Is it worth getting a dedicated bike SatNav anymore?

Qmouse

Qmouse

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I have decided that my Quest1 is getting a bit old in the maps department, so I have been looking around to replace it. Since I brought the Quest the price of car units have dropped, but bike ones have remained high.

I want a Garmin so I can continue to use MapSource, other than that a nice big screen would ne nice and I am not bothered about bluetooth.

So what waterproof case / satnav works for you or is one of the dedicated bike units still the way to go?


Brian
 
According to Garmin's website, the bike Satnavs are 'Ruggedised...:nenau ).

This might just be sales talk... but you never know.
 
If all you want is basic (but good) navigation - then there is a lot to be said for an £80 Nuvi with European mapping.

But


* You do not get mapsource or ability to download routes.
* The power socket is susceptible to damage on a bike
* Not waterproof (but you could wrap it yourself... power socket may be problematic though).

Al :)
 
I went to Italy 2 years ago and used a Navman S90

Stuck to screen of GS no prob

I also stuck it on the tank facing up to me ,this was even better

When it rained I put it in the tank bag ,worked fine

Ran the power from the bike socket

The unit finally gave up the ghost when I dropped it getting out of the car

I am now looking for a replacement but am finding it impossible to find one with a speaker outlet to run an ear piece up to the inside of my helmet

If anyone knows of a model with this feature ................:thumb:thumb
 
A Second hand Zumo 400/500/550 may prove to be a good buy.

If you buy a UK/Ireland mapped Zumo - remember to allow around £50 for an upate/upgrade to full European mapping, if you need it

The entry-level Zumo now is the 220.

Al
 
I've been using a Garmin Nuvi 765 for the last two years, including in some pretty awful weather with no probs. The 765 has an earphone socket so can be connected to helmet speakers. Costs less than £100 now, I think.
 
I've recently bit the bullet and bought a Zumo 660 (£400) but I've got to say its a cracking bit of kit. Its wired into the headstock power outlet, and sorted it all through my autocom following the advice on here. I can even bluetooth my phone to take calls on the move if I really want to.

I've planned some routes for a forthcoming tour, loaded them up and have lots of mp3 on there as well :thumb2 It obviously comes fully loaded with all the maps and a car kit. Ideal for me as I'll get loads of use out of it.
 
I have a cheapo case from E-Bay mounted on the BMW sat-Nav bar, works a treat, my cheapo end of line (£250 down to £99 in a Halford sale) Garmin works perfectly and has done a few tours and worked well.

I would never pay the astronomical premium for a dedicated bike unit, they can't cost more than an extra 25% to produce, yet sell at a 300% markup on the car units.
 
I would be lost without MapSource, so I got myself a Zumo 660. The Quest will stay on my other bike as it is still a great little SatNav.

Brian
 
I got a Garmin Nuvi 2340 essentially for the car . Cost was sterling 127 and came with free lifetime map updates. :thumb2
 
Upgrading from my quest 1 .. anyone have any experience with the new

zūmo® 350LM unit ???

Thanks Dave
 
i`ve just upgraded to a 660 and think its worth it,water proof,bluetooth(yes i use it) and newer map,POI and mp3 capability. the mark up in nowhere near 300%!!!!! if you do your sums thats over a grand and look at all the benefits. i`ve used a 60csx for the last 6 years thats been all round the world but its capabilities are now getting limited. Its a modern world so embrace it!!:D:rob
 
hrj01 said:
I have decided that my Quest1 is getting a bit old in the maps department, so I have been looking around to replace it. Since I brought the Quest the price of car units have dropped, but bike ones have remained high.

I want a Garmin so I can continue to use MapSource, other than that a nice big screen would ne nice and I am not bothered about bluetooth.

So what waterproof case / satnav works for you or is one of the dedicated bike units still the way to go?


Brian
Click to expand...

another benefit of the 660, you can use it in the car:thumb2
 
I'd go with the Zumo 660 which is what both the wife and I have. I used to have a Zumo 550 and only upgraded to the 660 so I could get the bigger screen and also stream music to my Scala G4 in stereo as the 550 only supports the HFP Bluetooth profile and therefore streams music in mono.

However, don't go for new. Look out for the Zumo 660 NOH. You can pick them up for about £320. They are factory refurbished to as new condition by Garmin but come in a white box instead of the fancy retail packaging. You get everything you get with a retail product, including the free map upgrades if new maps are released within 90 days of first use and the 12 month warranty. That's how I bought both units that we have and there is absolutely no difference between them and a retail product, bar the box and over £100.

To be honest, given that you can get these for £330 it always confuses me why people buy second hand units for in excess of £300. I presume they are thinking it's not a bad deal based on the retail price, not on the price that they could actually get a 12 month warrantied "as new" item for if they looked around.

You can pay £49.19 to Handtec and get a Garmin "for life" update package for the whole of Europe. You'll get all new map updates for 1 unit until Garmin stop producing them.

We've done plenty of Europe with ours, plus a lot of the UK and they've never let us down. A couple of colleagues also use them. One of them recently bought a TomTom Rider but took it back as it was, in his words, "fecking useless". He changed to the Zumo 660 and is like a dog with 2 todgers. I used to do around 60,000 miles a year split between bike and car due to my job and always relied on the Zumo.

Dae.
 
A Zumo 220 works for me........Bought from Touratech(Germany) when I was there and saved a fortune!

Although I like my Quest but It was time for a change and I love the lane assist feature on the Zumo when I'm on busy motorways in Europe etc.

I now use the Quest on my Quadbike when i'm crop spraying.......! The 'breadcrumb' trail is handy when you're spraying clumps of nettles and thistles in a big field:thumb

FP.
 
Hmmm still no mention of the new 350 LM then..

I am a little sceptical of upgrading to the 550- 660 as most/all people I know who have them have had problems somewhere along the line.. putting dodgy download mp3 on them ??? lol :P (my personal opinion is that its a touch screen and gloves thing )

I am very familiar with mapsource so it has to be a garmin but I must say my quest has been rock solid .. If I upgrade it will be to the 350LM so I was kinda hoping that someone mite have one .. :beerjug:
 
As a long time owner of Garmin GPS's I discovered that the Zumo's came along when Garmin wanted to start selling GPS's with their own chipset in them... in my opinion they took a major step backwards from the streetpilot line, and didn't give much back in exchange.

I still use my 2820 and recently tried to convince myself to buy a Zumo 660. TBH the only thing that attracted me to the 660 is the memory card ability.
I stand to loose the IR remote functionality, which I have mounted on my hand-guard for changing zoom levels on the move.

The 350 is In my opinion an upgrade to the 220, and gets you a lot of what the 660 has. They've left off the blu-tooth Phone-link function and MP3 player in order to give you a reason to buy the 760 (or whatever they call it.. the upgrade to the 660) I'm really hoping they bring a lot more to the 760 to give a really good reason to own it over the 350.

My colleague here at work just upgraded his Quest II to a 350, and is using it to drive his familly around france at this moment... he's going to use it on an upcoming Group trip to Bosnia.. I'm sure it'll be a lot better than what he had. (Quests are so slow)

Just some thoughts...

Al...
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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