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GPS

Cheapest solution is the one you already own: your phone.
 
Yeah, more and more folks seem to be moving to using their phones for GPSs on their bikes. I don't know if there are any issues with respect to the phones being weather proof though. There are numerous apps now related to navigation beyond just the standard Google Maps that comes on many phones.
 
Aspr neatly packages his phone in a zip lock on the cradle . I have done the same but with a more crude attempt
 
You can pickup a good prepaid phone for less than $100. No service required. Bluetooth network to download any number of GPS apps very cheap. I use CoPilot and Osmand. I use CoPilot for routes and Osmand for tracks. Screens are not great in sunlight but readable. Can Bluetooth both apps to in helmet or earbud receivers for turn by turn directions. Lot of times I just turn mine on, plug in battery pack turn screen off put it in my jacket and get turn by turn until I need to look at the route. Then I put it in the holder and continue on. You can also load minutes on it if you want to for a backup. If you have an ATT network phone you can get a phone that works with Verizon network. Lots of inexpensive choices.
 
You can pickup a good prepaid phone for less than $100. No service required. Bluetooth network to download any number of GPS apps very cheap. I use CoPilot and Osmand. I use CoPilot for routes and Osmand for tracks. Screens are not great in sunlight but readable. Can Bluetooth both apps to in helmet or earbud receivers for turn by turn directions. Lot of times I just turn mine on, plug in battery pack turn screen off put it in my jacket and get turn by turn until I need to look at the route. Then I put it in the holder and continue on. You can also load minutes on it if you want to for a backup. If you have an ATT network phone you can get a phone that works with Verizon network. Lots of inexpensive choices.
Or even a cheap small tablet. Sometimes however, the cheap ones don't have a gps receiver so you have to watch. Does that 7" Amazon tablet have a gps receiver now, it didn't used to. Like 30 bucks if you can Make it work
 
I'm learning right now, GPS is a two part question. The GPS device, and software to manage your maps and routes. Perhaps even a third app to tweek routes created by others.

Garmin is very common and widely used in this group. Many inmates around to help with questions. Garmin, isn't very... friendly if you use only part of their world-domination-plans, you will find obstacles to overcome.

OsmAnd, an app you can download to your phone for free (there are others), it too has a large following here. Should you have question, there are those who can help. With OsmAnd, you will shortly find BaseCamp (also free) is a must have. As well as other software pieces to fill in gaps in BaseCamp.

OsmAnd, BaseCamp, these are just two applications. There are many others out there.

I would recommend taking time and become familiar with your own map/route/waypoint needs. What it is you want to do? Simply use routes already created by others? Very common, widely excepted, and is likely to be the least costly. A smart phone with a free GPS app installed will get you cruising the twists and slinging mud on those back country roads. Try it out... Get the app... Find some maps... Import them into your phone... And go ride.

If you find your eyes are set on creating and sharing your own highway-to-**** maps? Cheap and GPS used together in the same sentence isn't likely going to be an easy row to hoe.

But, hey! I'm a noob with this GPS mapping thing too.
 
I use the paid CoPilot USA and OsmAnd+. The free versions do not have voice turn by turn directions and are a little more difficult to work. That being said I did use the free versions for a few years and got along just fine. Usually following one of my boys. The paid versions I think are about $10 each with free map updates. If your doing strictly paved ride Co Pilot does great but is basically worthless in the dirt. If your gonna ride the BDRs OsmAnd is the way to go. It also does paved roads pretty well. My everyday phone is an old cdma flip phone that works on Verizon networks. I got my GPS phone from the same company and got the CDMA. I decided to activate it just to have a backup to the old flip phone. In hindsight I probably would have got the same phone from the same company on GSM network to be compatible with ATT and eliminate coverage problems.
 
I use cheap reconditioned Garmin GPSesseses, I have never paid over 100 bucks for one. I have a RAM mount, and plug into the cigarette lighter. They aren't waterproof, so I use a zip lock bag and twist tie when it rains. The touch screen works through the baggie. They do break, sometimes, I am on my third one in 13 years and 95,000 miles on my Harley.
 
I use cheap reconditioned Garmin GPSesseses, I have never paid over 100 bucks for one. I have a RAM mount, and plug into the cigarette lighter. They aren't waterproof, so I use a zip lock bag and twist tie when it rains. The touch screen works through the baggie. They do break, sometimes, I am on my third one in 13 years and 95,000 miles on my Harley.
This work with BaseCamp?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Ditto Garmin. I've used a succession of Garmin Nuvis. You can buy brand new older models on EBay for not a whole lot of money, and they work great on a motorcycle with a cheap handlebar mount. As mentioned above about a phone, you can waterproof a Nuvi with a baggie - works great. Lots of people are content to rely on their phones for GPS. There are issues when you're out of phone range, and I prefer not to take the risk - last year I rode across NM and Arizona watching pop-up messages on my phone map that it was "out of range", while the Garmin hummed merrily along. Besides, a Garmin touch screen will respond to a thick, heavy glove. Samsung phone, not so much. Other people have their GPS solutions; that's mine.
 
pss, your gps has to do tracks...


you can't draw routes from satellite images
 
Phones work with satellites the same way Garmin does. No need for cellphone towers or connectivity. If you are using them for live traffic, then yes they need connectivity. The GPS apps like Co Pilot or Osmand work independent of connectivity, just like a dedicated GPS.
 
I'm reminded of the guy in the Houston BMW club who used to plot his route using a map on the kitchen table, write the turns onto a length of adding machine paper and then display it on the bike with a roll chart. He used to teach clinics in Garmin Basecamp and GPS, but this was his personal solution.
 
I'm reminded of the guy in the Houston BMW club who used to plot his route using a map on the kitchen table, write the turns onto a length of adding machine paper and then display it on the bike with a roll chart. He used to teach clinics in Garmin Basecamp and GPS, but this was his personal solution.

Yeah, I've done that too - and it's surprisingly liberating. I did a 5 day ride from Austin, to Denver, then up Pikes Peak, then back thru some circuitous dirt roads, all with just turn-by-turn directions on quarter-sheets of paper visible on top of my tank bag. Like this:

P5187663.jpg



The interesting thing is that with the mileage count shown like that, I looked down a lot less often and felt I had a much better sense of where I actually was. Not just a place on a blue line on a screen, but on 40 West for 30 miles (or whatever). At the time, I found a way to copy/paste the turn-by-turn from Google Maps directions to make those lists. I really liked it, but it's a trouble to do. I did have to stop and verify turns on my phone from time to time - roads aren't always labelled the same way Google shows them...
 
Yeah, I've done that too - and it's surprisingly liberating. I did a 5 day ride from Austin, to Denver, then up Pikes Peak, then back thru some circuitous dirt roads, all with just turn-by-turn directions on quarter-sheets of paper visible on top of my tank bag.


That's a lot like my Redneck GPS, except for the mileage. I use the Garmin as a moving map, and have the turns on the windshield.
227637
 
Yeah, I've done that too - and it's surprisingly liberating. I did a 5 day ride from Austin, to Denver, then up Pikes Peak, then back thru some circuitous dirt roads, all with just turn-by-turn directions on quarter-sheets of paper visible on top of my tank bag. Like this:

View attachment 227636


The interesting thing is that with the mileage count shown like that, I looked down a lot less often and felt I had a much better sense of where I actually was. Not just a place on a blue line on a screen, but on 40 West for 30 miles (or whatever). At the time, I found a way to copy/paste the turn-by-turn from Google Maps directions to make those lists. I really liked it, but it's a trouble to do. I did have to stop and verify turns on my phone from time to time - roads aren't always labelled the same way Google shows them...
I can see that, you know where you are. Not just a blue line.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Maybe I just haven't messed with it enough to figure out how to do it, but can you load your own routes into the cell phone GPS? Anytime I've used mine, admittedly in the car, I've just entered the destination and let it calculate the route. Never has it selected a route I would choose if I was on the bike.
 
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