The GPS Thead

I used to do that, but I couldn't find a way to turn it OFF? So, I abandoned it. Motorcycle battery went dead anyway. Guess I should have removed the map from the tank bag window.

I'll have you an answer soon. I popped smoke on the Ural this weekend to go see the family instead of doing all my farkle installs. More to follow this week.

No. However, once you've used a Garmin Zumo or Montana, you won't go back to the iPhone. They are spectacular devices that work very differently from a car or phone GPS. Those units aren't about getting to a destination, they are about plotting a prime route at home and using the GPS to keep you on it. Or you can use them to trace where you've been on a discovery ride. Really, I use my Garmin to keep me LOST, and it does a spectacular job. I just rode the Ural back home in the pouring rain on a 2hr ride, and the Garmin worked great, powered on the whole time, charging in its base, and not in any sort of weatherproof case at all. My Zumo was money well spent.

OK, never used a non phone GPS, so Riding Donkeys peaked my curiosity. Looking at the pricing, yikes! So how about the Garmin Oregon. One review compared it to the Montana except a smaller screen. Any thoughts about this unit?

I decided the Garmin 62s was best form and cost and for now using EZ Ram Mount and Garmin cable a shown to wire up. Lowest cost on all from Amazon plus a 4 or 8 gig card for maps and an extra $5 for G-Raster to tile images of other maps into a digestable size for use overlaying on the Garmin topos (using kmz files and merging the maps/data). Basecamp and Google earth with a topo makes using any sort of old trail map useful as well as known routes from your wrist GPS and GPX tracks.

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I use a Garmin Oregon 550T now. I previously used a Garmin 60csx and I love the Oregon. Ram mount makes a nice cradle that holds on nice and tight.

I use a garmin quest 2 with a ram mount (please excuse the crummy cell-phone pics)



Here's how i wired it: GPS Power Supply

nice setup. can you give me the part numbers of the RAM mount?

I have TomTom Rider 5 on my Terra. The standard mount they supply is pretty good, although I do prefer the Zumo 660 on my DL1000, function wise.





I have to admit to a bit of dodgy electrics, but it's the way I've wired my GPSs on bikes for the past 7 or 8 years so the same goes here. Wire jammed on the fused side of a switched fuse in the fusebox.

Anybody look to see if "BMW" tucked a GPS power wire at the headstock like they do on all of their BMW bikes? If so, they sell something called a "repair plug" if memory serves that plugs right in and wires to a Garmin with a hot and nuetral wire. It was always enough to power both a GPS and radar unit, so I assume it would also charge a cell phone through a USB port.

New BMW bikes have a third wire that connects the bike's ECU to the GPS and informs the GPS unit of things like gas level, that is if you have the rather pricey BMW Navigator unit. I think I will try and remember to ask my BMW/Husky dealer if any of that applies to the Terra/Strada.

Socalrob, there is a plug with some proprietary plug, in the headlight housing. It is a 5volt. Seems likely that it is for GPS. I tried to use it for my iphone, but, Apple is too sneaky to allow it to happen so easily.

i see that the metal U-bolt comes in direct contact with the handlebar. will that metal u-bolt scratch up the finish on the handlebar?

Not sure if you were talking about my setup Condor, but I used a RAM-B-149ZU with a Garmin Quest mount.

--Chris

hi chris, does your u-bolt scratch up the finish of the handle bars? it looks like you have a black strip of something between the u-bolt and the handle bar...did that piece come with the RAM mount?

That last two U-bolt Ram balls I bought came with that small plastic piece...

http://www.amazon.com/RAM-Mount-Zin...UTF8&qid=1372105050&sr=8-1&keywords=ram ubolt

My mount came with the plastic piece. It doesn't scratch the bars, and compresses slightly, so it holds the mount more firmly.

So far, I am sticking with my iPhone for a GPS. I have researched plenty and can find no empirical evidence that it can't function as well as most handheld GPS units. The software is the thing. Right now I am trying out MotionX GPS. Functionally very good but not great on free maps. Cost is $2.99. Second option is GaiaGPS. it runs $19.99 but has loads of free maps available. They essentially work the same as any other GPS as far as geo-caching and recording tracks as well as basic global positioning of course.

Not sure if charm is the right word or not but I rode over a yr here and never knew where I was at exactly and always had the absolute best of times riding & exploring ... Riding in the mountains is very confusing to say the least as you wind and twist many different directions to go anywhere ... But I'm on a small island...Its not like I'm going too far in any one direction without hitting water or at least seeing the ocean from some hill top ..

Forced to get a GPS to remember where I have ridden as I started taking customers for trail rides ... And added a cam also... This does allow a person to look at the gps location AND cam recording of the area to see the terrain for that specific area after a ride is over ...

But devices take away from riding, when riding... Any ride now without using a gps or cam is a free ride and I can concentrate on riding only .... Thats the ticket and back to just riding )

Maybe I'll add a handheld GPS as a backup but today I'm sold on this device... I just move the device among my bikes by pulling that plastic mounting device off one bike and sticking it on another ... A stator or battery powers these but currently I have a wall-socket plug-in to charge the device each night ...