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Thinking of buying a gps?

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 Topic moved: from General Bike Chat to Touring & Exploration by Korn (9 Nov 2005 - 18:55)
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mr.z
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PostPosted: 21:40 - 26 Feb 2005    Post subject: Thinking of buying a gps? Reply with quote

Found this on another forum, very worth reading if you are thinking about one...

paneuropean-horisonsunlimited wrote:


Kind of a big, general question, but I will do my best to try to give you a decision-making tree to follow.

First, a disclaimer: Although I do not work for Garmin (meaning, I'm not paid by them), I am a designated "motorcycle beta tester" for their new hardware and software products, therefore my answers will address only Garmin products, simply because that's all I am familiar with.

First decision: Do you want street level mapping, or do you just want to know where you are, more or less within a mile or so?

If you want street level mapping - meaning, every city street, every rural road - then be aware that this is currently (Nov 2003) only available for Canada, USA, Western Europe (basically EC less Greece), South Africa, and Australia. Some of the more populated areas in the Middle East (Dubai, UAE, etc.) will probably come on stream in early 2004.

If you just "want to be able to locate yourself on a paper map with some precision", meaning, within about a km or so, then you don't need to buy a GPSR that comes with street level data.

Second Decision: Do you want a GPSR that will tell you where you are, or do you want a GPSR that will tell you how to get to your destination?

This is where you decide if you want a GPSR that has auto-routing capability, or a GPSR that just displays your present position.

This is also where the first big pricing decision is made. A GPSR that simply displays where you are with reasonable accuracy (the lat/long will always be perfectly accurate, but the display on the built-in map will only be as accurate as the level of detail the built-in map provides - typically 1 km accuracy) will cost you about USD 200 or so. End of story, nothing more to buy. Just remember that the GPSR's come pre-loaded with a "base map", so if you want one with a North American base map, buy it in North America, if you want one with a European base map, buy it in Europe.

A GPSR that will calculate how to ride from A to B, telling you where to turn, where the closest gas station is, etc. will cost you between USD 400 and USD 800. The purchase price will include a set of maps for either Canada and the USA or Western Europe. It is quite expensive - about USD $500 again - to buy a complete set of maps for the opposite side of the Atlantic Ocean. A complete set of South African or Australian maps will cost about USD 250 or so.

What you have probably figured out by now is that the cost of the map products can easily exceed the cost of the GPSR. This is because Garmin does not collect map data themselves, they buy it from NavTech, who are the world's leading supplier of electronic map data. NavTech prices their electronic data about the same as Michelin prices their paper data.

Third Decision: Will you be taking a laptop computer with you?

If so, you can reload fresh street level map data into your GPSR as you move from region to region of the continent you are visiting. This saves you the cost of buying additional memory chips to store the map data on. By example, for each 1 million of population, you need about 4 megs of GPSR storage capacity to hold street level detail. If you have a 128 meg data chip, you need to load fresh data each time you move out of a region holding about 40 million people (e.g. all of Canada, or the US states of California, Oregon, and Washington, or all of France).

If you don't plan to carry a laptop, but you do plan to visit the entire continent (Europe or North America) and you want street level detail, then you need a 1 gigabyte CF card, this costs about USD 200. You can load a whole continent on a 1 gig card.

-----------------------------

If you decided earlier that you don't want street level detail, you can ignore question 3. However, if you want auto-routing, but don't want street level detail, you have to buy a GPSR that is capable of holding street level detail - although you are not obliged to load all this map data, which means you can also ignore question 3. But this would be odd - kind of like buying a Cadillac, but getting only an AM radio in it.

Does this help?

PanEuropean



Lots i didn't realise there, might be usefull...
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Finglonga
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PostPosted: 10:34 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thought about buying one but would be a waste of money in this country, as in its impossible to get lost here.

However...

When I go touring abroad again I will definately get one. But as with most things you get what you pay for and most the good ones are £500 and above.

When I do get one it would be this one..............

https://www.transleisure.co.uk/images/garmin-street-pilot-2610.jpg
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timmya
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PostPosted: 12:46 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

how the heck will u mount that on the bike? i have one for the car similar to that.. its the streetpilot 3.. but that thing is wayyy to big..

plus theres no ciggarete lighter on a bike.. gonna have to re-route to the battery somehow.

anyone got pics of proffesionaly installed GPS devices in motorcycles? non-stock.
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Finglonga
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PostPosted: 18:47 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

timmya wrote:
how the heck will u mount that on the bike? i have one for the car similar to that.. its the streetpilot 3.. but that thing is wayyy to big..

plus theres no ciggarete lighter on a bike.. gonna have to re-route to the battery somehow.

anyone got pics of proffesionaly installed GPS devices in motorcycles? non-stock.


It is the same as Ewan and Charley had on their bikes.

My 1150GS has two power sockets, one next to the footpeg and the other on the top of the beak. So fitting would be a doddle. It would be easy to put a power socket on any bike with 12v electrics. Garmin and others sell all types of leads to sort out any problems youwould come up with wiring one up.

Bear in mind though not ang GPS would fit a bike as not all are waterproof. Also some don't like the vibration you get on motorcycles.

https://www.ukgser.com/forums/attachment.php?s=&postid=162480

https://estaticos.elmundo.es/elmundomotor/imagenes/2003/12/09/1070996557_g.jpg
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mr.z
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PostPosted: 19:04 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

deese am de best

https://www.clubic.com/photo/00093677.jpg

second bigest screen garmin do, far sharper resoloution and sturdy (also useable for marine action).

A cigy lighter is easy enough to fix on, but to do it properly takes care... used to have a cig lighter runing from the rear lights, lights on = power on (wont run the battery down) the adapter from e-bay and RAM mounting bracket, because the gps draws almost nothing its ok to use other power, still not reccomended...

Used it for about a year on 3 different gps models...

When going anywhere far i'd make a list of place names and exit numbers and just go, map for a backup but never needed it...
Been on rides before on roads i'd never been on, being able to find them again was great (rideouts for me and my mate usualy are just ride in one direction for 60/70 miles, turn arround and just aim for the direction of home, good fun)

Even used it last year at leeds to mark where i parked the bike and where the tent was... anyone who has tryed finding their tent at 3am with little light and weren't all that sure where it was in the first place... propper handy that was!

Oher usefull things is marking places in a city when you go off qalking arorund so you can find them again, and where you parked, also just following the trackback means its absoloutely impossible to get lost...

Anyone wanting to use their gps on their bike should look at touratechs range, they do really nice brackets as well, also all their gps gear is taken appart by them, any parts that would be damaged by excessive vibration are isolated (not to say they wouldn't handle it anyway)

What i will say IME is get a colour screen, mono is a pain in the ass to read when its raining or when your in a built up area, all your following is a line which looks like all the other lines and without a good look can be pretty confuseing...
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Klause
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PostPosted: 19:42 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've got a dell PDA with tomtom3 and all the gps kit. Whenever I get lost I just plug it all in on the side of the road and find out where the fu*k I am. I find using while riding isn't practical.

Today R4nger the fu*ktard got us lost going to boxhill, pulled over got the pda out plugged it into my car socket linked up the battery and we were back on track again. Far better than taking clunky maps around, but as I said I don't like using it on the go, I feel it distracts me too much.
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Flip
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PostPosted: 19:43 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aparently all GPS satellites are owned the military and they can turn them off whenever they want too. Shocked

Imagine being in the middle of africa and the military decide they don't want civilions to use it anymore and your screen goes blank! Confused
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Klause
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PostPosted: 19:48 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

Laughing I don't think thats true? We can't afford small things let alone all the satellites.
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Finglonga
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PostPosted: 19:52 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

flip wrote:
Aparently all GPS satellites are owned the military and they can turn them off whenever they want too. Shocked

Imagine being in the middle of africa and the military decide they don't want civilions to use it anymore and your screen goes blank! Confused


Very true...they also control how accurate they are to civie receivers. Sad
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Klause
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PostPosted: 19:55 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

Typical just looked it up, GPS satellites are owned by the government of... US, US defence.... bloody typical... well I was right about us not owning them Laughing
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Bendy
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PostPosted: 20:11 - 27 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

flip wrote:
Aparently all GPS satellites are owned the military and they can turn them off whenever they want too. Shocked


I read a story about a guy travelling around the US on his own with his trusty GPS. He said when he got near the White House it went all screwey. Rolling Eyes
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EuropeanNC30R...
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PostPosted: 10:57 - 28 Feb 2005    Post subject: Reply with quote

That'd be on the guy on the R1150GS, I thought that bit was pretty funny Smile

Also, while these GPS units are very tempting and gadgety, the £500 could pay for a nice little trip around Europe!
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