Author Topic: GPS qustion  (Read 3216 times)

Offline steven c

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GPS qustion
« on: October 04, 2016, 09:05:10 AM »
 I just ahve your basic car type, so what do you need to load route files? And cheapest!
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Offline charlie b

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #1 on: October 04, 2016, 10:00:39 AM »
What brand?  Garmins work best with their Basecamp software, but, it can be a real PITA to work with.  Don't know about others.
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Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2016, 10:21:56 AM »

What do you have?
What kind of routes do you want?


I use my smartphone. I get a dozen map choices. I have a number of PC apps, and it is easy to generate routes on a PC or tablet and transfer them to the smartphone.


And before someone clueless says it, my phone is waterproof and works just fine without a cell connection. The Garmin crap that I used for years had failed connectors, failed mounts, failed in the rain, was hard to transfer maps to, and was way over priced.



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Offline steven c

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2016, 10:38:02 AM »
 Well I'm a true Guzzi guy I have a fllp phone that makes great phone calls and thats about it. I use an old Magellen on my bike and you can not load anything on it.
 
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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #3 on: October 04, 2016, 10:38:02 AM »

Offline steven c

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #4 on: October 04, 2016, 10:41:35 AM »
 I guess I want to know what can take GPX files but dosen't cost $500. I know about the TOM TOM and Garmin MC gps just woundering if there is something else like an Etex.
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Offline bouts

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2016, 11:50:58 AM »
I have a Garmin Nuvi 2597 that I upload routes to.  Works well, and easy to follow, a bit hard to see in direct sunlight.  Survived many kms on my Kawasaki, and many kms on my Guzzi. 

Offline ITSec

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2016, 12:15:03 PM »
Lots of less expensive Garmins in the $100-300 range that can use loaded maps - get a car unit with a 5" screen, and keep a ziploc bag handy for bad weather. New (old stock, discontinued) Garmin Zumo 660s (motorcycle specific) can be found around $300-325 last I looked.

Basecamp is the Garmin software for PC-based mapping, but loadable GPX files can also be created using Tyre.

TomTom GPS units are another alternative.

I've owned Magellan, TomTom, and Garmin. I loved Magellan until Thales sold its consumer brands to Mio (disaster!). TomTom is good  but quirky, easier to use than Garmin but the maps are not always quite as up to date though their speed limit info is more accurate and current. Garmin has faster processors in my experience, but the interface on the device is a bit odd and the PC software is terrible. Garmins do have a better method for adding waypoints to a route that you are currently using on the device.
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Offline hauto

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #7 on: October 04, 2016, 12:45:58 PM »
I got a garmin 880 off ebay for $40 and it does pretty much everthing I need.Be careful not all automotive garmin units can do mutipoint navigation.

Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #8 on: October 04, 2016, 01:41:47 PM »
Well I'm a true Guzzi guy I have a fllp phone that makes great phone calls and thats about it. I use an old Magellen on my bike and you can not load anything on it.
 

I often create and edit routes on my PC using a simple program called ITNconverter. It can output  dozens of formats, including Magellan RTE or UTP. Does that help?

Try it, it is free and very easy to use. Not many features though.

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Offline steven c

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #9 on: October 04, 2016, 03:09:24 PM »
 Thanks for all the help! I'm Mac so that always complicates things. Though I may be able to load files in my old Garmin Nuvi 350that I also have.
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Offline rodekyll

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #10 on: October 04, 2016, 03:34:05 PM »
I have an Android tablet ("phablet" on account of it's got the phone and the tablet.  See what they did with the words there?  clever.  :rolleyes: )  and bought SYGIC mapping software off the Amazon site.  It's kinda 'basic', but it uses Tom-Tom maps and has a heads-up display so I can bounce the image off the windscreen so it reflects right-side-up and normal.  It even tells you which lane to be in, and in tests it shows speed limit changes on-screen AS YOU'RE PASSING THE SIGN.  You can set a speed alarm and get sharp curve warnings, too.  The big annoyance was that it wouldn't shut up about gas stations.  It's VERY proud of its ability to scent fuel from a mile away, and goddess help you if there's a lot of them (I finally figured that part out and shut the notification off)!  Otherwise it's a good $40 spent.  Maps are free.  Offered is US, Canada, Mexico (no wall indicated in this version), and Europe.  You might want to see if the Snapple store's got any.  I randomly named the british woman's voice "Emma", after Emma Peele, because she's so competent and miserably polite (In 300 yards, please turn slightly left; please follow the motorway for 15 miles, etc).  Some weeks later I went to the options, checked out the voices, and discovered the brit woman's voice is named -- Emma.  It has become the tablet's name.

Offline Wayne Orwig

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #11 on: October 04, 2016, 03:39:58 PM »
Don't use the German voice, it is rude.   :evil:

I like the Italian one, but don't understand a word of it.  :boozing:
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Offline rodekyll

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #12 on: October 04, 2016, 04:50:33 PM »
The robot lady in my Plantronics earpiece is rude and abrupt.  When I want to say a number for her to call she always sounds like I interrupted her nap -- a very stern and scolding voice.  Her favorite line is "If you said something, I didn't understand it.  Goodbye."

Offline charlie b

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #13 on: October 04, 2016, 05:37:39 PM »
ROFLMAO.  I do hate the current voice command software.  iPhone and Android are both horrible.

I use a phone and an automotive Garmin for GPS duties.  I use Copilot software on the phone.  I edit the trips in the unit itself.  I usually use Google maps for planning (when I have access to the web and a PC).

This is one area I wish the GPS mfgs would pull their heads out and use standard formats so people can share routes easily.  But, no, each one has their own way of doing things, including routing logic.  Pick two endpoints.  Two different GPS units may route you different ways.  Dumb.
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Offline LowRyter

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #14 on: October 04, 2016, 06:09:28 PM »
samsung Galaxy smartphone. 

I can plug into my car radio or bluetooth it.  And it doubles as MP3 player.  So 3000 songs and GPS. 

For the bike I have a vinyl cover on my tank bag that I can use a paper map or have written highway notes.  I keep my smart phone in the bag in case I make a wrong turn or get lost. 

The phone GPS really did me good when  I got off the metro in a shopping mall and was looking for my hotel at night.  I found out I left from the wrong exit and was heading in the wrong direction.  I got my bearing after only crossing one crosswalk. 
« Last Edit: October 04, 2016, 08:10:05 PM by LowRyter »
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Offline Bud

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #15 on: October 04, 2016, 07:21:06 PM »
Steve, You can get a smart phone through staighttalk program at Walmart for 30-60 dollars. I pay 46.00 per month after taxes with no contract. Google maps app is free. Hook up to your moto guzzi and go. Zip lock for rain. PM me if you like.

Offline rboe

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #16 on: October 04, 2016, 09:23:45 PM »
I must be turning into a Luddite as I gave up trying to use mapping and routing software in GPS's. I use mapquest to start out, noodle the route out on a paper map, then use the GPS to get through thorny sections (like the routes though Vegas). Pretty much use the GPS to see how many miles to the next stop I have plugged in. That way it helps me plan potty and snack breaks.

I picked up a samsung galaxy phone to use strictly as a micro tablet. Added Here WeGo GPS app and have been thrilled with it. Much better than Google maps, seems to have a better interface than TomTom (and I like TomTom for the most part). Which Here WeGo was available for the iPhone.
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Offline rboe

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #17 on: October 04, 2016, 09:24:38 PM »
Hey! Looks like Here WeGo is available for the iPhone! Woot!
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Offline ITSec

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #18 on: October 05, 2016, 02:01:52 AM »

This is one area I wish the GPS mfgs would pull their heads out and use standard formats so people can share routes easily.  But, no, each one has their own way of doing things, including routing logic.  Pick two endpoints.  Two different GPS units may route you different ways.  Dumb.


Actually, the routing logic being different is a good thing. Garmin has a tendency to send you over two lane dirt roads that go through private land, where TomTom has a determination to send you on the best available paved surface, even if that's a longer path. If you do competitive rallies, having one of each brand gives you alternatives in real time. TomTom invented the 'prefer curvy roads' algorithm, and Garmin copied it - another place where competition has actually been good for us riders.

As for 'standards' in things like file formats, I've worked in IT since the early 80s, and things are just as they always were. Standards get set in one of two ways most times - either a given proprietary format becomes so overwhelming in the market it becomes a standard (such as PDFs), or a standard is published for free use by everyone and becomes accepted by the market. Sometimes, the first of these happens, and then the second. One thing that GPX format has in common with PDF - both formats are only 'kind-of' open standards, with a basic version free for everyone to use, but the proprietary enhanced version is held by the creator (Garmin or Adobe) and is limited to their tools.
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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #19 on: October 05, 2016, 06:15:06 AM »
I use a Magellan 400 to record a route and transfer to a TOPO map once home. Beyond that, I have no use for one. A Rand-McNally atlas with a local map from the rest stop at the state line. The "you are here" Waffle House wall map also works well. Navigation by sun and star.

Offline swordds

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #20 on: October 05, 2016, 06:51:00 AM »
I use "Ride With GPS" for designing/creating my own routes. It lets you drop pins on a satellite view to mark the roads/trails you want to follow. When you save the route it is available on your smartphone to give you real time on the road directions. I have fun designing the routes in satellite view and sometimes the places I want to go have no place names or addresses and sometimes the routes I want to take have little to do with getting where I want to go so this app lets me select my own custom routes. It is like flying over an area in a low flying airplane and marking the roads you want to ride on the next day. And sometimes I just use Google Maps set to avoid highways.
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Offline tool flinger

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Re: GPS qustion
« Reply #21 on: October 05, 2016, 06:57:38 AM »
If you want to use something like a Garmin Nuvi you'll need one that accepts .GPX routes.  Garmin used to have a "device support matrix" on their website that showed exactly which models could have GPX routes loaded to them.  Here's a link to one but I don't know how up to date it is:
http://developer.garmin.com/downloads/legacy/uploads/2008/04/device-support-matrix.html

For planning and loading routes I tried Garmin Basecamp but I didn't like it.  Mapquest was very easy to use but they discontinued the option to load routes to Garmin products last year, so now I use the Harley route planner found here:
http://www.harley-davidson.com/content/h-d/en_US/home/owners/plan-your-ride/hd-ride-planner-overview.html

Hope this helps
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