Triumphrat

pbpeel · 03-05-2007

I just bought a Lowrance iWay 350c for my car and I'm looking forward to trying it on the bike this riding season. What other GPS systems are you using and what are the pros / cons?

Lowrance iWay 350c

PROS:
Cheap - $249 with rebate
MP3 player
lakes & topo, etc... can be added for other uses
Fast

CONS:
Screen isn't so bright in direct sunlight
not waterproof
routing so-so so far. Haven't got the sliders quite adjusted right. Sometimes takes me on and off the highway at the wrong places

pineygroveshop · 03-05-2007

iWay 500C. Waterproof, comes with all mounts for car and bike. Big 5" touch screen that works real well with gloves. 20GIG HDD, 10G for maps, 10G for mp3s.
My only con is that I cannot plan my trip on a computer and download to the GPS. Perhaps a future firmware upgrade will fix that.

hANNAbONE · 03-06-2007

Garmin 276C

or the 376C or 378...pricey but the cutting edge technology...totally waterproof, color screen, inboard weather and XM radio..

I'm getting into the 276C with 512 mem. stik and cradles, RAM mounts and powered bike cord for electric plug-in, along with auto cradle and extras...for around $800.00

Kinda the "buy it once , wince , and not look back"...

that way i won't have tah upgrade in 2-3 years either.

JasonS · 03-06-2007

Garmin 2610. Ran it thousands of miles. Good unit for the time it was out. I really like the ability to slam the entire USA into the unit on one memory card. I dislike the inability to run it on an internal battery to do porgramming in the tent...

thx1158 · 03-07-2007

For me it was the Garmin 60 CX. I can move it from my bike to my jeep, then use it as a hand held. Its waterproof and can use 2 gig chips.

markbvt · 03-07-2007

I've got TomTom Navigator 5 software for my Palm Tungsten PDA and a Bluetooth GPS receiver. Haven't used it yet on the bike, although I'm planning to do so this summer, but it works great in the car. The TomTom software is fantastic, and the maps are highly detailed.

For use on the bike, I plan to power the Palm via car power adapter plugged into my Bonneville's accessory power socket and just put everything into the clear map pocket of a tank bag.

--mark

bkrbil · 03-07-2007

Garmin Zumo 550. It's designed for motorcycles. It comes with a full motorcycle cradle and RAM mount, as well as a car mount. It's highly shock resistant, waterproof and has great visibility in direct sunlight.
It has built in MP3 and XM radio, and bluetooth capabilities for your phone.
Switching from the car cradle to the motorcycle cradle increases the size of the buttons on the touch screen so it can be used even with winter weight gloves.
The Mapsource program allows you to setup a custom route, and to share that route with others (either online or through their GPS).
All in all, it's presently the best GPS unit available for bikes.

pineygroveshop · 03-07-2007

Quote:

On 2007-03-07 17:20, bkrbil wrote:
Garmin Zumo 550. It's designed for motorcycles. It comes with a full motorcycle cradle and RAM mount, as well as a car mount. It's highly shock resistant, waterproof and has great visibility in direct sunlight.
It has built in MP3 and XM radio, and bluetooth capabilities for your phone.
Switching from the car cradle to the motorcycle cradle increases the size of the buttons on the touch screen so it can be used even with winter weight gloves.
The Mapsource program allows you to setup a custom route, and to share that route with others (either online or through their GPS).
All in all, it's presently the best GPS unit available for bikes.

I believe that if I were looking for a new unit, I would look real closely at the ZUMO.

NYTBird · 03-08-2007

I recently took the very deep $700us plunge and purchased a Zumo. It has so far surpassed all of my expectations. It is easily updated via USB and the search feature works great.... :-D

rustbucket · 03-14-2007

The one thing that I really want out of a GPS but haven't found much information on: upload my routes to google earth. I want to store everywhere I go, and have a way to mark the beginning and end of fun roads. I usually just wander when I'm out on the bike, so I'm always finding good roads that I can never find again...