EOI: Motorcycle GPS's

[BlackFZR]

Hi all.

We are currently looking at doing a group buy on Motorcycle GPS's.

This is a twofold EOI, we want to know numbers of people that may be interested, as well as a possible preference of the GPS's available.

If you are interested, please post up your budget, and your preferred option. I will be trawling the net and looking for reviews of different options over the next couple of days, so welcome members reviews of their current configurations, as well as wish lists from those who wish to be involved,

cheers

Simmo

[BlackFZR]

Some GPS Reviews....

TomTom Rider TomTom Rider - webBikeWorld
Garmin Zumo 660 Garmin zumo 660 Review - webBikeWorld

Comparison review of the two... Motorcycle GPS Review

[slug2]

I'd be interested.

Coetz had a mate who had some no name brand for $250- not sure of quality- no name brand with samsung parts and able to run tomtom maps?

Wouldn't want to spend much more than $400- which severely restricts options...

Would want pretty solid water proof mounting with detachable unit.

T

[Kamikaze]

I'd be interested.

Coetz had a mate who had some no name brand for $250- not sure of quality- no name brand with samsung parts and able to run tomtom maps?

Wouldn't want to spend much more than $400- which severely restricts options...

Would want pretty solid water proof mounting with detachable unit.

T

I've seen a sample of this one from Coetz in action - pretty decent in my opinion! I'd say it was a good deal for what it is. Definitely recommend it if you're not looking at spending more than about $250.

[loyalionel]

Yea! Me and a mate got that GPS, water proof and shockproof. With the holder and all.

Quality is good, loved the GPS function, found Marty Moose's place with that GPS, easy to use and small enough to mount on bike.

[Tevilspek]

I'd definitely be interested, but price is of course the issue.
Like slug2, I'd be hard pressed to spend over $400 or so at the moment...

[Brougham]

A waterproof and shockproof one suitable for quad riding would be good. <$350-400.

[spuds]

Yeah I've seen this in action. It works a treat and I was very impressed. Looks really well built and rugged enough for some abuse!

[RB 2 11]

I'm interested. Will go with what the groupthink comes up with as a solution. Leaning towards the Zumo based on the review.

Laughed at this from the review:

Once attached, however, the RAM mounted units were sturdy enough to withstand Class 5 hurricane-level wind speeds. (Don’t ask how this was determined.)

[Para045]

Yeah we have been thinking about getting a MC specific GPS for a while now, (either Garmin or TomTom) was leaning toward the 550 but looks like it's been replaced by the 660 Anything less than the prices we've seen them sold at would be good

[coetz]

Hey guys

Cheers guys for the rep!

Here is an overview of the Waterproof Motorcycle GPS my mate has imported and i got to test the sample.

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Price $250

Display 3.5 inch touch panel, TFT screen,65536 colors Resolution 320*240
Memory NAND Flash support 64MB to 8GB
Antenna Real built-in antenna (built-in GPS high sensitivity receiver42 channel)
BlueTooth Built in
FM Transmitter Built-in KT0806 FM Transmitter
Audio MP3/WMA9/WAV
Video WMV,ASF,MOV,MPG
Photo JPG、TIFF、PNG

SD / MMC TF slot, capacity up to 8GB (support TF HC)
USB USB 2.0 Device (Mini Port)
CPU SAMSUNG S3C2416 processor400MHz

Operating System Microsoft Windows® CE NET5.0 Core version
Navigation Software iGO, Route66, TOMTOM ,Ndrive…etc.

Buttons / Switches Hardware Power ON/OFF Switch and Reset Switch

Unit body 104 x 88.5 x 23.0 mm
Unit Packing: (L*W*H) 176x142x120mm
Export carton (L*W*H) 290X375X360
Unit Packing (G.W.) 1kg

Package Contents
3.5”Unit * 1pc Mini USB cable * 1pc , Stylus * 1pc , Device Holder * 1pc , Cradle: * 1pc , User Manual （hardware only）* 1pc , Gift box * 1pc, Spare Battery *1pc


Short Review
Out the box
Upon opening the box and pulling out the unit it had a decent weight to it feeling solid and robust.. The case is made out of a hard plastic with a rubber rim around the outside which forms the on/off button and also has an opening flap for the usb/external power. On the underside of the GPS are several gold little plates that connect the cradle for the 12v and external boosted antenna, there is also a metal screw down flap containing the lithium battery and Mini SD Card slot.

The cradle seemed to be made of the same plastic as the GPS, wasnt flimsy at all! The cradle contained the gold pins that connect to the GPS which flex in and out when pressed down so they didnt break off. The cradle gets crewed onto motorcycle holder by 4 screws provided. When the GPS is attached it clicks in and can also be screwed in the back with a few twists of an easy to use finger operated screw. There is also a stylus attached to the cradle at the back(not that you need it your glove works fine).

The holder itself is made of a die-cast aluminium and is extremely solid!! It has a round attachment that fits to a motorcycle handlebar(there is padding on the attachment that goes over the handle bar so the handle bar isnt damaged) with a ballpoint joint to manoeuvre the GPS cradle into the desired viewing angle.

Also included was the harness(for charging/boosted antenna), standard usb, manual, spare lithium battery.

Lithium Battery
In my personal opinion i have owned GPS's and found that the first thing to stuff up is ALWAYS the batteries' ability to hold a charge! The ability to change the battery in this unit was a deal breaker for me. Also the unit comes with a spare battery! BONUS!

GPS Power Up
Upon booting up the new GPS the first menu seen is the Multimedia, GPS & Settings menu. All of which are simplistic to navigate and quite self explanatory. The GPS function takes you to a screen from which you can select 3 GPS software options. iGo, TomTom and what seems to be another TomTom.. not 100% sure why this is the case that it contains 2 TomTom software programs but ill look into it a little further.

Both iGo and TomTom functioned as they should with no problems. I found the iGo software to be more simplistic and had an easier user interface then TomTom.

The GPS worked a treat with my gloves on and had no problems. I found i could even use it whilst riding given i wasnt in heavy traffic.

Attaching the GPS
After messing around with the GPS for a while i decided to fix the device to my sexy 2011 Daytona 675SE.
Connecting up the + and - to the battery was simple and running the wiring was no huge task, the connection between the cradle and the harness was a water tight connection which i was impressed with. Fixing the holder to the bike took two screws between the clamps to be tightened and it was all done! Took me no longer than 10min to set it all up ready to roll!

Bluetooth
Bluetooth was simplistic.. Selected setting > bluetooth > find.. it picked up my headset and with 1 single click was connected! The unit can play music and run the GPS at the same time for the people like me who want their cake and to eat it too.

On The Road
So I used the GPS for about 2 weeks to test it out and found no problems with it at all, functionality was awesome and the ease of use was great. I would say the only downside was direct sunlight made it slightly harder to see but that is the same with the majority of any screen in the light, the anti-glare did help alot though and i was still able to see what was going on but took a little bit of a longer look.

When the device is disconnected from the cradle the reception is not bad like a normal GPS but when it is linked with the cradle the reception is amazingly fast! Very fast!

Waterproof Test: One day riding back from work a few weeks ago during the week with all the thunderstorms i decided to ride right through the middle of one! I was thinking to myself "shit no not now!!" then remembered the GPS hadnt seen water yet! Well by the time i got home i weighed another 10kg from the amount of water my clothing had taken in! The GPS, cradle and holder were all drenched!! And funny enough the GPS was still running, so i ticked waterproof off the list..

Crash Test: For my final, yet accidental test, i decided to crash my bike.. yes that is correct, after a decent day out with the boys going to get our suspension set up with Marty i came off my bike at 80kms hr(cant disclose how for privacy reasons). The bike did a few decent flips and i sheered the top of my bike off from the head lights to the handle bars taking the GPS with it!.. When I came to on the side of the road i looked around watching the boys grabbing the bike and all the parts.. my mate runs straight over to me and his first words out his mouth were "DUDE DUDE!!.. THE GPS IS STILL WORKING!!!!".. I was stunned, the holder had been snapped in half and the cradle snapped in half too and the GPS several meters from the bike.. but still working 100%!
After calling my friend and apologising for trashing his sample GPS he reassured me that that was the purpose of a test sample! He was wrapped with the fact it survived the crash!

Conclusion
This was the first Motorcycle GPS i have ever used so i cant compare it to any other Motorcycle GPS but i can say for $250 i was blown away and when i get my next bike its the first thing im going to be placing back on it.

Cheers
Dave

[slug2]

As discussed before, at that price (or less with a group buy), I'd be happy to take a punt.

[Tevilspek]

Yup, same.

[IvanM]

....my mate runs straight over to me and his first words out his mouth were "DUDE DUDE!!.. THE GPS IS STILL WORKING!!!!"..

Dave, I'm pretty sure we all asked "Are you OK?" first, but maybe you didn't really remember at that time...
But I was surprised after a stack like that, the GPS was still working....

[Brougham]

Can it do offroad route tracking?

[thatguy]

I'd be in for this, sub $400 as well

[coetz]

Can it do offroad route tracking?

That would be something I didn't have a chance to test. I'll try look into that for u.

Also yes Ivan I'm ok lol, just needing a new leg, jks

[Batten]

This might be a dumb question but do many GPS's have route imput, so you could plan your route on your PC or GPS so you could go the twisty way?

[coetz]

This might be a dumb question but do many GPS's have route imput, so you could plan your route on your PC or GPS so you could go the twisty way?

It can be done but it's usually the more complex option because u would have to individually select each step of the way but once done u could just save it in ur favorites section.

Basically u would have to choose ur start and finish destination then any road in between would need to be programmed in as a "via point".

There could be software out there that enables u to just simply click the roads u want to go along and It creates ur journey but I could just be getting ahead of myself lol

[Bushman]

Yep, would definitely be interested....price dependant