Lets see your GPS system

nüvi 250

I use the suction cup auto mount that came with my nüvi 250 and stick it right on the bike windshield. It sits nicely in front of the tach, so is in plain view without having to take eyes far off the road.

I plug the cigarette lighter/USB adapter that came with the GPS into an adapter I made up (similar to the one pictured in the attached, but including a fuse). The connection is under the seat.

Works great. The nüvi 250 isn't built for rain or qualified for vibration, but it's held up so far, even after I dropped in onto the concrete floor in my garage.

 

Toe Cutter, Here's the pics of my setup, sorry for the delay. Again, the RAM Mount is modified. The mount has a hole at the stem base so I cut off the original ball (to whom it may concern, don't say it) at the stem base, filed the area smooth and with a slight angle relative to the hole. I then did the same with a Garmin mount and filed the stem as needed to fit flush with the RAM Mount. The Garmin stem already has a hole that needs just a little drilling to work with a sheetrock screw (1 3/8). The screw goes right through the mount base into the stem to take the stress load and with the angle in the mount base, the screw is slightly off from 90 degrees to the mount base so the stem can't rotate. I also used a little plastic JB Weld to fill in any gaps...

 

Well for me there were only 3 things that i needed.

The first was obiously point to point navigation w/ turn by turn.

the second was the abilty to track where i rode as i usually explore and return home and like to see where i've been on google earth

And the third was a headphone jack.

Got it all for $46 bucks at staples. Omnitech unit runs windows CE and has a 4.something inch screen. Windows CE means you can run almost any software on there so i chose to go with I Go.

I was able to just take the mount that it came with and remove the suction cup section. I then stuck a bolt through it with rubber rings held on by a washer. I jammed it down my stem and tightend the nut from the bottom expanding the rings. It has a little play up top which i consider good shock absorbtion. Put it most definitly will not pull out. Battery life kinda sucks on it so i just installed a 12V outlet to the tripple. I figure its good for charging a phone or something as well. I'll snap some pics.

The only downs are that:
the screen isnt super bright in direct sunlight (still visible)
Its a little tricky with gloves on but it comes with a built in stylus so that takes care of that
Its not waterproof (but a plastic bag will take care of that not to mention it was only $46

 

She's a Dinosaur (Garmin GPS-V), but does what I want... waterproof and cheap.

 

You could always simply add in a 12V car charger socket and plug the GPS in for all day use. Ive done that on my old 92 ZX6.

 

IMO this Sanyo Easystreet 4370 is probably best all around unit. It allows bluetooth use, you can sync your phone, has a built in dialer, address book, and text msg function, it has a Video input to wire a rear view cam on your bike, has mp3 player, video player (not that you should be watching video), and a FM transmitter.

SANYO :: Navigation Systems :: Easy Street NVM-4370 Portable Navigation

 

My GPS,as requested TOE CUTTER.

I'm sorta Oldschool. LOL! :lol: Well,you did ask.....ound:

 

lol

It is my system to.....

 

If you have a iphone you could use that as a GPS too....but that's if you had a iphone. That's what i been using thus far.

 

Nice set up. Is that a Garmin 255 and what RAM Mount did you start with?

 

I use a TomTom 720, bluetooths with my Crackberry and holds all my mp3s. It's nice to have the touch screen functionality to cycle through songs, etc. I couldn't find a mount that I liked. I don't like having to tilt my head down to see the screen, nor do I like anything covering my gauges. So I made a bracket that mounts the GPS up under the windscreen. Now I only have to glance down slightly with my eyes vs moving my head. It's a comparable feel but a lil easier to looking at your gauges.

And yep, that's a Throttlemeister on the bar ends.... and I LOVE it!

 

TT ONE,RAM cradle,stem mount

 

Man, that's exactly what I thought when I saw this thread too!!!

 

Garmin Zumo Audio quality - terrible

Slightly off thread - but has anyone found a fix for the terrible audio quality of their Zumo bluetooth mp3 files? I purchased one and mounted with a ram stem mount about a month ago, but for music it's not useable since the sound quality is so awful.:frown:

 

My minamalistic approach at a GPS setup. Garmin Vista HCX, Lasts for days on battery power alone. Light, attaches to my mount with velcro, easy on and off. Waterproof. CHEAP! Does everything I need from a GPS in a small package. Those motorcycle specific ones are just too big and fugly.

 

Zumo 550 with a Techmount stem stand.

Techmount & Cords

It works great, I have it adjusted so I can still have an unobstructed view of all gauges. Time frame of use, about 2 years and 12k miles - it works.

Take the flat stock (bolting area) off and flip it around, then it works perfect. I'll take a sideshot and repost.

 

For some time i've been using a car satnav system tucked into a tank bag. Its OK but its not ideal, as it only has an internal speaker so you can't hear the voice instructions above 40mph. Hence I am now considering buying a proper bike GPS system but which one is best?

Over here there seems to be only two Satnav units designed for use on motorbikes - the Zumo or the Rider 2. I recently borrowed a Zumo for a week long trip around the UK and found it pretty hopeless compared with my own car tomtom. The fully updated mapping was really poor, and directions at junctions were nowhere near as clear. Worse still its accuracy was awful, with messages like turn right in 400 yards being almost immediately followed by turn right now, even though I had travelled only a few yards.

I would like to try out the Rider 2 before committing to buy it, as its a lot of money and I understand that there is a technical flaw with all the bike type GPS systems which may mean I'm better off sticking with a car satnav. Basically the Bike GPS systems can never match the location accuracy of the car type systems which include a motion accellerometer feature, which allows the unit to make continuous "best guesses" of its position, allowing the unit to fill in any gaps in the actual location data being received from the GPS satellites when the vehicle is passing below trees or in a tunnel, etc. Unfortunately that sort of feature would be shaken to bits on most motorbikes within a few hours use, hence its not included in any of the bike specific GPS systems, and hence they seem to be far less accurate. To be frank I got so fed up with the Zumo telling me I had missed the turning I wanted and asking me to do a U turn I turned it off after a while and reverted to using a paper map stuck in tank bag.

So the question I would like to ask is - has anyone found the same problem with the Tomtom Rider 2? If it does I may be tempted to just try and lash up a proper mount for a Tomtom XL - which will be a lot cheaper than the Rider 2.

skimad4x4
6th gen Militia
#218

 

kind of hard to see the tach there, isn't it?

 

"kind of hard to see the tach there, isn't it?"



Better?

 

There really isn't a need to look at the tach really you can go by sound/feel and you know the engine is laboring for a gear change. I learned to drive stick on a car with no tach so I grew used to not looking at anything but going by sound.