Though I agree with a GPS not being necessary for most rides and it making the bike look ridiculous, I still am interested in getting one. Reason being, I had my grandparents offer me a GPS for my birthday (coming up soon). I'm looking at the Garmin Zumo 450. Does anyone know what the best mount setup would be? I've look at the gas cap stand and a handlebar mount, but I haven't seen either in person. What do you guys think?

 

And I know it's an old thread, so sorry for bumping it if you don't care for GPSes .

 

Get a phone with GPS built in

 

Yah old thread but in case anyone else looks ... I Dont have one on mine but took a 5000 mile cross country trip with a buddy who had one on his and the help was invaluable. We took so many more interesting beautiful twisty off the beaten path roads along the way than we would have without one. We swtiched bikes every once in a while and I agree that it can be distracting and dangerous but his was bluetooth and voice activated so you hardly ever looked down at it ... I highly recommend looking into hooking it up via bluetooth to something like a scalarider.

 

Googlemaps works on my phone, but that means stopping, getting the phone out and looking up the map. No location detection though. All of that defeats the purpose of a mounted, easily viewable and accurate GPS.

 

That's what I was talking about Kewl, thanks. Do you know if that is the 450 or 550 Garmin Zumi? How clear was the bluetooth headset? Could you hear it on the open highways? And, did you hook up the set to your helmet or did you borrow your friend's?

 

Sorry, I dont know the exact model number but I know he said it was the one specifically made for motorcycles and came with a mount for motorcycles if that helps any.

It took some setting up and adjusting to get it just right but the sound was awesome once it was adjusted properly. Before we used it I thought for sure wind noise on the hwy would definitely drown it out but it was pretty good even at high speeds. Not quite good enough to make calls at hwy speeds (not that I would anyway) but definitely good enough to understand and hear the instructions.

We both had the scalarider team bluetooth headsets (about $169 ea) so we where able to both hear it at the same time as well as communicate with one another. But they also sell the solo version for about $135 if you just want one for yourself and not another rider or passenger.

 

i woulldnt get a gps for my bike, it would only attract more thiefs D: so y even bother?

 

^^It slides right off the mount. We never left it on the bike.

 

Agreed, they make same type of mounts for phones for that reason.. or set the destination and run a headset up to your helmet and listen to the turn by turn if your lost..