GPS

[Midnite Rider]

Trying to find the ultimate GPS system. So far Garmin 2730 looks pretty good. As does the Tom Tom 700. The Tom Tom has a hard drive and the Garmin uses memory cards. I have read warnings from some about using hard drives on a motor cycle. But the folks that have the Tom Tom's haven't mentioned anything about problems with hard drives. I like the blue tooth feature built into the Tom Tom. Any thoughts out there?

 

[Feejer/Weejer man]

check with James at Nav 2000. He sells to list members at cost and know just about all there is to know about GPS technology. His thred is pinned on this site.

 

[MSLPILOT]

I bought a Garmin Street Pilot i5. It's small and lightweight with excellent mapping features for north america. It can also run on 2 AA batteries, which means less cord to deal with. After all, how much detail do you need in your GPS? So long as it can get you to your destination, life is good. If you get lost, well, you get to spend more time on your bike! About $499 retail. Maybe James at NAV 2000 can get it cheaper...

 

[Fencer]

For give me if this sounds stupid. I am looking into a GPS as well, but I don't see a feature listing as water/weatherproof on most of them as they are targeted mainly for cagers. (Here come stupid) How can you tell if they are suitable for bike use?

 

[yamahlr]

I'm about ready to pull the trigger for the Garmin 2730. Seems like quite a unit. James is a club member and his personnel are very knowledgeable about the product. I never had a GPS before, and Rick guided me along very well and answered a ton of questions I had. Great folks and a credit to the club, didn't think about buying from anyone else.

 

[brazos parker]

I was notified by e-mail from AutoNav that my Garmin 2720 is on the brown truck, headed my way. James provides a great service to forum members and Rick was very helpful w/ phoned-in questions. Suggest you give them a call for anything GPS.

Plan to mount the 2720 on a Techmount w/ Touratech locking cradle.

 

[Knifemaker]

I plan on getting the Garmin 376C . From what I have seen, it has the brighest screen. The 27xx series is made to be inside a car, so the display is not easy to read in bright light. The 376C is made for boats, hence they made the screen brighter. It has the XM radio and weather option. After installing the maps and card, it comes out to about the same price the 2730 does...which I think has the maps already loaded.

(and it has the sonar option too...if I plan on getting a boat later...)

KM

 

[Groo]

FJRfencer -

Usually, the ability to withstand water is identified by whether the unit is IPX-7 certified... which many of the Garmin units are...

Most newer Garmin® GPS units are waterproof in accordance with IEC 60529 IPX7. IEC 60529 is a European system of test specification standards for classifying the degrees of protection provided by the enclosures of electrical equipment. An IPX7 designation means the GPS case can withstand accidental immersion in one meter of water for up to 30 minutes. An IPX8 designation is for continuous underwater use.

 

[Fencer]

Thanks Groo :cownoy:

 

[04FJR4ME]

Trying to find the ultimate GPS system. So far Garmin 2730 looks pretty good. As does the Tom Tom 700. The Tom Tom has a hard drive and the Garmin uses memory cards. I have read warnings from some about using hard drives on a motor cycle. But the folks that have the Tom Tom's haven't mentioned anything about problems with hard drives. I like the blue tooth feature built into the Tom Tom. Any thoughts out there

I would recommend you considering a TomTom Rider that is water resistant and sues memory card instead of hard drive if you are thinking about the TomTom unit. It also comes with the NavTeq mapping software and in my opinion it is better in NA then the Tele Atlas mapping software that is used in the TomTom 700.

The 2730 Garmin is also very nice but no bluetooth, sorry.

The TomTom Rider price is down so I think they are more affordable now

I bought a Garmin Street Pilot i5. It's small and lightweight with excellent mapping features for north america. It can also run on 2 AA batteries, which means less cord to deal with. After all, how much detail do you need in your GPS? So long as it can get you to your destination, life is good. If you get lost, well, you get to spend more time on your bike!  About $499 retail. Maybe James at NAV 2000 can get it cheaper...

The Garmin i5 is a nice little unit, not a touch screen but does the job if you don't mind the size and all. The cost is a lot less then $499 but I do wish for forum members first to give your local GPS stores a chance to help you out, if they can't or you don't have a GPS store near you, feel free to contact me and I will do the best I can to get you the unit at my cost plus S/H.

Thanks for the on going support from this forum, I do enjoy reading the forum post and I am happy that I can contribute a bit when I can.

 

[JimV]

During the course of two recent trips to Finland, I had the opportunity to rent a Garmin 2610 (Hertz Neverlost) and a TomTom GO 300 (Budget). The 2610 is an older unit while the GO 300 is midrange but newer.

The only point that I want to make is that 3D display capability is a huge advantage in unfamiliar territory. I think that this is especially true in Europe where roads in the cities are a bit crazy. This pobably holds true on the east coast of the US where the roads are decidedly un-gridlike.

Whatever unit you choose, I personally would ensure that the nav display has some kind of 3D point of view display. The top down only with little pop ups like the 2610 had are much harder to understand.

Also, the Garmin would give you less than stellar directions and then start bitching at you "Off route, recalculating" whereas the TomTom would just recalculate and tell you what to do. I found that to be much less annoying.

Overall though, having a navigator is well worth the cost.

Cheers,

Jim

 

[etz]

Also, the Garmin would give you less than stellar directions and then start bitching at you "Off route, recalculating" whereas the TomTom would just recalculate and tell you what to do. I found that to be much less annoying.

Recalculation has it's plusses and minusses.

I tend to use GPS mostly for pre-planning routes to take very specific roads...not necessarily the most direct roads. If I accidentally deviate from my pre-planned route for a short stretch, the last thing I want is a unit that just recalculates as that would result in the rest of my route being something entirely other than what I'd planned. Thankfully you can disable automatic recalc.

Recalc is great when you're in an unfamiliar place and all you want is to get from A to B and you don't care how it gets you there (such as most trips I've ever had in a rental car).

 

[SMC]

I went ahead and bought the Garmin 2730 from Auto Nav 2000.

I just received the unit and can't wait to put in on my new '06 when it arrives. I have been playing around with this thing and it is pretty amazing and easy to use.

I would like to personally thank 04FJR4ME for his generousity to all members of this board. Everyone that I dealt with at Auto Nav 2000 couldn't have been more pleasant, helpful, courteous and professional.

Will be mounting in on the '06 FJR with a stemstand as per groo's suggestion and wonderful photos of his mount job.

Didn't go for the Tom Tom unit as there was no suggestion as to the battery time. As I am in the saddle up to 18 hours on some of my rides, I didn't want to take the chance of the bluetooth remote helmut unit going dead on me when I needed it the most....at night somewhere in the mountains looking for a turnoff.

 

[user 357]

What is the battery life on the Tom Tom...... :blink:

 

[yamahlr]

UPDATE... I bought the 2730 from James' company. Hopefully it will be here next week.