I have an old garmin 12 mounted on my klr with a RAM mount. the mount isolates most vibrations, and makes it easy to position the unit for easy viewing. they make mounts for the nicer map units that i am druling over also.

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Ian aka "Maniac"

93' KLR650


[This message has been edited by Maniac28 (edited 14 February 2002).]

hi,
thanks a lot for your answers
i think i'll go for a basic cheap etrex : 50 points maximum recordable
the most important is to find the gps points somewhere on internet or whatever

does anyone has a good website to recommend to find the points on the globe ?

thanks, safe travels

I have been looking around on the net for coordinates and they are not easy to find. Actually haven't found a good searchable database.
There is a CD-rom ecyclopedia on wich you can find all the coordinates of almost all the cities / villages of the world. If I could just think of the name of the damn thing... Nobody else who has an idea?

Asked for "GPS waypoints database", Google returns on top of a very long list:
http://www.waypoint.org/
http://www.swopnet.com/waypoints/


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Pierre
http://www.geocities.com/skypie999/bikes/

Hai.

Check out WWW.CALLE.COM/WORLD

There isn't much you can't find.

Maarten

Whoops - the correct address is WWW.CALLE.COM/world/

Anything after the first slash ( / ) is CaSe-SensiTiVe!

Whow, impressive link. Thanks!

Anything after the first slash ( / ) is CaSe-SensiTiVe!


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/redface.gif

hi,
calle.com/world/ perfect, amazing !
so, just have to enter the spots or waypoints then the gps can tell you the direction to go
thanks a lot

shouldn't get lost even with a basic gps, like the etrex
for example, 6 or 7 000 kms in russia can be disorientating :-)

safe travels,

Has anyone tried the Garmin Emap? It is cheaper then the Garmin III+ and the V. Has a screen that is just a bit bigger and 16MB of memory.
I am trying to make a choice inbetween the Garmin III+, the Garmin V and the Emap.
III+ will do the job when travelling in Marocco, but won't be of much use in Belgium.
The V will also do the job in Marocco, but will also be very helpfull in Belgium when I am riding as a express courier. (streetlevel guidance)
The Emap is (as far as I know) mostly like the III+, but cheaper. The money I save I can use on other stuff later.

Can anyone help me out with some convincing remarks?

Fireboomer:

The choice between the GPS V and the StreetPilot III should be influenced a bit by the quality of your vision. If you are approaching 40 years, or have anything less than perfect near and distant vision (corrected or uncorrected), then you should get the StreetPilot III.

The StreetPilot III has a much bigger screen than the GPS V, and that makes a HUGE difference when you are threading through urban traffic, when all the car drivers are trying to kill you, and you only have half a second to look at the GPS display.

If you are planning to use the unit for everyday professional work (as a courier), I highly recommend you get the StreetPilot III.

Although both the GPS V and the StreetPilot III support autorouting, and show the same streets (same visual map data), the amount of data contained about each street - turn restrictions, number of lanes, time of day restrictions, etc. - is greater and more sophisticated on the "City Navigator" CD that comes with the SP III than on the "City Select" CD that comes with the GPS V. For a tourist or recreational driver, this might not make a difference. For someone who rides for a living, where time=money, it would make a difference.

Michael

[This message has been edited by PanEuropean (edited 27 February 2002).]

Thanks for the info Michael. I am not considering the Streetpilot. The courier riding is a 'side job' I do in my freetime. Time is money, but time on a motorbike is also fun, so I don't race around afraid to make less money. And the investment is just too high.
The Garmin V is half the price and would be a good help from time to time I think. Especially or the Iong routes. For in city navigation I will still have a streetlevel map in my tankbag and use both.

Other question: who can tell if I can use a Macitosh in combination with my Garmin? Some say it works, other say it doesn't. I would need a USB link.
And is it worth to buy the cable and the software?

More information about connecting a Mac to a GPS can be found at http://www.macgpspro.com/

I'll buy their software very soon. The feature list seems quite complete but I haven't tried it yet and I don't know how good is the UI. It lets you import maps from anywhere (any JPG will do).

They have cables too but they seem bulkier than those on http://www.allusb.com/products/P11471.html

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Pierre
http://www.geocities.com/skypie999/bikes/

Some independent software vendors have produced programs to enable Macs to be used with the Garmin products. How effective these are, I don't know. Garmin themselves don't support Macs at all - strictly the Wintel platforms.

hi
i read all these people's comments on the topic of gps. i bought one for my trip because a friend (not an overlander) insisted i should not leave home without one. i never used it.

if you are planning to drive into the middle of the sahara or similar (i.e cross an area without landmarks) a gps would be useful. if you plan to drive on 'roads', buy a map, a compass (there is nothing worse than driving 180 degrees the wrong way :-) ) and ask directions. half the fun of overlanding is meeting the locals.

the more gadgets you have, the more likely they are to break, get stolen or distract you.

if you're crossing an ocean, flying a plane or planning to drop a smart bomb on somebody, a gps is good. otherwise, don't bother. think of how many gallons of fuel/pints of beer you could buy with the money you did not spend on a gps.
later
cb