GPS which way?

[ivorbaines]

Help, please.
Have just taken the decision to venture into the world of GPS. It is for social use with the bike and car, mainly in UK but including Europe. Had a look on the internet and been for a demo at the local Halfords.
Conclude that the Quest would be too small for me to see without reading glasses, found the Tom Tom 300 great for size and visibility as is the Garmin Street Pilot range, the touch screen appears to be the way to go. I'm not looking for the latest link to your mobile phone, just an easy to use sat nav set-up to use with bike & car. Have not found much info on the weather resistance and see they have card slots that would obviously be vulnerable to the wet.
Tom Tom have a motorcycle model recently out but it is far more than I wish to spend at over £500.
Would appreciate any advice including what extra’s to look for/include.
In addition to the 1100S I have an R850R that I wish to use it on.
Thanks

[madman]

I use a Garmin Street pilot 3 which has been on my R1150RT, K1200GT and now my 1100S, I also use it in the car. I also wear glasses for reading but find that by changing the contrast and brightness I can see it well. It has been through the worst rainstorms in the UK with no problem. Now that I live here it remains dry all the time!
It is very easy to plumb into the power on most BMWs but very easy on the S.

[wicker]

I have used Streetpilot 111 for a couple of years now & used it in car & bike. Bought a Touratech mounting bracket for the bike and hardwired the power cable into the electrics on the horn circuit. GPS sits between the handlebar yokes; tends to obscure the lower half of the speedo, the fuel warning light & clock. Made a DIY sunscreen for the Streetpilot as I found bright sun made seeing the screen difficult at times.

Streetpilot 111 has been superseded by the 2610 / 2620 range with the touchscreen, etc however the Streetpilot is still around, supported by Garmin software upgrades, and used examples are now available on e-bay for a couple of hundred £'s.

The 128mb data card supplied can hold detailed mapping for almost all the UK. If like me you want more European maps for holiday then a second data card 256mb is helpful; I picked mine up from e-bay for £70. The 2600 series is also on e-bay; be careful that the model is supplied with the Uk / Europe map set rather than the US.

[Blackal]

Well - I must admit to being a fan of the QUEST.

I mounted mine on the clutch cover (a RAM mount) which with either a short (1") or long (3") mount - presents the unit to the left of your instrument lights and closer to you, which makes focusing easy.

The buttons are small, but are oparable with sports gloves on and the size of the unit is as large as I would want to go with an R1100s. I also fit mine to a Daytona 650 (still to connect the power supply) and it is ideal for that.

I used the Quest in Germany this summer and was amazed that it even showed "unidentified, unpaved road" - our guide took us up a dirt track!

To be honest - I can't see past it. It has the added advantage over TomTom in that you can prepare all your locations and routes on your PC/laptop and then download to the unit itself. This makes things really easy and in the case of planning a route - means that you can specify the exact route with no constraints on your PC rather than trying to fix waypoints on a fiddly GPS (Garmin or TomTom) while on the road.

Buy one (Try MNC group - cheapest, I think) - I don't think you will be disapointed.

Or---- according to another thread........... get along to Dixons or Halfords where they are selling the Quest 1 for £199??

Al

[Rob B]

I had a SP III but upgraded to a Garmin 2610. Top kit, has stood up to days in torential rain and all the vibes that an S can throw at it. It recalculates much faster than the SPIII and the touch screen is OK with gloves. Get as much memory as you can and enjoy. You'll wonder how you lived with out it

Rgds, Rob

[ivorbaines]

Thanks for the feedback and please the more the better.
It's helpful & reassuring to have some real user opinion.
Cheers
Ivor

[Steve W]

Ivor

I have a Garmin 2610 mounted via a modified brake resevoir cover for these people.
http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/RAM/ram.asp?prod=RAM-GA11

Found 2610 good, and have so far had no problems with regards to waterproofness.

The 2610 comes as standard with a 256mb flash memory card which is okay if you are staying in the UK but better to get a good quality 1 or 2 mb memory card then you can load the whole of Europe and no need to worry about remebering to load the relevent maps.

One disadvantage of the 2610 over the quest is that it does not have internal batteries but does come with a small universal power adapter so you can still plan routes off the bike (if you remember to take it with you )

For further info the following links maybe of interest.


http://www.ukgser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=46
http://www.ram-mount-uk.com/customer-gallery.htm - see r1100S

Steve

[Blackal]

Ivor

I have a Garmin 2610 mounted via a modified brake resevoir cover for these people.
http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/RAM/ram.asp?prod=RAM-GA11

Found 2610 good, and have so far had no problems with regards to waterproofness.

The 2610 comes as standard with a 256mb flash memory card which is okay if you are staying in the UK but better to get a good quality 1 or 2 mb memory card then you can load the whole of Europe and no need to worry about remebering to load the relevent maps.

One disadvantage of the 2610 over the quest is that it does not have internal batteries but does come with a small universal power adapter so you can still plan routes off the bike (if you remember to take it with you )

For further info the following links maybe of interest.


http://www.ukgser.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=46
http://www.ram-mount-uk.com/customer-gallery.htm - see r1100S

Steve

Hi Steve,

I've got a quest, mounted in a similar fashion (but on the clutch reservoir). Do you have a pic of the 2610 mounted? I wondered about one, but thought it might be physically too large for the available space? What size ram-stem are you using?

Cheers!

Al

[theseadog]

2610, been through rain that Noah was getting leaks on the ark in .....perfect, and the touch screen works a treat with winter gloves on as well. I personally think that the amount asked for mounts arms/sockets/left handed floggle toggles and thinymajigs is feckin OUTRAGEOUS, so I mounted mine in the middle of the top yoke using an old car phone bracket which is more secure and very adjustable.

I looked at the Quest but decided that the screen was just too small for practical use, but that is just me, I know many people have them and are delighted.

Toodle Pip

[Steve W]

Al

If you use the following link it will take you directly to the pictures for my mounting - These were taken in March when I was talking to RAM UK about the resevoir mounts
http://www.ram-mount-uk.com/bike-mount34.htm

I am using the Garmin bike mount with a short Ram arm (1.5 inch I think), the product no's are given in the artical. I have also hard wired the autocom sound input wire to the power lead.

Will take a riders perspective picture and post a link.


Steve

[andrew s]

Sorry, but not thread related

Steve W, please give me a call.

Andrew

[Blackal]

Al

If you use the following link it will take you directly to the pictures for my mounting - These were taken in March when I was talking to RAM UK about the resevoir mounts
http://www.ram-mount-uk.com/bike-mount34.htm

I am using the Garmin bike mount with a short Ram arm (1.5 inch I think), the product no's are given in the artical. I have also hard wired the autocom sound input wire to the power lead.

Will take a riders perspective picture and post a link.


Steve

Thanks for that, Steve.

It looks like it fits in fine. I had heard opinions that mounting on the clutch/brake reservoir could cause high-speed stability problems, but I found no problems with the Quest in that respect.

Do you find the right-handed mount okay for operating the controls (of the GPS) on the move?

I'm looking forward to getting the audio from the Quest hooked in through the Starcom unit, so that I can spend less time glancing at the screen.

Thanks again,

Al

[vienna]

Can you let me have the contact number for making up the brake resevoir casting please?

[Boxered]

I bought the cheaper option of a plate that fits on top of your reservoir for $27 from here
http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/pr ... tem=RAM-BA

but havent got around to fitting it yet

Steve

[vienna]

Thanks, almost to many options!