GPS Advice

[F6Broy]

Looking for advice on a GPS unit for my F6B. I have never used one on any motorcycle I have owned but am considering it now . I do not ride with a headset and am a low tech kind of guy. Just thought it might be time to give it a try. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Roy

[Hornblower]

Looking for advice on a GPS unit for my F6B. I have never used one on any motorcycle I have owned but am considering it now . I do not ride with a headset and am a low tech kind of guy. Just thought it might be time to give it a try. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Roy

Low tech kind of guy...does that mean you don't have a Smartphone? If you do, one option you have for GPS is the WAZE app. TBH, I like it far better than my Garmin units. Now, since you don't ride with a headset, you'll have a problem hearing audible directions coming from your phone but you can just see what you need on the screen.

OTOH, if it's a dedicated GPS unit that you really want and you don't mind the cost, you can go with a Zumo. Of course, you can use less expensive Garmin units but most are not waterproof. If it's important to hear audible directions, you can achieve that by installing a BT receiver on your bike which will enable you to connect with your GPS and play it through the bike's audio system.

[F6Broy]

Hornblower, thanks for the input. I do have a smart phone. I figure if I get a unit I can see that should suffice. Do you know if I plug the phone into the cable in the fairing will the audio come through the speakers? I have looked at Garmin and Tom Tom units. I do want a M/C unit that is weather proof.

[2wheelsforme]

Top of the line is Zumo 595, the 550 is almost the same thing but get your wallet ready for either. Down in price and size is the 395 or 390 but does almost everything you need but it does have a smaller screen. I think the final 5 in the number means it has adventure routes available, don't think you really need those. LM means it has lifetime maps. Older model and still used by many is the 660 but silver and not as good looking as the other two. Don't think it has the tire pressure monitors either. The Zumos are great and you will find many who use them, good for sharing routes etc. Water proof, vibration resistance, left hand controls, screen face accepts glove use, add music and phone compatible they are nice. Base Camp is hard to learn at first but has a huge learning curve and works great after some playing around and reading.

[F6Broy]

Thanks for the information. Just the kind of info I am looking for. I agree I do not need to many fancy options. Just looking for well built and reliable. Roy

[2wheelsforme]

When I said 550 I meant to say 590. The 550 is really old. Unfortunately the options come with the well built models. You could go with a much less expensive non motorcycle Nuvi. You can find some good comparison charts on line of what the diff models offer. I think the 590s are going for just over 7 on e-bay or Amazon, the other one much less. You will also need two tire monitor sensors if you want that and it is good to know your pressures.

[Hornblower]

Hornblower, thanks for the input. I do have a smart phone. I figure if I get a unit I can see that should suffice. Do you know if I plug the phone into the cable in the fairing will the audio come through the speakers? I have looked at Garmin and Tom Tom units. I do want a M/C unit that is weather proof.

Great! You have a Smartphone! Maybe you're not as low tech as you mentioned. It's been a while since I experimented with this stuff but I don't remember trying to plug in my phone to the 3.5mm connector in the left fairing. Seems like that would work though. What I have done is to power my phone with a cigarette plug/USB socket in the left fairing cubby and BT link that to my Sena 20S headset. That does work quite well. And, BTW, my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge is weather-resistant.

I can't emphasize enough how awesome the WAZE app is on your Smartphone. Not only does it handle navigation like a GPS but it also alerts you to traffic conditions, cops, and obstacles in the road. I'm definitely a WAZE fan!

As you will see from other comments on this thread, there are various ways to get what you're looking for.

[lloydmoore1]

I have this one Tomtom Rider.

best features
Tomtom route planer enables you to log in to tomtom maps via any PC and plan your route. It is now very easy to use. You can then save your route to a file for future use, send it via email, or send it via Bluetooth to your device.
You can share routes also directly from your GPS via Bluetooth. I often sit at work and log onto tomtom route planner create routes and save them. Then next time I turn on my GPS they are there ready to use.

Bad features
Screen/font size too small. I find the street names too small to read sometimes and you can not change the font size.
This unit is waterproof however last summer after one huge rainstorm mt GPS fogged up. They replaced the whole unit no problems because it was still under warranty but I have yet to put this one under the same rain conditions.
good luck hope this helps

[olegoat345]

I use a used / rebuilt car TomTom I got off ebay for $70. You can pay 10 times that for brand XYorZ and end up at the same place, same time. If somebody steals mine or it gets wet or damaged, I'm just out $70, not 10 X's that. = Your bike, your call.

[soupbean]

Yes the TomTom & Magellan are hard to beat for ease of use. Had a Magellan in my truck for about fifteen years and the wife currently has a Magellan ; super user friendly !
Bought a Garmin 660LM several years ago, they were fairly new out then. Great unit with many really good features. But as others have noted, very pricey. I'm currently finishing up a mount for the "6". Going to run the audio cable into the left pocket so I can play GPS stored music & turn by turn through the bikes audio.

[Bigcityd]

Yes the TomTom & Magellan are hard to beat for ease of use. Had a Magellan in my truck for about fifteen years and the wife currently has a Magellan ; super user friendly !
Bought a Garmin 660LM several years ago, they were fairly new out then. Great unit with many really good features. But as others have noted, very pricey. I'm currently finishing up a mount for the "6". Going to run the audio cable into the left pocket so I can play GPS stored music & turn by turn through the bikes audio.

I use an old Garmin Car based GPS in a waterproof case that I mounted on RAM ball mount on the left handle bar. I can't upload a picture of it but this is where I bought it with an image attached. For $40 bucks I couldn't go wrong and I already had the old GPS. Like the TomTom you can upload routes through the site and load them on the GPS via the memory card.

http://www.twistedthrottle.ca/sw-motech-navi-case-pro-m-all-weather-black

[unsub]

Yes the TomTom & Magellan are hard to beat for ease of use. Had a Magellan in my truck for about fifteen years and the wife currently has a Magellan ; super user friendly !
Bought a Garmin 660LM several years ago, they were fairly new out then. Great unit with many really good features. But as others have noted, very pricey. I'm currently finishing up a mount for the "6". Going to run the audio cable into the left pocket so I can play GPS stored music & turn by turn through the bikes audio.

Super easy to do with the supplied wiring kit with the Garmin 660 and IMO the mp3 audio through the garmin "appears" to have a more robust volume. You'll like the result.

[Milkmaster]

I use a Garmin 52LM I gave about 100 bucks for that is held on by a nice bracket. I keep a ziplock sandwich bag to put over it in the rare case I might get caught in the rain. I can always take it off easily for weather or to wash the bike or if I leave the bike parked where it might get stolen. The speaker is loud enough that it gets my attention if I need to hear it. It is cheap enough to replace if I am unlucky enough to have it stolen at some point. Lifetime updates are included with the unit.

[F6Broy]

Thanks to all for these great ideas. I thought my mind was made up until the last batch. A lot of units come with a mounting bracket designed for round handle bars. Looks like they may not work on F6B bars. I will figure this out when I get some time around other F6B's.

[2wheelsforme]

I have an item like this in the spare parts bin. https://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/ram-mounts-cradle-adapter Used a flat strip of metal also from spare parts, had to drill one hole, already had one, added some small bolts, maybe 10/32s and pinched the square bars. Works great and with a med sized RAM arm it puts the unit right where I like it. You can also use the type that goes on/under the reservoir bolts. That puts the unit too far toward me for my taste. Lots of options.

[Steve 0080]

IMHO find an old 550 and never look back !!!

[F6Pilot]

RAM makes a nice ball mount that will bolt directly to the front brake reservoir with longer bolts. I have a Tom Tom Rider floating around here somewhere. Send me a PM if you are interested in going that route.

[cosborn]

Still love my Garmin 550

Chris

[ths61]

Some of the Garmin GPS units are TPMS capable. Just need to buy the extra tire sensors. The newer Garmins also have a database of photo radar and red light camera alerts like what some radar detectors have. Those are some nice additional features. They also have MP3 players, points of interest (like gas stations) and phone paring.