Motorcycle and geocacheing gps suggestions

[+cgutzmer]

Hello!

My dad really wants to do some geocacheing. Only thing is that he wants a gps that he can also mount to his motorcycle for directions. I know the Nuvi's are not good for that because they are not resistant to water hardly at all. Do you have any suggestions? We would like to stick with Garmins because of compatability with geocacheing.com if at all possible.

Thanks in advance!

Chris

[+briansnat]

Garmin has a line of motorcycle friendly units called the Zumo, but if he wants to geocache with it too he's probably better off with a Garmin Quest/Quest2 or a 60CSX.

[+Rattlebars]

Garmin has a line of motorcycle friendly units called the Zumo, but if he wants to geocache with it too he's probably better off with a Garmin Quest/Quest2 or a 60CSX.

 

Has served me well since 2005 - rain sleet or snow (yes, I do). Older unit - Magellan, but it was cheep on eBay and never fails to take me to ground zero.

 

[+cgutzmer]

Very cool! Thanks guys I will look into the suggestions!

Chris

[+stokstad]

Very cool! Thanks guys I will look into the suggestions!

Chris

 

I have a 60CSx and a ram motorcycle mount and its awesome. I love it. I dont even use my speedo on the bike anymore as the GPS is a lot more accurate. I will try and get some pics soon.

[poodlenuts]

[quote name='stokstad' date='Jun 19 2008, 06:06 AM' post='3522868'

 

I have a 60CSx and a ram motorcycle mount and its awesome. I love it. I dont even use my speedo on the bike anymore as the GPS is a lot more accurate. I will try and get some pics soon.

 

I ride dual sport and also use the same set up works great

[+Rattlebars]

I ride dual sport and also use the same set up works great

Dual sport too! But I keep it in a pouch to keep the shock from bumps getting to the batteries. Seems that one should use a flexible mount to absorb shocks from bumps on the trail or on the road. Tales of the battery contacts getting vibrated and arcing causing heat and burn. Never personally saw it, but it's on the net in forums about off-roading and motorcycling (especially Harley applications).

 

My Velcro mount on the GoldWing absorbs shocks nicely insulating the GPS. The pouch on my quad does the same, and I usually don't look at the GPS while I'm moving off-roading. There are more important and possibly painful things to look at then.

 

[+gazzNsam]

I geocache on my motorbike,

 

at first i used my garmin nuvi 250w, i got a mount to secure it to the handlebar risers, that placed is out of the rain unless i was stationary, i had planned to get a waterproof case for it when it came out (GPS warehouse have them, not specific to the nuvi, but almost any 'standard sized' sat nav will fit in them, touch through front cover means you can still use it in the box.

 

but i then went over to a pocket pc with built in gps, this i mounted above the instruments on my bike, so it's totaly sheltered by the bikes screen, only way water can get to it was if i rode backwards this also puts the gps in the perfect position to see, the nuvi on the handlebars i had to look down to see it, the pda abov e the instruments is in my line of sight,

 

i also use the pda as a music player on the bike, and have it connected to my intercom, which means i also get instructions from the sat nav through the intercom over the music,

 

I use tomtom to get to the cache site by road, then i switch to geoscout to walk to the actual cache,

 

i prefer tomtom over the garmin sat navs for the better maps, and nicer voices, but i miss the ability of the nuvi to take all the cache details and display it as extra info on the poi screen.... but i also love the tomtom's ability to show poi's when zoomed out, as i like to choose a cache on where it is in relation to me on a map, something the nuvi cant do (80 meters is not zoomed out enough to see any distance between caches)

 

i really wish there was a way to get the cache info into tomtom like the nuvi can do, as at the moment i look up the locations of th caches near wherever i am on tomtom, then have to look up the cache details in geoscout, remembering the cache name or number.

 

But anyway, depends on the bike he has really, if it's a naked bike, then a waterproof garmin is the best, but if it has a place thats out of the weather like under the screen, then he could see if he can mount it up under it, or get a waterproof gps box and bung it in that mounted on the handlebars.

[+UPST8]

I love to cache and ride! I use a RAM mount that is highly adjustable. It can hold just about any hand held unit with it's sliding, clamping style locker. I have used a GPS Map76Cx and now run a 60CSx both work really well for caching. As far as navigating the streets I have no complaints, but I did need to buy the City Navigator Software to get any real good map datum. If you choose this route, remember to always, always laynard your GPSr with a good girth hitch or it just may come out of the holder at 55 or faster mph! Trust me on this one. Cache on!

[+Mopar]

Add me to the list. RAM mount and a Garmin 76CSx. It's seen plenty of rain and never had a problem. I loop the wrist strap over my mirror just in case the mount ever does fail. The only thing I still want to do is wire a power cord for it so it doesn't eat the batteries leaving the backlight on all the time at night. Already bought a straight cord with bare wires, just need to get around to doing it.

[+NOV8TR]

Ok, I'm a little obsessed with never having to pull over and ask for directions!

The Tomtom XL ONE works great for the road (Park and Grabs), and the Garmin Vista HCx takes care of the off road Geocaching duties.

The Tomtom is mounted on a custom built vibration isolated mount (my own design), and the Garmin is mounted on a modified RAM mount (modified so I do not have to remove the belt clip knob from the rear of the unit, and using a custom low profile bar clamp)

Both GPSr's pop out of their mounts and go into my pocket when I leave the bike parked (or have my knobbies mounted).

All mounted on a 2006 Honda XR650L (also highly modified)

 

Edited June 20, 2008 by 1XL-on-XR650L

[+Low594]

Garmin has a line of motorcycle friendly units called the Zumo, but if he wants to geocache with it too he's probably better off with a Garmin Quest/Quest2 or a 60CSX.

 

Has served me well since 2005 - rain sleet or snow (yes, I do). Older unit - Magellan, but it was cheep on eBay and never fails to take me to ground zero.

 

So what model Magellan is that?

I've been looking for the same thing, I do know that the Magellan Triton 500 is not it! The buttons are too hard to push when not gloved or moving, no street directions and no speed display with map.

[+briansnat]

So what model Magellan is that?

I've been looking for the same thing, I do know that the Magellan Triton 500 is not it! The buttons are too hard to push when not gloved or moving, no street directions and no speed display with map.

 

That is a Magellan Meridian. It's been discontinued for several years. I have one and it's probably my least favorite GPS. It's also not the best choice for vehicle navigation. The screen reslution is lousy and the software isn't great. Garmin's software is so much better. That particular model is the Meridian Color according to the photo. They are even worse for vehicle navigaton because you can't read the screen in sunlight.

[+xshooter]

I have a Garmin 2610 mounted on a RAM mount on my Gold Wing. It's intergrated into the headsets so I can hear the directions, I don't have to take my eyes off the road.

I think that you can get a refurbished 2610 for about $150 or so now.

I use a Colorado 400t once I park and hunt the cache.

 

xshooter

[+Low594]

So what model Magellan is that?

I've been looking for the same thing, I do know that the Magellan Triton 500 is not it! The buttons are too hard to push when not gloved or moving, no street directions and no speed display with map.

 

That is a Magellan Meridian. It's been discontinued for several years. I have one and it's probably my least favorite GPS. It's also not the best choice for vehicle navigation. The screen reslution is lousy and the software isn't great. Garmin's software is so much better. That particular model is the Meridian Color according to the photo. They are even worse for vehicle navigaton because you can't read the screen in sunlight.

 

Good to know, thank you!

[+loknlod]

I use a Garmin Colorado with City Navigator and a RAM motorcycle mount, works slick. Auto route to my cache, pop out my Garmin, switch to Geocaching profile and off I go.

 

[Oil Can]

I use a Garmin GPS 76 CSX with city navigator and a Ram Mount for caching and routing. Also have mounted a 12VDC outlet on my bike to save the batteries. I loop the lanyard around the mirror just in case it happens to fall off. So far so good. I would post a picture but i dont know how to.