Car Gps Mounting On A Bike

[Guest slither]

Talk to me about mounting a car GPS on a bike.

Specifically, if I go with an inexpensive GPS, and waterproof it with a box like the Ram Aquabox, what is involved with mounting/removing it on a daily basis? I had a Garmin 660 for a few years that is no longer with me. (If you ask, I'll tell you over a couple drinks)

So instead of spending ~$650 on another 660, I was pondering just picking something up from Best Buy/Radio Shack.

Things I'd give up:

-automatic waterproofing (not a big deal in TX, but hopefully I find myself in rain enough times for this to matter)

-easy on-off (connector built into cradle, no additional USB cable to connect or flop around)

-positive clamp, where there is no chance of it coming off unless you push the specific button, unlike the generic car Zumo mount.

-possibility of linking a blue-tooth phone into GPS, and a use of a blue-tooth headset (I don't have any plans for a bluetooth phone, and haven't had the motivation to set up a headset)

Pros:

-1/5th of the cost

I'm not fond of how slow the 660 was at re-drawing things while zooming and panning. I mostly used it for finding unknown addresses, friends/businesses, and as an accurate speedometer. Hence I mounted/dismounted it usually 4 times a day. To and from work, to and from whatever I do after work. Hence ease of on/off is important.

[2thdr]

I am in this same dilemma. $650 just seems high for a dated tech device. And their new one, the 350-something costs even more and has fewer features! I want my bluetooth, a good map, waterproof, mp3, and secure mounting. You would think someone could make such a device and undercut Garmin by a few hundred and clean up...

More ranting:

I can't even find one that has an audio out port that I can use to either plug into my little bluetooth transmitter or directly into my helmet audio port so I could at least listen to the directions (much safer than always looking down at the screen)

I have used my phone with CoPilot Live and it's built in music player, but power seems to be an issue as the 12V plug outlets in my tank bag get very warm during constant use, and CoPilot is buggy to use compared to my old Zumo 450, plug non-glove friendly and non-waterproof.

[Dutchy]

I bought a Garmin Nuvi 510, so it does not have the dedicated morocycle software the ZUMO's have. I have seen on the web how one can load zumo software on the nuvi since.

The 510 was targetted at cyclists/scooter riders. waterproff and shock resistent

The cradle is attached to a Rammount, they also sell a clamp with lock I think. The cradle has a little hole where the usb cable can be put in when the unit is not in use. I use a cable that takes its power from a powerlet, but still have the wire I can hook up to the battery.

Alternatively, there are small waterproof pouches you could affix to the bars somewhere

http://www.motozoom.nl/?gclid=CPfugLC5s7QCFcG_3godhS4AdQ

http://www.motozoom.nl/?gclid=CPfugLC5s7QCFcG_3godhS4AdQ

[Rice]

I have Garmin Nuvi 350 with a ram mount made specially for it for quick disconnect.

It has been the best gadget I have ever purchased ever since 2006 when I bought it.

It still provides way better directions than the GPS in my car...

It isn't waterproof and doesn't have bluetooth, but it works flawlessly in a car or on a bike.

It has audio out, stores music which plays while you ride and it can be had for about $20 used on ebay.

Ram mount for it is about $20 as well.

You may be able to find Ram-compatible later models with bluetooth and all that for not much more.

[CharlesW]

One thing worth looking at is free "lifetime" map updates that are included with many Garmin units now.

My 205W came with only one update a couple of years ago, but a lot of them now include the "lifetime" updates.

[Lee 2002]

I use a car GPS on a Ram cradle mounted to a piece of bent Lexan bolted to my windscreen.

During wet weather (including the April In Arkansas ride icon below) I just slip a sandwich bag over the thing (open end down) before putting it in the cradle. The touch screen still works even with the sandwich bag in place. I've ridden in torrential rain without any problems at all.

[mlh]

Yeah, I couldn't justify the cost of a dedicated GPS for the bike so when I bought the GPS for our travels here in Europe, one of my criteria was that I could get a waterproof case as an option. I ended up getting a Navigon 2500 for 125 euros and purchased the waterproof case for another 25 euros.

The GPS unit is pretty basic, but works very well in the car and does all that I need. The route programming can sometimes send you through some interesting roads, but it always gets me where I want to go...

On the bike, I made a simple bracket out of 1.5mm aluminium sheet that mounts off the tank bolts and also hooked up a simple USB car charger off one of the accessory ports on my VFRness. The waterproof case is made out of neoprene rubber with a clear plastic window at the front which still allows the touch screen on the GPS to work. The case comes with a couple of different quick release mounting clips (one for your belt and one for a bicycle handlebars) which attach to the hook on the back of the neoprene case. I glued the belt mounting clip to the top of my mounting bracket on the bike, and ran the USB cable from the charger up next to the bracket (I can tuck the USB jack under the edge of the tank to be out of the way when I'm not using it). Attaching the GPS in its case is a simple matter of clipping it on and sliding the USB jack through a small hole I made in the bottom of the case in line with the USB port on the GPS. It comes off just as easily.

I wasn't too sure about how waterproof it would be, but because it's mounted behind the screen it doesn't see a lot of water even in heavy rain. The acid test was when I was coming back from my last trip to the UK... I was riding for 8 hours in pretty much constant heavy rain (took 3 days for my wet weather gear to completely dry out) but the GPS was completely dry at the end, so it works.

I haven't used a dedicated motorcycle GPS so I can't compare it to that, but for me I find it works really well... the only downside I would say is that at certain sun angles, the reflection off the plastic window makes the screen hard to see sometimes. But for the cost I'm really happy with how it works. The nice thing is that I don't have to learn two different systems for the car and the bike.

Here's a picture of the mounting bracket (bike's a bit dusty atm as it's packed away in the workshop for winter )

Here's what it looks like with the GPS on.