Choosing a GPS - not easy!

[HMR]

i bought a street pilot 3, didnt have a clue what to do with it, the manual was 2 feet thick, software crap and decided to sell it after four hours messing about with it !

Right!

A simple person should not buy a GPS. He should buy a TV-set, a truckload of beer and a second-hand armchair.

 

[Blackal]

i bought a street pilot 3, didnt have a clue what to do with it, the manual was 2 feet thick, software crap and decided to sell it after four hours messing about with it !

Wow! I bought a Quest, fitted it and rode off!

Are you female and blonde? (jesting)

Al

 

[PanEuropean]

I like the idea of the 276C not being dependant on a power supply. But this isn't a specifically car/m'bike unit.

That's a very sharp observation.

I have noticed that over the past 3 years, the GPSRs that are being released to market by major manufacturers are becoming more and more specialized with respect to what function they are designed to support - automotive navigation, marine navigation, hiking, bicycle riding, walking, or whatever.

Way, way back when all of us first developed an interest in GPS navigation for our motos, the products that were available were 'general purpose' - does anyone remember the Garmin V? You could use it for just about anything, and it was designed to support just about any application.

Now, the automotive units are very highly specialized for automotive use, the marine units very highly specialized for marine use, and so forth.

The 276 is a very fine GPSR. It was designed to be a marine GPSR that also provided full automotive functionality. However - unless you have a genuine need for the marine navigation support, it's not really the best choice for automotive (this includes moto) use any more. There are less expensive and more capable 'pure automotive' units available.

Michael

 

[HMR]

The 276 is a very fine GPSR. It was designed to be a marine GPSR that also provided full automotive functionality. However - unless you have a genuine need for the marine navigation support, it's not really the best choice for automotive (this includes moto) use any more. There are less expensive and more capable 'pure automotive' units available.
Michael

As you already know I don't agree at all. There is no such thing as a "best" motorbike GPSR.

A SP2720 is, by far, superior if you drive on large roads with plenty of speed cameras and if you want efficient guiding through large cities. The SP2720 is the best motorbike "navigator" for the commuter or businessman.

The 276C and the 60Cx are, by far, superior if you mainly drive on very small roads in rural areas with poor map coverage and your goal is to ride on (and save) small roads. The 276C is the best motorbike "moving map" for the adventurer.

 

[PanEuropean]

At risk of getting back into the 2x6 vs pure automotive GPSR debate - something I really don't want to do - I think we can both agree that the choice of a GPSR is very much a 'horses for courses' issue. The purchaser needs to make a careful evaluation of exactly what they want the GPSR to be able to do for them, and then choose the hardware based on the performance specifications that they define.

What I was trying to say about the 276 in my comment above is this: As more and more less expensive, highly functional pure automotive GPSRs are released, the likelihood of an unbiased user choosing a 2x6 (or, now, a 3x6) GPSR for moto use diminishes. There will be a small number of dual-sport riders who want the unique capabilities of the 2x6 or 3x6, but a far greater percentage of riders will find that they can get the job done with a less expensive pure automotive GPSR, such as a Quest.

If money was no object, then certainly the 3x6 products would be worthy of consideration. I particularly like the ability of the 3x6 to provide real time weather information in the North American region, and hope that a similar capability is offered in Europe in the not too distant future.

Michael

 

[PanEuropean]

The 276C and the 60Cx are, by far, superior if you mainly drive on very small roads in rural areas with poor map coverage and your goal is to ride on (and save) small roads.

A year or two ago, only the 2x6 could retain a really big tracklog. Last week, I made a 3,000 km trip from Toronto to Winnipeg to Kansas and then back via Chicago. When I downloaded the track log from my 2720, it contained detail for the last 1,500 kms of my travel.

I had preloaded my 2720 with Canada Topo version 2 maps, MetroGuide Canada version 4 maps, and selected segments from BlueChart to provide me with additional detail around the top of Lake Superior, a very remote region of Canada that has very poor coverage on the CN cartography. With the exception of a few minor snags (since reported back to Garmin for rectification), the 2720 did a very good job of displaying the Canada Topo and the BlueChart data. I suspect that a current model Quest would have done the same job.

Michael

 

[HMR]

I think we can both agree that the choice of a GPSR is very much a 'horses for courses' issue.

Right!

There will be a small number of dual-sport riders who want the unique capabilities of the 2x6 or 3x6, but a far greater percentage of riders will find that they can get the job done with a less expensive pure automotive GPSR, such as a Quest.

Right!

A year or two ago, only the 2x6 could retain a really big tracklog. Last week, I made a 3,000 km trip from Toronto to Winnipeg to Kansas and then back via Chicago. When I downloaded the track log from my 2720, it contained detail for the last 1,500 kms of my travel.

The track memory is, to my opinion, not sufficient in the SP2720. Only 2000 points is not enough for logging. The new BMW Nav III and the Quest can store 10000 points which is what you need for a 2-week vacation or a weekend of gravel road scouting.

What makes the 276C and the 60Cx special is that they not only can store one huge track log, they can also store a library of different tracks with individual names and colors. These tracks can be edited "on the road" and toggled visible/not visible. This is very useful in combination with the new track editor in MapSource. Example of applications are:

- Create and use tracks as routes where there are no roads on the map.
- Download tracks from the Internet and use as routes in the GPSR.
- Act as a vacation diary. Save each day under a separate name in the log.
- Edit and store "nice roads" under different names while on the road scouting for the next monthly "club ride".

The 276C and the 60Cx are designed to do these things. The average GPSR owner who mostly drive on main roads & in cities don't need these features. He gets much better value for the money by buying a Quest2.

 

[PanEuropean]

What makes the 276C and the 60Cx special is that they not only can store one huge track log, they can also store a library of different tracks with individual names and colors.

A good point.

One of the trends I have observed taking place in GPSR user interface design is the 'simplification' of the user interface. 3 or 4 years ago, GPSRs were something that was purchased by the 'techie' crowd, the early adopters, and the UI was quite functional, in the sense that it was designed by engineers.

In the last two years, GPSRs have become more of a mainstream product (heck, it seems that the majority of vehicles on the road in Netherlands have one installed), and the manufacturers have put a lot of effort into streamlining the UI so that it doesn't take 100 hours of study to become familiar with all the different features, and how to change configuration of the GPSR. This simplification has been beneficial to the new wave of users, who are more 'mainstream' than 'early adopter', but has resulted in some loss of functionality for the 'keeners'.

The SP 26xx series was the last pure automotive GPSR that offered the user almost unlimited control over device configuration. Or, to express that same thought the other way around, the 27xx was the first GPSR that you could give to your parent to use without having to spend a lot of time explaining how to find things within the menu structure.

The GPSRs that primarily serve the marine and aviation markets (2x6, 3x6) have not been given a simplified UI because it is assumed that mariners and pilots want the ability to configure the device for various specific purposes. So, the more your navigation needs differ from mainstream 'on road' use, the more attractive the marine and aviation units become. A pure automotive unit such as a SP (any generation) would be next to useless for a long off road trip, in much the same way that a primarily marine unit such as a 2x6 or 3x6 would be overly complex for a rider who does not plan to spend very much time off the public road system.

It's easy for long time users such as myself or HMR to spot these trends, because we can draw on our personal experience with earlier models to see how things are evolving. It is a much more difficult task for a first time purchaser to make an educated decision concerning purchase of a 'specialty' GPSR (a primarily marine or primarily aviation unit) for off road use, because the baseline - as set by the newer automotive units - is shifting all the time.

Michael

 

[paul08]

As I am looking for a GPS unit to use in the car, just as much as on a motorbike (indeeed, I will probably use it more in the car than on a bike), the TMC feature is , I feel, a very big positive. With the 2720 and the 276C the TMC unit/add-on costs £160, which makes these units very, very expensive. And I do not think TMC can be added to the Quest 2.

So, whilst/if cost were no object I would be making a choice between a 2720 and a 276C with the GTM-10 for TMC, I am not really in that position. So I am leaning towards the Sony NV-U70T at circa £400 which includes TMC, full Europe coverage, and postcode search. And I will look to find something along the lines of a waterproof housing so that I can use it on the m'bike in inclement weather.

 

[PanEuropean]

Paul, I don't believe that the 2x6 GPSRs support use of the GTM 10 Traffic Receiver.

Michael

 

[paul08]

I've bought the Sony!

Very many thanks to you all for your advice etc. In the end I just could not square up the cost of the Garmin 2720 when I factored in the cost of the GTM-10 TMC unit at £160! I will in all probability be using the GPS more in the car than on the bike, and just as much in Europe as in the UK, so the TMC feature and decent European mapping became a high ranking feature. I also preferred the idea of Navteq mapping in preference to others.

So the Sony NV-U70T it is. And it cost me only £390 from PCWorld on Tottenham Court Road yesterday (they 'price matched' a highly dubious store further down the street!!!).

Now then, can anyone point me towards a waterproof housing of some sort that would allow me to use it on my m'bike in inclement weather? (I seem to remember a couple of threads talking about doing this for some of the non-waterproof Garmin units)