Re: GPS impressions (and: I dropped it!)

"Nikita Synytskyy" <nikita@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:Xns9801EEDEB4A76nikitaspammondenetco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
1. First of all, do you find useful the GPS on the bike at all? How do
you use it, what features to look for, that sort of thing.

2. Given your responce to #1, what model(s) would you recommend? I don't
want to spend more than $300, and it would be a huge plus if I could use
the GPS in my cage as well.

I don't leave home without it. The important features: weatherproof; lighted display; downloadable routes and waypoints; map with secondary roads and towns; a good mounting system; usable with gloved fingers.

I use a Garmin Legend. It's coming on 5 years old now, I think. Maybe older. I dropped it once at 60 mph. It still works fine, but the case is cracked through on the sides. It used to fog up in the rain until I sealed it with RTV silicone. The case still flexes enough, though, that the batteries sometimes lose contact and shuts off. I keep meaning to wire it into the bike for power, but AA's are cheap and last about 10 hrs. Even if you leave home without a spare set, you can get them almost anywhere. Cables, OTOH, are expensive. (Those bastards.)

The map is its best feature. There are other display modes, but I mostly use the map. It comes pre-programmed with US interstates and secondary roads. There were very few towns I passed that weren't in its database. It makes a big difference knowing at a glance where you are and how far along your route you are. I don't recall if it had much detail of Canada. We toured BC and Vancouver Island with it, but it was hooked up to a laptop PC in a cage. I recall on the ferry crossing that it had the land masses, and the international boundary.

The display is really too small to read the map comfortably while moving. That's not a problem on the highway, keeping track of your progress to your next turn off. You wouldn't want to navigate unfamiliar congested areas with it, though. Zoomed in tight, you can see your waypoint coming up, but oftentimes you can't tell if it's a right or left until you're almost on top of it. It's not all that bad; I'm right about half the time. (I'm kidding; that's awful, and I hate it.)

It's maybe just as well that the screen is small. Anything smaller than a laptop display would be difficult to read for fine details on the move. I tried that once with the tiny screen. I don't know if I came close to dying, but I didn't die or even get scared. I just knew I was risking a lot trying to squint at street names. Use it for navigating between urban centers. Stop and review the route when you get into town.

Downloadable street maps might be nice. I wouldn't know; I didn't spend the money to buy them. I don't want to try reading that level of detail while driving.

I tried a few bolt-on mounts before just gluing a mount plate to the triple clamp. Many web GPS stores sell every type of mount imaginable. I know one guy who has his mounted under the stem nut on his VFR. I tried that for a while too, but the glue mount works best for me. Shout if you want my old stuff; I'm not using those ball mounts any more. Whatever mount you choose, loop the lanyard around something that won't interfere with the steering. As tough as they are, dropping them can't do anything good for them. I wonder sometimes if tying it to the throttle cable as I do isn't really the smartest idea...

You can slip it in a mapcase on your tankbag, but I like a firm mount. There are buttons on the sides as well as the face.

The Legend is selling for about $150 now. I'm sure there are newer and better models on the market. I wouldn't know; I'm still quite pleased with mine after 5 years. The feature list I gave describes the Legend. Garmin is also more or less universally supported by map software. This is probably less of a concern these days, but there was a time when most software didn't support the full feature set of the device. My old Magellan for example... but that goes back almost a full decade now.

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