Finally decided on a GPS....

[ckrockets]

I purchased a Garmin GPS, played around with it for a week straight trying to get it to download routes correctly...My final conclusion was it's 1990's technology trying to remain relevant in the 2010's...What a P.O.S.!!!

So I finally decided on a Google Nexus 7 with RAM tab-tite mount using Google Maps...this is the next gen navigation platform...in my opinion...

 

[2006_FZ6]

Looks nice! I like the larger screen. How is the vibration when you are riding?

 

[ckrockets]

Looks nice! I like the larger screen. How is the vibration when you are riding?

I'll let you know after this Saturday's ride...

 

[2006_FZ6]

10-4, thanks!

 

[2old2ride]

Where did you take the power off at?
I used a Tom-Tom the first time a couple of weeks ago. I am basically nervous about riding around with a screen on my tank. My plan is to stop and use my cell if I get lost.
Would it be possible to use my battery tender connection to power a GPS system?

 

[ckrockets]

Where did you take the power off at?
I used a Tom-Tom the first time a couple of weeks ago. I am basically nervous about riding around with a screen on my tank. My plan is to stop and use my cell if I get lost.
Would it be possible to use my battery tender connection to power a GPS system?

Power from the battery using a hardwired 12V to 5V micro USB regulator...stopping to look at the gps on my phone got old fast...

 

[SmokeEater37]

Thanks for sharing this. Wanting to try this with my ipad mini. How did you mount the RAM arm to the bike handlebar? Looks from the picture that you screwed it into the middle?

 

[ckrockets]

Thanks for sharing this. Wanting to try this with my ipad mini. How did you mount the RAM arm to the bike handlebar? Looks from the picture that you screwed it into the middle?

RAM Motorcycle Handlebar Clamp Base with M8 Screws

RAM MT M8 HANDLEBAR BASE W DIAMOND

 

[PFD023]

no problem with cell coverage in your area then I guess?

 

[iSteve]

I like the Garmin's, you can get them on ebay for almost nothing. Then you never have to worry about them getting rained on, dropped or stolen (who would steal it) because $35 will get you another one.

I do like the little fuel trough thing around your filler cap, where did you get it?

 

[Erci]

Agree about Garmin when it comes to uploading routes from Basecamp. It's absolute s**t. It *looks* like it works, until you're out there actually trying to follow the route.

Couldn't use your setup though.. mine has to be waterproof and I don't want it to be bigger than my motorcycle :BLAA:

I wish Garmin worked properly

 

[tejkowskit]

Now you can watch movies while you ride! :spank: Do you have a data plan that will give you turn by turn directions or do you just use the map to see where you're going?

 

[Erci]

Now you can watch movies while you ride! :spank: Do you have a data plan that will give you turn by turn directions or do you just use the map to see where you're going?

Speaking of that.. data plan or not, if you lose connection, you will lose maps. It will still show pointer (GPS), but it won't be able to stream maps.

There are products out there for Android which will save maps to device.

 

[LERecords]

i thought the same thing.. how are you planing on using this if you are not connected to the internet?? i thought you couldn't "download" the map from Google???

 

[CavDoc]

Speaking of that.. data plan or not, if you lose connection, you will lose maps. It will still show pointer (GPS), but it won't be able to stream maps.

There are products out there for Android which will save maps to device.

Examples? I use a waterproof case with hardwired charger for my iPhone as my primary navigation system (and printed directions if I'm actually going somewhere that I'd be screwed if I lost my way due to cell troubles) and would love to have something that didn't rely on cell signal!

 

[Erci]

Examples? I use a waterproof case with hardwired charger for my iPhone as my primary navigation system (and printed directions if I'm actually going somewhere that I'd be screwed if I lost my way due to cell troubles) and would love to have something that didn't rely on cell signal!

This is the one I was going to use, I think: http://www.copilotlive.com/us/

 

[Ohendo]

I do like the little fuel trough thing around your filler cap, where did you get it?

I do believe that "fuel trough" is in fact his Givi tank bag mount. :thumbup:

 

[Smersh]

Here are my 2 cents:

I've been playing with using my android phone for a GPS, and here are my findings:

1) Vibration is fixed by having a decent quality mount (I used RAM). But my tests werent very long - few hours of riding each day for a week.

2) Data coverage is required for using Google Maps, so you'll need get a GPS app that downloads maps onto your device. I tested Co-Pilot and Sygic - both have their pluses, both have their shortcomings, but neither matches functionality of a decent Garmin unit (see below). Believe it or not, one of these "no data connection required" apps (i don't remember which one, but I want to say CoPilot) refused to start because i didnt have data connection and couldnt check the license.

3) This may be fixed on app level, if it hasnt been yet, but as of beginning of 2012 when I tested the GPS apps, neither of them would get priority over other applications, so if any other app pops a notification (i.e. you receive a text message) while you are riding, focus will be switched away from GPS app, which means the device will dim the screen after the set timeout, and if it does, you'll need to get the screen on, possibly enter unlock code, and click the GPS app icon again. Trying to do all of that while going through turns is no fun.

4) (not really applicable to you, but I figure, I'll include it anyways - phone GPS is not a good combo - if you crash, you are likely to have lost your phone/GPS unit, so you lost your comm.

To elaborate on #2, the major issues I found come in planned routes - the interface of these two apps still leaves some things desired - it takes too many "clicks" to mark a waypoint as visited, for example, and while in a car it's not such a big deal, doing so on motorcycle really makes a good UI stand out.
I also found these apps to be not as precise (due to hardware limitations) and freezing sometimes - also a big deal if you are riding looking for the next turn.

Overall, in my quest for getting my phone to be all-in-one device, I came to conclusion that I need to have a dedicated GPS unit. I ended up getting a decent non-waterproof Garmin unit, and getting a RAM waterproof enclosure for it. Watch out for cheaper units - some of them dont have basic route planning features.

Hope this helps

 

[Azrael]

Here are my 2 cents:

I've been playing with using my android phone for a GPS, and here are my findings:

1) Vibration is fixed by having a decent quality mount (I used RAM). But my tests werent very long - few hours of riding each day for a week.

2) Data coverage is required for using Google Maps, so you'll need get a GPS app that downloads maps onto your device. I tested Co-Pilot and Sygic - both have their pluses, both have their shortcomings, but neither matches functionality of a decent Garmin unit (see below). Believe it or not, one of these "no data connection required" apps (i don't remember which one, but I want to say CoPilot) refused to start because i didnt have data connection and couldnt check the license.

3) This may be fixed on app level, if it hasnt been yet, but as of beginning of 2012 when I tested the GPS apps, neither of them would get priority over other applications, so if any other app pops a notification (i.e. you receive a text message) while you are riding, focus will be switched away from GPS app, which means the device will dim the screen after the set timeout, and if it does, you'll need to get the screen on, possibly enter unlock code, and click the GPS app icon again. Trying to do all of that while going through turns is no fun.

4) (not really applicable to you, but I figure, I'll include it anyways - phone GPS is not a good combo - if you crash, you are likely to have lost your phone/GPS unit, so you lost your comm.

To elaborate on #2, the major issues I found come in planned routes - the interface of these two apps still leaves some things desired - it takes too many "clicks" to mark a waypoint as visited, for example, and while in a car it's not such a big deal, doing so on motorcycle really makes a good UI stand out.
I also found these apps to be not as precise (due to hardware limitations) and freezing sometimes - also a big deal if you are riding looking for the next turn.

Overall, in my quest for getting my phone to be all-in-one device, I came to conclusion that I need to have a dedicated GPS unit. I ended up getting a decent non-waterproof Garmin unit, and getting a RAM waterproof enclosure for it. Watch out for cheaper units - some of them dont have basic route planning features.

Hope this helps

Adding my 2 cents to yours. I use my Motorola Droid with a RAM mount too and love it but its very important to know the limitations. The biggest one for me is that there are large swathes of the country where you will have no data available or terrible bandwidth, even with "big" providers like Verizon. Streaming map data is terribly bandwidth-intensive and so if I was planning a trip where I'd never been before, I would use a standalone GPS unit or at the very least an application which has map data physically downloaded on the phone (e.g. TomTom).

If you are on familiar terrain however, nothing beats Google maps Navigation + Phone. The visuals are crisp, the instructions are easy to hear on my Sena SMH-5 and there is no extra effort involved to make sure my maps are up to date.

 

[ckrockets]

You guys need to get up on the latest and greatest technology out there

This Google Nexus 7 has wifi, AT&T cellular and a GPS chip. Not that it even needs the cellular for the maps as you can download maps to it for offline use.

There is no Garmin/TomTom dedicated GPS that can even touch this thing.

Yes it's not waterproof but for me no problem I don't ride in the rain and if it starts raining while I'm out my days riding is over and I head home. I'll just stick the tablet in my waterproof tank bag.

This route was generated on my laptop and saved to My Maps which can be accessed with the Google Maps app on the Nexus 7.