What's a good, aftermarket GPS?

[sabretooth2]

I had an '06 Gl1800 with Nav. Excellent GPS and easy to use. Now I have an '03 Goldwing Trike and no Nav. What is a good GPS that's not real, real expensive? (Need to know where the coffee shops and restrooms are. LOL

 

[Veritas44]

Garmin Fan from the Way Back ThumbUp
Check out the Zumo 590, 660, or newest 665 series and RAM Mounts.
Built in Bluetooth and some of them have TPMS capability as well.
Lifetime Map Updates is a plus.
Easy computer interfacing too.

 

[Sully]

Garmin, and just for the bike you don't really need much. If all you want is to find directions and how to get back home, any cheap model like a Garmin 40 LM for under $100 will work just fine. If it's lost or stolen not a big loss like one of the higher priced models. :Shrug: It won't answer your phone, play your tunes or cook your lunch, but it gets you there and back.

 

[Gorilla]

Garmin has the handle on the market. Like Sully stated price depends on what you want it to do. The water resistant motorcycle Zumo are expensive but they are solid. I have a 550 and a 650. The 550 for almost 7 years still works just great. If you buy a car one just keep a sandwich plastic bag handy to throw over it when it rains. The only difference between the car ones and the motorcycle ones is the water resistant. Have fun selecting one.

 

[Sully]

Here's a water resistant zip on cover I have for both my XM and Car type GPS. Got it from Amazon less than $10

 

[Lucky]

I had an '06 Gl1800 with Nav. Excellent GPS and easy to use. Now I have an '03 Goldwing Trike and no Nav. What is a good GPS that's not real, real expensive? (Need to know where the coffee shops and restrooms are. LOL

I have a Garmin Nuvi40. Got it on black Friday about 4 years ago. Works great for what it is,but wish I had more options on it. Bertha always gets me there,but limited on route choices. She has been drowned with rain more time than I can count, but she is still ticking. RIDE SAFE

 

[HDHoggly]

I too am a Garmin fan and am using a ZUMO 350LM ... I like it's simplicity and usability.

 

[cavie]

I use a ten year old NUVI 1200 with a $10.00 case. Move it from car to bike.

 

[FRR]

Garmin 660 works just fine. Stay away from Tom Tom. I don't think anything compares with the Garmin. They are fine equipment.

 

[Trent]

I use a GPS everyday in my business. I wear the screens out in about a year. I sometimes touch in 20 to 30 addresses a day.
Garmin is the only way to go. They are the most durable and reliable. Have one on the TG with a Ram Mount and plastic baggies handy to cover it in the rain,, one in my truck,, and a half dozen worn out ones laying around the garage. I currently use a Nuvi 1450 LMT. Till I wear it out. Then I will get another Garmin. I just buy the mid ranged price models... don't need all the fancy crap on the expensive ones. 5" screen is nice to have too.

 

[BIG DENNY]

Just get a ANDROID phone and your good to go as long as your grand kids can tell you how to use it. KEEP ON KEEPING ON BIG DENNY epper::kpzxvq:

 

[Woolie]

Well, I'm GPS poor, I have had 3 different Magellan models, They work ok but map updates are expensive and it doesn't interface with Tyre, my favorite route planner. I have a Tom Tom Rider II, wasn't impressed with that either as I don't care to use helmet speakers. I have 3 different Garmin models for different vehicles. My favorite for the trike is Garmin Nuvi 750. It is an older model that can be purchased on Ebay reasonably. I like the fact that it has an FM transmitter and accepts an SD card that can be loaded with MP3 music and it can play over a vacant FM radio frequency. I have a 16Gb SD card loaded with music, and it uses the same card for map updates, so it will hold the largest of maps. I purchased lifetime map updates from Garmin for about 50 bucks and get updates every three months. I set the radio to whatever station I have the Garmin set for so it plays the music over the radio, when the GPS needs to make an announcement it turns the music off, does its thing then the music comes back on. I bought a hard wire USB power supply but decided against using that. I installed a weatherproof cig plug on the right hand side of the faring where the controls for the factory GPS goes and use that for power. The GPS isn't weatherproof but a zip lock bag takes care of that when needed and it works several hours off battery when necessary. There are several models in the 700 series that have additional features such as bluetooth for phones but I don't want/need that feature. I use a Ram Mount to mount it to the right brake res. Garmin also interfaces with Tyre route planner. It is simple, does everything I expect and works great.

 

[Lucky]

I am hoping to up date on BLACK FRIDAY! CAUSE I AM CHEAP I GUESS

 

[Ozarkryder]

I have a Garming Nuvi 1450 LMT. nice big 5" screen, and the "LMT" stands for Lifetime Maps & Traffic. I can update 3 or 4 times a year, no extra cost. I don't put much stock in the OEM traffic program, it is pretty rudimentary, though it does give a general warning on traffic. There are more detailed traffic programs if you want to buy them. I picked it up a few years ago for $125 as a Black Friday door-buster, though folks were going for the TV's and nobody was busting down the doors for a GPS.
It is mounted with RAM mounts (love those things!) and, as mentioned, I keep a zip-lock bag handy in case of rain. I mount it on the bike and in the car so it is just on the edge of my line of sight so I don't have to take my eyes off the road.
I find the voice prompts distracting, so I usually have the volume set so I can barely hear it - that lets me know something is coming up, but i can ignore it if I choose.
The GPS programs on my phone are sometimes more versitle in planning alternate routes and sometimes quicker to update. (According to Garmin there is only 1 gas station in my town and that is by the freeway. It has missed the other 3 since I had an old Streetpilot 2610 5 years ago) But there hasn't been a phone on which I can read the map in bright conditions, there are a lot of times I ride where there is no cell service and the maps get inaccurate, and the stand alone GPS has some features I like in an easier to use format than any phone GPS I have seen.

 

[tom w]

seems we all agree on something. GARMIN is the way to go. I too use an older garmin NUVI. mine is mounted to the gas cap mount on my tank of the ultra. works good.

remember when all you had was a paper road map ?

 

[Papa Zook]

I have a Nuvi also but have been using my Galaxy4 phone more for navigation lately. I downloaded a program called WAZE that uses Google maps navigation, but has real time reporting of traffic flow, road hazards, wrecks, ect. It also reports real time police radar traps. Its a great app that I use all the time now plus its always updated and its free.

 

[Ozarkryder]

I have WAZE on my phone, too, and it is a great app. But the thing still is in the car with bright light I can hardly see the screen, and almost never during the day on the trike. I thought my phone (Samsung S3) was one of the best rated screens in the light. How do you deal with washed out screens on phones when using them as a GPS?

 

[turboman1354]

I have a garmin but most of the time I just use my google map app on my iPhone to me workS just as well