| Author | Message | ||
     2hogs |
Hey All, Not sure where to post this but figured this is a good start. How detailed are the maps on the GPS units, mainly Garmin handheld units or something like the Quest? I'm mainly wondering about those CDs that come with most that allow you to download specific sections to the unit. I use the big Delorme state atlas maps now (15.5" by 10.5" ), and while very detailed also take up alot of space. Just wondering if GPS is detailed enough to get my back to major roads once I stray off the beaten path. TIA, Joe | ||
| Coolice |
2hogs, I have owned and used a Garmin Streetpilot III for 5 years, (ya I know its outdated but it works) and it has the Mapsource cd for detailed local maps. Mine is mounted to my tankbag, (Buell) for my XB9R. As far as getting back to your road, no problem. I use it all the time and even carried it on a trip in the Nevada mountains dirt riding. Garmin has new models that replace the Street Pilot III. I think if you check the kv, there is a thread on GPS. Here are some photos of my setup that will be on my Uly.    | ||
| Coolice |
Oh I forgot, in front of my gps is my I-Pass mounted so now I can travel the tollways! I made it from stainless as a prototype. | ||
| Brotherbuell |
I have a Garmin 276C that I use on my boat, my car and soon my bike. The screen is very readable in the sun and you can buy multiple, large data cards to cover your trip if necessary. I find it to be very accurate. It is, however, better at finding addresses than places. I hope that the Buell engineers come up with a mount that works on most Garmins. | ||
| Jackbequick |
On handhelds, the basemaps they come with will cover national and state highways, and most major state level highways. Generally enough detail to get you anywhere in the U.S. (and maybe Canada) if you stay on or near the beaten track. The optional softwares will add street level detail or topo maps (good for the Uly crowd). This is done by making regional maps on a PC and them uploading those maps to the handheld. A handheld with an optional detail map loaded will get you back to major roads from just about anywhere. The handhelds I'm talking about are the Garmin 76 series and the Magellan Meridian series. The Meridians have a slot for SD cards, giving them an advantage over the Garmin handhelds. You can make regional map files (takes about 15 files to cover the entire U.S.), store them on SD cards, and travel with all maps in hand. On the Garmin you need to have access to a PC and make and upload maps when you "drive off" the map(s) that are stored in it. Autorouting on a handheld is "spartan" compared to a standalone navigator like Mike's SP III in the photo. The advantages to handhelds are that they are very portable, rugged, waterproof, and battery powered (but can use an external power source too). Handhelds and dash mounts are really apples and oranges IMHO and you probably almost have to experience one or more of each to decide which suits you best. The color models are best, if not mandatory, for use in direct sunlight. Don't buy anything without seeing how it works in direct sunlight first. Then there are laptops and PDAs with external GPS receivers and various navigation software packages... Jack | ||
| Reepicheep |
Color best for direct sunlight? I think you have that backwards. Monochrome LCD's are reflective, not transmissive, so work better the better ambient light gets. Most color displays are transimssive, not reflective, so in order to overcome ambient light, your backlight has to be brighter then your environment. On a sunny day at noon, that would require an arc welder as a backlight... I have had lousy luck with auto routing on anything short of a laptop, though I have not tried a lot of different devices. I plot my route ahead of time, and if I have to divert I just look a the map and look at my arrow and try and get back on track manually. | ||
| 2hogs |
Thanks All. The XB12X has me wandering off on roads I wouldn't travel on the Road Glide. I find a main road eventually and head in the direction I intended. I'm just thinking the GPS could help find things like gas and food when getting really far away from civilization. Cheers | ||
| Lowflyer |
>>Color best for direct sunlight? I think you have that backwards.>> No, he has it right if you are talking about Garmin units. The Garmin color screens are easy to see and use in direct sunlight or from any angle. They are specifically designed for use in direct sunlight. Monochrome units work just fine in direct sunlight, but I do much prefer the color screens. To answer the orig. question, the Quest 2 is available with preloaded detailed maps. That would be all you need for civilization (i.e. nearest gas/food/lodging/shopping, etc...). You don't need a PC to hook up to it either. You turn it on and go. If you wander onto fire roads and uncharted trails, you may want something that can handle Topo data in addition to street maps like the GPSMap 60C(S). I like riding with the Quest for its small size, light weight, and ease of use. | ||
| Jim_sb |
Hi, I've got a Garmin GPS V. It has a base map of major US freeways and highways as well as gas stations, etc. Except I hate those roads. I'm often in the twisty little roads that most folks don't frequent. I plan my route on the computer in advance, download it to the Garmin (old fashioned serial port) along with the detail maps of the area I'm heading. Once done it works very nicely. I have a RAM mount on my handlebar that holds the Garmin V snugly in place. I'm going to transfer it to the Ulysses shortly. Battery powered units will shut off if the batteries bounce around on bumps, if you have steady electrical power (cigarette lighter cable) as on the Uly they should stay on all the time. Anyway, the black and white display is fine, night light is nice, but, IMHO, longer trips on back roads with the Garmin V are difficult because I run out of memory (not upgradeable) too rapidly. It's GREAT for shorter trips (say to Yosemite and back), but I'd want a more capable unit for a trip to multiple states. The Garmin V is good though for dual sport rides, many of them will give you a free map download before the ride. Jim in Santa Barbara | ||
| Jackbequick |
Reep - You're probably right. When I said color is best, I was thinking of two things. First, that they can be bright enough to work in sunlight, and second, that they can be a little less distracting in use. People subconciously use colors to more quickly differentiate the data on a display. I think with color, you can get your eyes back on the road quicker. But I lost track of the fact that the color display also needs to be able to dim down enough to not keep you from seeing when driving at night and some will not do that. And thanks for the explanation on transmissive and reflective, I did not fully understand that in use. Jack | ||
| Reepicheep |
Actually, as I think about it, you might be right. Some rare color devices actually use a reflective color configuration, but they are very rare because they are not very vibrant. Some of the early Palm color units (M500?) and original gameboy color units are the only ones that I am aware of offhand, but it is very possible a GPS device used them, it would be a good application for them. | ||
| Coolice |
Did this help 2hogs? | ||
| Brotherbuell |
There was a big difference between the Garmin 176C and the 276C. I use the 276 on my boat in full sun and it works great. It also has day and night back light settings that are integrated with the clock so it switches over automatically. | ||
| Lowflyer |
Garmin uses the best, brightest and most energy efficient TFT color displays that money can buy. These displays are specifically designed for use in direct sunlight. They did this for the purpose of differentiation, and if you compare Garmin units to others you will immediately see what I mean. These are not the same color screens used in GameBoys or PDAs. | ||
| Jackbequick |
Reep - I have a Palm Tungsten T3 that is sharp and brilliant indoors but goes to near black and useless in direct sunlight. I use an iPAQ 3765 in the map case on the M2 as that is almost as good outdoors as indoors. It does not darken much and is useable in direct sunlight. I guess the difference is the backlighting in the iPAQ. Tom Tom 5 Navigator on a Pocket PC PDA works great. I can pre-plan routes for that or, for just floundering around on back roads, I just set the destination and it keeps re-figuring the route for me as I sample roads more or less at random. Jack | ||
| 2hogs |
Coolice / All, Sure did help. Thanks much! Guess I'll be GPS shopping as soon as I get the driving lights and aux fuse block installed. I noticed the unit offered by Harley is actually a Garmin Quest. So I looked at the Garmin site. The Quest is color with 115MB memory. It will be checked out as I research different models and brands. Not looking to spend a fortune, but want something that's well made and will be reliable for years to come. Cheers | ||
| Odie |
I just received my Dell X50v with GPS system and love it. Haven't used it on the bike yet but should be a no brainer. It is Bluetooth between the GPS receiver and the PDA so no wires. I'll post some pics once I get it mounted .... (Message edited by odie on October 11, 2005) (Message edited by odie on October 11, 2005) | ||
| 2hogs |
Odie, Guess the Dell has a better screen than the Palm Tungsten E I have, as I can't read it when outside (well unless I shield it some). But this got me thinking. I saw the Quest for ~$370. The Dell X51 416Mhz is ~$270 add ~$180 for the bluetooth GPS for an $80 difference. However, the X51 is a PDA and has many other useful functions. On the other hand the Quest is IPX7 waterproof. Course I bet someone makes a fairly waterproof case the X51 would fit in that shouldn't effect the bluetooth connection. Humm decisions, decisions. Cheers | ||
| Buelldyno_guy |
Do I understand correctly that Buell will offer a Garman based unit for the "Uly" in January 06? I just got back from vacation and would have loved to have had a Quest II with the dash mount and remote antenna for my motor-home. I hope that is the way they go and if not I will buy the QII with handle bar mount and use it on both. | ||
| Brotherbuell |
That's is what has been published. I'm just not sure of the January '06 date considering how popular this bike has been causing supply delays with the bags and low seat. | ||
| Court |
Oooops. . . overlapping and unrelated "goodies to be delivered at a later date". Low seat - in the works - expect in the not too distant future. Bags - supplying chain being filled. Dreaded Euro-Holiday did nothing to help. Heralded to be "worth the wait". GPS - The 01/06 is what the rumor mill keeps spittin' out. No real direction (navigation term) quite yet. For pics of the Uly with the GPS mounted, see any of the Euro Buell websites. | ||
| Bud2741 |
Any word on the heated grips? | ||
| Brotherbuell |
Court, I went to the Spanish Buell site to see the GPS. It looks exactly like my Garmin 276C. I sure hope they make the mount available separately! | ||
| Lowflyer |
That pic is deceiving. What you are looking at is essentially the Garmin Quest. | ||
| Cruisin |
2hogs - I'd recommend the Garmin StreetPilot 2610. It uses compact flash for storage (any newer StreetPilots use microdrives - and I can't see a mini hard drive lasting on our bikes). I picked up a 2gb compact flash card and loaded all of the US and Canada (about 1.5gb). Now I never need to load a map. I can see it in the noon sun with no problems and it dims automatically as it gets darker so you don't have a bright screen at night. You can pop a RAM mount on the handlebar and hardwire the power cable in. I can take it off in about 3 seconds, and with the touch screen it makes it easier to move around on the screen. Here's pics on my Firebolt:   http://www.gpsdiscount.com is where I got it from - great prices, great to deal with. | ||
| Henrik |
This Lowrance I-Way 500C was just reviewed in MCN. Don't know anything about the brand or included software, but the price is certainly right: http://shop4.outpost.com/cart/cart.jsp?ord=1129342974361 Anyone have experience with the brand and similar models? Henrik | ||
| Rhinowerx |
Henrik, I'd be concerned about the Lowrance I-Way 500C and if it meets waterproof standards for outdoor use. Also, I would think that internal hard-drive is not what you would want on a motorcycle - especially one that can go off road Just thinking out loud... Cheers -Jack | ||
| Henrik |
Hi Jack, thanks. Lowrance has supposedly been making GPS units for marine use for years and are taking a shot at the automotive market. I agree with you on the hard-drive concern. I guess it'd depend on the disk mechanism; whether it has vibration detection and can park the disk and read head, and how often the units would need to access the drive in the first place. Henrik | ||
| Prior |
Cruisin, Which RAM mount did you use? I've been looking at GPS units for a while, dig the setup you have. Thanks, Prior | ||
| Lowflyer |
We tested the mini hard drives and found that none could stand up to motorcycle use. The 2610 is what BMW sells for their bikes. | ||
| Cruisin |
Prior - if you go to the gpsdiscount.com site and take a look at the 2610, you can see the accessories listed. Garmin makes a back that you can screw to the unit for mounting, but you still need a ram base. Or you can just get the ram mount which includes the clip on holder (RAM-B-149Z-GA9U) and buy the power cable separately. They also sell a factory reconditioned one for about $100 less. | ||
| Jackbequick |
The Garmins just use the hard drive to store the data, the operating system is in ROM I think. They report data errors when the micro drives fail but are otherwise still running. Useless of course, but running. Make a nice paperweight. Jack | ||
| Lowflyer |
The GPSMap 376 has XM radio and NEXRAD weather. This is a nice feature for commuting and touring alike.  | ||
| Cruisin |
Jack - The 2610 uses compact flash - and with a 2gb compact flash card I can load ALL the maps for US and Canada...no more loading (takes about 1.5gb). It's waterproof so I don't have to worry about it in the rain. The 2620 and above all use micro drives, which will fail on a Buell, as you correctly pointed out. | ||
| 2hogs |
Guys, Thanks so much for the info. My research for a GPS is much easier now. I have a check list when shopping. Oh yea, my PIAA 004XT (~2.5" diameter case) driving lights are installed. They help during the 4:45am commute. I'll put pics on my website sometime. Cheers | ||
| Bomber |
I've been using a Lowrance I-Finder for a couple three years -- I've no, zip, nada experience using anything else, so I can't compare it to other units -- the i-finder isn't waterproof, nor billed thast way, but I've subjected it to some pretty darn hard rain, and it soldiers on -- it's a battery pig (takes AAs, good fer about 8 hours of constant use), so I've wired it to the electrical system -- works well, though the documentation is the standard fare -- written from the point of view of the software, rather than the user, which is fine, if you already know hat the feature is called (much like Microsoft, now that I think on it) it works great, uses little memory cards, allows you to build all sorts of custom maps and trails and the like -- I'd be tthe brand, if I had to replace it (it was a gift) the thought of a GPS MP3 combo is intriguing, though ;-} | ||
| Homer |
I'll echo the recommendation for the Garmin 2610. I have a 2610 and a 2620 that I move between all our vehicles. I had problems with the 2620 getting disk errors. Even on the 2610 I had to get a 2 GB CF card that was meant for high shock/virbration but after that it's been bullet-proof. For me, If I'm going some place in particular I'll just plug in the destination, select to avoid highways, and usually it comes up with a pretty good route. If I'm just out riding I'll just ride and make random turns, then hit the "route home" button when I'm ready to head back. |
