Bike GPS suggestions

I want to replace my old Garmin Streetpilot 2610 - its been useful but
it started playing up before I went to Germany, has always been fiddly
to load maps & routes onto and the display is really a bit "old hat"
now.

Quite happy to buy 2nd hand but browsing on ebay for Tomtom Rider and
Garmin Zumo lists many devices in the £250+ range which seems on the
expensive side for 2nd hand stuff.

To help me in my quest (no pun intended) can I have your recommendations
for stuff you have used that you would buy again?

And if anyone's selling something then do let me know...

From a spec perspective, am not actually concerned about audio as I rely
on looking at the display from time to time.

 

Very happy with my Nuvi 1490T. No headphone socket or sound over
bluetooth, but like you, I don't remotely care about that. Get a
waterproof mount to go with it & you've got everything the Zumo or
Rider gives you for a hell of a lot less money.

 

Very happy with my Nuvi 1490T. No headphone socket or sound over
bluetooth, but like you, I don't remotely care about that. Get a
waterproof mount to go with it & you've got everything the Zumo or
Rider gives you for a hell of a lot less money.

 

What was the waterproof mount you got?

Dunno if this is representative of the model but was the first garmin
nuvi 1490t link i clicked on after googling:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=3802

How long have you had yours? Much use made of it?

 

You should be able to get a full European spec Garmin Zumo 500 for
about £250 and that'll be new rather than a factory reconditioned
unit. They're a bit of a pain in that you have to load European maps
off the CD onto an SD card but that's not such a big deal.

Satnav including ram mount cost me £259.99 from Pentagon GPS who sell
their kit on Ebay.

 

I've got a TomTom Rider 2. It's fine, and I'd happily buy another one.

 

"Jeremy" wrote in message

What was the waterproof mount you got?

Dunno if this is representative of the model but was the first garmin
nuvi 1490t link i clicked on after googling:

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.php?t=3802

How long have you had yours? Much use made of it?


hmm, we'd like to get something too
The Zumo 550 links to Rider/Pillion comms doesn't it?
If there is a cheaper option especially with sound to the headset, I'd be
interested

 

http://www.buybits.com/product/6521.aspx but with a RAM mount.

Not had any problems with mine. Had it about a year I suppose, & it was
fine on the trip round France for the EOFSM & several Sunday runs.

 

Saw this yesterday

URL:http://www.yorkshire-divers.com/for...tom-go-550-live-12mths-free-subscription.html

any good?

 

Garmin says the Nuvi 1490T _does_ have sound over Bluetooth, which is
something that interests me since I plan on getting some Sena SMH10
Bluetooth headsets for my 3 person riding party. Nice big display
which I like, just have to find a decent waterproof enclosure.

I also have a 2610 which has done good service but the display is
small and fiddly, besides being borked by the uppermost layer flaking
off suddenly, and it still works after a fashion but I want something
with newer maps.

I've just had a gander and instead of a adapting a non-waterproof unit
for bike use, I think I'll go with a Nuvi 550 which is waterproof and
only $225 brand new with preloaded City Navigator NT maps for all of
North America. Add a RAM mount cradle for under $10 and I'm good to go.

 

Not a bad price. Gotta make a decision whether to get a unit designed
for motorcycle use or a general purpose device a la Krusty's approach
with waterproof case.

 

I should've been more specific - it can't /transmit/ sound over
bluetooth. It can of course act as a loudspeaker for phone calls.
Which means...

....that won't work. Well not unless they've updated it since I bought
mine a year ago.

The big display is what sold me on it.

 

We've a Zumo 550, and would happily get another. If, as Andy suggests,
you can get a 500 much cheaper then do that - having some maps on an
SD card is straightforward and seamless in use.

 

I had a TomTom Rider before the Zumo and certain little things pissed
me off about it (1) and when it needed to be repaired I gave it up as
a bad job.

(1) You need to cover one of the pick ups on the cradle if you want to
be able to change destination without actually stopping and the cradle
doesn't have a rubber cover so when the satnav is off and it rains on
the bike you have to replace the cradle. Obviously you can remove the
cradle from the ram mount but it's a bike satnav and should be ok in a
bit of rain or snow.

 

....it's fucking useless to me WRT audio, then.

And even though I just figured out that I misread the specs on the
Nuvi 550, which does NOT have any external audio interface other
than the loudspeaker[1], I might still go with it because of the
waterproof-ness. In the years that I've had my 2610 I've never
bothered hooking up to the audio output while on the bike anyway,
and never really missed it that much.

[1] This made me laugh out loud- I would agree that beer is a necessary
tool for getting this job done.

http://f800riders.org/forum/showthr...t-Audio-Bluetooth-to-Garmin-Nuvi-500-Nuvi-550
or
http://bit.ly/fZStJX for the URL-wrapping challenged.

 

Insulating tape or nail varnish on the second pin from the left when
viewed from the back. Problem solved.

Bit of a worst-case scenario, that. Mine's been sat out in the shittiest
of weather and givne me no problems.

 

At least Garmin assume you can read the message telling you not to
dick about with it when on the move but TomTom feel the need to
actively stop you from doing that.

I left mine uncovered in the snow for 2 days before I went and checked
the bike and decided to do something about it but the bloody thing had
packed up before I even got home.

 

Don't spend money with Pentagon. They're a bunch of sharks.

They sold me a set of maps for a Garmin which they said could be loaded
onto a data card to 'upgrade' a Zumo 400 UK model to full European spec.
It couldn't. Pentagon refused to refund on the basis that they couldn't
sell the maps after I'd opened them.

Fortunately they were cheap (last year's maps in 2008).

 

I've got a Zumo 400 with inbuilt UK maps. Using a card from Garmin it
will do full European maps.

I'm very happy with it and would definitely go for another Garmin again.

I wouldn't use a waterproof case because the Zumo 400 etc. are designed
for use with gloves on.

 

Zumo 550 - easy to use , bit fiddly to update but that could just
me,
totally waterproof , bluetooth phone.
If it ever breaks i'll be hunting out another.
Expensive but worth it IMHO.

Steve