I have a horrible sense of direction. I am planning a few road trips in the spring, just wondering what you guys use.

 

I have a tomtom rider, waterproof and low glare, works with gloves. Got it off Amazon for about $200. I use it when going to customers when I don't have all day to get there or longer trips when I can't remember every side road and turn by memory. Only negative it doesn't have built-in speaker for use in the cage, bluetooth only, although I never use bluetooth on the bike, visual only.

 

Thanks a lot champ!

 

Google maps on my smartphone, Bluetooth connected to my headset inside my helmet for live, turn by turn navigation.

 

Paper maps. Can't beat 'em.

 

X2, old school navigation is best.
And poor sense of direction? In the morning, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west in the afternoon. Not much more to know.

 

garmin Nuvi on a quick release mount works great. wired in a 12 volt female adapter port off battery, ran wire up to bottom of voltage regulator and just run wire down off handle bars from gps.

 

None. If I can't remember a road I pull over really fast and check google maps on my phone really fast. Makes for interesting trips

 

I use Navigon software on my phone (Samsung Galaxy s3) in a Lifeproof Nuude waterproof case, mounted on a generic RAM handebar mount. It's powered by a SAE/battery tender to microUSB adapter, with a headphone extension wired to a plug under the seat. That way, I can access all my music, hear the voice commands from the GPS, and take/receive phone calls at the same time with the same bit of gear. Off the bike, it doubles as camera, e-mail, web surf etc.

Basically a nightmare of technology, but saves having to pack any other electronics (and their assorted jumble of chargers, cables etc) on the road.

Great for when it's needed.

That said, I usually leave it turned of and in my pocket. Nothing sucks worse than dealing with someone else's crap while I'm riding, and I've never once regretted getting lost...
.

 

I use the ZUMO 550 in my car and on my bike for four years now.
On my Dyna I use the Küryakyn Universal Handlebar Accessory Mount for 1" Handlebars which fits all 1" handlebars. The P/N is 1421, see http://www.kuryakyn.com/index.cfm/go...etail/IMID/931




This is how it looks on my Dyna:



Been riding for hours in rainy weather (rain showers)....Zumo worked fine and still does, which leads me to the conclusion the 550 is pretty "rain proof".

I even use it to listen to music (MP3) with in ear plugs...




I ran the wires (+ has a fuse) along the neck under the tank. To get them into the tank tunnel I used a piece of thin plastic coated metal wire and inserted it into the tank tunnel from the battery side. I bent an eye into it and pulled the GPS wiring towards the battery and connected the wire ends directly to the battery studs.

Some friends use their car GPS in a tank bag to protect it against moisture. It's more or less a cheap solution, however IMO there are some negative points to this solution:
- running out of (battery)power if not hooked up to the motorcycle power system
- view is not so clear and out of line of sight
- operating the GPS is difficult

The Zumo 550 can handle European as well as USA maps and comes with the MapSource programm.
Routes made in itn.conv or TYRE can be uploaded using the .gpx data format


As to the TomTom rider:

The max number of waypoints TomTom can handle is 48 and always re-calculates importes routes, meaning the recalculated route can differ from the route you wanted to go initially...

If you have planned a route which has > 48 waypoints, you have to cut the initial route into 2 or more sections of max 48 waypoints each.

How to cut routes:
Using itn.conv or TYRE, plan the entire route and save it as .itn file.
Now reload the entire route, delete waypoints > 49 and up; save this part as part1.itn.

Now reload the entire route and delete waypoints 1 - 48; save this part as part2.itn.