| Author | Message | ||
     F_skinner |
Thanks Wayne, I have been following Ratbuells thread from the begining and although I really like the Zumo 550 I do not like the price. I am thinking at least getting the Quest 2 for now and maybe later upgrading if it does not fit my needs. I like to have a good ides where I am going anyway so it will be great for those times my memory fails, which seems to be a lot these days. Thanks again, Frank | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, I used the Q2 in the truck today (rain/ice) when I was running a couple errands. Nice unit. I need to figure out the route preference thing though, it keeps trying to take me through the slowest streets in town because they (on paper) are "shorter" - just have to fiddle. Frank - you can choose what shows on the left side of the screen next to the map. I have distance to next / time to next / arrival time showing all the time. When you get close to a turn it shows which way to go and a closeup view of the "map" that has the turn pictured. If you check it once in a while, I'd suspect you'd be fine - even if there's not a turn coming up, the distance/time to next displays will give you an idea of what your next move will be. I'm probably not going to worry about audio at this point, but just add it to my visual gauge sweep and see how that does. There's also a screen that shows nothing but turn-by-turn text directions and progresses through as you accomplish them. Re-routes are pretty good, not too slow. It's cloudy here, occasional drizzle, trees are all iced up and I was on back roads with a heavy canopy. It lost me a couple times, but nothing major and when it loses sat. contact, it defaults to your next turn / street name / turn direction based on where you were when it lost you. I also had to reroute a couple times due to road closings (ice taking down trees, I guess) and it did an admirable job. For mounting...probably the easiest bike-to-bike swap will come with a wired cradle on each bike, and just pop the gps from cradle to cradle. The cig lighter plug is HUGE, it's got like a 2" speaker in it and about six feet of cord. The cord screws into the cradle that came with it for security (I guess); I'm gonna remove that and see if it has the same connector on it as the Buell cable. If not, I'm gonna have to order the Buell cradle to go with the cable - it all depends on the pinout and shape. I'll keep updating as I get stuff done. Right now, though, I have to deal with a pellet stove auger that keeps locking up. What fun. | ||
| Froggy |
Rat I have mine set to prompt me if I want the fastest route or shortest distance. Off hand I couldn't tell you how to change that setting, but it is in one of the menus. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Yeh, I have it set for 'prompt' as well, I just need some time and experience for which to use. Also the 'avoid' menu - toll roads, unpaved roads, etc. Just gotta try it out a bunch and see what settings work best is all  | ||
| Reepicheep |
The waterproofness does not extend to the car adapter... leave it in the car and build a custom setup for your motorcycle. When you do NOT have the voice cradle attached (just the two power leads), the device will (a) beep and (b) light up whenever you have to "do something". You can also configure the screens to show a number of miles until the "next something" you have to do. That works *great* on a motorcycle, as you just glance down for (literally) a split second and see "3 miles" and know you can ignore the GPS for another 3 miles before needing to pay attention to it. Definitely install the Garmin drivers before hooking it up to your USB port. Otherwise windows may struggle to ever correctly recognize it. Getting windows to "unbind" the wrong driver after it gets bound is maddening. RAM sells the plastic cradle (without power connector) for $10 or something. It does unscrew from an AC adapter or something, but it needs 5v regulated output, not 12v from the bike. The $70 handlebar kit includes the regulator and mounting brackets if you don't want to cobble one together on your own. Also get one of the $10 ebay external antennas. They get much better reception, and sooner or later your hinge will fail. Use the external antenna whenever possible and leave the antenna flap folded in, to give it a long life and just use it when an external antenna is a PITA (like when walking). I hacked mine to charge off of usb, but had parasitic battery discharging as a result, so I have since undone it. Just hack together a charger. Garmin CS is generally very helpful. You should be able to download the whole package from their site, and it should include the drivers. You may still need to call Garmin to get an unlock code though, my refurb did not work correctly with the included code. | ||
| Ratbuell |
I did manage to find the unlock code, so I've been messing with things. One question I have, though - since I bought it from a Garmin dealer, shouldn't I have a period of free map upgrades? There's an update to the map (2009 is out now) but the site is trying to charge me $70 for it.... However, the "upload directly from Mapquest" bit is COOOL! Using actual *typing* instead of the cursor-mover-button to enter text is worth its weight in gold. Sunny out today, so I'm gonna try it on the Uly. Now, where's my zip-ties? lol, brackets aren't here yet....I do know where I'm going, though, so it'll also be a battery life test and mounting location test (since I have to go somewhere tomorrow that I'm not familiar with). | ||
| Wbrisett |
I suspect you'll have to call Garmin in order to get the latest update for the unit. Customer Service can generate free update codes for you. Wayne | ||
| Fung |
I just got my refurbed Quest 2 in the mail today. So far its a cool unit. $138 works for me . I will give it a work out this weekend. | ||
| F_skinner |
What web site are you all using to get the refurbed Quest 2s??? | ||
| Wbrisett |
I bought mine from these guys: http://actiongpselectronics.com/cart/index.php?mai n_page=product_info&products_id=89 Although there price seems to be a bit higher than what I remember paying for mine. Wayne | ||
| Nav18tor |
The Zumo 550 is worth every penny i spent on it. Small, easy to use and read and works in the car and the bike equally well | ||
| Sprintex |
Anyone see the new Zumo 660? http://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/site/us/ontheroad / | ||
| F_skinner |
Thanks Wayne. Frank | ||
| Froggy |
The 660 is lame on the spec sheet compared to the 550. No XM, uses micro SD instead of normal SD, can only store 10 routes vs the 550's 50. Only thing it has going for it is a bigger high res screen. | ||
| Nav18tor |
The only advantage it has is price Not sure anything much bigger than the 550 is needed, I have never found mine lacking in size, infact I like the square design. | ||
| Froggy |
I hate the software on the 550, I am tempted to mount my Quest back up and use both at the same time like how I do it in my car. | ||
| Maximum |
I gotta have my XM while on a ride! I use the radio a lot more than then GPS, unless I am in an unfamiliar area. | ||
| Nav18tor |
Re the software Not have used Garmin before, I found the Zumo a whole lot easier than the Navman I had previously used My daughter has brought a Garmin Nuvi in pink, my brother in law has a Nuvi (not pink) and they have both found the software easy and intuitive | ||
| Rekrab |
I spoke with Garmin today and the 2009 Map set is available for Quest 1. $75. They mail it and you pay when you load it. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Thanks Rekrab... Good Info! | ||
| Wbrisett |
Yes, the 2009 is the non-NT version (apparently they use the term NT in describing their map compression scheme), and that is the version I spoke of that two different people I spoke to at Garmin claim will be the last version for the Quest. The Quest II uses the NT version, same as the Zumo series, so that version should be around for a while. Wayne | ||
| Fung |
I used the Quest 2 this weekend and it worked great for me. seemed to be fast enuf for me. F skinner i just pulled from amazon. | ||
| F_skinner |
Thanks, I ordered one last week. Now I need to get the mounting hardware for the Uly and the S2T. | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, I found out that going off course and making it recalculate will definitely slow it down (especially in 24 degree temps, even though it says operating temps from 5 to 125 or some such...). Headed back from the IMS show I missed a turn in DC, and it recalculated...and recalculated...and recalculated...then I pulled to the curb and stopped, and it did everything much faster. So, I guess the moral here is, stop while it's thinking unless you're on a highway and don't have an exit soon anyway. It has recalculated pretty quickly in the truck when I used it on the highway - dunno, but I suspect I had less reception in the building-canyons of DC with cloudy skies than I had that day on the highway. <shrug> Still love the unit. And, the suction cup works pretty damned well too - I had the (windshield, I guess) mount that came with the unit on the bike, stuck to the airbox cover just behind the fuel door and air inlet. No jumping ship, even at (max mph verified) 103. Hey...it was late, nobody on the road, and I wanted to get HOME BTW, Fieldsheer insulated/armored pants with liners ROCK. Picked a pair up at the show (with a nice discount) and loveloveLOVE 'em. Nice and toasty. | ||
| Froggy |
There are several factors regarding the recalc speed, the biggest ones are reception, if your in a weak area it will have a hard time pinning you down and routing you. Also being in DC, there is tons of turns, so its more decisions, and its possible it was gonna say make a turn but you passed it. On the highway its not as big of an issue because because of the lack of exits and the more open area gives better reception. | ||
| Wbrisett |
Ratbuell: If you go back to my post where I compared the Quest, Quest II, and Zumo, I mentioned how slow the unit is when it has to recalculate. Take the Quest and Quest II under identical situations, and the Quest wins hands down every time. I'm not sure why this is, you would think that an updated model would be faster, but it isn't. They are nice units for the price, but it is amazing how fast the GPS market is moving now towards improvements. Wayne | ||
| Reepicheep |
It might also have been "trapped" where it took less then a minute to recalculate, but the moment it finally got a new answer, you had already passed the road it was going to tell you to turn on, and had to start over again... Pep boys had a low end auto garmin (c330 or something?) for $99... tempting for something to leave in the minivan... especially seeing that just getting a map update for one of my two Quests would be $72... | ||
| Rwven |
Have y'all checked out Garmin's new Zumo 660 yet? http://ces.cnet.com/8301-19167_1-10134143-100.html | ||
| Froggy |
Rwven, scroll up  | ||
| Ratbuell |
Well, my bracket parts showed up today. The part that bolts to the handlebar is HEAVY - obviously not a part of the mass centralization theory, lol. Glad I got the cradle, it appears the regulator (12v vehicle volts down to - according to the OEM Garmin cord - 5v) is inside the cradle as opposed to in the plug like on the OEM piece. Cord is just a cord - M and F aux plugs for the bike, fuseholder, headphone jack and power connector for the cradle. Got the screws to attach the bracket to the front brake perch but still have to source the 6-32 screws - one 1", 2 1-1/4" - to hold the cradle to the bracket. I'll post pics during install....if I don't stick to my camera because of the cold, that is. First time I've ever ridden home (14 degrees) and *not* had the fan turn on at key-off. Brisk |
