Hi suipedali and all,
The 176 unit £433
from GPS Warehouse comes with bare power/data cable, I’ve wired mine straight into the GS wiring harness so there is a permanent live to the GPS. It also comes with GPS to PC serial data cable. I bought a PC serial/cigarette to GPS cable £33 + 240v ac to 12v dc power adaptor £9. The 64 meg Data Card was £102.
You can get a USB card reader which would allow you to upload the maps to the 64meg card in about 5 minutes but, I just use the serial connector which takes about 2 hours… no problem.
The Touratech handlebar mount was £50 from Bracken.
The Garmin CD’s Road’s & Recreation CD’s I already have but are about £60 each, the Europe Roads & Recreation one would be good for starters.
On my recent Alp's trip I loaded the whole of France & Switzerland down to street level plus the bottom half of the UK.
The 176 was absolutely impressive. We had set routes riding down but used the GPS for a large amount of the passes. We rode from the Alps in the South east to the beaches of Normandy in the North West and then on to Le Harve using no maps just relying on the 176’s capabilities…. Highly recommended.
Although the 176 does not have routing capabilities, I find the 'Goto' feature more adventurous. If you are at point 'A' and you want to go to point 'B' just set in the destination and follow the arrow (or compass)... a lot more fun.
I used to have the Garmin GPSIII+ but this one is so much quicker at scrolling and booting up etc….. even with the 64 Meg data cartridge. You can also configure the screen how you want it i.e. you can control what data is displayed where.
The GPS V is limited by it's memory of 19 meg
If anyone want's to pick my brain (should take all of two minutes
) give me a call on 07966 388827 after 6:30pm