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BonusVFR

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Posts posted by BonusVFR

  1. For my recent BC tour, I loaded my Zumo with a crap load of extra POIs. I had some 30 databases from campgrounds, parks, MC dealerships, fleabag hotels, Walmarts, coffee/internet to VFRD destinations (Thanks HS). Most came from POIfactoy.com . The Zumo OEM database is pretty sparse with campgrounds for instance so adding adding custom POIs gives more options.

    Here are a few screenshots.

    2732689760099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    2460535590099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Here is a shot which really shows the advantages of the POIs and the symbols.................imagine you are looking for a campground. This road is in California but you get the point. Makes it really easy to pick them out! And then just touch the graphic and route.

    2461662540099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    In your POI directory on your PC, you should only have one sublevel so do not have separate directories for example like Motel 6, Super 8 etc. Just put them all in a Hotel sub directory. Make sure you name the graphics with the same file name.

    I did not look to see if this was in the Garmin DB, but I am sure it is even if it is not Tour Eligible.........................maybe when I step up to a 7th gen. :blush: :blush:

    2829868390099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Better view though perhaps than a Motel 6 ....you think.

    2361436210099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    And of course with any DB you could roll up and see this.

    2848502460099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  2. I am looking for a GPS that can be hooked to a computer, ride planned out on computer, then route transferred to GPS. I could care less about a GPS that gets me from point A to point B. I want a GPS that leads me on a cool ride that I have mapped out. Do these GPS's do this? Was at the Dragon last month and a guy on a Harley said he had a zumo and could go on a site where he could program any route he wanted into his zumo. Now that would be a cool GPS. The one that you could program to take you to the middle of nowhere.

    YES, this Nuvi 550 allows you to create and upload routes. The software to do this comes with the Nuvi. Well, it doesn't actually come 'in the box', rather you have to go to the Garmin.com site and dig around a bit. Once you find your way around, when you try to download map/software updates, you have to first register your device, and create a user account. It's not really that difficult if you're the slightest bit computer savvy. With the Garmin software MAPSOURCE it is quite simple to create routes and once you're done you upload it to your device. The FULL map database resides on your computer, so everything that your Garmin can see/detect, is available to you when you build your custom route. The custom route is developped by stringing 'waypoints' together to build the overall route. If I remember correctly the Nuvi 550 is capable of 10,000 waypoints. So if route planning is the defining feature in your purchase, make sure the model you buy can store lots.

    The Nuvi 550 is essentially the same as the Zumo 550, EXCEPT the Nuvi doesn't have Bluetooth. Somehow +600$ :angry: for Bluetooth didn't seem worth it...

    "take you to the middle of nowhere"...I've been there too many times already, :blush: that's why I bought the dang thing :laugh:

    BI

    The difference with the Zumo is more than BT. I really like the Nuvi line especially the 500 with Topo packaged. Great unit ...good for just about anything to include hiking.

  3. Here are few photos of loaded bike and typical campsite setups. In 3 summers, my brother and I probably slept in a hotel/motel 3-4 times...one of them being at the annual Catskills ride. For awhile there (at Catskills) it was looking like I was gonna regret not packing the tent...

    The waterproof bag on the back seat holds the tent, sleeping bag, ground sheet, air mattress and mini pillow. Most the the room is taken by the -5C rated sleeping bag. Re. sleeping bag...no I'm not nuts, most nights on the Newfoundland trip it was between 3C - 8C.------------------------------------------- What you will find with most tents is that the poles (when folded of course) are around 18" long and as a result will only fit in your top case. If figured, since I usually ride solo, why not use the back seat.

    Lots of good tips above .....concur put all you camping stuff in one bag that can be pulled and taken to your site. Tent, pad, and sleeping bag can all be put in one bag (waterproof preferred). I have a kids pillow from the VFR section at Wally World. I also recently added a very small high tech REI liner for my down bag as the effective and cheap fleece liners are too big. Saves space and allows me to better control temps. I also carry a small hatchet for stake pounding as rocks are not always there when you need them. After several VFR camping excursions I added a few real steal steel tent stakes as well as I hate bending those lightweight AL pegs every time in hard ground.

    I agree the length of the poles when folded is a key factor. This allows you to stuff the tent in a variety of places. High end tents generally have shorter individual pole lengths. The key advantage for me in quality backpacking tents is not the weight but how small you can pack them. My Tadpole 2 man tent from The North Face has 15 inch poles about the shortest I have found. Most of the web sites do not give pole lenghts so you have to measure in the store if you are a wack job like me.

    Yosemite

    2518349980099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Another thing to consider is the width of your pad. Avoid extra wide pads (26 inches) unless you are restless at night. You can get fairly thick pads at 20 inches wide. I can get one of these in 72 inch length into a Cortech Tail bag. Recently I got a Big Agnes pad to reduce my packing requirements..................no test yet as on my last trip I ended up staying in motels due to weather and time.

    A 2 man (not really) backpacking tent is good for one tired guy and most of your gear. I did one two bike tour with a bigger tent and bunked up so to speak. Never again! FU bring your own tent! It is hard enough to get solid sleep.

    My best MC camping is when I set up a base camp for a few days with a F....ing Cot and a tent I can stand up in. My truck carries a big cooler with beer too. I never carry food/stove/kitchen crap unless I base camp.

    2971435900099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    You will be ready to go in the morning.

    2178522930099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  4. Going back to the issue of downloading tracks ..........especially for off road routes, you have got to check the tracks out. And there is that pesky offroad problem of the ~ 250 point limit with the 550 (fixed with 660 I hear). I do not think it is good enough just to check tracks out on the Zumo. It is too much of a PITA to to blow up and review a 10 mile route. Really you have to zoom/check them on the PC. Off road, I find myself going down dead ends, finding stinking gates, water holes or impenetrable minefields and oh yes naps. All of these can create a bunch of extra and misc crap tracks and diversions. The only way to eliminate these is to blow them up in mapsource and sh... can them.

    Sanitize, clean and join on the PC!

    For other GPS units that mark points in a deliberate way you can also filter the tracks to reduce the number of points but the Zumo already has an excellent routine to optimize point placement so there is not a huge performance gain here .

    Sometimes it is a good thing to also check out the converted route too as the conversion is not always perfect. You can see here the route does not follow the track as I did a 180 cut back very close to the original track

    2553401650099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  5. In the last 5 months I have done quite a bit of KLR exploring/off-paved streets with the Zumo 550. However much of the time I have been on mapped dirt roads. I have found my Zumo setup varies depending how screwed up/lost I get or when I want to head back to home/camp. The Zumo setup is really a work in progress with almost new insights on every ride.

    When I download a dirt route (planned in Mapsource/Topo) or do a track conversion, I generally set my preferences to not recalculate but leave faster time instead of the off-road mode. I can see if I am on route and manually correct and guide over to the route visually.

    As I stated earlier in this thread, I have found recalculating routes off road can be a disaster as the dirt road db is problematic so the Zumo goes crazy as it may or not appreciate that you are on a dirt road even if you are. See my Borrego picture earlier in the thread.

    Off road mode routes with arrow direct to the next waypoint as described in the manual - over hill and dale to be sure. If you have a lot of waypoints on your route this is ok but I often do not. The problem lies in the fact that when you convert to a route from a track the Zumo basically uses a different algorithm dependent on whether a mapped road exists where you have been and so the off road mode works differently.

    Off road mode has been handy a few times to point me in the right direction........but best to have several waypoints cranked in if not on the route ..............to the edge of civilization. Much easier that looking for and squinting and punching by hand destinations under the hot sun.

    In this test, I set the Zumo to Offroad mode with Recalc set to off. I loaded my mixed terrain route into the Zumo and headed out. There were no waypoints in my route per say…just my tracks from a previous ride.

    First thing you can see here is that I am off route and not on a mapped street and you can see the arrow is pointing at the closest point on the route (actually a viapoint part of the track conversion process when there is no actual street)…………..not to the end of the route or the destination.

    2483301960099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    And it is a point as there is no underlying street to factor in. The arrow is helpful and guides me quickly back to the route.

    You can still see my old tracks on the conversion route too.

    Now I am actually going up the previous tracks and the distance to the next turn/point is marked on the screen. Again there is no underlying road on the map set……………..

    Go East 400ft and I am just following the road not turning off of it.

    2260538000099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Go East 500 ft etc. You can see that the route faithfully follows the old tracks

    2411682510099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Here is the road I am actually on ....actually upgraded quite a bit for use by the Border Patrol……………..just not in the map set yet until City Navigator 2017. But it does appear in CN about half way up the mountain.

    2293362910099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Now when the road appears on the CN map set you get this…………..same damn road.

    2012578470099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    You get a name - Otay Truck Trail - and note how the distance goes to the end of the route here as there have been no intermediate waypoints put in by the track conversion algorithm. And my old tracks do not necessarily follow exactly the route...............because the route conversion used the actual road.

    I could not go off the route here as I would have dropped 2000 ft to the bottom of the ravine.

    Here is the Zumo conversion route downloaded back into Mapsource……………..you can see the transition from viapoint generated route to road based route. Blow up the shot if you need too to see the viapoints on the west side of the route till the road on the map appears. In this case Topo and City Nav agree although they are both wrong/out of date.

    2051416970099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    So if you have a mixed route of pure off-road and mapped sections you will not see consistent indicators on your Zumo not matter how much dirt there is!

    Here is a clear example of the downside of off road mode. Say you had a day of it and the exploring is over and you want to get back to the barn or campsite. I am still in off road mode here. If I punch a town on the periphery of civilization, you get the arrow direction direct to Dulzura in this case.

    2947750880099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Yes over that little hill. Guess I do need the knobs.

    2025237120099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Better to be in faster time or shortest distance mode in this case as the dirt road obviously is in the map set, and route using the roads would be cool and no doubt faster especially if you are tired and not skilled (see KLR resting shots). Of course If you are in off road mode you can still get there but have more Zumo steps ie select shortest distance or time modes and then punch in a favorite/waypoint.

    So there is no silver bullet.................you pick the best mode for the situation. Judgement. You have to use your wits which is a problem if you are a half wit like moi............but I actually enjoy the Zumo interactions more off road...more of a challenge. I am always trying to figure out the best way to optimize the scenario.

    Hopefully this helped ...........at least to start you asking more questions. You can still wing it but perhaps even more route planning is required, but no such thing as a perfect plan.

    It has been fun...............more experiments to follow.

  6. Since the dual sports seems to do so well in the second bike poll.............more on my dirt woes.

    Well I have had a chance to get dirty with the Zumo a little bit more. I seem to need more rest off road. :biggrin:

    2384223450099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    First I did a ride to the Mexican Border over uncharted city streets, unmarked river valley, new unmapped dirt roads, mapped dirt roads and open terrain by the future USA border fence. My goal was to get a better handle on the Zumo Off Road Mode which I never have felt comfortable with.

    2504191240099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    For at least half the route I used my tracks from a previous ride. After a little track editing I converted the track to a route with the Zumo upload process. These converted tracks were obviously mixed ....some street or mapped and some pure offroad or unmapped anyway. My plan was to wander off the track conversion and observe closely what happens with the off road mode.

    Here are the tracks of the actual ride.

    2308123180099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    The border not far from San Diego...believe it............we were the only ones there including those swine pig things!

    2113115080099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Next the experiment.

  7. I had to shoot over to Las Vegas on business ..................scored a new low for me. Thankfully I avoided any congressional staffers so I will not have to testify.

    On the way back!

    2879100370099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Only Badwater is lower.

    2140401450099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    On the way out. Glamis California.

    2706332430099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  8. Garmin has two Topo types high & low res basically that cover a variety of areas with high & low price points. There are also high res National Park Topos. After seeing screen shots on a couple of jeep threads, I thought the high res would work better for me. While I was investigating the Garmin Topo maps, a KLR rider (Scorpio) suggested I check out these California 24K topo maps.

    Oh .........they are free. Took me a while to get them on the PC and the Zumo.

    http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/28

    I ended up downloading from the source Laura Sanborn to get them on a SD card.

    http://www.vr6.com/gps/map-bg.htm

    Mapsource allows you to instantly switch between City Nav and the Topo. You can pull up a route or tracks and instantly see the difference between the mapsets. This is very handy for dirt or back road trip planning and post mortems. Now where was I exactly?

    A couple of points on my dirt routing that I may not have emphasized enough.

    When I build off pavement routes, I NOW tend to build more waypoints that are not real stops but nav prompts instead of using my usual shaping points. I pretty much use shaping points exclusively on street tours. I throw in random steets waypoints not in the routes but as maybes. For me, waypoints have an even greater advantage off road especially on the topo maps because the flags stand out in the clutter. Much easier to to find your bearings that way..so my thinking on waypoints off road is morphing.

    Despite the fact that the routes with waypoints download the waypoints too, I still download all waypoints as well (route and non route). When your route goes to hell due to a fence/house or something odd you can route directly to a waypoint and find an alternative way if there is one.

    I will probably will come up with some naming convention that makes it easier to quickly sort out the order of the waypoints on the route. LawsonValley1, LawsonValley2 etc.

    Lawson Valley

    2974335840099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Some Topo shots. Recalc is off here and I am rejoining route after a few detours. Note the waypoint flag which is easy to see.

    2041660670099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Really gives you a sense of the terrain. Crossed a stream...yup and rejoining the route again.

    2852931080099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Steep bank to the left and a stream to the right...topo checks out ...the screen capture was taken on the return leg a few yards from the photo

    2668924630099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    2844697050099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    My number one Navigation problem...........kinda reminds me of a reef in my Navy days.

    2722427430099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    I see more of this on the topo. A little bit off road. But there is no place to go once off the trail. About 2960 feet........really.

    2257406480099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Compared to the City Nav map.

    2030272670099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Look how accurate the elevation profiles are though. Hardly worth looking at the altimeter screen. This is based on a sample size of one....

    2777576000099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    In this shot you have my tracks on the topo screen. This screen dump shows more roads than there actually are too.

    2355732180099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Besides the National Park issue in the thread above...............don't bother looking for gas.................gotta go back to the City Nav.

    2609430520099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  9. V4Rosso ....who makes your Topo mapset and how much area does it cover?

    My Top experiences have been mixed but on balance a big plus. And my digital maps are free! Topo is not a panacea but another big aid along with the City Nav maps in the Zumo.

    My foray into Topo has put me on a steep learning curve and I suspect I will be trying out different topo maps. More later on Topo!

    My California Topo maps for instance did not register this little ditch last weekend ......Death Valley. Turns out no National Park data in my California Topo mapset.

    2867312430099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

  10. I know that many on this site are all too familiar with GPS tracks. Probably one of the things that most annoyed dirtophiles about the Zumo was its track capabilities...it has been panned quite a bit on advrider but.............it ain't all bad.

    Based on my experiences alone, it almost goes without saying that one of the best ways to explore new ground is to follow somebody else’s path or in this case tracks i.e. a fellow traveler who has actually been there and done that. It is just as new to you after all. So if you follow the a track you will be fine.

    This can eliminate a lot of bushwhacking, back tracking, frustration with the inadequacy of GPS and paper maps and uncertainty about if there really is a way through at all. Using tracks is akin to retracing a street rider’s tour report except that you use his actual GPS position points, breadcrumbs or tracks as opposed to planned route.

    You could always do it your own way, chart a new course yourself and push the envelope but you could also end up in Massachusetts like the Pilgrims..and the taxes.

    The Zumo is one of the best GPS units out there for recording tracks as it auto stores up to 21 files of 10K points each. The Zumo has an algorithm that marks a point dependent on speed, changes of direction etc. This is a hands off proposition so you do not have to turn the tracking on or change the logging criteria when you roll from the slab to the dirt.

    Mostly dirt tracks in San Diego in Mapsource. All downloaded from Zumo! 50/50 street and dirt

    2469633030099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    The view from the top. Pacific and San Diego on a cloudy day.

    2294795470099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Of note is that in the southern portion of this map there is no road on Mapsource..........now you know the rest of the story. Yes a poor dirt rider can get through. You can look at Mapsource all day but this tells you anybody can make it!!!

    This part of the trip is in Mapsource

    2266717760099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Another 100% dirt portion running up to Julian in San Diego.

    2836198370099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Zumo has a very sensitive receiver. This means you can get a fix almost anywhere...in the trees, canyons etc. You see the Zumo records everywhere dirt, street or while sampling beverages.

    You can play with your tracks from a ride or tour forever figuring out what you really did and how fast, high, when and where. Elevation profiles, leg speeds...great fun. Where was that photo anyway? Check the time stamps and compare ...watch the time zones.

    The Zumo records tracks with the best of them. I figure I can ride for about two months straight and still be recording…but who is counting. The Zumo can also display about two days of your own tracks (10K) on the GPS screen so if you get lost you can display your tracks magenta line and follow them out.

    Here you can see several sets of tracks displayed on the Zumo screen.

    2792736810099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    However much of the criticism of the Zumo from off road purists has centered on its inability to display third party tracks or even your own tracks in different colors. Following tracks has been adopted as the way to promulgate and follow the path to the promised DIRT land.

    The Zumo uses a different protocol to display other folks or your old tracks…namely it converts them to route. You can either do that from the current active log (about two days worth or 10k points) or import them from MS or a SD card to the Zumo. When the tracks are uploaded to the Zumo it auto converts them to a route. So when you follow somebody else's tracks on the Zumo you are actually following tracks that have been converted to a route. But you can do it.

    Here my tracks converted to route which I am following. There is no road in the Zumo/MS mapset shown here even there actually is one now.

    2307255510099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    If you want to reverse a route it had best be done in MS as doing it on the Zumo is problematic. And following a route the wrong way on the Zumo can be troublesome…try it you will not like it. You can follow your displayed tracks either way.

    Unlike some GPS unit that can load and display multiple set of tracks the Zumo can only display one route at a time. But you could combine multiple routes and have a waypoint announce “starting part two” or some such drivel. You can import up to 50 routes in the Zumo so there is no practical limitation as you can store whatever you like on the SD card and then import them as you need em.

    Here are is a route converted from Tracks near Borrego California.

    2769844830099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    The tracks in Topo ...........road here but not on City Nav maps

    2535927600099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    And there is a road but that does not mean it will be on a map!

    2908306470099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Next a couple of notes on the track to route conversion process ....differences between street and dirt conversions. And remember that Mapsource and the Maps are really too different animals and both need updating...but you use Mapsource to look at your maps and monkey with your routes/tracks on the PC.

  11. I use my Zumo on the Wing on almost every ride. On the VFR, I used it pretty much on tour. So I left the mount on the GL and switched as part of my tour preps.

    I have found that since I am not familiar with the dirt terrain in San Diego and the desert areas, I employ the 550 on the KLR nearly every ride. Right now, I have a hardwire to the battery but that will change with a few farkles. My usage (shifting between bikes) likely will precipitate "stimulus" change in the way I hookup the Zumo.

    My off road/dirt/sand navigation has not been seamless.

    On my recent rides in Borrego Springs for instance, I got into Nav trouble about half the time ...mostly cause I used the wrong Zumo settings and I forgot my headset adapter with meant no voice prompting even if I wanted it.

    I was screwed other times as there was no road on my GPS maps to where I wanted to go. Even though there were real roads. I hear even the Topo GPS maps are not much better with off the beaten track roads ....but at least you have an idea of the terrrain. Topo later too!

    I do remember how to use a map though and I had a lousy one of those too.

    On one of the dirt portions, I got away with using my standard Zumo settings but the dirt roads on the southwest portion were clearly marked in Mapsource. My tracks and route line up just about perfectly. Lucky it turns out.

    2839301080099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Although I had fooled around with the off road mode in past I did not use it .....although I should have.

    Here is what it looks like on the screen...imagine you are in a desert. Follow that pointer.

    2021712480099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Now here is another route that really turned to crap. You can see the route coming south but my KLR followed the biggest road (white track here) to the left off into neverland. It was not my fault!

    If you look from the predator drone you can see there are tens of trails all over the place and it looks obvious what to do. Unfortunately I was like a rat in a maze...could not see crap. Very few of these roads/trails were actually in the mapsource database....this is a problem.

    2081864340099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    When the Zumo sees that you are off the route is recalculates (if that is what you want), but unfortunately it often tries to steer you away from the road you are on because MS does not think it exists. Confusion reigns!

    So you have to cut the recalc fires...to this setup.

    2309426910099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    This is what it looks like following a route (sort of ) when you are not auto recalculating. I have used this several times on street tours when I was in an exploring mode and did not want to hasseled by another woman.

    2754429460099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    A shot joining the route but with Topo Maps shown.

    2852931080099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Now lets say you come to gate on your route and there seems to be no dirt roads in the Zumo mapset but you are on one obviously.

    Turn on the off - road mode.

    2565283270099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    And most importantly hope that you have cranked in some secondary waypoints on the periphery of civilization and then watch the arrows so that you are headed roughly in the right direction.

    Go left Boy!

    2191438710099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Next - Turning on your own tracks and using somebody else's that knows what they are doing and more about route planning.

  12. I did something very similar on a dirt road (on a similar bike to your 'vfr'). I was very interested to look on the Zumo some days later (I was concussed & had no recollection & had to be collected by my wife from the local hospital) to see what my speed was when I binned it = 86 kph = 54 mph. Advice I had been given was gas it through thick sand so I was doing as I was told.

    That is what they say.....................speed is good in the sand..................till...................... :biggrin: My shot was a result of a choice in directions..............indecision on my part and then a problem.

    My Navigation results off road with the Zumo have been MIXED!

    Hence a few lessons learned which may help with some street exploring too.

  13. OK a teaser.................when you come to a fork in the road............take it. Yogi Zumo circa 2009. The Zumo survived.

    2909889220099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Documentation provided by a buddy!!!!!!!!! :biggrin:

  14. Well of late, I have been doing a lot of offroad (dirt, sand etc) riding and non tarmac back road navigation with the Zumo. To be sure lots of lessons learned..............the hard way.

    2063143610099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    VFR with adventure tires.

    2789501590099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Anybody give a crap about that ............illustrated as always and with Topo?

  15. I swap between three too. Not really a problem though.

    No reason to jump ship now as I still like the Zumo 550. This could turn into a real 5th versus 6th gen debate.

    The gear driven cams are better on the 550 but the new 660 has stereo BT and some other stuff. More F...ing batteries on tour? :huh:

  16. New Zumo 660 released at CES in Vegas. It is on the Garmin stie.

    Figures, I just get the 550 and start using it and a newer, better, cheaper model comes out - Damn-it :huh:

    Don't panic ..............folks are just dissecting the features now.............may not be better for the way you want to use it.

  17. Just got my Zumo 550 setup and installed my Ed Set headset and mic. Thought I might share some pics of the helmet setup.

    Gave it a quick test and everything seems well. Sound level from the Garmin Zumo 550 is somewhat low but I think an amplifier as mentioned above would be needed to correct that.

    Before you buy an amp make sure you have both vol controls on the Zumo to max. Most people initially only adjust the balance and not the main vol control.

    I just broke my headset , so I will probably buy an edset rig. Give us a report when you test it out.

  18. I heard Garmin finally also offer the map updates to be downloaded instead of shipping them on DVD. Sounds good as my experience is that shipping takes months :fing02:

    Took a week maybe to get the DVD. You can download as well but I went with the DVD as I was switching/adding computers and wanted to make sure I had a "bird in the hand".

  19. I just upgraded my original Zumo maps to City Navigator NT 2009. I used the DVD upgrade. On the PC, I upgraded the maps in Mapsource application as well. All went smoothly. Most likely I will upgrade every two years.

    pt-citynavnt080225.jpg

    I am running Mapsource version 6.13.7 on the PC. Many have complained about the latest version 6.14.1 ...................too slow they say. I put 6.14 on a new laptop (7th gen with more cc/power and lots of inteltec fuel/power saving features and larger hardbags) and it runs ok. Probably will leave it alone for a while.

  20. The Amplirider

    When I use earplugs on the VFR, I have noticed that when I listen to the Zumo using my helmet speakers the volume is a touch soft especially with my noisy HJC flip up helmet. A noisy helmet also correlates with speed I hear.

    After months of investigation, I purchased an Amplirider (would you believe an Amp for MC riders) to boost the power and to integrate a radar detector downstream. It can handle three audio inputs. The basic criterion was that it had to be errrrrrrrrrr cheap…about 50 bucks. This was a lot less than another option the Mixit2 amp. No Intercom or other features were required as I never ride two-up on the VFR …………I save that for the Wing.

    It Works!

    ar1.jpg

    On my recent Sierra tours and VFR/Silverado escapades I tried out the system but did not hard wire it to my Tankbag. I used a dual purpose plug (Powerlet or Cigar) to my stem mount plug. The dual capability plugs allows me to use it on any bike with a power receptacle. There is no battery backup. In the future, I may use a quick disconnect SAE plug kit from Powerlet and keep the unit in the Tank bag.

    One of the best features of the unit is that it has a remote volume control which is analog. This has the advantage of allowing an almost instantaneous mute which is kind of nice when fellow time riders are asking me where the Hell we are. The remote is a lot faster to use than fooling with the vol on the Zumo itself. I am spoiled by the Wings Mute button on the left bars as well as the two vol controls to boost the Zumo volume. Now the VFR essentially sports the same capability.

    Remote Volume Control on left front side of bag. The actual unit is tucked in my sunglass holder.

    2513398040099738507S600x600Q85.jpg

    Besides wiring the power you need a male/male 3.5 mm plug to hook the sound from the MC mount to the Amp. Any headset/earbuds will work with the Amplirider as long as it has a 3.5mm male insert.

    At rest, I have noticed a slight hiss in the audio when the MP3s are playing. Gary the proprietor of Electric Avenues says I should move the unit around a bit to test and if that does not work get an inline power supply filter. I have not investigated this option yet as the hiss is not noticeable once you are underway.

  21. OK.......... I just tried another RAM setup for the Tank mount.

    I found that often with my stem mounted electrical outlet, I do not have room for some plug ins especially when I use my BMW/Cig adapter. With a straight BMW plug I had no no problem but I made another change so I can better use the Cig dodads.

    I had Jastek make up a right angle plug to solve that problem. In fact, I had them fashion a split plug to the Zumo and the Sirius, so I can pull the Zumo as needed without messing with the mount. . .. Works well. :fing02:

    Got a pic?? I have heard Jastek is pretty accomodating. I have a hard wire to the Zumo already so the Jastek mount/plug is for the other stuff like the cell and new amp.

    Here is another shot of the Zumo and twoballs sans tankbag.

    Bonus question where is this?

    med_gallery_2144_2760_232029.jpg

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