GPS Question
#21
03-27-2009, 05:55 AM
Garmin 276C here. You can see it on my bars in this collection of clips:
http://vimeo.com/2459281
As you can see, it takes a beating.
I don't go out of my way to baby it, and it has ridden on my bars for 3 years now, with hardly even a scratch. It's tough! Waterproof, dust-proof, etc. Has survived on my handlebars so it is pretty shock-proof, too. It's got a big, easy to read screen, and easy to use buttons even with gloves on. Even though it is big, it tucks away decently riding in the center of the bars, but I would not want it off-center - like on a RAM mount, I think it is a little too big for that. But in the center of the turning axis, it is fine, I don't even notice it. For the mount, I just use a strap of velcro to hold it in place on my Flexx bars, no fancy mount needed. I've got it hard-wired into the bike's battery so no worrying about the battery running dead. It does use a rechargeable battery, though, btw.
It does all the usual stuff, track logs, maps, voice prompting (with external speaker), etc. On Garmin's web site, it's actually billed as a marine chart plotter. But it's a great land nav gps too, has database of POI's, gas stations, freeway exits, restaurants, etc - it will find a screen full of the nearest ones and route you right to the one you pick. Can look up and route to street addresses, too. It serves double duty, most of the time it stays in my truck where I have the auto-kit which is basically a cigarette lighter adapter with a speaker built-in and a mount for dash to give you voice nav - great for long trips. But when I ride it goes on my handlebars and records track logs, and sometimes I use it to figure out where I'm at or to back-track a track log.
There are a lot of things I like about it, like the big screen, multiple levels of brightness control, lots of useful features, any Garmin maps can be loaded including Topographic, and it works well in the car too with voice prompting for guidance. And only one thing that I don't like and that is the memory card is Garmin proprietary, meaning you need to buy expensive Garmin memory instead of cheap sd-card. But a single 512 MB card will hold a ton of maps. The auto-kit comes with a 128 MB card, and that's good enough for most trips. I think the 512 MB card will hold about 1/2 of the US, if I'm remembering correctly. You use Garmin's software to download the area you want and this gives you street level maps - just select the area you want, from a city, to multiple states, and click the download button to transfer. I'm assuming all the others are the same in this regard. It uses USB connection to your PC for that. Garmin now supports Mac, too.
Maybe not the sexiest GPS out there, but it's durable, has all the high-dollar features, big screen easy to see, buttons easy to use with gloves on, and gets the job done. If it broke, I would consider replacing it with the same model. I'm happy with it.
http://vimeo.com/2459281
As you can see, it takes a beating.
I don't go out of my way to baby it, and it has ridden on my bars for 3 years now, with hardly even a scratch. It's tough! Waterproof, dust-proof, etc. Has survived on my handlebars so it is pretty shock-proof, too. It's got a big, easy to read screen, and easy to use buttons even with gloves on. Even though it is big, it tucks away decently riding in the center of the bars, but I would not want it off-center - like on a RAM mount, I think it is a little too big for that. But in the center of the turning axis, it is fine, I don't even notice it. For the mount, I just use a strap of velcro to hold it in place on my Flexx bars, no fancy mount needed. I've got it hard-wired into the bike's battery so no worrying about the battery running dead. It does use a rechargeable battery, though, btw.It does all the usual stuff, track logs, maps, voice prompting (with external speaker), etc. On Garmin's web site, it's actually billed as a marine chart plotter. But it's a great land nav gps too, has database of POI's, gas stations, freeway exits, restaurants, etc - it will find a screen full of the nearest ones and route you right to the one you pick. Can look up and route to street addresses, too. It serves double duty, most of the time it stays in my truck where I have the auto-kit which is basically a cigarette lighter adapter with a speaker built-in and a mount for dash to give you voice nav - great for long trips. But when I ride it goes on my handlebars and records track logs, and sometimes I use it to figure out where I'm at or to back-track a track log.
There are a lot of things I like about it, like the big screen, multiple levels of brightness control, lots of useful features, any Garmin maps can be loaded including Topographic, and it works well in the car too with voice prompting for guidance. And only one thing that I don't like and that is the memory card is Garmin proprietary, meaning you need to buy expensive Garmin memory instead of cheap sd-card. But a single 512 MB card will hold a ton of maps. The auto-kit comes with a 128 MB card, and that's good enough for most trips. I think the 512 MB card will hold about 1/2 of the US, if I'm remembering correctly. You use Garmin's software to download the area you want and this gives you street level maps - just select the area you want, from a city, to multiple states, and click the download button to transfer. I'm assuming all the others are the same in this regard. It uses USB connection to your PC for that. Garmin now supports Mac, too.
Maybe not the sexiest GPS out there, but it's durable, has all the high-dollar features, big screen easy to see, buttons easy to use with gloves on, and gets the job done. If it broke, I would consider replacing it with the same model. I'm happy with it.
Last edited by Nobrakes; 03-27-2009 at 05:59 AM.
#24
03-29-2009, 02:27 PM
Gps?
276C kicks ***.
Touratech mount
Got the Enduro engineering mount from Nobrakes.
I've have the 276C on 4 different thumpers and it never fails.
Thanks NB!!!!
Touratech mount
Got the Enduro engineering mount from Nobrakes.
I've have the 276C on 4 different thumpers and it never fails.
Thanks NB!!!!
#27
04-12-2009, 03:55 PM
I've got a Navigon 2100 max for my truck (which I love) but I just mounted my etrex vista on my bike. I used the Garmin bike mount which is pretty good but since the gps sits so low to the bars, it didn't leave a lot of options on where to mount it. If I tried to mount it between the clutch and my crossbar, the gps hits the crossbar before it can successfully connect to the mount. Since my crossbar is removable, I just took it off and mounted it just to the left of the handlebar mount.
How many people have handlebars with no crossbar? Is this ok? I'm sure the bars won't be as strong in a crash but is there any other drawback to removing the crossbar?
It actually look much cleaner. I kind of like it but I'm worried about the importance of the crossbar.
How many people have handlebars with no crossbar? Is this ok? I'm sure the bars won't be as strong in a crash but is there any other drawback to removing the crossbar?
It actually look much cleaner. I kind of like it but I'm worried about the importance of the crossbar.
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