Oh I'm sorry the one I was looking at on Amazon was a 390 for $350 but it was refurbished. Used ones can be found sometimes, I purchased my 590 two years ago used and a bargain. I consider it the best addition I have on the bike.
Oh I'm sorry the one I was looking at on Amazon was a 390 for $350 but it was refurbished. Used ones can be found sometimes, I purchased my 590 two years ago used and a bargain. I consider it the best addition I have on the bike.
I have the Zumo 550 and have moved it from bike to bike...there are still some out there for sale..Great unit!
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Same here, with a mount on both of my bikes. Used it on a 3200 mile trip a couple of weeks ago.Originally Posted by Steve 0080
Well I should have prefaced my post by saying that my dear wife knew I was thinking about getting a GPS and gave me $200 worth of Amazon gift cards for our Anniversary.So I am somewhat limiting my purchase options for what I can get on Amazon. Finding the older discontinued models is a harder task. So I am basically looking at current or fairly recent models that can be found on Amazon. I just wanted to get a sense of other's experience on whether I would really be justified in adding another $600 to buy Zumo 595 for example. I appreciate all the input.
"Go sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up"
Found a refub Garmin unit on e-bay. Still nearly $500.00. I've been using GPS since it became available to consumers. Before GPS, I used Loran in boats, then GPS came along and everything changed. My first GPS was in a boat. The first one I used on land was a Navman unit in the mid 1990s in my Jeep. It was purely an early adopter's toy. You downloaded the route & map to the unit via PC before you left, and there was no going off plan unless you had the PC with you. Big Luggable Laptop. Remember printing paper directions from Mapquest? It was like that only on the dash, easier to read, and it read the directions aloud (sort of). I've used other GPS units from Magellan (boat and land), Navman (land and boat), ICOM (boat), TomTom (MC and car), Teletype (MC and truck), Northstar (boat). And I've tried many GPS apps for iPhone and Android (phones and tablets), Google and Apple Maps, and apps that store the map and routing software on the phone when you are out of data range. Plus whatever junk Chrysler, Mercedes, Ford and Toyota and Nissan put in a dozen cars over the last 20 years... I got to play with a lot of toys.
What do I think? The Garmin units designed for motorcycles are the best. Period. But I especially think that phone GPS using data can really really suck. Sure you can do it with Google and/or the few OK GPS apps that download the map and routing software to your phone. But these things are kludges. And especially unfortunate you will be if you decide to vary your route with one that depends on downloading detailed map and routing data as you go out of range of your data plan. And guess where that's most likely to occur? On the best motorcycle roads on the planet: in most of our big National Parks. Even Shenandoah NP near DC. Hell, even NYS's Adirondack and Catskills Parks still have huge land areas of of cell free zones. So forget the data based apps for phones if you want to really travel in rural areas. The few GPS apps that download both the detailed maps and routing software to the phone are barely ok. But make sure you have lots of empty storage space for a long trip and be flexible b/c they still don't reliably give you the best M/C friendly route on the fly. They over promise on the routing options. Most annoying? Turning around when the road in Utah turned to unpaved mud b/c I was trying out a phone app. Otherwise it was OK, even though I told it to give me the fastest route, with paved roads. So we could meet a plane home. Recently I played with an app that has all sorts of MC routes imbedded. But I also found that when I went off route, the thing tried to update the route and it failed to get me back on the route going the right direction.
It helps that the Garmin m/c units are built to take a m/c beating. The have a good list of MC features too.
I've had a two TomTom's. They are cheaper, fairly well built, but they aren't as well built as Garmin. Both of my TT's suffered mounting failures after 5 years or so. They are better than any phone based app on the market. So if cost is a big deal, and you don't care about having traffic and other apps that Garmin offers, the new TomTom is a pretty nice unit.
There are no other makers. Magellan is gone. Teletype tried a few years ago, they make a truck GPS, their M/C version was too slow to update routes.
For What It is Worth.
Garmin or TomTom
I don't think the curvy road feature adds much value at all. More important is the motorcycle friendly aspects of a Zumo. Not familiar with the Drive Smart line. I'm sure you like any model you end up with and upgrades are always possible. I started with a elcheepo then a Zumo 550 and now a 590. Enjoyed them all.
My question really is more geared towards whether the other features like the "curvy" road feature and any other features really made it worth while.
The answer is no.
I have a tom-tom rider 400. I rarely use the curvy road feature. On a normal GPS you can change your route by choosing 'select alternate route " this pretty much has the same effect.
If you can find a way to keep your unit water proof then you can save a boat load of money a buy a normal GPS.
If you buy a tom tom then you will get the "my drive '' app with it and this is a cool feature that allows you to log into any PC, create your route and then it will transfer to your GPS next time you power up as long as you log into the app on your GPS. Cool feature.
by the way the tom tom rider 400 says it's water proof...it's not. I'm on my 3rd replacement unit now because the screen seeps waters and condensation forms on the screen. Stay away form this model!!!!
Every few months it seems that Garmin lowers the price on the 395LM to $399. At Wingstuff, Amazon, on the Garmin site, etc. Next time I plan to grab a 395. One of my winter projects/expenses. Run a 550 now and for the past 12 years or so. It does great but I want the 395 and will pick up the tire pressure sensors also.
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Just curious but why don't y'all just youse an app on a phone? I have had a 550 and a 660 and yes they are nice but for the price I think I will use my phone GPS.
I keep my phone in the pocket of my riding pants. If the bike and I get separated in an accident, I want the phone accessible. Also, I don't have a large data plan, plus some of the remote areas in the western US don't have cell phone service. And, I like building rides in advance and loading them to the GPS before I make a trip, that way I can include all of the great, out-of-the-way roads that I want to hit.
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