Which Gps??
 

anyone have agood advice on which GPS i shoud get?. i do lots of on-road riding and a bit of off-road. probabaly going to get more off-road this year plus i'll probably be using it in Canada as well as taking it to Australia whne i go.

there is alot to choose from and i dont know where to start. i want one fairly advanced with detailed maps and directions. C400$ range possible??

thanks alot.

I use a Garmin 60 CSX, very rugged and reliable, i know a couple of commercial trail riding companys who use either them or just the 60CX.

I use mine more for off road but as it also has a 2 gig SD card onto which I have European City Navigator v9 loaded so it can work like more road orientated GPS and satnav products like say a Garmin Zumo (which i don't think would be much good for off road use). Gives you directions, petrol stations, hotels, banks, retaurants info etc. i presume you'll be ableto get the same type info for the areas you want.

I won't bother with the more basic models with just a black and white screen as it makes it much harder to understand. Personally i also don't like the etrex series as the main toggle switch always seems to play up after a while.

a vote for the 276C
 

I've been very happy with my Garmin 276C. I often use it off the bike on battery power, and the screen size works well for my old eyes. I use a Touratech "off road" mount (locking).

The biggest downside is that is uses Garmin-only data cards, which are VERY expensive compared to common flash cards. The POI database is very good for the US & Canada, I invested in the Smellybiker maps for my upcoming Ushuaia to Deadhorse trip...

Eric

Moto Americas

Hi there,

i use a garmin 60Cx (bought, tried and sold 278C), an this is why:
+it uses 2x AA penlite batteries, which you can get anywhere. so you don't have to depend on bike power or power converter/batterij loader.
+power consumption is low
+it solid, fairly compact /light / waterproof etc.
+it has standard micro SD memory, cheap, widely available
+excellent gps signal sensitivity (SIRF3)
+cheap 2nd hand
+can be used as USB mass storage device
+ideal for on-bike and off-bike GPS usage (hiking, city trips etc.)

nearly forgot:

+you can use custom maps like smelly bikers. can't do that on a 276 or 278 without expensive Garmin memory cards..

but:
-a bit slow processor
-small screen
-light intensity of display
-doesn't load batteries when 12V powered on bike
-bit quirky route calculation, especially when using routes made om Streetpilot or 27x series.

negative point are no problem when traveling, but might be a problem with off/allroad rallies and other fast driving conditions.

cheers,
Sander

wicked, thaks for the help, definately what i needed to know. wish i would have had a GPS whne i went to mexico, would have made life alot simpler.

where is the best place on line to purchase one? i'm going to look on ebay tonight now that i know which model to keep my eye on.
how much shoud i expect to pay? i'll check out the garmin 60cx.

and this is kind of a dumb question, but where is ushuaia? i here it mentioned alot son here and have never heard of it.

Garmin GPS, Magellan GPS, TomTom GPS, Mio GPS, Nokia GPS Central Canada GPS Sales

Garmin - On the Road - Signal Systems

I haven't used either company , but they both have a good selection at keen prices .

As for Ushuaia , yes that is indeed a mystery .

Ushuaia...
 

is in Argentina. It's the southernmost city in the world (that you can ride to).

my route is shown here;

Moto Americas

Bit OT but now that I'm here I might as well ask you. On your blog, how do you get you photo's to fit the very narrow post width?
Mine are automatically cropped, and I would love to find out if you can widen your post body width, but don't thing you can. So I gues there is a limited pixel width for pictures.

I wish I had some super-techy answer, but on my blog template I just select the size (sm, md, lg) and the image is sized for me. Then I select location, left, right...center will wrap text...

I hope that helps (but probably not...)

Eric

Moto Americas

Righto. I'm going to be mobile blogging which doesn't give you that option. I'll have to keep looking. The help menu is pretty bad on blogger. Cheers though

which gps
 

Hi Ray

just a few thoughts on the gps issue, i used a garmin gps 5 through africa and off road in Australia , its a very dated now by todays standards, but back then it was a fairly good deal with auto routing and takes aa batterys.
Pros are-
Tough unit
takes aa batterys
auto routing
runs on bike power
bread crum trail (very important in my view)
price

some of the cons were ,
small b/w screen
shook the batterys to bits if left in the gps while in the TT bracket
entering data was slow
no expandable memory

But all up a reliable and robust unit i still have.

Also have a Garmin Rino which has a uhf radio built in which could be helpfull in the outback in a safety point of view. As it came with the bike i am considering selling it and getting something for canada , but am still very lost , the garmin zumo looks great on road but just a block with a shiny screen off road.
Cheers MotoGaz

Gaz, wouldn't that depend on what maps are loaded? Can't you follow Shonky trails or download other traveller's breadcrumbs?

Garry from Oz.

bread crumbs
 

Hi Gaz
I would reckon one could load other garmin maps on a zumo but still do not know if the zumo has a bread crumb trail- anyone out there know.
will start a new thread in gps about this,
cheers

Hi Ray,

I bought my Garmin 60Cx from Dubai from the official Garmin distributor there (just go to Garmin site) if you can arrange to get it from there it would be a lot cheaper at 300 Euro the package included:


1- Unit plus the usual
2- Car stand
3- Lighter connection

All this for 300 Euros while in europe it would cost 600 Euros one year ago.

Happy Travels,

Che

Garmin 60cx, very gd had a Quest, thisis better, screen clearer and nice colour display, ability to work with mapsource easy.Uses 2 AA batt's, which last ages, Recommend! bought from ebay.com (usa) in live in UK.