What GPS do you use?

[hansfz6]

hey all just wondering what kind of GPS unit are you using? So I'm thinking between Garmin zumo450-550, Garmin 60Csx or Garmin Quest (best price) money is tight so please keep that in mind. I need something to take me from A to B but with C being a good lunch or dinner and maybe a little detour to see the stars in the middle of nowhere with the wife Thanks

 

[08fz6]

i personally use a Garmin Nuvi 650 it is a discontinued model, havent used it on my bike but use it in my car all over the USA! My last one I used on my bike was a Garmin c330! Zumo's are nice but too much for my taste!

 

[agmom98]

Garmin Zumo 550 for the following reasons:
$642 on Amazon.com but that price included:
- car cradle with built-in speakers
- separate motorcycle cradle, specifically for use on the bike
- motorcycle wiring harness for direct-to-battery power
- built-in battery so that I can use it off the bike/car
- RAM handlebar mount
- rugged, waterproof case
- full U.S. maps already pre-loaded
- large, square screen area is easier to read than horizontal rectangle
- motorcycle-friendly controls and touchscreen (large buttons, large touch fields on screen, bright screen that auto-dims at night
- bluetooth, which allows bluetooth voice into my helmet and hands-free cell phone use in car
- built-in MP3 player and SD card slot to hold 4 GB of tunes
- Optional XM radio capable (yes, I also bought the XM transponder)
- traffic alerts through XM signal
- weather through XM signal
- speech turn-by-turn, including announcement of street names (not all GPS' s do this).

I've been using this Zumo for 2 years and approx. 75,000 miles total and it has never let me down. Easy to use, easy to move back and forth between two bikes and the car.

My rationale for spending the $$$ was that I wanted something I'd be happy with for several years. I knew that if I bought a less expensive and less capable model, I'd become unhappy with its limitations.

 

[bottomedout39]

Garmin Nuvi 200 W

 

[Stumbles06]

I have a TomTom One - Series 30.

Comes with a little suction cup thingy that sticks to the screen on my FZ6.
Cost me $250 Aussie dollars, so would be less over your way.

 

[SovietRobot]

I have a TomTom One 3rd Edition that I bought for $80 new. It works great in the car but it sucks on the bike.
I'd get a Zuma or TomTom Rider if I could afford it.

 

[simonwb]

I currently have a TomTom Rider v2 - the unit works well on the bike and in the car. The only problem I'm still having is that the mounting shoe on the bike is not charging the unit. I've sent one back to TomTom for replacement already, now the second one's gone back too.

I had a Zumo on my previous bike (BM R1200RT). Nothing on that unit or the mounting went wrong.

In my opinion:
- the TomTom has the better display (which is why I got the Rider)
- the Zumo has the better PC route planning/saving utility

 

[bluenova]

I use the Garmin Zumo, agmom98 said it all.

 

[Cloggy]

I got the zumo 500 for christmas but I haven't really used it yet.
In the first quarter of this year Garmin will be bringing out the zumo 660 it's $100 cheaper than the zumo 550 :thumbup:

 

[Nelly]

hey all just wondering what kind of GPS unit are you using? So I'm thinking between Garmin zumo450-550, Garmin 60Csx or Garmin Quest (best price) money is tight so please keep that in mind. I need something to take me from A to B but with C being a good lunch or dinner and maybe a little detour to see the stars in the middle of nowhere with the wife Thanks

Hi I use Tom Tom XL,
I got a handle bar mount from Maplins (similar to Radio Shack) for £4.00.
I have only experienced one problem with my set up. This was on the last UK ride out and the rain was terrible. At this time the external power socket was at the handle bars.
Some water got in and disabled my lights temporarily. Since moving it under my seat I have had no problems.

I am able to use the standard car charger with no problems.
If its raining I just stick the device in the insert that it originally came packaged with.


Nelly

 

[Fz6Sa]

hey all just wondering what kind of GPS unit are you using? So I'm thinking between Garmin zumo450-550, Garmin 60Csx or Garmin Quest (best price) money is tight so please keep that in mind. I need something to take me from A to B but with C being a good lunch or dinner and maybe a little detour to see the stars in the middle of nowhere with the wife Thanks

I use the TomTom Rider2, RAM mounted on my handle bar.
As far as I know, there are only 2 GPS units available for Motorcycle, - meaning that it's water and weather proof, being the TomTom Rider and The Garmin Zumo.
At the time of purchase, the best deal I could get was on the TomTom, that's why I opted for it.
A good feature in the Garmin Zumo, is the ability to record the driven route, - fun when you wonna post your rides afterwards.

 

[Anarchy]

I've got the Garmin Nuvi 250w or something. The really cheap wide screen one. It didn't come with a handlebar mount so I still suction cup that sucker to the inside of the wind screen above the tac.:thumbup: Its only come off once or twice but it's tied off to the handlebars so it doesn't go far.

 

[bcityroller]

I use a Garmin Streetpilot 2610. It was refurbished, cheap <$200 over 2 years ago and came with one free map upgrade. A selling point for me was that it claims to waterproof/resistant but I haven't really tried it out. I use a RAM handlebar mount with it.

 

[mkjeld76]

I'm using the Street Pilot 2610 with the ram mount it was my brother's got it for free can't beat that I've been using it in the car to get use to it. Waiting for some powerlet accessories before I mount it to bike.

 

[Ghost Weim]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 255. Really, really like it.

She (we nicknamed it Betty - don't know why) was put to the test on a trip to Nashville recently. Betty did awesome! I never pulled out a map once and was able to navigate those confusing roads with ease. I haven't had an apportunity to use it on the bike yet - need to get a good mount for it.

 

[CodeMonkey]

I have a Garmin Nuvi 360. It had bluetooth that I don't use, an MP3 player that I don't use, and I'm sure a bunch of other stuff that I don't use. I haven't taken any trips where I am not familliar with the roads so I don't use my GPS very often.

It has an attachment to give me traffic update, but it isn't "live". Some days it will say traffic is heavy when it is really light. I believe the traffic update feature only tells me how traffic usually is at that time of day, which doesn't do me any good unless I'm going someplace familliar.

I still need to hook up power for my FZ6 but I want to stay away from using cigarette lighter outlet. I have the plug for my battery trickle charger and would love to use it instead, but I haven't found a cord that will work with this. Maybe I have to make my own.

 

[notjohndavid]

I'm going to be buying a GPS in April probably. Really eyeing the Zumo 660.

One feature I want is the ability to receive SMS messages (text messages). But it apperas that Garmin has intentionally disabled this feature on the Zumo and Streetpilots? (at least that's how it seems from the Garmin website). Can anyone confirm or deny this?

The Tomtom Rider 2 apparently has the ability to do SMS but I really prefer Garmin products over Tomtom stuff.

I like that the Zumo 660 has the ability to stream audio via bluetooth. I have a Chatterbox XBi that I plan on using for cell phone usage as well as streaming music on a 4k mile trip I hope to take in a couple months. I'm also thinking about buying a SiriusXM satellite tuner, and somehow interfacing it so I'll have something more than MP3s to listen to. (haven't researched this but I assume I can take the audio out from the sat tuner and put it into the Zumo, and it'll pipe it to the chatterbox via bluetooth... hard to know since the manual hasn't been released yet)

 

[Fz6Sa]

The Tomtom Rider 2 apparently has the ability to do SMS but I really prefer Garmin products over Tomtom stuff.

It depends on which phone you connect to it via blue tooth. Sadly most high end phones are not fully supported. So always check the website before you conclude anything on TomTom's ability's phone wise.

 

[notjohndavid]

It depends on which phone you connect to it via blue tooth. Sadly most high end phones are not fully supported. So always check the website before you conclude anything on TomTom's ability's phone wise.

Thanks for pointing this out. I didn't look too much at the Tomtom but I did notice that Garmin's site only had a couple phones that seemed to really do the SMS. My phone (Motorola RAZR2 V9) wasn't even listed on the phones but I was able to pair it up with a Garmin Nuvi. I have a friend that has a Tomtom 720 or something but I wasn't able to get SMS to work with his Nokia C or my V9.

I think when it comes down to it if I can't do SMS I'll go with the Garmin. I just have a feeling that the 770 or whatever that comes out next will probably be able to do SMS. I got the feeling that the Zumo didn't did SMS at all because of liability of motorcyclists trying to send texts.

Can anyone with a Zumo say for sure if it has the ability to text message? (well, the 550 anyway)

 

[Wolfman]

I've got the Garmin Nuvi 250w or something. The really cheap wide screen one. It didn't come with a handlebar mount so I still suction cup that sucker to the inside of the wind screen above the tac.:thumbup: Its only come off once or twice but it's tied off to the handlebars so it doesn't go far.

Ditto, pretty much the exact same set up on my bike...try using a little bit of loctite, when you put the suction cap on the screen...it does'nt fall off anymore! ever!

:thumbup: