GPS for my bike...pictures, and small review.

[Wolfman]

Hey,
Just thought i would share my latest addition to my bike. My new Garmin Nuvi 310 GPS.

For those looking for an affordable, easy to install, and easy to use GPS, this could be a good option IMHO.

First of all, installation was a breeze, and anyone with either a faired fz6s, or a naked fz6n with a small screen, should have no problems. The unit comes with a neat lever operated suction cap...which does not come off unless you release it witrh the lever.

Attached to this suction cap is a swivelling arm, which moves up & down. At the end of this arm is a round ball, which then fits into a bracket with ball insert that attaches via release clip to the unit. This gives you a massive range of 360" movement.

The unit itself has blue tooth and with a mobile phone and blue tooth headset attached, the unit will take your calls, and you can speak to people thruogh the wireless bluetooth headset with microphones...i had to buy the bluetooth headset seperately. Headset also enables you to get voice instructions from the unit, as the speaker is useless on the bike!

Unit does all the normal GPS things, like traffic camera alerts, trip meters, ave speed, mp3 player, picture viewer, memory card support.

It has good touch screen control, which can be used easily with winter gloves on, and screen is easily read during both day & night.

The unit was cheap to buy considering all the features, about $500 Australian, and the wireless bluetooth headset with microphone was about $50.

It all works very well.

Just thought i would share, as i have not seen a lot of info re GPS systems for bikes anywhere.

Here's some photo's of the unit on the bike, and the brackets, etc.

 

[grommit]

There is a GPS section in product reviews.

 

[reiobard]

looks good, how easy to see during the bright of day!

 

[Wolfman]

Easy enough to see during the day, and with the voice commands it's not that much of an issue anyway, as i like to keep my eyes on the road as much as possible.

just got told there is a GPS review thread elsewhere, so i am going to cut & paste my post into that thread, and wait for this thread to be deleted.

Cheers.

 

[jocco]

Nice pictures, I have just one question regarding the wind screen. Is it a good wind protection, since I ride a naked FZ6 and there is just too much wind blowing at my face. And how much did you both it and from were?

 

[Wolfman]

It's a bit oiff topic, but hey i expect this thread to get deleted anyway, so....Re the screen, i have ridden the bike with and without it, and dont really notice that much difference, but i do ride in the rain a bit, and it does keep the rain off my chest.

At high speed it is probably better as if you get into a crouch, you can duck under it reasonably well...i am a big man, so if your smaller, you will probably get even more benefit.

The screen is a genuine Yamaha screen, cost about $230 Australian with discount, and took about two minutes to fit.

Quality is excellent, it does not vibrate, move, or create noise.

Here are a couple of photo's

 

[mdr]

Looks like a good GPS but I ride year round and can't always choose the weather when I'm on a long trip. Do you have a cover or some other means to protect it from rain?

 

[Wolfman]

I have ridden in hard rain for in excess of an hour, and i had no need to remove the GPS unit, the screen deflects all water on the move, and when stationary, it is far enough under the screen not to get wet...would think this would change in extreme conditions, but then it can be easily removed in less than 3 seconds.

Even if you did have to put it in your pocket, it would still be ok, as the Bluetooth headset will still be giving you voice instructions.

Is fine in most situations from what i can see.

 

[mastakilla]

It's a bit oiff topic, but hey i expect this thread to get deleted anyway, so....

huh?! Why would it get deleted??

 

[OneTrack]

Nice simple setup! :thumbup:
I have one question for you, though....

The unit itself has blue tooth and with a mobile phone and blue tooth headset attached, the unit will take your calls, and you can speak to people thruogh the wireless bluetooth headset with microphones...i had to buy the bluetooth headset seperately. Headset also enables you to get voice instructions from the unit, as the speaker is useless on the bike!

Are you saying that your Bluetooth headset receives the text-to-speech commands wirelessly from your GPS?
My TomTom GO 750 has Bluetooth capability, but only works with my cellphone. It cannot transmit the voice commands wirelessly...I need to connect a wired earphone directly to the TomTom's earphone outlet. Am I missing something?
If your GPS does indeed transmit the voice commands wirelessly, then that's a HUGE advantage, and one that I would want.

 

[4fun]

Have you seen any issue's with hitting potholes in the road? i bought a Nuvi for my wife's car and was going to try it on the bike but was afraid the suction cup would let go on a good bump.

 

[Wolfman]

I was a bit sceptical of the suitability of the suction cup mount as well at first, and in fact spent the first few rides constantly in fear of it falling off, but i rode over 150km's on some pretty crap roads on the weekend, at decent speeds, and hit plenty of road warts. Not even a hint of a problem.

I even tried to pull the thing off by hand...not a chance, once it's attached only pulling the release clip will move it off your screen.

As for the Bluetooth headset connectivity...i had the problem of the GPS recognising the Headset, but then not letting it have access to the GPS because you could not punch in the GPS security code into a non existent keypad on the headset...fixed this problem by returning original headset and getting a headset that searches for devices itself, and receives the GPS instead of the normal way of the GPS locating the headset...

 

[Wolfman]

huh?! Why would it get deleted??

Because i started this thread when there is already a GPS review thread in play...did not realise this till it was bought to my attention by a moderator...see second post, so i have re-posted first post in this thread in the GPS review thread...funny thing is ever since i did that, no-one has answered the post in that thread, but have had heaps of replies to this one.

 

[Avalon786]

Quick question how does it get power?

 

[Wolfman]

It has a rechargeable internal battery that lasts for about 8 hours when fully charged. You can charge it straight through your PC, or via a cigarette lighter attachment for your car. You can also get a mains charger, but i just use the PC.

Am guessing it would not be too hard to adapt a charger to work off the bikes battery.