No Maps Next Year...........

[Wayne-o]

I think it's time to toss the backpack of maps in the trash next year. That way I'll have room ta put more valuable stuff like my cigs.

Anyways, I looking for a GPS system for my bike. What do you peeps reccommend?

So, far I'm leaning toward the Garmin.

Wayne-o

[Wayne-o]

Geeeeze..............47 views and not one suggestion?

[Wayne-o]

In my search for a decent GPS system I happened upon a couple of cool programs. Here's the FIRST and here's the SECOND .

Imagaine that..................the whole world dosen't look like 8A, 116, and Route 100

Wayne-o

[richw]

I know GPS has me confused enough not to buy

I believe...

The big screen Garmins are esentially water proof and the Magellins are not.

I am concerned that they have mini hard drives in them to display all roads GOOD maps. I would worry about the life of these with the higher shocks on a bike.

The near thousand dollar price tag would make me want to be sure. Even like on a computer mapquest is a pain in the ass as you try to see small roads over distance then the destination town etc becomes many pans away so kinda clumsy.

I am trying to generate a discount "adventure" bike where I will not fear the dirt roads. When I have got this I will be a buyer of some kind of GPS.

Note rebuilt a 84 BMW R80 St and gave myself 11 trouble free miles where upon the exhaust valve seat I put in fell out. I will fix it and after a couple of hundred miles if not thrilled then it and a Yamaha goes down the road replaced by an old GS or KLR

[ChR1s]

The Garmin 276C kicks ass. The display is huge and works great in even direct sunlight, battery life is long. However, it uses proprietary memory cards, and they aren't cheap. I have all of New England, NYC, and most of NY on one card, in both street & topo coverage.

I'd managed to get by with a handheld Garmin Etrex Vista, if only to double-check where I was on a map, and to make notes. It was unusable at speed. The 276C works so much better. Primarily a marine design, it adapts to bike use very well, and can still be used anywhere else.

You'll see people with the 2610s, but those are designed for in-car use, and don't deal with sunlight well. They're also touch screens. Being that I use the GPS primarily for dual-sport riding, I knew I didn't want to be touching that screen with grimy mitts.

The 276C works so well, it makes the excessive cost seem reasonable.

Here's a sketchy pic of the 276C mounted on my KLR, along with the Vista.

[reiobard]

ok guys, car audio manager at circuit city to the rescue again. all the GPS's use flash memory hard drives so the shock will not have any worries about the hard drive crapping out. Garmin and Magellan are the 2 biggest companies out there and both are very reputable. tomtom is a large european company that came to the united states this past year and seems to be holding up very well, they are also coming up with something called the gomoto, which is a small GPS which is designed for motorcycle mounting (i will let you all know when it comes on the market and i can check it out) but just this past week Garmin released the I3 and I5 (i have only seen the I5) and they are small and look like they could easily be mounted anywhere, the only downfall is they do not have the entire country loaded for detailed maps, you have to load in the areas you want to have all the smaller street. 128 megs of internal memory = a little more than New England. some areas will take more or less depending on the road density.
any other questions come in to see me at the Concord NH circuit city or i will try to answer them here

[dave72370]

This is what I use, and it is great

Dave

http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...threadid=18446

[Wayne-o]

What model do you have?

Wayne-o

[dave72370]

I have the Garmin Quest.

Its nice because it has a battery in it so you can carry it around. It is also waterproof up to 3 feet uder water.

Dave

[babo]

I use the Garmin 2610 with the Garmin Motorcycle mount. The 2610 is "waterproof" and uses a touch screen, which seems to work pretty well.

The TomTom is also kind of cool, in that it offers a 3-d display, has built-in battery, Bluetooth with headset, and a mounting kit! http://www.tomtom.com/products/produ...=80&Language=4

[RandyO]

Originally posted by richw
I know GPS has me confused enough not to buy

I believe...

The big screen Garmins are esentially water proof and the Magellins are not.

I am concerned that they have mini hard drives in them to display all roads GOOD maps. I would worry about the life of these with the higher shocks on a bike.

The near thousand dollar price tag would make me want to be sure. Even like on a computer mapquest is a pain in the ass as you try to see small roads over distance then the destination town etc becomes many pans away so kinda clumsy.

I am trying to generate a discount "adventure" bike where I will not fear the dirt roads. When I have got this I will be a buyer of some kind of GPS.


[snip]

Units like the 276C that Chris mentions are designed for abusive marine use, I would not be concerned

I haven't really been able to justfy a consumer grade gps yet, but my research has pointed me to the 276C as the unit to get untill Garmin supercedes it with a newer replacement model

[craig]

Originally posted by babo
I use the Garmin 2610 with the Garmin Motorcycle mount. The 2610 is "waterproof" and uses a touch screen, which seems to work pretty well.

The TomTom is also kind of cool, in that it offers a 3-d display, has built-in battery, Bluetooth with headset, and a mounting kit! http://www.tomtom.com/products/produ...=80&Language=4

My dad has the 2610 as well and swears by it. He's been using all kinds of GPS units in his car for a LONG time and he is loving the 2610, especially the fact that he can take it with him from car to bike. I think there are newer 2xxx models now so a 2610 might be found for a good discounted price online...

[RandyO]

even if I ever do get a gps.... I ain't getting going to throw out my paper maps.

[babo]

I debated for way to long whether I should get the 2610 or the 276C, and finally decided to get the 2610 because I knew it would spend most of its life in a cage (my wife's van).

The 2610 seems to be a little more user friendly and intuitive, partic for those not so tech oriented (touch screen is a really nice feature - come with maps and external speaker, multiple mounting options, etc).


On the bike, I occasionaly have to adjust the screen to view in direct sun light, and having no battery means the unit has to be teathered at all times.

If I was going to get a unit exclusivly for the bike (or boating), I'd probably get the 276C. Trade-offs suck some times.



Comparo here: http://www.cycoactive.com/gps/276vs2610.htm

[richw]

ebay theres a buy it now 2610 new i think for 499

[ChR1s]

Prolly a factory refub, like these:

http://www.gpsdiscount.com/products/index.html?p=769

I've purchased from them a few times -- all pleasant experiences.

[HBerry]

Has anyone tried a PDA with GPS setup?

I'm thinking about getting it and just putting the PDA in the map pocket of my tank bag.

The upside I see to this is I can add a blue tooth adapter to my laptop and use the laptop or the PDA in the car.

[OreoGaborio]

www.epinions.com - my roommate swears by this site whenever he buys anything electronic. I'm sure there's some good reviews on alot of GPS units. It's worth a shot.

[bump909]

Originally posted by reiobard
ok guys, car audio manager at circuit city to the rescue again...
any other questions come in to see me at the Concord NH circuit city or i will try to answer them here

ok, so what kind of discounts do NESR members get?

[bump909]

whoa.. uh..

http://thomas-alfeld.de/dieter/bilde...armin-2610.jpg (huge pic)

[Wayne-o]

Originally posted by bump909
whoa.. uh..

http://thomas-alfeld.de/dieter/bilde...armin-2610.jpg (huge pic)

Is that a picture of a plane cockpit? WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wayne-o

[babo]

Originally posted by bump909
ok, so what kind of discounts do NESR members get?

They have a 30 day no questions asked return policy. Thats good enough for me

[ssg]

-Garmin 2610 street/cage use 276c or 376c for ded. bike use.
-3d mapping on a bike, you're faster then it most of the time, good luck with that.
-The Garmin 2620, their latest unit which has traffic and some other jive is NOT a flash unit.
-Don't spend less then 500$, 'if it's too good to be true' rule applies here. If buying Magellan this rule is 850$, even then good luck when it rains.
-Buy from someone that sells GPS and knows GPS, if/when you have a problem they will typically be able tp help you vs. getting the unit sent back or worse when there is no problem with it whatsoever.


After a bit of research I got a 2610 in July, got a 1gb fast CF (waste$$!) for it, loaded maps from here to Cali. and proceeded to put 2900 miles on it from here to Phoenix. I had Mapquest, Mappoint, Streets and trips...by Oklahoma that shit was in the last rest area trash bin and I had no problem listening to debbie digital tell me the next 29 turns to my destination. Actually TwRay and some others gave me useful directions that I retained and they paid off, but that damned Garmin chick knew it ALL!

Remember a cheapie clear screen protector is cheap insurance.


www.gpsdiscount.com now go forth and procure the refurb! 9I did.)

[ssg]

Originally posted by FireNutzRR
Is that a picture of a plane cockpit? WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wayne-o

you didn't know Tony got a goldwing?

[JackMan]

Originally posted by ChR1s

Here's a sketchy pic of the 276C mounted on my KLR, along with the Vista.

ChR1s, is that the touratech mount with the built-in "shock absorbers"? I broke down and bought one of those for my Pegaso, but I'm still scared of riding over anything but perfectly smooth asphalt with the 276c turned on. I love the GPS, take it both in the cage and on boats. Expensive, but still much cheaper than a factory installed navigation system.