Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums Accessories which gps?

trying to decide on a tomtom or a garmin, any suggestions? also who has the best prices on these?


Frank

Try Rand-McNally much cheaper.

well i am trying to decide on either the tomtom rider or the garmin zumo

Frank

Rand McNally is very affordable & availble @ most gas stations.

Or Hagstrom from Staples.

I have the TT700, which was quite useful on occassions, but does however send you up some narrow streets and back allys, when you are driving a 30 foot motorhome.

Quite like it though, can even use it on the BA in summer only as its meant for the car. Would like to try the TT rider

Frank,

I have been comparing the reviews on these two and I am leaning toward the Zumo. This reveiw in particular has me doubting the TomTom.... webbikeworld

I am going (to try) and wait till the price drops a bit before buying but hopefully someone will post a review in this forum to let us know what works and what's bull.....

Jeff

For the time being, I'll ride with someone that has a GPS already. I'm waiting for the price to come down a bit yet.

i was thinking the same thing


Frank

I just picked up the MIO 310X at Staples for $225 and it seems to work very well (Not Perfect but very well) Now I have to find a bracket to fasten to my bars. Any suggestions??

I'm trying to work out how to use my gps which is loaded onto my pda [image][/image] The is also the satelite receiver that bluetooths to the pda to consider, and then of course there's there's weather proofing to consider. Might be easier to pay 1k for the smicko one's?

I haven't looked into Zumo much, but Garmin has done AMAZING things for aviation. They make very, very dependable products.

Hi I have a palmone tungsten2 pda withtomtom navigator 5 and I like it.The all have quirks and draw backs but I like the pda because they give you cds to down load or a 1 gig card preloaded. If the unit breaks you still have all the maps and bluetooth gps unit.Also wanted one I could take to Europe and walk around the streets to find poi's. Goodluck

Frank,

Take a look at the Garmin Quest II. It's waterproof and fits nicely between the riser mounts. Or look at an etrex with a bar mount it worked great until my wife surprised me with the Quest II. BTW the Quest II has voice prompts and can be tied into your helmet audio with the adapter bracket.
Cheaper than the Zumo but not cheap though.

Johnny

thanks i'll check it out, leaning toward the zumo right now tho

Frank

I ride with the Garmin c330 Street pilot...I like it but it IS NOT water proof but it is portable from vehicle to vehicle...

When I asked a supplier that sells them to big trucking companies, fire stations, EMT's.... the Tom Tom is nice, but the Garmin has way more stuff...He said I'd actually be disappointed in the Tom Tom if I tried both of them together....
I have the older 2730 with the antenna...also the weather, traffic and XM options(subscription)... got some nice earplugs, shoulda waited and got some of the custom ones at the bike show a few weeks ago.

I rode from Flagstaff to Amarillo last October in driving rain and about 25 mph winds. Trying to find the hotel at 10:30 at night sucked.. at that point the GPS was worth more than it's weight in gold....
Nice folks at the Holiday Inn, too... they insisted I park under the canopy right by the registration desk...Huge window, so they could watch the bike..Oh, and just call the front desk if I wanted to stay a few hours past checkout...
The Techmount bolts right on the handlebars... much prettier than the Ram mounts...works with lots of stuff....
Mary

Quote:

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well i am trying to decide on either the tomtom rider or the garmin zumo

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Frank - I bit the bullet and bought the Zumo. Hoping to do the GA rally and have a lot of slab time coming up. Best price I could find was here:

Buy Dig

They shipped next day and didn't charge my card for 2 days later? Free shipping by FedEx Home but you must be present to sign - no exceptions. Also picked up a 4 gig SD card here for $35.00: Surplus Computers But I don't see the link anymore at that price? I'll load it up with mp3's and maybe a Connelly book for the ride...

With a foot of snow this weekend, was not able to bike test, but tried it out in the cage and looks like it will do the job...by default "Jill" gives the directions and doesn't like it when you dis-obey. I switched to the nameless british english chick and she is a bit more pleasant but doesn't know the street names - just "turn right now".

It displays tons of probably useless info (unless you're an Iron Butt) about idle time - average speed while moving, and overall average speed - it has a great compass and speedo display.....and so on....

Comes with bike and cage mounts and 3 different power adapters.

Picked up some helmet speakers from Aerostich but not sure if they are it or not? Need to roadtest for sure....

Good tips here:

Zumo 550 Forum

Jeff

sounds great, in a hurry to see how you like it

Frank

Frank - with a second wave of snow bearing down as I type - won't get any gps/bike time real soon but have some cage time and it's working good.

Kinda cool little find today is the Triumph USA dealer POI (point of interest) file that you download to the Garmin. If I understand correctly - as you are cruising the states - it will pop up with little reminder when a dealer draws near......or just pick from the list and it will point you in the right direction....

The file is in gpx format - and requires the free POI Loader (from Garmin) to load. PM with email if anyone is interested....

Jeff

Iceman: I've got two Garmins, a III+ and a V. Garmin sells a bicycle mount for their smaller hand-held units and that is what I've used to mount my GPSs. Very secure when you get the bicycle mount properly attached.

So check the accessories listing for your unit to see if they have a bicycle mount available.

Only thing is... remember to dismount your GPS whenever you get off the bike to eat or for a bio-break or else your GPS will be traveling down the road, displaying information, for some light-handed, lilly-livered thief.

Photos........(got 2 feet of snow this week so no bike testing...

looks good

Frank

Hey Jeff, where did you get your tac from? Nice console.

Willy

Willy - check with eddy.....

fasteddy

He'll set you up....can bolt on the bars or some folks have put it in the dash - you decide...

Snows finally melting!!

Jeff

With out going too far off-topic thought some might be interested in an excellent presentation on GPS:

GPS Tutorial

pretty good info there

Frank

Finally - I got the bike out this morning to road test the Zumo. The roads were wet from rain last night, but it's sunny and 69 degrees, it can't get much better than that.

The display is clear and fairly easy to read except with the sun on your back, then nothing but black. I imagine that true of any unit tho....

I had no problems with the gloves and controls (using the Triumph perforated highway gloves, which conform pretty well).

To my surprise, I could hear the audio in my el-cheapo Aerostich helmet speakers even at highway speed with the Epco pipes. I have a Boostaroo also, which seems to help as well, but the audio was fairly clear either way. Routed a permanent audio connection under the tank, with access from the side cover. Need to work on this alittle more to be sure the connection doesn't decide to to drop down and meet the chain......

The mp3 function is adequate but not as user friendly as an iPod, such as pulling up an artist and then displaying the albums, which is not possible. You can select an artist and play all tracks (from ALL albums) or search by album, without seeing the artist - displays all albums in a single list. If you pick a specific track, it only plays that track and stops....

Either way, if you got alot of miles to go, its workable.

Jeff