GPS Thread

Ok so now that some of you have been using the GPS units for a while.
I am thinking that one would not be a bad idea..
So what do you guys with one think of them and what brand do you have or would you get...

thanks

[stoney]

I have a Garmin NUVI 250. Nice small unit with lots of POI's (points of interest). Bought it mostly for the wife for when she travels alone, but I've had it on the bike a couple of times....I use it to keep off the major highways. I like to ride county roads, etc, and this unit will calculate a route accordingly. just my two cents.

[swmnkdinthervr]

I've been shopping them for a while and my short list was: Street Pilots 2710, 2720 & 2820 and the Zumo 450, 550...all waterproof and can be used in your car but my final choice is the Zumo 550...Bluetooth compatible, works with you cell phone, iPod and any other Bluetooth compatible device including the new headsets that are out...

[dwarthog]

The Zumo 550 is on my list of items to add to my ride. It has a lot of capabilities as SWM has mentioned already.

If money were suddenly to become no object, then I would get a 276c/376c from garmin. It has nexrad radar capability so you can see weather radar on your GPS.

[Berserker]

I have been wrestling with this. I am no good with decisions.
I don't think I care about bluetooth. Thats for ear pieces?

[thrasher]

Originally Posted by Berserker

I have been wrestling with this. I am no good with decisions.
I don't think I care about bluetooth. Thats for ear pieces?

Bluetooth is basically just a very "confined" (for lack of a better term) local area wireless network.

Headsets or earphones, yeah. So that the GPS can tell you turning instructions, etc without having a hard wire running from your headset to your GPS. If you had other bluetooth capable devices (like a cell phone) your headset could be used with them.

I don't care about bluetooth on the bike either, but that is basically what it is....

[RKotter]

Didn't think I wanted all the bells and whistles (bluetooth, MP3,...) on the Zumo 550 but I fell into a good deal on one. As things go, don't think I could be without it now...

The bluetooth is nice but I've found it to be impractical on a bike unless maybe you get one of those boom-mic headsets (i.e. Scala Rider) - but that's not for me. What I do like about bluetooth is it links to your phone and the unit will tell you when a call comes in. (With two young kids, I think this is a benefit if there is an emergency.) You can pull off the road if you want and return the call.

Same goes with the audible prompts and MP3's - couldn't hear them very well with the bluetooth headset I have (and the music sounded like shlt when you could). BUT!!!, what I did do is run a headphone extension from the unit down the backbone and out under the seat. Got a pair of those Etymotic 6i Isolator Earphones (fast black, of course). Music & audible prompts are clear as a bell and road noise is lessened.

On the bike, I ride with the between volume between 10% - 20%. Just be careful to turn it down if you move it from your cage to your bike. There's a slight delay from when the unit powers up until the last MP3 you were playing starts (if you didn't pause it). It'll wake your a$$ right up.

[why_me]

Picked up a Zumo 550 last Friday. Been playing with it in my car for now. Too cold for the bike yet, but that'll come later on. Still learning all the little features and such. Haven't gone anywhere that I needed it yet, but I have it if I do.

So far, I'm loving this device.

[y2k king]

i've got the garmin quest 2. got it for the jeep when i moved. i use it on the bike now.

[Dirty Dan]

Go with Garmin.

[PeaceKeeper]

I have a Megellan Crossover, Its a do all unit, small, good battery life, good topo and street maps plus all kinds of stuff like shopping, service, motels, fuel etc. Water resistent, nice screen and fairly cheap, got mine on sale at Wal-Mart for 250. It goes on the bike, the car and the pocket. Great all around unit.

[trmn8r]

still like the idea of iPAQ for its versatility. I have decided to use the ram mount system and add a otterbox to keep iPAQ in. Its waterproof and all, thanks TJ for mentioning the need for that, I hadn't considered it. Ram mount system is going to come out with a box around the end of march that'is the right size for the iPAQ, right now they have 3 sizes one to large and two to small for iPAQ to fit. May wait and get it instead of the otterbox, not sure. If you have any smartphone with a decent size screen that runs windows mobile 5 or 6 it would be even better than the iPAQ for the same reason, versatility... while traveling can use TomTom or I-Guidance software for GPS, run your MP3's to your stereo or headphones from it, and with smartphone it will be bluetooth ready so you could use HD's bluetooth stereo addon to get the phone connected to your helmet headset if you use one. When my cell contract expires in October I'm switching to ATT just so I will be able to use this phone from them to take the place of my iPAQ for my uses, since it runs windows mobile 6.

[PeaceKeeper]

Originally Posted by BigMike

Some GPS if it can't help you from locating a pile of shit before you step in it.

I just spit all over my desk!

[trmn8r]

Originally Posted by BigMike

The vibration of the Harley will most likely render your iPAQ useless in short order.

yours must vibrate worse than mine. at idle my bars shake some, at speed they don't. The otterbox and ram mounts box both use foam under the iPAQ to support it up against a flexible cover, so you can use the touch screen still so its supported by foam.

If the vibrations were as bad as you infer they would probably shake your garmin or the zumo you suggest apart in short order as well. We would probably be hearing about thousands of Ipod type devices being killed by vibration as well.

just sayin'

[swmnkdinthervr]

Originally Posted by dwarthog

The Zumo 550 is on my list of items to add to my ride. It has a lot of capabilities as SWM has mentioned already.

If money were suddenly to become no object, then I would get a 276c/376c from garmin. It has nexrad radar capability so you can see weather radar on your GPS.

With the XM))) download capability the 2820 and the 550 can give you both weather and traffic...