IMHO ,, for our purpose ,, Garmin is a POS!
Maps cost arm and a leg.
Like you've said battery life sucks. My 755T ,, battery goes dead in 20 minutes.. have to keep charging with a cigar jack on the bike.
Their A/S non perform. anything goes wrong damn thing has to be shipped back to Taiwan.
80% of the time ,, it says "recalculating" while, enroute.
Openstreet maps not reliable,, I've found.
Internal USB port kaputs a lot,,after certain amount of shake on the bike,, pins get warped,, no charge , no data transfer.
MP3 keeps skipping during the best part of the music.
Their mapsource software sucks,,, never download their webupdate software for 700MB,, it is there to spy on your unit.

I am now using Galaxy S2 Android phone, which we all need,,, with Locus app(pro version for 5 bucks) ,, I have choice of some 8 maps including Vector, Google, Nokia et al... whole world map already installed and new update automatic and free. All the Geocache I want to download. Also for USD 10 a day, from my carrier SK Telecom, in Korea,, I have unlimited data 3G access in 90% of the countries I am traveling, including Russia on MTS.
https://market.android.com/details?i...id.locus&hl=en
You can load KML, GDB or GPX and routes,, from your phone or EM direct ,, so easy to use but complex,, you need to really study it. Try the free version first.

GRMN on Nasdaq ,, is a short ,, they are the new RIMM... RIP peace Garmin. For Android and Iphones will replace you.

I ride a '75 BMW, drive a '92 Saturn and am starting to appreciate older women more and more. Sometimes older stuff just has more to offer. In keeping with that theme, I'm really hooked on the older Garmin Nuvi series: 250, 255 etc. If you can find them, you can usually get them for less than $100 (sometimes way less) and they are quite robust. You just need to make a bit of an effort to keep them reasonably dry but other than that are very usable on a bike. The integral batteries seem to go about 2 hours. For bike use, I gutted a Garmin car adapter, stuck the guts in the headlight shell and run the wire to the handlebars.

You can find replacement batteries on Ebay for the older Nuvi series for not much and the batteries frequently come with special tools for opening the unit. At least the older ones have screws and can be opened. Some of the later Nuvi's units were sealed.

I've also discovered that the older Nuvi's have an undocumented feature whereby you can turn on track recording. They can easily store a week's worth of riding in a GPX file that can then be downloaded. I wish I had known about this feature earlier. Apparently it was a clear option in the menus of even older units, but the feature was "removed" in later firmware upgrades. Well the feature is still there, they just removed the easy access to it. But in this case, the older the firmware the better.

But my main reason not to get the latest and greatest is that OSM maps work great in the 255 that I have. I lurk on the MkGMap developers list (the software to convert OSM data to Garmin GPS use) and there is starting to be a hint of discussion about some difficulties with the new BaseCamp software and OSM. Given the quality and flexibility of the (free) OSM data and the price asked by Garmin for theirs, it wouldn't shock me if Garmin started making some moves to block OSM maps from being used on their units.

I've got two spare 255's in my closet, still in their boxes. Insurance.

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Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

value for money (VFM)

Definition:


A utility derived from every purchase or every sum of money spent. Value for money is based not only on the minimum purchase price (economy) but also on the maximum efficiency and effectiveness of the purchase.

It has to be a purpose built bike unit, that for me means Garmin. £50 gets you map updates for life.

Create your own routes, backtrack, logs everywhere you've been (when it's switched on).... and a host of other features too long to list here.

My understanding is that "Lifetime" maps are tied to the life of the unit... and not to your lifetime. Hopefully a significantly large difference.

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Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

I like your line of thinking gentlemen and there is some excellent food for thought herein - I am almost tempted to break my longtime rule of "one tool per job" and get a smart phone with GPS capability; I can see a lot of logic in what has been said about Garmin etc being superceded by such technology.

I can also see the logic in stocking up with technology that works for you, when that technology is not going to be around for ever/long.
This may be why Garmin has such a massive range of products - basically a marketing technique to encourage everyone to think that this is "must have technology"?
Seriously, there is a Garmin product for use on golf courses; jeeeez.

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Dave

Yes you're right it is for the life of the unit..... but.... when I sent my broken 550 to Garmin for repair, they sent me (for a fee) a brand new 660, and swapped over my numaps to the new unit... very good service I thought..

Dave - the "one-tool for everything" approach to which you are being drawn sounds great in theory (heck, it's even got a camera built in )... but the problem is that if something happens to it then you've got no phone, no GPS and depending what else you have, no browser, no SMS, no ..., no ...

Guess it depends a lot on where you travel and just how replaceable stuff is. I like the "one-and-a-half tools, one job" approach myself. Lose my phone? I can Skype on my EEE PC. Lose my computer? I can SMS on the phone, etc., etc. Oh well... hope you see my point. Given the longevity of electronic items in the field, a bit of redundancy is nice.

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Samuel Longiaru
Kamloops, BC Canada
1975 BMW R60/6
http://thetwilightproject.net

I can see a lot of logic in this now that I have read into this subject a bit more.
The first few posts in here:-
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...d-europe-62789
contain information about freely available routes for iPhones and Androids = very interesting indeed.
There is another thread somewhere in here that points toward Welcome To Osmand

Yep, for electronic items it all makes sense. Cheap basic mobile phones are also available so it would be feasible to carry a smart phone as a "do all" capability and a cheapie as a back up - that would also provide flexible use of SIM cards.

I am still looking and the range of Garmin products still staggers me.

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Dave

Just been re-reading this thread and you have obviously been upset by Garmin.
What also comes across is that that you might be a bit crap at managing your PC. The Program Files/Garmin directory on mine is only 122mb and that includes Basecamp, POI Loader, USB drivers and Web updater. My Program Data/Garmin dir is only 192k !

I install my maps to a separate drive. Only shortcut placeholders exist on the C drive.

Using a USB socket on a motorcycle is just asking for trouble. The 755T is a car unit, not designed for motorcycles, much less a Harley
Will you PDA fair any better?

Its probably not VFM in many peoples eye's, (it is in mine), but the Montana series is great. I use it on the dirt bike, the road bike, the car and have even been walking with it. Battery life is excellent and has AA capability as backup. Not cheap though.

Fills all the need of a GPS that I have. Maybe you really need a Sat Nav

Cheers,
John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster