More Garmin Stuff

[BwanaDik]

Just got off the phone with Garmin. Apparently the 376C, as seen on Wingman's bike at SFO, has been discontinued. Bummer. This one in particular was what I wanted because of the zoomie WX NEXRAD radar overlay on the map. Too cool for dodging and weaving in and out of storms like we had at Eureka Springs.

The guy at Garmin also said that Garmin has discontinued the XM packages on the Nuvi and Streepilot models, gone instead with some sort of MSN rubbish which will only give "cartoons" of the weather, at best. Why do companies always discontinue a Good Thing?

So, out there right now with Garmin are the 376C, the 378, and the 478. Apparently the difference between the 376 and the 378 is the first doesn't have the maps included, the 378 does. Don't know what the 478 does better. And these are all "marine" so you have all the lake info you could ever want (see Ari's avatar??).

Does anyone know of another GPS, perhaps Magellan, that has the cool NEXRAD radar overlay? Or am I into the 376/378 discontinued model off e-bay or Amazon?

 

[GalaxyBlue]

I got my eye on a 378.

I think the Zumo 550 does the XM WX

 

[SkooterG]

Huh? Garmin is discontinuting the 378/478 GPS? Are you SURE? I would find that hard to believe, and their prices surely don't indicate that. Me thinks you might be incorrect on some of this info.

And even if they do, what would stop you from buying one of those? I don't get it. It's still the same good gps.

And lastly, from what I understand the differnce between the 378 and 478 is that one has lakes in the mapping, and the other has coastal waters. BUT.............you really want the 478 because the 378 does not support Garmin's mapping program - Mapsource, so you can't download routes to it.

 

[johndaub]

Huh? Garmin is discontinuting the 378/478 GPS? Are you SURE? I would find that hard to believe, and their prices surely don't indicate that. Me thinks you might be incorrect on some of this info.
And even if they do, what would stop you from buying one of those? I don't get it. It's still the same good gps.

And lastly, from what I understand the differnce between the 378 and 478 is that one has lakes in the mapping, and the other has coastal waters. BUT.............you really want the 478 because the 378 does not support Garmin's mapping program - Mapsource, so you can't download routes to it.

+1 Someone saved me the mistake of getting the 378 to which you CANNOT download routes. I got the 478 and then got the XM antenna and a lifetime XM subscription. Very happy. You missed the winter $200 rebate on the 478 which made me think it was being discontinued.

 

[mdisher]

I got my eye on a 378.
I think the Zumo 550 does the XM WX

The zumo only does the cartoon forecasting and current conditions, not weather radar.

 

[BwanaDik]

Huh? Garmin is discontinuting the 378/478 GPS? Are you SURE? I would find that hard to believe, and their prices surely don't indicate that. Me thinks you might be incorrect on some of this info.
And even if they do, what would stop you from buying one of those? I don't get it. It's still the same good gps.

And lastly, from what I understand the differnce between the 378 and 478 is that one has lakes in the mapping, and the other has coastal waters. BUT.............you really want the 478 because the 378 does not support Garmin's mapping program - Mapsource, so you can't download routes to it.

Right, the 376C is discontinued Garmin

The 378 still seems to be available 378

Same with the 478 478

Thanks for the tip on the mapping, I'll have to investigate that a little further. It would be a bummer to get a GPS without a mapping program, even though Mapsource is a POS IMHO

 

[twistedcricket]

you ride in a little bit of rain and allofasudden you need nexrad on your bike.

hey, look at the sky

I stopped at fuel stations and used my mobile phone to check the path of the storms. $800 for a weather map (plus subscription fees) seems a bit steep IMHO

 

[BwanaDik]

you ride in a little bit of rain and allofasudden you need nexrad on your bike.
hey, look at the sky :lol: :lol:

I stopped at fuel stations and used my mobile phone to check the path of the storms. $800 for a weather map (plus subscription fees) seems a bit steep IMHO

Hey all in the interest of farkling!

When you say you stop and use your phone, I'm assuming you have some sort of Crackberry device? This is one area I feel no pressure to upgrade. I've got a 4-5 year old Nokia that is nearly bullet proof. I thought the Crackberry's were in the neighborhood of $500 plus stupid high monthly rates (unless your company pays for it?)

 

[Harald]

you ride in a little bit of rain and allofasudden you need nexrad on your bike.
hey, look at the sky :lol: :lol:

I stopped at fuel stations and used my mobile phone to check the path of the storms. $800 for a weather map (plus subscription fees) seems a bit steep IMHO

Hey all in the interest of farkling!

When you say you stop and use your phone, I'm assuming you have some sort of Crackberry device? This is one area I feel no pressure to upgrade. I've got a 4-5 year old Nokia that is nearly bullet proof. I thought the Crackberry's were in the neighborhood of $500 plus stupid high monthly rates (unless your company pays for it?)

I'm all in favor of farkling, but $800 for weather maps does seem excessive! :dribble:

As far as phones, I have a Motorola Q, which is similar (better?) than a Crackberry, that only cost $75 (with new 2 year commitment) and no extra monthly fees unless I want weather maps. Actually the weather is included by default when I pay $25 per month for email and internet access on the phone. Just save the weather channel as a favorite in the web browser.

 

[twistedcricket]

Hey all in the interest of farkling!
When you say you stop and use your phone, I'm assuming you have some sort of Crackberry device? This is one area I feel no pressure to upgrade. I've got a 4-5 year old Nokia that is nearly bullet proof. I thought the Crackberry's were in the neighborhood of $500 plus stupid high monthly rates (unless your company pays for it?)

The BB Pearl or Curve are "cheap" but I'm not going to knock the Nokia. I'm paying around $100/mnth for data/email/450 anytime minutes, unlimited txt/pic messages. (*work reimburses for the service, but I bought the phone) I wouldn't have to pay that much, but I need the txt plan; all of our "alerts" are sent via sms. There are cheaper plans than what I have.

If you have a txting plan you can always use Google; send a txt to 466453 with "w CITY,ST" and you'll get at least one reply with current conditions. So if you're traveling from home to Oklahoma City you can find out the weather there with that trick.

There are also lots of cheaper phones that have web browsers which would allow you to hit up the weather.gov or weather.com mobile websites.

It would be a nice feature on the Iron Butt Rally or some other 10+ day ride to be able to just look down and check the radar, but...wow, that's pricey

 

[mehaffydr]

I have the 378 and love it. The diff between the 376 and 378 is in fact that the 378 has alll maps preloaded so it would make sence to get rid of the 376 that you have to load the area you are going to.

The diff between the 378 and 478 is the 378 has inland lakes and navicable rivers showing things like bouys on the large rivers. The 478 has the coastal waterways (saltwater).

Skooter Are you sure you can load maps into the 478 I would think it would be the same as the 378 as far as the software is concerened.

 

[bramfrank]

I have the 378 and love it. The diff between the 376 and 378 is in fact that the 378 has alll maps preloaded so it would make sence to get rid of the 376 that you have to load the area you are going to.
The diff between the 378 and 478 is the 378 has inland lakes and navicable rivers showing things like bouys on the large rivers. The 478 has the coastal waterways (saltwater).

Skooter Are you sure you can load maps into the 478 I would think it would be the same as the 378 as far as the software is concerened.

The mapping is different between the two models.

The one you want is the 478, To quote:

Because of the unique way the map data has been combined and loaded, the GPSMAP 378 is not compatible with Garmin's City Navigator NT North America DVD, which is sold separately. For example, if you use this City Navigator NT DVD to plan routes on your computer and transfer them to the 378, the unit will recalculate each transferred route.

The 478, which costs less does not suffer the limitation

Also note that while the 376 came (comes, if you can find an NOH version) with the XM pod, that's an extra cost item with both the 478 ans 478.

 

[BwanaDik]

I have the 378 and love it. The diff between the 376 and 378 is in fact that the 378 has alll maps preloaded so it would make sence to get rid of the 376 that you have to load the area you are going to.
The diff between the 378 and 478 is the 378 has inland lakes and navicable rivers showing things like bouys on the large rivers. The 478 has the coastal waterways (saltwater).

Skooter Are you sure you can load maps into the 478 I would think it would be the same as the 378 as far as the software is concerened.

The mapping is different between the two models.

The one you want is the 478, To quote:

Because of the unique way the map data has been combined and loaded, the GPSMAP 378 is not compatible with Garmin's City Navigator NT North America DVD, which is sold separately. For example, if you use this City Navigator NT DVD to plan routes on your computer and transfer them to the 378, the unit will recalculate each transferred route.

The 478, which costs less does not suffer the limitation

Also note that while the 376 came (comes, if you can find an NOH version) with the XM pod, that's an extra cost item with both the 478 ans 478.

OK, I think I'm circlin' in here. The 378 has inland waterway info, the 478 has coastal info (bouys, harbors and such, I assume in both, not much use for us) but is the road and town information the same? Do both models have the same level of detail, down to local streets?

I use the POS City Navigator to do initial routing but have found that my 2730 often "recalculates" the route. But the final differences are minor.

Sounds like the 478 is the way to go for motorcycles with WX NEXRAD, load the route info from CN POS and go.

I have the XM pod that came with my 2730. Is it the same one for the 478?

Wonder why the 478 is cheaper than the 378? By almost $200!

 

[bramfrank]

I have the 378 and love it. The diff between the 376 and 378 is in fact that the 378 has alll maps preloaded so it would make sence to get rid of the 376 that you have to load the area you are going to.
The diff between the 378 and 478 is the 378 has inland lakes and navicable rivers showing things like bouys on the large rivers. The 478 has the coastal waterways (saltwater).

Skooter Are you sure you can load maps into the 478 I would think it would be the same as the 378 as far as the software is concerened.

The mapping is different between the two models.

The one you want is the 478, To quote:

Because of the unique way the map data has been combined and loaded, the GPSMAP 378 is not compatible with Garmin's City Navigator NT North America DVD, which is sold separately. For example, if you use this City Navigator NT DVD to plan routes on your computer and transfer them to the 378, the unit will recalculate each transferred route.

The 478, which costs less does not suffer the limitation

Also note that while the 376 came (comes, if you can find an NOH version) with the XM pod, that's an extra cost item with both the 478 ans 478.

OK, I think I'm circlin' in here. The 378 has inland waterway info, the 478 has coastal info (bouys, harbors and such, I assume in both, not much use for us) but is the road and town information the same? Do both models have the same level of detail, down to local streets?

I use the POS City Navigator to do initial routing but have found that my 2730 often "recalculates" the route. But the final differences are minor.

Sounds like the 478 is the way to go for motorcycles with WX NEXRAD, load the route info from CN POS and go.

I have the XM pod that came with my 2730. Is it the same one for the 478?

Wonder why the 478 is cheaper than the 378? By almost $200!

The roads and POIs are the same, but you can't determine and directly use Mapsource to plan routes and transfer them to the 378 without a recalc - that's because the route transfer checks the map version and if it doesn't match (which it wouldn't with a 378) it would take the vias and waypoints and recalculate.

With the 478 and the same version mapping on your PC it would NOT recalculate on a download. I presume that you are not using the same map revision with your 2730.

Yes, the pod is the same and because the pod IS the radio, the subscription travels with the pod.

As to why the 378 costs more It is probably tied to the mapping. There is a lot more inland waterway than there is pure coastline I guess.

 

[jazsr]

Those marine GPS units look interesting. Anybody mounted one of the 378/478 units between the bars at the stem nut? What mount product gives the best install for this specific GPS? Techmount or RAM ball or some other? The multitude of RAM adapters and such is a bit confusing, can't quite visualize the best way to fit one of these things to the bike. Always told myself paper maps are just fine,don't need no stinkin' GPS. Think I'll be singing a new tune here shortly....

 

[bramfrank]

Those marine GPS units look interesting. Anybody mounted one of the 378/478 units between the bars at the stem nut? What mount product gives the best install for this specific GPS? Techmount or RAM ball or some other? The multitude of RAM adapters and such is a bit confusing, can't quite visualize the best way to fit one of these things to the bike. Always told myself paper maps are just fine,don't need no stinkin' GPS. Think I'll be singing a new tune here shortly....

It is Friday.

Search the site and all your questions will be answered.

 

[1911]

I got my eye on a 378.
I think the Zumo 550 does the XM WX

The zumo only does the cartoon forecasting and current conditions, not weather radar.

Are you sure? I thought the 550 w/XM would display the good weather/radar. The $100.00 per month subscription fee kept me from trying to sign up for it. But I was considering buying a couple months worth of it if the pipe dream ride out west this fall works out.

Edit: Oops, you're right. I just checked Garmins sight and actually read more than half a paragraph.

 

[mdisher]

I got my eye on a 378.
I think the Zumo 550 does the XM WX

The zumo only does the cartoon forecasting and current conditions, not weather radar.

Are you sure? I thought the 550 w/XM would display the good weather/radar. The $100.00 per month subscription fee kept me from trying to sign up for it. But I was considering buying a couple months worth of it if the pipe dream ride out west this fall works out.

Edit: Oops, you're right. I just checked Garmins sight and actually read more than half a paragraph.

XM gave it to me free for 90 days once and it was almost worthless.

 

[BwanaDik]

XM gave it to me free for 90 days once and it was almost worthless.

What model unit did you have?