[LeanAngle]

I'm going to be getting my first GPS, and I'm trying to figure out what I'm doing. I'm learning a lot, but I know there are a log of you out there that have them. So how about some pointers.

I'm trying to stay in the $300 range, but we'll see what happens.

Units I'm looking at are the Gamin GPS V and the Magellan Meridian Color. Both have some very nice features, and I think both will do a great job for me. Right now I'm leaning toward the Garmin because even though it lacks expandability of the Magellan (SD cards), I think it seems like it'll be functionally a little nicer. Should also be easier to mount since it can be used horizontal.

Anybody have some advise?

 

[maric_57]

yeah. i've got a garmin and love it. one thing is to make sure you get the power cable to wire it to the bikes power so you don't have to carry batteries with you everywhere. check out http://cycoactive.com/ they have a lot of motorcycle specific info and also check out http://gpscity.com/

 

[Hawker]

Look at the Garmin Etrex Serise.

 

[thunderex]

a very good deal for motorcyclists is the garmin quest. it has a built-in hard drive that's bigger than the sd card in my spIII. it's small and has all the great functions of the high end models but costs a lot less. it's basically better than the old spIII at a fraction of the cost. i guess they only sell it cheap because the 26XX series is so expensive.

 

[Scotteq]

I have a Garmin GPS V, and like it quite a lot. It's accurate, reasonably fast, and holds data/routes for 2~3 states. That's more than enough for my purposes, though not enough for a serious Sport Tourer unless you travel with a laptop.

I second the Cyco-active recommendation. If you look at the sportbike page, that's my bike/setup they use for the Aprilias. Works well - long arm when I have the tank bag, short arm when I don't.

Scott

 

[riverrat]

my dad's got the Garmin V. He likes it alot, and he's had it since it first came out and has never had a problem with it. Routes quickly, has a decent amount of memory, and a pretty good screen.

Personally, I picked up the Garmin 60CS. I love it. color screen, enough memory to load all the city select maps for wisconsin, western minnesota, and the UP.

 

[LeanAngle]

Thanks for the input. I really like everything about the GPS V except for it only having 19MB of memory. For 95% of my use, that won't be a big deal. Just not sure if I want to spend the extra couple hundred to get more memory and/or expandability.

It looks like you get get a Magellan Meridian Series unit in the 3-4 hundred range. That could be a posiblity. Anyone have experience with those?

 

[riverrat]

check out http://forums.groundspeak.com/gc/

Its a forum for geocaching. There's a TON of information about people's experiences with different GPSr units

 

[quackPOT]

I have the Garmin V. It's a good little unit, my only gripe is that it doesn't have an "auto-on" feature when it detects the car/motorcycle turning on. It does have an auto-off that you can cancel by pushing a button, then it stays on batter power.

The 19 megs of memory is SOooooOooOOoo slow to fill. Overall I rate it good, but if you can drop another $350 on a GPS unit, get the Tom Tom Go. It's the best GPS unit I've seen out there and is better than many $1k + units from Garmin et. al. It's a touch screen color 3D readout. The only thing it lacks IMO is your altitude and the MPH info is a little small.

http://www.tomtom.com/products/product.php?ID=12&Language=4

The site lists it for more, but I got two Tom Toms for $650 (each) shipped a couple weeks ago at harmony computers.

http://www.shopharmony.com

 

[Reyndogg]

I have the Garmin QUEST (500.00 US). It's VERY similar to Superhonky's Garmin V, which only lacks the color screen and has less memory. Both are very easy to use and very handy, even when you know where you're going. It's fun to see if you can beat the ETA to your destination, and you can compare GPS speed with your speedometer.

www.thegpsstore.com has really good prices.