GPS

[kennie]

Anybody use a GPS mapping system on their motorcycle? I've got to get used to the idea that I'm no good with directions and I tend to get caught up in the ride and forget to take a turn or go in the wrong direction or type run-on sentences... I figure that a GPS would solve most of these problems. As far as a budget is concerned, perhaps something in between 500 - 1000 would cover it... Any recommendations?

[dagus]

Veypor makes them in the $200-300 range, I think. I was considering using one as an alternative to the tach/speedo.

[Machismo111]

I hear those can be really inaccurate as a speedo?

[dagus]

Yeah? Hopefully I'll let you know! Won't make that particular upgrade for a while tho'.

[kennie]

eh... I've got a veypor, but I was actually enquiring about gps.

[dagus]

Here's where Dougie lets on how much of a newbie he is:

a Veypor **isn't** a GPS?

(oh, and how do you like the Veypor?)

[Soul]

I always heard GPSs were very accurate about speeds? hmm?

[kennie]

The Veypor isn't GPS... it is a digital speedo and tach. It also has internal accellerometers (sp?). The speed is derived from a magnet and a pickup placed at one of the two wheels... I've chosen the back wheel (at least on my old FZR) and when I get around to installing it on the Hawk I'll most likely do the same. The tach is generated off of the pulse sent off of the CDI to the tachometer or it can be paralleled off of the ignition coils. Everytime the engine (or at least one of the pistons), it'll get a pulse... then there is a setting within the Veypor that multiplies it by 2 or 4, depending on what config your motor has (2-stroke, 4-stroke). The only real problem with the Veypor is the refresh rate of the speedo at lower speeds. You have to enter in the tire circumference and it calculates the distance traveled by how many times the tire rotates in a certain amount of time. I believe that if I just add more magnets to the wheel and divide the entered circumference by the number of magnets, I would get a much better refresh rate. I've found that the veypor is relatively accurate (at least as accurate as a bike computer) and I don't really need the GPS for a speed measurement once I've tweaked the Veypor (my initial measurements of wheel circumference was about 5% off).

GPS units are extremely accurate for speed measurements - but you have to be cruising at a decent speed (60+mph) for an accurate measurement.

[SpeedyR]

garmin 276C

I just went thru a bunch of time researching the gps units for the bike. I choose the Garmin 276C. main advantages- it's got by far the best display out there. color and easy to read in bright sunlight. has turn by turn directions. runs on battery power so you can use it off the bike for hiking or just to take it in with you at lunch or dinner so you can do more planning.

the only minus for the 276C is that it uses proprietary Garmin memory cards. They are only available up to 256MB. You can load quite a bit of info into a card. not cheap though.

the other popular model is the 2610. it used SD cards which are cheap and large capacity. display is not as good and it can't run on batteries (plug in only).

either one is good. You also have to cost average in the garmin maps as well. then a good mount (I got a RAM handlebar mount for mine). and the memory card.

there are good places to buy online. if you have any questions email me as i dont' get back very often...

Jeff

[kennie]

I think that a 2610 would work better for me, but I only have a mac, and it seems like all the Garmin software works for PC only. I then started to look around for ANY GPS that works with the mac and found absolutely none... However, in my search for GPS, I've found something called a Tom Tom rider and it seems like that looks like a nice unit. I dunno how much it'll end up costing, but it still looks as if the software for all tomtom maps are PC related.