Topic: Gps- how good is yours

[pieman]

After a minor fiasco yesterday, which could have been avoided if I'd had a GPS, I'm now looking to get a GPS. But which one is best value?
What features has yours got that make it worth buying?

[Courior]

I have a Mio C710, its AWESOME! they have a new range of upgraded models and you get so much 4 your money.. they give you a motorcycle mount as standard, you get TMC (ie. free) traffic updates, Camera locations, best maps, and in a direct comparison (my mate had the tom tom 900 something supa dupa one) the Mio calculated a route to italy and back in about 25 secs, the tom tom was still going after the kettle had boiled! Whatever you wanna get, get it from www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk. They have the best prices anywhere and service is top notch!

more than welcome to try my Mio out next time i see ya (wed at box?)

[ifizzy]

I tend to use my photographic memory...............quick look at the map then off I go....................if I get there good enough..............if I get lost ive found a new blat circuit

[**SPIDER**]

Get a pda,,, its tom tom plus... pc get on line any where  '>  had mine 5 years    

[Tino]

Tom Tom rider. Only bought it fo rthe sapin trip. was going to sell it afterwards. I now find it a very usefull tool to have and am not getting rid of it.

Just make sure that all the maps are up to date, it could get interesting if they aren't.

[Weaver]

Quote (ifizzy @ May 07 2007,12:26)

I tend to use my photographic memory...............quick look at the map then off I go....................if I get there good enough..............if I get lost ive found a new blat circuit

We did this last weekend.  I looked at the map at the Silver Ball then led the others via a rather lovely route down to High Beech.  Terry and Karen were not even aware that at one point I went wrong as I just carried on as if it was correct and sorted us back on the right road a bit later.  RO of course knew because he heard me say "oh sh*t" down the radio!   '>  '>

However, we do also have a NavMan which we got from flea bay and it is quite sufficient for us, though not as fancy as some of the newr ones.


PS:  Don't follow Mr. Riz when he is using his Tomtom - even with that he gets lost!   '>

[RedOne]

Quote (Weaver @ May 07 2007,15:19)

We did this last weekend.  I looked at the map at the Silver Ball then led the others via a rather lovely route down to High Beech.  Terry and Karen were not even aware that at one point I went wrong as I just carried on as if it was correct ...

We all noticed when we had to U-turn in the entrance to Sainsbury's distribution depot  

[Weaver]

Quote (RedOne @ May 07 2007,18:00)

Quote (Weaver @ May 07 2007,15:19) We did this last weekend.  I looked at the map at the Silver Ball then led the others via a rather lovely route down to High Beech.  Terry and Karen were not even aware that at one point I went wrong as I just carried on as if it was correct ... We all noticed when we had to U-turn in the entrance to Sainsbury's distribution depot

I didn't count that one - besides that was just to prove that women can u-turn without putting their feet down whilst the men had to doggy paddle round with their feet!   '>  '>

[Terry]

Quote (Weaver @ May 07 2007,18:26)

Quote (RedOne @ May 07 2007,18:00) Quote (Weaver @ May 07 2007,15:19) We did this last weekend.  I looked at the map at the Silver Ball then led the others via a rather lovely route down to High Beech.  Terry and Karen were not even aware that at one point I went wrong as I just carried on as if it was correct ... We all noticed when we had to U-turn in the entrance to Sainsbury's distribution depot   I didn't count that one - besides that was just to prove that women can u-turn without putting their feet down whilst the men had to doggy paddle round with their feet!   '>  '>

No us men just more sensible cause if it goes we can catch it before impact with floor happens. Aint that right Steve  '>

I noticed Halfords are doing a Nav man for £129 anyone know if its rubbish?

[Spill]

We have a navman in the van(s). It was a bit annoying when we wanted to get to Porthmadog(NW Wales) the other week and it tried to take us via Manchester. Once when we took a wrong exit from a roundabout, (seems they sometimes count exit and entrances as separate roads), it told us to take the EIGHTH exit at a T-junction to get back to the r'bout.

My Advice: Ignore them until you get lost.

[Betty Butterworth]

tom tom rider is the system i favour

i have used others

garmin was ok but tom tom is better

[pieman]

thanks everyone. I'll wait until the end of the month when the tomtom rider 2 comes out.

[TallGuy]

Quote (Betty Butterworth @ May 08 2007,05:55)

tom tom rider is the system i favour i have used others garmin was ok but tom tom is better

Which Garmin?
I'm looking at Garmin Zumo 550 which is supposed to be the dogs wotzits and much better than TomTom Rider for connection capability. For example Garmin has multiple bluetooth connection capability, links into AutoCom for voice prompts, mp3 and phone (incoming and outgoing calls). Has free TMC capability with FM reception. Lot of dosh at 390GBP but I like the look, feel and mounting arrangement. My wallet is gonna take a hit this month.  

[DangerMouse]

Quote (pieman @ May 08 2007,06:39)

thanks everyone. I'll wait until the end of the month when the tomtom rider 2 comes out.

TomTom6 has all the features of the new tomtom rider2.  Just get a pda like 02 Orbit and stick tomtom6 on that.  Just ordered the mounts.  Fits sports bikes brillaintly.  Fits in the middle of the yoke.
http://www.telferizer.com/  then use ram mounts http://www.rammounts.com/
Cost of phone nothing well on contract £30 a month.
TomTom 6 about £70 then you need the rest of the mounts approx another £60.

[pieman]

Just ordered a Garmin Quest of fleabay. Cheaper than the Tomtom. I only need it to do basic stuff. The mounting may be a problem as I have a lovely bracket arrangement for my screen on the ninja, which is great for stopping tankbags getting too close to the bars, but not so good for mounting a GPS!!!!

Obvious problem with a pda would be it needs to be multi user.

well my navigation system (Angel my girlfriend), has to go, on our way to Amsterdam through France and Belgium, she had the map upside down and had us heading to the South of France.

Tom Tom Rider for me soon, thanks!

i got a tomtom rider with the fitting kit from telfarizer and mine managed to destroy the cradle after launching off a very large humpback bridge in france!

what it did was to shear off at the screws where the cradle connects to the backing plate, so the backing plate stayed connected to the bike but the tomtom tried to make a bid for freedom!

it would advise anyone with the rider to have a look at the four screws in the cradle and see what sort of damage it's done cos mine looks like it was made out of the cheapest bit of plastic going!

[Weaver]

Quote (GooseCarpeDiemMC @ May 22 2007,01:19)

well my navigation system (Angel my girlfriend), has to go, on our way to Amsterdam through France and Belgium, she had the map upside down and had us heading to the South of France. Tom Tom Rider for me soon, thanks!

Errr that just shows how intelligent is Angel - heading to the South of France - it's very nice down there!   '>  '>

[Yogibear]

Quote (**SPIDER** @ May 07 2007,12:29)

Get a pda,,, its tom tom plus... pc get on line any where  '>  had mine 5 years

Ditto that, I recomend the HTC Artemis (also known as an O2 XDA Orbit) this has built in GPS, if you get the verison with out co pilot you can still easily install tom tom, you just need to but a micro sd  memory card and I may know some one who could help set it up  '>

[john]

I have an O2 XDA Orbit, i've found the phone works really well and is really robust,  i've dropped it, got it wet, dirty and generally abused it and yet it still looks and works perfectly, battery life is good though I use it hooked up to power when using it for navigating.

Incidentally apparently if you plug it into a PC with a USB cable it becomes a wireless network adapter and although its not obvious you can run it in landscape mode and use one of the hardware keys to toggle between that and portrait, nerdy techie blah, blah, blah...

I got Tom Tom for it on CD for about £40 i think and then bought a little 1gb memory card for it seperately. The only downside I've foudn so far is that the memory card is absolutely the tiniest and most fiddly thing to fit in it and the mechanism for holding it is quite frankly rubbish and I haven't yet got it to give route instructions through my bluetooth headset but I have been told it can be done.

[Mr Rizla]

its fun reading up on all teh differnt problems u guys have, and the different kit you use. I heard that the garmin range has a high failure/return rate but thats subjective, dono about tomtom.
I use an HP Ipaq 2210 (dated nowadays) running TT6 and an external Bluetooth connected series 3 gps reciever, got me to the Damn and back without issue '>
But now interested in the 550, Col, let me know how you find it, may treat myself to an upgrade in 08

[Aceman]

I've used CoPilot for the last 2 years.  It's on my mobile phone, which is an MDA Compact Mk3.  It has a motorbike mode as well as car mode, pedestrian etc.  Great advantage is that you can record a route that you are doing, then play it back to later, which would be great for discovering new roads and remembering them.

[Mr Rizla]

Quote (Aceman @ Oct. 22 2007,16:42)

Great advantage is that you can record a route that you are doing, then play it back to later, which would be great for discovering new roads and remembering them.

thats the feature iv been looking for, discovered ride button '>

[CaptMoto]

Quote (TallGuy @ May 08 2007,12:52)

Quote (Betty Butterworth @ May 08 2007,05:55) tom tom rider is the system i favour i have used others garmin was ok but tom tom is better Which Garmin? I'm looking at Garmin Zumo 550 which is supposed to be the dogs wotzits and much better than TomTom Rider for connection capability. For example Garmin has multiple bluetooth connection capability, links into AutoCom for voice prompts, mp3 and phone (incoming and outgoing calls). Has free TMC capability with FM reception. Lot of dosh at 390GBP but I like the look, feel and mounting arrangement. My wallet is gonna take a hit this month.

One of my mates is having nothing but trouble with the garmin zumo, it has a plastic holder that wears out before your eyes due to the vibrations and he is on his 3rd replacement from Zumo, apparently there is a garmin zumo forum where you can learn all about their problems.

The Tomtom rider seems to be the better unit however it is not without problems. The holder is sturdier than the zumo but the vibration causes it to wear out the pins that connect it to the power (if you have it wired in, that is) and after a while you can only use it on battery as it won't recharge during normal use. However that is a 3 hours charge and if your journey is not longer than 3 hours you are ok.

Software wise the zumo is slightly advanced compared to the ttrider because it has a a few more features such as the possibility to record every part of your journey at every ride and you can then download your trips onto pc to see the places you have been through and the speed you did at every stage. And you can have an mp3 / cd player connected to it if you want music on the go.

Yet the TTrider is a better navigator, it has the traffic reports and it is able to warn you of traffic congestion and recalculates interesting alternative routes in case traffic ahead is heavy. I am hoping that the TTrider 2 will have a better clamp that will not suffer the recharging issues that the older one has because apart from that to me it has proven to be a fantasic unit.

[TallGuy]

The holder for my Zumo is aluminium. The Zumo 5x0 has built in MP3 capability too. You can add a FM receiver to the Zumo to get traffic updates and auto rerouting but I'm not sure how good it is because I haven't got it. The auto logging of your position and speed is a handy feature but I haven't found out for how long it logs before wiping the previous entries. During the Scotland trip I got home only to find that I had just the last two days of the trip in the log files. I haven't found an option to save trip files to memory card for backup. Generally it's a good bit of kit.