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GPS.. Which model? Pros & Cons?

oldhippie said:
Since, with my eyes, size matters I'm looking at the Zumo 660 or 665.Blast.. the more I type this thread the more I'm convincing myself which one I want.:p
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oldhippie said:
Does someone make a smart phone with a 5" x 3" screen?:s My problem is I can't see what's on a cell phone screen without reading glasses or major staring without glasses. I can read a licence plate from 50 ft away but not a cell phone 5" away. It's not a problem when my wife is with me since I'd just hand it over to her and let her navigate for us. I don't have a cell phone but my wife does.
When I get to the point of needing glasses for more than reading, I guess it'll be bifocals.

Thanks Cuda.
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Oldhippie, The concern I have is why would want to take your attention off the road to see the screen. Just saying....:( Is that not why we ride to be relived of all the electronic gizmos of daily life????
Be safe.:s
 
Enjoyed reading all these posts LOL. Some creative GPS solutions I've never heard before.

Those high dollar bike GPS units are built for vibration and waterproofing and I guess if you buy one, eventually you will get your money out of it.

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 1100LM for $65 at Walmart and bought a $20+ waterproof handlebar mount at Amazon for it. It works great so far. I got the idea from several PGR riders that have been using similar setups for quite some time.
 
dbmg said:
Oldhippie, The concern I have is why would want to take your attention off the road to see the screen. Just saying....:( Is that not why we ride to be relived of all the electronic gizmos of daily life????
Be safe.:s
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I'd be glancing at it just like I do the rest of the instrumentation that's why it would need to be bigger than a cell phone. When I'm heading through cities is where it would be used the most. Wide open hwy, I generally look over a paper map before I leave so if I've pre-programmed a route into the GPS it would just be to confirm my turnoffs. Mind you, I usually frustrate my cars GPS (an old Garmin 250) by not following it's directions:D. Keep waiting for it to tell me to shut it off if I'm not going to listen to it.

I swear it would be neat to get a hold of one and reprogram the messages to sound like a real nagging, annoying person complete with smart alec comments and give it as a gag gift to someone.:D

I'm still toying with using a automotive one and getting a bike/motorcycle handle bar mount. Garmin use to make one with an FM transmitter to hear the directions over the radio, but they don't make that model any more:(.
 
I'm a distracted driver hater, and I have an entry level Garmin gps. It takes discipline to only glance at it. I mostly use it to tell me how far to my next turn, as I still tape directions to my windshield. When it rains I slip a zip lock sandwich bag over it from top to bottom. I can zip all but the power cord, and the mounting clips still seat on the unit. Sandwich bags are cheap, and require no explanation to the wife if she finds one in my tour pack (or wallet). :newsmile011:
 
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Although i use a gps day to day in the car for finding specific addresses i have not as yet needed one on the bike as most of the time i just follow the bike ahead of me and if the wife gets lost it is not my fault
She has a gps waterproof container with a handlebar mount on her bike cost about £20 and will take most gps units although as yet it has not been used perhaps one day it will be needed but as yet has not been used

Brian
 
Checked out the Garmin Zumo 660 today at Best Buy. Looks quite robust with a physical size of two 5" GPS stuck together but with a 4.3" screen.

I decided to back away from buying either Zumo 660 for now. I've ordered a water resistant hard case handlebar mount from Amazon.ca and plan on using that with our current nuvi 250. See if I even like having a GPS on the bike before I spend larger coin on a Zumo or just see if what I have will do the trick.

At best, it'll work out fine and I'll have saved >$650. At the worse outcome, I'll loose my old one on the highway:p.

Thank you all for the input.
 
oldhippie said:
. . . . . .
I decided to back away from buying either Zumo 660 for now. I've ordered a water resistant hard case handlebar mount from Amazon.ca and plan on using that with our current nuvi 250. See if I even like having a GPS on the bike before I spend larger coin on a Zumo or just see if what I have will do the trick. . . . . . .
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That's a very good idea and you probably will do just fine with the normal car unit as I know lots of folks that do. But understandably it "could" depend on the amount of exposure to vibration and heat, but most folks do fine with the car units.

The units like the Zumo are built to withstand more vibration and I surmise they have some shock cushions designed into them hence the larger size. Additionally there is the facet that all semi-conductor devices need ventilation to disperse heat. Stuffing a car unit into a waterproof container pretty much does away with that.

I surmise that the Zumo units probably have some sort of heat sink fins that pass through a waterproof seal and into an area that can be exposed to the environment for cooling. That is only my conjecture since I've never read that or cut one apart. I have questioned Garmin on this subject matter and they are very tight lipped with information and say only that car units are not designed to operated on motorcycles so they cannot say how they will perform in that application.

These units don't produce a great deal of heat and everyone I know of that has used car units in a waterproof mount has had no issues with it. But again it could depend on the amount of vibration and exposure to extended heat.

To put this in a more contemporay perspective, think about all the laptops in use. They "do" generate "lots" of heat and most all of them depend on bottom located ventilation slots to suck in hot air via the fan. BUT think about how many folks sit their laptop on their lap and how much of those venting slots are covered by their clothing.

But yet Laptops still last for years.
 
R_W_B said:
To put this in a more contemporay perspective, think about all the laptops in use. They "do" generate "lots" of heat and most all of them depend on bottom located ventilation slots to suck in hot air via the fan. BUT think about how many folks sit their laptop on their lap and how much of those venting slots are covered by their clothing.

But yet Laptops still last for years.
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:newsmile100: My daughter had problems with her laptop freezing up on her last year. First thing I asked her was what is she resting it on while working.. Had it on her lap or on the bed. Simple solution was to put it on a cutting board and she's had no problem since. I'd think repeated long term use without proper ventilation will kill them sooner. Short term will affect there longevity but not as much.

I know a car GPS might not be the ideal because I most likely will not be able to hear any directions but as long as I use it as a backup to proper maps it should do. For the cost though, I could buy a few car GPS's for the price of one Zumo and for as often as I use them it'll be easier on the wallet.

Mind you, I've found out the hard way that GPS's are not 100% accurate. Had mine try to send us down a dirt road in North Dakota last year. And then in St. Cloud, MN it kept telling us we'd arrived at a Walmart when there was just an empty lot. The empty lot did have a "Future Site Of Walmart" sign:laugh. I guess it's been a future site for a long time since my GPS's at least 6 yrs old and I've never updated the maps. I'll be spending the money on the updates this year though. We're going to need it on our trip to the east coast this summer (by truck) and our bike ride out to Edmonton after that.
 
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Still using my Zumo 550 on my bikes - and bluetooth hook up to my Scala Rider headpiece and it works very well. Got me over and back to Continental Europe a couple of times and around some big and strange cities. While I'm sure the newer satnavs are better - it's not worth the extra £/$s to be to change.

I can see how the Smartphone would be very good if you have really good network coverage everywhere but when you live in a small country and within one day could be crossing three or four frontiers (such as riding around France/Luxembourg/Belgium/Holland/Germany part of the world - you could end up clocking up a big bill on roaming with data downloading to your phone maps all the time. Wouldn't be long before you'd spent what would buy you a satnav! But I suppose in the enormous land area of the USA or Canada - that's such an issue.

Iceman - I wouldn't even like to start trying to explain to my wife: "but honey I bought those condoms for my satnav on this road trip in case it rains......." :lolrolling
 
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