Hello all - I am planning a RTW on my soon to be delivered R1200GSA and my thoughts have turned to GPS. The BMW NAV3 and Tailor made bracket is an obvious choice but can you swap the Australian mapset for North America, Europre etc. When I last enquired with Garmin they said I had to buy a new headset for each locality change. This is a very expensive proposition. I have looked at TOMTOM Rider 2 and they have SD cards with eash area map so it is a matter of plugging in the new card and off we go. Coupled with a much lower unit price. I have mostly been loyal to the BMW marque but there are limits. Does anyone know if the NAV3 can be uploaded with maps etc fro different regions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.. Regards Lloyd (Australia) HU rocks!:confused1:

Consider the Garmin 276C
a marine unit but which also does automotive and a brilliant screen 8cm x 6.3 cm.
Only 'downside' in max storage on Garmin's own and outrageously expensive memory chips is 512MB

Use with with a bespoke Touratech crossbar mount as rubber insulated against vibrations.
Far superior than that '3' from beemers IMHO
276C a real Sat Nav
and if you are on a RTW you'll want mapping.
I suggest you look at Bob's WANDERLUST WORLD MAPS at Smellybiker
You'll be glad you did!

My choice will be surprising for you:
I bought in Bangkok an Asus 535 which you can find anywhere in the civilized world. It is an all in one device at about 600Euro = phone, windows mobile 5, gps of course, multimedia, you can even make pictures. In bangkok i found free wifi spots and i connected with this tiny toy to skype, voice communication back to Europe at zero costs ha ha.
My idea is that i use the gps only rerely, i prefer the old fashion way - maps, orientation even talking with people. If you keep your eyes on the screen you will not see the reality, anyhow you can not rely only on gps.
You can put this 160toy in the tankbag and you can take power from your Bmw power socket. You can have several spare batteries and at 600euro you can change the device if it brokes.
Anywhere you go you will find local GPS software and local maps, most appropriate and up to date. With Windows Mobile you can install any GPS software just buy SD cards. And .. if you adapt to real life, than you will "buy" cracked gps software practically at zero costs.
How does it sounds?

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ID for Skype, Gmail & Yahoo = aleximreh
+40-734-962.214.; +40-743-177.191

Thanks for that - I will check it out.

Coming through Romania next year - might look you up. Are you part of the HU world community.

Thanks again

Yes I am HU member as i am writing here in this forum.
The idea with GPS is to buy not an expensive device but a general device, which 1) is less expensive, 2) which has the GPS electronics in such a small device are as good as you need than and 3) which will help you in many ways as yo do not have to take with you so many cables, batteries for several device, you take just for the all-in-one toy. PDAlist | PDAdb.net
Asus 535, may be small to you, just 2.5" (160g) but you can carry it anywhere, i am using it in car, on bike or when i walk, for me is the best choice. And it's working well as a gps as a phone or as a multimedia player, you can do almost anything on that, you can search the net if you have a connection.
See on yahoo my ID = aleximreh and some pictures if you want: Yahoo! Photos - aleximreh's Photos

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ID for Skype, Gmail & Yahoo = aleximreh
+40-734-962.214.; +40-743-177.191

I admire Alex's enthusiam but sadly it is misleading and unwise IMHO

Quote" Anywhere you go you will find local GPS software and local maps, most appropriate and up to date " is sheer nonsense- In any case you will still need an interface between the PC (using software like MapSource etc to upload maps/POI's etc) and the GPS unit using a USB lead.

Also:
PDA's are
*very fragile - means you have to carry them in somewhere padded and 'OFF' - not very handy for navigation!
*Batteries don't last long
*They operate using windows software which is unreliable and often needs to be 'reset' ( I know I have one and software can be lost)
*Cracked software, by its very nature, is unwise to use...
*Not IPX7 certified

A proper GPS from made by Garmin / Magellan etc can be relied on if:
a) you know how to use one properly
b) it can acquire the satellite signals
(there are occasionaly 'blank spots' but these are temporary as you pass by them and your unit will re-acquire the signals)

I have used GPS in the air as a pilot, on foot orienteering, on boats at sea and on the bike in Africa amongst many other countries some without mapping (and yes, even on a camel just for fun!!)

GPS should always be used in conjunction with map and compass.

You can by GPS's second hand but most maps require an unlock code/fee.
I hope this helps.
Travel safe

OK let's take things one by one, I knew that many people think like Bert333, I thought over those arguments before making my choices.
1) Software. Let's take my country: in Romania you can buy IGO which is covering both W&E Europe. All W Europe well, E Europe not so well, but maps are improving each year. You can buy this with about 300E - original, or with 20E - cracked. This is reality and with some help or with some internet reasearch you can buy at 20E. I am not advicing this, it is up to each person to choose or to do what he can. But one thing is sure, original or cracked are doing exactly the same thing, I already tried that, and .. I used to be a computer engineer.
Same in every E Europe country, you can find locally different maps covering the area. In Turkey IGO is best for Istanbul but Navturk is better for the rest of the country.
I hate Microsoft software for the usual glitches but I already used Windows Mobile 5, it is quite stable if you do not add too many additional software. I basically added Opera, Agile, 2 software for multimedia and I deleted some software which was not well produced, causing some troubles.
All in all with WinMobile you can add several GPS systems, using them one after the other i.e. TomTom for W Europe, IGO for E Europe, Navturk for Turkey and so on. You just switch the SD cards ... And when you want to read something, when you want to see a movie on plane/train, when you want to listen to music you just keep switching the SD cards, a 2GB card is nota few dozen Euro.
I can tell you that in Thailand it was exactly the same situation, I still have the Thai GPS system on a card, whenever i want to look at Thailand maps I just put that card in the Asus and there is still a lot of place on that card for music or pictures. The only difference is that you can go in Bangkok in big malls, with hundreds of little computer shops in such a mall, where you can find any software you want, cracked, sometimes not working but dirt cheap. So cracked software is sold there openly and in mass quantites.
In all poor countries where we have the best routes, I am sure that things are going one like this, take Russia as another example.
In certain remote countries no matter what GPS system you have, you will have NO maps so you use GPS without maps, limited use.
When I forst saw people from W Europe using GPS systems in enduro trips in Romania i was puzzled, it seemd stupid for me that they kept their eyes on that screen instead of looking to the nature. Practically i never used the GPS in enduro, I just kept a small GPS enduro in a pocket as a backup solution for situations when it is already dard, I am lost, low on gas, ...
Also in most of Europe I do not need a GPS, I need it only in big cities or maybe in Bulgaria where I can not understand the letters. Basically the GPS should be just a thing to get you out of certain rare situations, it is WRONG to loose the fun, WRONG to make no orientation efforts. The maps, the geaography of places, should be the main preocupation, you should know where you are and you should see well the places where you are going, that's the point. Other wise with total GPS help is just like travelling through a country on the highway, you just loose time and gas for nothing. That is my opinion, but of course before anything else people are different and free to make their choices.
2) Fragile/bike fitting. Again normally with a map, which you read carefully before, with a short list of cities/roads to go, we should be able to navigate, orientation is fun, is part of the trip, it is the purpose of the trip to understand the road, the sorroundings. The moments when we need a gps a rare in my opinion for many countries, under no circumstance we should not look on that screen most of the time. A professional GPS is of course rugged and useful, often is the only serios solution. But it is not very practical to take it off each time you stop to enter somewhere, you can not leave it on bike. Even the most rugged system can suffer on long bad roads.
In my opiniomn, for a car there I see absolutely no reason to buy a “proffesional” GPS when a one in all device can do the same job at a much lower cost offering also other utilities. I need a mp3 player anyhow, I need a phone anyhow, so instead of carrying , several devices, with computer cables, with batteries, with chargers I can carry just one set doing everything. Not to mention that this device can offer Skype communication or net info on the road. I packed many times all those cables, too many and for a bike too heavy.
I think that keeping a device like this in the tank bag /map place it’s not so bad and from BMW bikes you can take power out to feed the device from the standard outlet. In most of the countries that I can “imagine” for my trips I am sure that I will need the gps only inside big cities and rarely on road. There is no rush, after long hours in the saddle a short stop to consult the gps (even out of the pocket) is not so bad. In some countries like “Africa” you may have no map at all anyhow.
3) The bottom line is this: see the statistics, the sales trends, it is more and more obvious that ALL IN ONE devices ARE THE FUTURE, substituting phones, mp3 players, palm computers, photo cameras. All these markets are going into one single market, I know this very well as my business was for many years the distribution of photo cameras. It is at the beginning but everybody will have these all in one devices in the near future, this is the TREND. See also the iPhone, which unfortunately will not have a gps in the forseeable future. So right now it may be not the best gps solution but in this is THE near future.

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ID for Skype, Gmail & Yahoo = aleximreh
+40-734-962.214.; +40-743-177.191

I did not think my questions would cause so much of a feud! It is clear that our friend aleximreh is very passionate about this. But I doing RTW to see the world not take an electronics degree. I am more than happy with one specialist device to do a specialist function. It would seem that one device does all comprises everything it does. Or perhaps it can change diapers and wash the clothes as well? My limited experience with these multi purpose devices is that they does most things OK but nothing well.

Hi Pete,

I have jsut aquired a Axim X5 so that excites me. I don't suppose you can (pm me if you like) tell me the set up you use? Mine came with Tom Tom on it ........ and thats it really. I'm hoping to use mine in a 4x4 so I have lots of room etc to play with.
Thanks

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

It is not a feud, it is not "so much passion". It was just an answer to "misleading" accusations. Same I just have to repeat myself:
1) You do not need any electronics degree, I suppose that you are computer literate as you can write here. A device like Asus 5353 is just a simple computer/operating system with a few basic applications. You can add more gps software or more applications but the use of that is just as simple or sofisticated as YOU WANT, it is up to you.
2) The device does everything well, except changing diapers, that is a thing that you will have to do yourself.
3) You will need at least a phone for communication. You will be happy to have at least a radio or an MP3 player in the long hours of solitude among strangers, camping, in the evenings, or to feel the local spirit, which you can do best through music. I suppose that you will need something to deposit information: contacts, electronic maps, albums of pictures, notes, vocal notes, whatever. You will need at least a photo camera, such a device could be a good backup photo camera. So in the end instead of "one specialist device" you might end up with several devices, at least 2-3, carrying for each spare batteries, cables, all that shit. I have seen many luggage list for RTW, usually they have just 2-3 shirts, each gram is counted. Half a kg of batteries and cables is something you will have to caryy, pack/unpack, each day for many days.

__________________
ID for Skype, Gmail & Yahoo = aleximreh
+40-734-962.214.; +40-743-177.191

I like Alex's approach and I find it attractive. But, if you are using it as a camera and phone you are probably going to take it with you everywhere you go. Loose that and you loose everything! Obviously you can keep backups of software and digital media, but ........ ouch!

I have a 4x4 so have loads more room, but I will somehow have a backup of every piece of kit, and hence that is why this solution is attractive, to help me have a back up of everything. Although I have done it with a cheaper Axim X5 - £100 on ebay. Nice .......

In answer to Pete, I did look at a tough book (there isa massive thread on this elsewhere) but in the end gota semi rugged new Toshiba from ebay for £600. I would have liked a tough book, but man are they expensive ....

I'm getting there now, but as I have a Landie I have tonnes more room, and so many more solutions are available. Although this doesn't make them better, and sometimes I wish I was confined by space to make me keep it simple

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Ollie

www.jollyfollies.com

Land's End to Sydney 2009

[QUOTE=CornishDeity;135232]I like Alex's approach and I find it attractive. But, if you are using it as a camera and phone you are probably going to take it with you everywhere you go. Loose that and you loose everything! Obviously you can keep backups of software and digital media, but ........ ouch!

No risk of using everything for me as I carry :
1) 2 phones : 1 main with home phone card + the Asus 535 as backup phone with local card, from the country that I visit (or a home backup card)
2) 2 cameras : 1 main camera + the Asus as backup camera
3) 1 GPS is enough as anyhow I can go without it also, with maps; GPS used only in certain situations i.e. big cities
4) lots of cards, each 2Gb, with as many backups, music, maps, books, films as I want.

__________________
ID for Skype, Gmail & Yahoo = aleximreh
+40-734-962.214.; +40-743-177.191