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Bye bye Garmin, Hello Google?

I suspect the best resources are always going to be the local guides that are, unfortunately, few and far between combined with digital mapping. My thoughts are, If I were in a local rural area, I would go out on the DR, since it can do highway speeds and go offroad reasonably well, and run some backpack gps software on my phone to record the trip. It's the only way to capture everything. I guess it's one of those things where you also carry a compass and a hard copy local map in case you get lost without a signal. I think the governmental land bureau would have the highest amount of detailed land maps. It makes me wonder if there is any way to access that and if that info is kept in a digital format now days. I have an uncle that does actual map making for a number of map services... Maybe I will reach out to him and find out if there is anything he may recommend for that type of resource.
 
Since Google broke their maps, I've been forced to find another way to plan rides so I can transfer the routes to my ancient Garmin to use on my bike. I settled on this place, which uses Google maps and has a good transfer app: https://www.motogoloco.com/map/
 
I have a Garmin, mostly to watch elevation and speed, the maps are OK, but you can't load the topo on a street unit or get a dual boot setup!

But I never had one of these break or run low on power.

44eb9887-e866-411f-8415-5a098b8bf6a1_zpsoolyv3m9.jpg

And my sextant always works in full sun...at noon.
 
I'm not sure we really want to know what goes on in the sex tent.... :giveup:
 
GaiaGPS is worth mentioning, I run it on my iphone and you can download maps for offline use. Worked great in Nicaragua a couple weeks ago.

I have also mounted an ipad mini in a lifeproof case on my handlebar, worked great! Never had overheating issues luckily.
 
Darn good post! Keep the good info coming.

THe Garmin I use in my car, the Nuvi LM, is so intuitive and user friendly, that I decided to get a mount and put it on my bike. Well one 10 day trip later, from all the vibrations, my connector has stopped making connections. So this led me to get a motorcycle specific Garmin, the Zumo 660LM, which comes with a giant locking holder and connector that doesn't vibrate. Unfortunately, I could not view the screen on bright days, and sometimes, the road lines would just disappear on me (software glitch). So, after a bit more research, I replaced it w/ this new Montana 610T. I tried using for the 1st time this past weekend on a d/s ride where I uploaded some tracks. W/o it being hardwired, I'm glad that I still see the screen under daylight(barely), but I'm struggling w/ having to zoom in/out so much due to the tiny screen. And I now find out I need to buy City Navigator map from Garmin and download it to my 610 if I want to see all the roads and trails in the USA. I didn't have to do that w/ the ZUMO, and so I'm wondering whether this 610T is even worth keeping or not. Someone w/ a Montana, please talk me out of getting rid of mine.
 
Dao, I've been using handlebar mounted Nuvis for several years. For my purposes they've worked great, but you're right - for some reason, the Garmin-supplied power cord always fails (in fact, one failed on the way back from last week's pie run). My solution? Since most Garmins use a standard USB plug, toss the fancy cord and use a simple USB cord. Yes, you'll lose traffic reports if your Nuvi has that capability, but how often do you really use that anyway? And it'll take a few seconds longer for the Nuvi to boot up when you first plug it in, but if you're headed for 3 hours of nonstop riding, what have you really lost?
 
I use to be a leader, now I just follow the leaders with all the know all, they still get lost and can't read the GPS, or Phone with all the knowledge they claim to have. It's actually pretty nice at the back of the pack, ride your own pace, stop when you want, take pictures, see the sites. I just setup my new bike with the all the Ram brackets for iPhone and Garman GPS, I hope I don't have to depend on them, but I look like I know what I'm doing. :rider:

trainman
 
There are so many good phone apps for GPS stuff now that I really wonder how much longer the dedicated gps will be around. Seems like there have always been reasonable excuses to stay with the gps - but not so much these days. I still use a Montana 600 and would likely starve out in the wilderness without it. But, I think the day has finally come when the 600 is less capable than our ubiquitous pocket computers that also happen to make phone calls. We started making these handle bar carriers for the phone. Comes with a USB power supply.

DSCN1604.jpg


You can see more pix of them here ONB-ADV.COM
 
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I got the Hondo Garage mount for my iPhone 6 Plus. SWConnect allows me to send tracking information to Spotwalla, Speedometer lets me load waypoints and track my route. InRoute, PocketEarth, maps.me are also good options. I haven't found the perfect combination yet for nav, but as others have said, we're getting close.
 
I don't have a dedicated GPS for my bike, that Hondo garage squeeze mount looks like it would work great. Maybe easy to swap with the bicycle if you used a ram mount. The only thing I would see as an improvement would be a cordless charging pad. My phone sucks the juice when using GPS.
 
That's the Holy Grail... wireless charging. It'll happen eventually but there are still several different approaches and none of them seem to be suitable. Best I've been able to do is using a 90 degree power cable that bends the wire back under the phone and out of the way. Keeps the phone's power plug from getting jostled too much as well.

That Hondo mount looks like a solid piece of equipment. I like what I'm seeing. I wonder how easy it is to add and remove the phone? (think lunch and gas stops) We've found the low mount can have issues on some bikes where other stuff is already there or the gas tank/instrument cluster doesn't allow enough room for swing. So many different sizes of phones these days... so many different handle bar arrangements.
 
Yesterday in Colorado I was running both the Montana & my iPhone 5S (in a rugged case on the bars), the ambient temperatures were in the mid-80s, iPhone shut down due to "overheating."

This is not the 1st time this has happened either.
 
The trick is to get a phone you don't have to put inside a case. Was your Montana in a case, or just the phone?

I like the Kyocera "hydro" series of phones. You can buy them without cell contracts for $100 or less, they are waterproof enough to leave uncovered even in rain, and I haven't managed to break one yet. I gave my Kyocera to my brother, and now I use a Motorola Moto E that used to belong to my wife (no cell service on it either). It isn't likely to be as robust, but I've used it several times now, and I'm not known for taking smooth roads.. The Kyocera has been in GPS service for 3 years now.



For me there are only 2 downsides

1 - even though it is waterproof, the touchscreen is problematic when wet. We've gotten around this with simple ziploc bags, but it's a pain if you have to stop or adjust something when raining. If you're moving, generally the screen won't get much rain on it.

2 - the charger connection isn't intended to deal with the vibrations, etc - this can also be a problem on some dedicated GPS units. I solve this by only plugging it in when stopped (or if the battery is about to die). My Kyocera Hydro Life will go more than half the day before I have to charge it. The Moto E will go longer. (I have the brightness at the lowest level I can use, set airplane mode to turn off all antennas and then manually turn on the GPS/Location services). If I make sure I plug it in at gas stops and lunch stops then I have no problems going all day.

I do carry a separate power bank that can charge it, and sometimes I'll have that charging in my tank bag - there's a lot less vibration in the tank bag than on the bars, and that way I can take it in a restaurant and charge my phone at the table instead of leaving it on the bike.

Plus in an emergency I can pull out my actual phone and use it as a GPS using the same mount I use for my GPS phone.



I try to make sure the phone I use for GPS is unlocked, or locked to the same carrier I use, and that way if I manage to break my actual phone, I can just pop my sim card into my GPS phone and still make calls.
 
I use copilot app for getting directions (I may have to use my regular phone to look up addresses and search internet for hotels, etc), and I use OSmand for following tracks. I haven't experimented with saving google maps for offline use.
 
My latest setup is an Android phone running CoPilot. 10 bucks for the North America map including lifetime updates. The screen brightness is the biggest drawback, but the turn by turn directions work great through my Sena bluetooth setup, so I can usually get by without needing to see the screen too often.

For trip planning I use Furkot - seems to be one of the best online road trip planners. It will export the trip in several different formats for use in whatever Nav system you use, including the aforementioned Android/CoPilot setup.
https://trips.furkot.com/

Some great Furkot discussion and resources:
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/furkot-the-online-trip-planning-tool.1028148/
http://globeriders.com/article_pages/article09_furkot/article09_furkot.shtml
 
I am using a iPhone for nav. My favorite app is copilot but I also have tried Rever, Scenic, and ESR that are moto specific plus a few others that I just don't care for. All of them have downloaded maps. As far as the overheating, I had to be stopped and in 90+ degree weather with the phone in a case. I try to make sure the phone has only the needed apps running since this will drain your battery and adds to the heat.
So I guess my current set up is a iPhone 6s +, Hondo garage mount, a short tether, and a life proof nuud case. I run 1 mapping app and sena.
I will upgrade at some point to a weather proof phone with wireless charging and rock on without the case.
 
As I've grown older, uh, wiser, it seems my eyes have grown weaker. I tried using gps's but looking at those small screens while moving always un-nerved me. So I mounted my 7" Samsung tablet in an OtterBox above my instrument cluster and am using Osmand+ for navigation. It allows gpx downloads which is a good thing as I do not have a degree in such things at this time. Yesterday was the first time I used it on an organized ride and it never missed a beat. I did of course, but it didn't.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
 
I've been using my cell phone/CoPilot setup for a while now, and I've made a few changes and improvements and changes along the way, so I decided to start a little review thread over in the User Review section. Please follow along as I modify and refine it, and hopefully save a few dollars along the way.

http://www.twtex.com/forums/showthread.php?t=115148
 
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