| Author | Message | ||
     Zane |
When I bought my '09 XT it came with a Buell/Quest GPS. Well, the GPS has quit working and I guess it's time to replace it. I'm looking for a low to medium level of features. Also if it would slide into the existing cradle, to avoid any rewiring, that would be great. So what does the collective suggest as a replacement unit? | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
It's a Garmin item iirc so maybe another Garmin model will slot in. | ||
| Froggy |
The only units that work on your mount is the Quest and Quest 2. To make a long answer short, you are going to be looking at replacing your mount. As for what to get, I can't recommend anything currently being sold, each new generation of Garmins gets worse and worse, and everything else (TomTom, Magellan, etc) are not even worth looking at. My pick is the discontinued Garmin 550. | ||
| Zane |
Truth is I seldom (never) use it as a navigation aide. I use the speed indicator, compass and elevation readout. Really miss not knowing how fast I'm really going. Maybe if it was easier to use, I'd use it as a nav tool also. (Message edited by Zane on November 21, 2012) | ||
| Oldog |
Zane I have a Nuvi 1450 the mount is 10$ ( from ram )and the power adapter ( not lighter plug was 50 ) about what the cradle was. its not water proof, and its a car gps but for 200$ its huge and cheap, a zumo is over 500$ [ way too much ] | ||
| Xl1200r |
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=135 Froggy - what makes the 550 better than anything Garmin is offering now? I have the 550, but I was playing with the 350LM and liked some of what it added feature-wise. | ||
| Zane |
I was looking on the internet and some of the high end GPSs go up to $750. That's craziness. I'm way too cheap to spend that much on a GPS. | ||
| Weatherman |
i have the new 350 lm. very fast finding satellites and calculating. even found satellites when in lower level closed garage! | ||
| Slaughter |
450 and 550 were heavily ruggedized. Waterproof. 550 bluetooth. Some can be had cheaply. If you're really cheap, use your phone and a baggie. | ||
| Sticks |
Hey Zane. If you want my Buell Quest, you can have it for the cost of shipping. If your screen looks better than mine and you're certified to use a screw driver, ya might swap screens. Still worked last time I used it. But I just don't use it anymore. Screen had some glove scuffs. Otherwise great. Sticks | ||
| Froggy |
Actually thats pretty cheap for a good GPS.
I can't remember everything, but the newer 6xx models had less features, more bugs, and a crappy mounting system that makes it expensive to move between bikes. They ended up coming out with the 665, which added things that were missing like XM radio, and some of the software updates fixed some of the bugs. I'll have to dig into it again to remember what I didn't like even after playing with it in person, but it was missing some awesome features that the 550 had, and the 550 was missing things the Quest had. They keep dumbing down the interface with each new generation, at the rate they are going I expect the 7xx series to not even let you put in addresses. One thing I know that bugged me was the screen, they no longer have hard buttons on it, everything is touch screen, and while it works good enough with summer gloves, it is extremely difficult to use in thick winter gloves. The hard buttons on the 550 allow me to do basic things like answer/ignore a phone call with ease regardless of my attire. The wiring harness for the 6xx is part of the mount, unlike the 550 where the power cable is separate from the mount. With a 6xx you will need to buy an expensive mount and harness for each bike, vs the 550 you can use one mount on all your bikes, then optionally get a $10 power cable for the bikes you plan on riding for more than a few hours per trip. That reminds me, battery life is terrible on the 665, BAF only gets about 15 minutes on his if it isn't plugged in. My 550 is good for about 4 or 5 hours if the screen brightness is low. Most of my bikes have the power cable, but it is still usable for my daily commute on the Blast without power. The Quest gets something crazy like 20 hours, you will never see that on a newer unit due to the massive screens and higher power components. | ||
| Zane |
@Slaughter - Wouldn't work. My phone rings and my phone dials. That's just about it. No texting, no gps, no nothing but a phone. I'm that cheap @Sticks - That would be great, thanks. I'll send you an email after Thanksgiving and find out where to send some money. | ||
| Cyclonedon |
Mount your cell phone and use Google Maps. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Cell phones aren't waterproof and google maps doesn't let you do waypoints (on a cell, anyway). Both of those are deal breakers for me. | ||
| Slaughter |
I've been using a Garmin Zumo 450 since new. Bulletproof. Hard to get weatherproof and cheap unless used. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Two thoughts... If you have the real Quest mount (power hookup and sliding lock) its valuable and approaching unobtanium. Don't throw it away, sell it. If by "stopped working" you mean it just stopped getting a satellite lock, then you can probably fix it short term by removing two screws and spending a few minutes with a toothpick and some alcohol. And you can fix it longer term (and improve the lock sensitivity) with a $20 ebay part. The quest still works great as a "route follower" unit. You just have to live with older map data (which is generally fine for the kinds of back road routes I follow), do the route plotting on a laptop, and take some time to understand how to set up the Quest to operate in it's sweet spot. | ||
| Xl1200r |
Slaughter, my 550 has been the same way. I paid $611 for it brand new in 2007 and it's seen a lot of use. As time went on, the touch screen got really wonky and I thought I was going to have to replace the thing, but it turns out you can replace the digitizer (the touch-sensitive layer of the screen) yourself and for dirt cheap. It's been good as new ever since. | ||
| Zane |
@Reepicheep - By not working I mean I was riding, looked down and the unit was dark. Does not power up and does not respond to anything I do. It does not power up on a running m/c or when attached to the PC USB port. Yes it does have the original Buell labeled cradle. GPS unit slides in and locks with a slide lock. | ||
| Reepicheep |
OK, that's not the trivial fix then. Those mounts were like $70 or more when you could still get them new. | ||
| Ratbuell |
You can still get Q-II maps. I updated mine about two months ago on garmin.com (I have lifetime maps, don't know if that makes a difference). Zane - if your screen was clear, I'd be interested in it for parts. Mine has a spot that's pixellated and going black. Rest of it works great, but it acts like something struck the screen there and popped some pixels. | ||
| Zane |
@Ratbuell - Sticks has offered me his old unit so once I get that, I'd be happy to pass on my old one to you for parts. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Cool, thanks Rat. The Q1 maps were long discontinued, I didn't realize the Q2 (NT format) maps were still available. I have a couple of Q1's, and one Q2. I actually like the Q1's better, as they seem a little snappier in terms of response (though they all work fine). Truth be told though, the old map sets work great. Like I said, I just use the Quests as "path followers", not navigators, and they are brilliant at doing that. Think of them as an enduro roll chart but with beeps and really clear directions and countdowns to turns and street names. Pre-plot the route on the laptop the night before, load it into the Quest, and follow it the next day. No matter how good you are at sniffing out local roads, you can do it better if you can fly over the whole route with MapSource and Google Maps with satellite view. In particular, here in SW Ohio, there are very few "great roads" where you can pick one road and just ride it for hours and have it be great all the way. But if you spend an hour stitching together 30 or so back road goat trails that range from 1 to 10 miles each, you can put together a fairly epic ride. Norther Kentucky is even more that way... you can put together some amazing rides. All said and done, with an hour or two of work, I suspect I can put together some epic rides between point A and B that even a local would have trouble topping. Without the Quest, there is no way you could stay on track. Missing signs, rapid turns, minor rerouting (do it your self on the fly, don't let the GPS reroute for you), there is just no way you could follow the hundreds of turns necessary. Thats where all the other affordable GPS's fall down. They don't let you plot a specific route. They pick the route for you. If you want a "routable" GPS, you are stuck with either the Quest (or maybe an old Streetpilot) or a new $300+ Zumo. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Reep - yeah, I typically route on the laptop, and upload. Much better that way. And I'm sure the I is quicker than the II - not nearly as much data to tax the processor. Pretty much the only thing I do on the fly is, hit "route home" when it starts pouring-ass rain  Most times, it's not so much a route-finder...as a "route-home-finder" because I'm already lost (usually on purpose) and the weather is turning, or I've been having so much fun I need to get home an hour ago so I can go to work. Zane - I'd love a parts unit, please keep me posted. Thanks! | ||
| Reepicheep |
I think I have a parts unit laying around also, if you don't end up with Zanes let me know and I can see how hard it is to get a screen out (probably not trivial on the Quest). |
