Cheapest option for a GPS?

[dogman]

I'm after a GPS for some summer rides but dont really want to remortgage my house to get one. I just want something to fit easily, good contrast for viewing in the sun and most important to have 'point to point' journey planning to miss out main roads but for me to decide the general cross country route and not the Twat Nav. I would even consider a car nav in the Givi handlebar case but not seen one with bright enough screen yet?
Any knowledge / experience would be appreciated.

 

[ghiribizzo]

That's the Holy Grail. I don't think any of them have good viewing when the sun's on the screen and I suspect that car ones fare even worse.
I haven't tried the car Garmin on the bike as I have a bike unit.
I'll be well hacked off if you find great results from a £40 unit out of Aldi mind you!

 

[MarkShelley]

I use a Garmin Nuvi 250 on my bikes. Not great in brightest sunshine but fine most of the time. For £80 I am happy and it is easier to use than the inbuilt one on my Prius.

 

[Monsieur]

I use a Garmin Nuvi 250 on my bikes. Not great in brightest sunshine but fine most of the time. For £80 I am happy and it is easier to use than the inbuilt one on my Prius.

I've also used the nuvi 250 on both a bike and in a car without any issues - bright sunshine or not

 

[dogman]

Can you point to point plan on the Nuvi 250. Looked at the spec but cant see that as a function?

 

[geordie458]

Have you tried TYRE?

Find it here

http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/

You can plan routes and download to satnav. Not used it but looks interesting.

 

[dogman]

Tyre software looks promising. Downloaded it and created a route easily enough, hopefully it will work with my TomTom. Having researched satnavs there would appear to be few with the multi point planning facility. Even the new TomTom XL range has taken it off. The Givi handlebar bag may be all I need now?

 

[Micky]

Instead of asking for the cheapest option, try asking for the best value option


There's a difference

 

[geordie458]

Instead of asking for the cheapest option, try asking for the best value option


There's a difference

Any suggestions?

 

[BrianGriffin]

I think it's called a Road Atlas, £1.99p in most bargain basements.

Totally unaffected by bright sunlight too..!

 

[StumpyFingers]

Tyre software looks promising. Downloaded it and created a route easily enough, hopefully it will work with my TomTom. Having researched satnavs there would appear to be few with the multi point planning facility. Even the new TomTom XL range has taken it off. The Givi handlebar bag may be all I need now?

I used Tyre on my TomTom rider when I did a charity ride from Lowestoft to Dingle in Ireland, it work fine.

 

[(RIP) Bobble]

Best value for money would be secondhand, something like this maybe..

 

[Rasher]

I bought the otherhalf a Garmin for her car, it was anoutgoing model that originally cost £350, reduced to £250 for a while then I piced it up in a Halfords sale for £99 with all 2010 Europe maps.

I use a Give sat-nav bag strapped to the bars and feed it into the Autocom and it works OK, sometimes pressing buttons through the cover is tricky and it takes a few attempts to get the right one but generally it works very well.

As a bike dedicated one with similar spec would cost about £500 I think at £130 it is great value.

 

[TheJoker]

What do you mean by point-to-point?

Point-to-Point as in a straight line not involving roads?
or just Point-to-Point as in "take me from this point to that point without me thinking of it"?

First of all, go Garmin. They're just the best. On AdvRider in Parallell Universe there's a huge thread about GPS' on F800GS, and there's only a few non-Garmins on show.

Onwards...

Most cheap SatNavs - in-car type ones - have very little concept of the world outside of roads. They're pretty useless for even the slightest trail. You can't even get your lat/long on some of them. (Think Garmin i3). However, they're very adequate for the road.

If you want a GPS (vs. SatNav ) you'll usually get strange farkles like fishing calendar . However, they really don't want to supply road-maps with them. If you get say Garmins City Navigator, which will cost you, they will do turn-by-turn road navigation. Some of them don't have the capacity though, so look for one with a memory card slot if you want this.

My choice is a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx (those letters are important). It runs off two AA-batteries for 30h, it's tiny (pocketable), it's advanced enought to not be dumb, but still dumb enough to do turn-by-turn navigation (with additional maps ).
It's mounted on my bike with RAM Mounts, and a cheap, butchered, USB cigarrette lighter power supply is powering it.

My girlfriend has got an old Garmin i3 - and it's very dumb, very. However, it's small, cheap and does turn-by-turn navigation. She's also got a newer Nüvi and that's fast, pretty dumb, but still advanced enough to be useable on a motorbike. She's got that one mounted on her F800GS with, again, RAM Mounts and powering it from a butchered USB cigarrette lighter power supply. neither of those are waterproof, so keep a plastic bag with you, or stick it in the pocket when it's raining.

If you're on the cheap, you might find that two used old Garmins migth be the cheapest option. Something like an i3 for road navigation and an eTrex for off-road. Mount them with a RAM Mount.


Hope that adds to the confusion.

 

[Micky]

Any suggestions?

Nope .... only what's coming up on here

For myself I lashed out and got the BMW Navigator IV .... two years warranty

Does the job superbly, worth every penny in my book

 

[thomo57]

I'm after a GPS for some summer rides but dont really want to remortgage my house to get one. I just want something to fit easily, good contrast for viewing in the sun and most important to have 'point to point' journey planning to miss out main roads but for me to decide the general cross country route and not the Twat Nav. I would even consider a car nav in the Givi handlebar case but not seen one with bright enough screen yet?
Any knowledge / experience would be appreciated.

I tried the Givi holder with my car TomTom...
what a pain in the arse , the plastic cover is too thick and you loose the ability to operate the touchscreen, on bright days had to stop under trees to see the screen.
I bit the bullet and bought a new TomTom Urban Euro, which I'm really happy with, used it in on a 3,000 mile tour of the Alps last summer, mapping was quicker and more accurate than my mates Zumo's

 

[Bullwinkle]

First of all, go Garmin. They're just the best.

My choice is a Garmin eTrex Legend HCx (those letters are important). It runs off two AA-batteries for 30h, it's tiny (pocketable), it's advanced enought to not be dumb, but still dumb enough to do turn-by-turn navigation (with additional maps ).
It's mounted on my bike with RAM Mounts, and a cheap, butchered, USB cigarrette lighter power supply is powering it.

...+1

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

If you have a smart phone with GPS in it then get software for the phone. I do this and it was a total of £19 for copilot and it works really well.

 

[solomoto]

I bought tom tom for the iphone and a case + lead from Buybits. the case is waterproof too. The first time i used it i found i could not input with my gloves on as the iphone needs your finger, however, they sell conductive thread in ebay £2 sew a bit in the finger of your left glove and success !! total europe for about £70, not including the phone..

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

My phone is the same with gloves on but I never found it a problem to be honest. I thought it might be but it hasn't been simply because I never touch it unless I am stopped and I generally have my gloves off then. You can also get a conductive stylus that you could stick to the finger of your glove if you really needed it.