, but what else am I mistaken about? Because I've used my dad's Zumo 660 and found it kind of frustratingly limiting.

It does have a nice screen though.

--mark

The Zumo 660 suffers from limitations that the 550 does not have. It seems
to have been designed as more of a multimedia device and costs more than
the 550.

The 550 will store 50 routes (downloaded/manually entered/or tracked), which
are easily imported/exported to the computer based map where tracks can be easily
converted to routes, and routes cut/pasted, combined, and otherwise manipulated.
A route may be of virtually any length: Maine to Florida and back.

Here's the trick deal: with a microSD and a standard SDcard adapter one can
store virtually unlimited routes and tracks by archiving them on the microSD.
The 550 only stores 1 file named "archive" which overwrites a previously saved archive.
So save the archive to microSD, pop the SD and stick it in
your mobile device, rename the "archive" file to "archive_5" or whatever. Then
when you need some old route or track, rename an old archive, say "archive_2", back to
"archive", stick the SD back into the 550 and transfer "archive" back into the 550 active
memory. You can sellect which routes/tracks you would like to transfer.

You load each saved archive into its own "saved map" on your computer, so
you can review what you have stored. and where.

[markbvt]

^^^ That's all stuff you don't need to deal with on the Oregon because it can store more routes/tracks/waypoints in the main memory, so archiving isn't necessary.

Track features are far more advanced on the Oregon (and GPSMap 60/76 and *78 series before it) than on the Zumo as well. And you can still do all the usual computer-based stuff using Garmin's MapSource or Basecamp software.

Another cool feature that's only available on the trail-oriented units like the Oregon is Garmin Custom Maps. This allows you to use any raster map (scan of a paper map, rasterized jpeg of a PDF map of a park or whatever, and so on) by calibrating it in Google Earth (to give it precise coordinate/scale data) and then uploading it to your GPS. So, for example, you could use the National Park Service's map of the Blue Ridge Parkway showing all services, points of interest, etc, directly on your GPS device. If I wanted to put in the work, I could pull together all the Vermont AOT town maps, combine them, calibrate them, and install them on my Oregon, and have the ultimate guide to Vermont Class 4 roads and untravelled rights-of-way for dual-sport riding. Winter project, maybe.

--mark

[JohnnyX-14]

Sounds like the Oregon is the bomb for fire road/tote road touring.

How about highway-speed location accuracy? Does it update quickly
enough to be useful in determining the nature of approaching curves
on the twisties?

I will have to take a look at one of these.

[markbvt]

How about highway-speed location accuracy? Does it update quickly
enough to be useful in determining the nature of approaching curves
on the twisties?

Yes. It updates slightly slower than the Zumo, but still plenty fast enough that I've never found myself wishing it were faster. More than fast enough to keep an eye on upcoming curves -- several curves ahead, actually, depending on how you have the zoom level set.

Don't know if the Zumo can be forced to do this as well, but on the Oregon you can choose a constant zoom level instead of letting it zoom automatically on upcoming turns, etc. I've always found that behavior really annoying because I prefer to be zoomed out far enough to see a few city blocks' (or equivalent) worth of surrounding streets.

--mark

[Stromper]

I really wish there was

Oregon for dummies

I can figure it out but the lack of a comprehensive how to is annoying

Also wish it did have an audio

[Punjistick]

I have a Zumo 550 and I use it about 98% of the time in my car. I've found that it always manages to calculate a longer route than compared to an older Garmin Nuvi even when both units have the latest map update. Maybe it's just the nature of it being a motorcycle specific GPS and trying to send you down the more scenic route.