[SV Racing Parts]

:hurray: Hey everyone, I have decided to finally take the plunge and buy a Garmin Nuvi GPS for bike and car,

Who is using one, and which one has the best features for bike that is also transferable to car on trips?

Let me know,

Enjoy the ride, and best regards,
Blair

 

[Voluhzia-Strom]

I have StreetPilot 2820 and that thing won't break... I will buy a Zumo though when StreetPilot finally breaks....

 

[bikefree]

My first GPS for bike and car is the Nuvi 500. The price is right at a little over $200, it gets me where I'm going, waterproof, good battery life, shows topo maps and imports routes. I haven't used most of the features but it does what I need. I got a RAM mount and ran a 12v cig lighter through my tank bag. Piece of cake to hook up and move between bike and car.

 

[BumbleBee]

I second the nuvi 500, setup for hiking and some marine use also. Don't know if it's still available though, also it's water resistant and has shown to be durable when taken off pavement. buy a extra cradle and 12volt kit and it's easy to swap from rig to rig.

 

[Yak]

The Nuvi 550 is available and is great for multi use - bike, car, foot. waterproof, useable with gloves on.

 

[biker128pedal]

The 500 or the 550 depending on if you want Topo maps or Canada. That is if you are in the states. They are not perfect but good for on or off motorcycle.

 

[mudrat]

I love my Zumo 500, on the bike or in the car its great :thumbup:

 

[SV Racing Parts]

:thumbup: I have heard a few times that the Garmin Zumo 550 and 660 are the hot ticket items for GPS capability on our bikes, and for using in cars as well,

What are the Pros and Cons of these two models, I need a system with all of the USA, Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska in it with good maps,

What about memory card storage to be able to call up pretty much whatever you need?

Thanks, GPS is an area I am just finally committing to getting up to speed on,

Can these arso run Euro maps, I am going to Paris soon,

Bese regards all,
Blair

 

[DrPaul47]

I have a Garmin 376C, with weather and xm radio. It is also a marine unit so water resistant. I have had it for a good many years, perhaps 5 or 6 with no problems at all. The weather featured has allowed me to skirt around torms cells on many rides. It has worked well however it is so old that I think it has been discontinued. It has a long battery life, which also is an easy replacement, also it has memory cards so the memory can be expanded and also spare cards carried with you. For my bike, if I were looking for a replacment I would get whatever they replaced this model with.

 

[nhbubba]

:thumbup: I have heard a few times that the Garmin Zumo 550 and 660 are the hot ticket items for GPS capability on our bikes, and for using in cars as well,

What are the Pros and Cons of these two models, I need a system with all of the USA, Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska in it with good maps,

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=135&compareProduct=15000&compareProduct=414&compareProduct=13424

Couple goodies things the 660 seems to bring to the table are the lane assist and speed limit bits. I hear these are shockingly useful and worth holding out for.

The 500 lacks BT and any sort of MP3 playback. Deal breaker for me.

 

[MrZappo]

Not to hijack but I am looking for a GPS as well and have looked at the garmins but never owned one ... One feature that I don't see talked about very much but I would like to have is the ability to create routes.

I would like to be able to map out a ride(route) on my PC and maybe upload it to the GPS and have it guide me along that route without doing any of its own routing ...

My reasoning is that all of these units try to find the best(fastest or most direct) route. I on the other hand (when riding the bike at least) sometimes want a more roundabout route. I still want turn by turn directions as I ride but I just want to dictate the route ...

I know that this is available somehow but I dont know what units lend themselves to this type of use the best ..

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated ..

 

[GT_Hawk]

a nuvi then the nuvi 550. what I tun its cheap waterproof and survived trans labatoor highway. so can't be bad.

but its not feature ritch, its a GPS

the Zumo have loads of features but are in my eyes over priced.

 

[BigMan73]

Nuvi 765T:
1. 4.3 screen
2. Fast response
3. Custom Routes.
4. Music Player (MP3)
5. Audio output (headphones)
6. Not very expensive - ~$180 at Amazon
7. Looks great in Black
8. Life time Traffic
9. Bluetooth (connects to Android and works well as a phone)
Edit: 10. Works great as a car GPS. Used it on a 10 day trip from NJ to Canada, it was great.

Edit:
11. Minus - Not waterproof, but I proved that it can easily be water proofed with a bag of ZipLock around it, during a very bad storm I caught last weekend. Even if I had the Nuvi 550 I wouldn't trust it to be water proof and wrap it.

 

[Yak]

Not to hijack but I am looking for a GPS as well and have looked at the garmins but never owned one ... One feature that I don't see talked about very much but I would like to have is the ability to create routes.

I would like to be able to map out a ride(route) on my PC and maybe upload it to the GPS and have it guide me along that route without doing any of its own routing ...

My reasoning is that all of these units try to find the best(fastest or most direct) route. I on the other hand (when riding the bike at least) sometimes want a more roundabout route. I still want turn by turn directions as I ride but I just want to dictate the route ...

I know that this is available somehow but I dont know what units lend themselves to this type of use the best ..

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated ..

The Nuvi 550 will do that. You may want to post your question as a separate thread - you might get more responses, but before you do that use the Google custom search function near the top of the page (in the centre). There is lots of discussions on "the best GPS".

 

[Stixx]

the Garmin Zumo 550 is the definitive gps for scoots in my view. I have two of them and they translate to the car well also with a mount which has the speaker in it.

The 550's have the best intuitive blue tooth and your phone will mate up to it perfect then you just put a scala on your lid and you have a complete communication system with built in phone list and touch screen access to all your way points and it can be removed and taken in to your computer room and programmed for whatever you wish to do. You can also through a system like Scala listen not just see the directions which in my view is much safer.

Once you use a Zumo you will be spoiled . Grandted the 660 has some additioinal features but takes up more space and cost 40 percent more in some cases.

My first one was BMW specific for my RT and I wanted one for the Wee too so I bought a second one for it which cost quite a bit less and does the same things. Plus it came with auto mounts and accessories not even in the BMW box. All that for much less. Got it from Amazon . com and the first one had a fault and Garvin RA'd me one and shipped it to me for free and it was new and perfect . No problem with backup from Garmin, they are excellent.

I have a friend with the lessor bike garvin and it doesn't have blue tooth or any way to listen to directions and he is always taking wrong turns when he leads. So for my book, the extra goodies on the 550 are compelling.

 

[MrZappo]

I don't disagree ... I do however dislike their (hold riders hostage) pricing model.

Do you know if the ZUMO 220 will do custom routes the same/as well as the 550 ? All I really want is Bluetooth turn by turn and custom maps ... I could care less about the xm and that stuff ...

I was looking at the Garmin page and the main difference seems to be XM ? Seems like a large price delta for that ...

Any Idea ?

 

[nhbubba]

the Garmin Zumo 550 is the definitive gps for scoots in my view.

Really? Why not the 660?

Looks like the current street price difference between the 550 and 660 is ~$50 (or ~15%).

The 660 has A2DP, lane assist, shows speed limits, has a better screen, a qwerty keyboard, and marginally better battery life.

After my experience with other garmins, the QWERTY keyboard bit alone seems worth the $50.

Were I to buy today, it'd be between the 220 and 660. The 550 seems like old tech being phased out.

 

[BigMan73]

Really? Why not the 660?
...
Were I to buy today, it'd be between the 220 and 660. The 550 seems like old tech being phased out.

Yes, I agree with you. 550 is the 3.5'' format vs. 660 which is the 4.3'' with the new technologies you mentioned.

From what I've seen the Zumo XX0 is sharing the same core screen and software with the consumer products. Garmin enables all the high-end features (like custom multi point routes) and also provide water proofing, and also things like direct 12V input (which means inside the unit there must be a 12V->5V DC converter..)

 

[AceRider]

it all depends how often u use the GPS:

1) for occassional GPS users where u dont do complex urban navigations much - any GPS which can be read in strong sunlight and with a reasonable size display will do. You wont hear the voice instruction nor is it likely u will be able to program the address with your gloves on - but it is very cheap for a setup this way. I had a setup like this for my touring trip for a couple years.

2) for heavy use and complex navigation in urban area and other function a zumo 660 or 550 is a better idea.

Generally i like garmin - one thing about garmin is that u can buy a lifetime update. So as long as your GPS is not broken, your maps is always up to date. Over a 5 to 7 year period this can be extremely handy.

 

[Shooter]

Zumo 550

I also prefer the 550.

The 550 has "hard" buttons on the left side that are super glove friendly.

The 550 form factor takes up less real estate on your bike.

If you really want the ULTIMATE set-up, add the J&M dongle to the Zumo 550 and you will get STEREO from your XM radio into your helmet via Bluetooth, get nav instructions, iPod, cell phone conversations with voice dialing, MP3s from an SD card, Two-Way FRS Radio communication, all with a 30 hour battery life between charges with the J&M headset in a Nolan N-comm or with the standard J&M that attaches to any helmet. I have two, one in an N-103 and one in an Arai Profile.

Check out RKA luggage who sells the whole kit and kaboodle in a tank bag.