| Author | Message | ||
     Tstone |
It looks like my Garmin is about to give it up. Anybody have any suggestions for a new one? Any I should specifically avoid? | ||
| Kublak |
My Garmin Zumo 550 has been solid on my Uly since fall of '08. Not sure what you have that's failing you, but this model has been good for me. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Tstone, Do you use Rotella syn 5W40 year round?? | ||
| Paul56 |
I also use a Zumo 550 and have been generally satisfied with it. I have heard good things about the Delorme (sp?) also, but have no firsthand knowledge. Might be worth checking out. | ||
| Ddaleuly |
Amsoil 20-50 always in both holes on my Zumo. Haven't seen a better GPS even in a car (maybe the sync) - mapsource puts it over the top (third hole). | ||
| Hangetsu |
+1 on the Zumo 550. HD/EB chose well in picking that as the OEM accessory. For me its performance has been flawless, features useful, and it's tough! | ||
| Sharkguy |
I use the Zumo 550 and it has been great. I did have to remove the battery and re-install once when it wouldn't come on. But it's been great for four years and back and forth on three different bikes. There is now a new version out but I don't know what bells and whistles it has. There is also a stripped down version the 220 I think, that is much cheaper. | ||
| Armymedic |
I just picked up a Garmin Nuvi 550 for cheap on eBay. Much cheaper than the Zumo and it is waterproof. Sits nice in it's ram cradle. and yes on the rotella year round. | ||
| Tstone |
Thanks for the input everybody. I'm using a Quest that's about four years old, and I think the antennae is failing. It has a hard time staying locked on the satellite signal. I used it a few days ago for a trip in the car and it was nothing but trouble. Yesterday on the bike it seemed to be okay. Maybe it prefers two wheels too. Electraglider, yes, Rotella all year. I answered on your other post as well. | ||
| Froggy |
The antenna on the Quest break easily. For what it takes to fix or get an external antenna, you are better off buying a superior unit. A lot has changed since the Quest came out nearly a decade ago  | ||
| Wbrisett |
Ironically, I still use the Buell Quest on my Uly (I replaced it with the Quest II, but it's still a mighty small screen). I really wish I could have ordered the Buell bracket as a service part with the Zumo came along. I think they did a very nice job with the bracket, but that wasn't an option from what I recall. I have the Zumo 450 (no bluetooth) on my RT and use there. As Froggy said, a lot has changed since the Quest/Quest II came out. I can still update the maps on the Zumo, but not on the Quest. Not sure if I would recommend the quest for that reason alone. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Funny the topic should come up, I am getting ready to buy an external antenna for my quest(s) now. $10 with free shipping on ebay. I think I am up to 3 quests and a quest II in the garage now. I paid "real money" for the first one, the next two were dirt cheap on ebay, and the last was a hand me down from somebody who upgraded to the new car units. My Uly came with a factory mount. The Garmin part of it was nice, a sturdy and reliable cradle. The Buell (I suspect it was more Harley than Buell) part of it was a little mickey mouse... hard to put on, not the angle I prefer, wrong side of the bike, unnecessarily heavy, etc. But it worked, and would install without solder. When I replaced that factory mount (see below), I used the RAM kit. You have to solve the power problem on your own (a hassle), but the rest of the mount was far better. What the Quest does still offer is epic toughness (aside from the antenna)... I hit the side of a Corolla... mirrors and GPS first (literally... I was doing a 90 degree stoppie at the moment of impact, and right after the mirrors sheared off and the clear windscreen bent back, the GPS was the next thing to make contact). The mount was crushed... heck, it was just about extruded. The 1/4" backplate for the mount was bent. The Quest itself however, while the antenna flappy thing did get sheared off, was otherwise just slightly scratched and is working perfectly with an external antenna. I respectfully disagree with Froggy. The Quest may or may not be the right choice for you. It is pretty dated and definately has some limitations, but it still has several (for me) advantages as well: 1) Once you put the external antenna on the thing ($9), it is virtually indestructible. 2) Routing is 100% under your control... you go to MapSource and put in whatever route you want, and that route will be transferred to the Quest intact. Many other units will "reroute" upon transfer, and take you the shortest route via super slab. 3) When I get to work, or wal-mart, I just go in to work or wal mart. If somebody steals it (not likely), I'm out $30. Shrug. I have three more in the garage. 4) It will go 10 hours on a battery charge if you leave off the backlight. So I have an unpowered cradle on the dirt bike ($7), and just slap it on there for dirt rides. If I loop the bike onto the quest, or sink it in a puddle, I just laugh. 5) It is epically tough. So you can make a good case for getting a $20 ebay Quest with a $10 ebay external antenna and $30 in Ram mount parts, taking your quest and scratching the heck out of the non optical parts of the case to make it less likely to be stolen, then put it on your bike and leave it there for all but overnights in really bad neighborhoods. I doubt the "consumer" garmin GPS units (which I have for my wife in the minivan and love) would last long on a bike... they would get wet, vibrate apart, or get stolen. So the only other real bike choice I could find is a low end Zumo, but that is $300+. Worth it if you want it and don't mind protecting it, but the math doesn't work for me wanting to upgrade. I'll keep using my Quest. The roads haven't moved that much in 5 years, and I have the IPhone with me if I want to look up a new business or need a second opinion on an address. While the Quest screen is small, and it's hard to use as a "map", it does very good with turn by turn directions when you have a route plotted. The entire screen changes when you approach your turn to show you exactly what to do. I sure wouldn't blame somebody who wanted a Zumo, and the "car" units are tempting to just throw on the bars and pray it doesn't rain, and hope it doesn't vibrate to pieces. But the Quest still (for the right price) has a place as well, IMHO. | ||
| Tstone |
reepicheep, Dude! You just saved me 200 bucks! | ||
| Druelly |
I have just started looking into this and one of my "Must Haves" is the ability to plot a route on back roads anywhere I want to go. I don't like what the straight and level tarmac does to the center of my tire. Plus it is much more satisfying to ride on back roads. | ||
| Prior |
I sold my Quest and picked up a newer car based unit. Bad idea. I'm back on the market for another Quest, even with it's limited memory, little screen etc. I really miss having something bullet proof that can do routing... | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Reepicheep, You are quite the salesman. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I was thinking about it more on the ride home last night (with the Quest on the Uly)... I mainly use the Quest for two things: 1) In normal cruising mode, it can be configured to "pop up" the name of the next street or exit that is approaching. So basically, I can read the next street sign before it is in view. This is really handy for general day to day riding and navigation on the fly. 2) Loading a predefined (and fixed) route for a real ride. I go to the laptop, find my starting point, find my finish point, and drag the route to every squiggly line in between (the best always seem to follow rivers). I load up all my planned routes before leaving (the Quest makes it easy to store several and load them when you want). While doing that planned ride, I use it two ways. First, to glance at and make sure I am on the happy orange line any time I think I might have screwed up a turn. Secondly, to see if it popped up the big "this is your turn and you go this way dummy" screen when an intersection is approaching that I was supposed to turn at. It helps to turn off the Quests "auto-reroute" feature before doing this (and yay for the quest for giving me that option). The Quest does those two things really well. I try and use the Quest for other things... it will do them, but not nearly as well as a modern unit. 1) Find an address, store, or restaurant, and auto-route me to it. The Quest actually does this fairly well, but it takes a long time (generally under 5 minutes, but I've seen even longer). If you know the direction to start, it works out, because you just start heading that way and the Quest eventually finds it, but it's unsettling and slow. 2) Plot an alternate route around a detour using the built in map. Again, the Quest will do this, but it's ugly. The screen is tiny, you are scrolling all over the place, and there just isn't much detail on the screen. It'll work for a square mile or so, but woe to you if you are doing much more than that. It'll work, but you won't be happy. 3) Use the "where am I" feature in the event of an emergency. Basically a button to push, and it tells you the nearest intersection. The Quest has it, and it's a great feature, but it is SLOOOOOOWWW. I had to use it when I came up right after a VERY bad car accident, and it took too long to find the nearest intersection (I did it faster just using the map and scrolling) and it failed to give me important information like what county I was in (which would have helped the 911 operator act quicker, though they worked it out fine easy enough from the nearest intersection). 4) The Q1 has limited map space. It'll do several states at a time, so I only mess with it before and after a big trip when I am loading routes anyway, so no big deal, but you do need to think of it as an extension of your main computer. The big missing feature of the Quest is the orthagonal view on a big screen... like a bird looking forward instead of down. That feature rocks for putting a ton of great consumable information on a screen, and the Quest can't do it, and the Zumo can. Also, the map data in the Quest will continue to age. I think 2007 or 2008 is the last update you can get for it. So if it's your only tool, that will become more and more of a liability if you aren't in the mood for the occasional adventure of a closed road or long gone business. So anyway, definitely a "horses for courses" thing, and the Zumo is no doubt worth every penny and would serve you beautifully for a very long time. You just have to pony up the $400 to $600 up front, and find a way to protect it from being stolen. The Quest, if you can find one cheap or already have one, is still a very useful sub $100 package though. | ||
| Froggy |
So does the Atarti 2600
My Zumo hit a car at 60 MPH, it still works with the built in antenna.
Yea, till the antenna port breaks, also you got a giant cable and an antenna to carry around with you everywhere.
That only happens if Mapsource is running a different version of maps than your unit. It works 100% the same on the Zumo.
The security screw on the Zumo 550 makes it a pain in the ass to take it off. If someone wants it that bad, they can have it! It won't turn on for them anyway without my secret code.
You got me there, the Zumo is 5hrs give or take depending on the backlight, but I find that its enough 99% of the time. If I am going to spend 5hrs on a bike, it will have a power anyway since power cables are cheap and easy to install.
Sure, because my Quest broke on its own and forced me to buy extra antennas to continue using it. Zumo has been 100% the same since day one.
Same can be said by Office 97 users
You live in the sticks then
ATT doesn't work in the sticks, so now I am confused.
Every Garmin unit I've touched can do this.
Get a Zumo.
I have a nice Pinto I can try and sell you
Zumo does this too
Zumo does that too
Zumo makes it easier. Still better to do on a PC.
Zumo can do this and unlike the piece of junk Quest, can actually figure out where you are and route fast.
My Zumo has all of the US and Canada, and I can pop in an SD card if I need Mexico, Europe, or a anywhere else.
So is a case of expired Diet Coke. The Quest is such a piece of garbage that anyone that uses one needs to get their head examined. Yea the Zumo costs more, but its actually useable, it won't break, its harder to steal than the Quest, it has a faster processor and stronger GPS chip to give you higher accuracy and faster routing, and the best part is it supports XM radio, Bluetooth to your helmet so you can hear the directions, text to speech so it reads the street names instead of saying "HEY YOU HAVE A QUEST MAKE A TURN EVENTUALLY!" Only downside to the Zumo is that the UI isn't as customizable as the Quest, and there is no option to view the various satellites and signal strenghts without going into diagnostic mode. Oh, did I mention it is superior to the Quest? | ||
| Reepicheep |
I agree, the Zumo is superior to the Quest. I should have been more clear, I wasn't trying to compare the Quest to the Zumo, I was comparing it to $$ similar choices like the sub $100 Nuvi's. I haven't personally tried it, but before, any of the low end units, if you plotted a route on the PC, would ditch everything but the start and end point when you transferred it to the GPS. You also (AFAIK) couldn't select preloaded routes or turn off auto-routing. So that makes it (IMHO) a non starter for motorcycle use. If that is no longer the case, or if I was misinformed, then kudo's to Garmin for getting it right. I bought my last Quest for $30, plus $10 for the replacement antenna (that stays on the bike). The cheapest Zumo I can find is $380, though that includes a mount. The Zumo is superior in every regard, but not enough to motivate me to spend $380 right now, when the Quest still works well for what I want it to do. But that's just me. I'm certainly not trying to talk anyone out of a Zumo. If you have 58,599 pennies laying around, it is worth every one of them. I just think that if you have 4,000 pennies laying around, a Quest is worth every one of them as well. |
