Wimp The negative/positive power (black/red) wires are pretty straight forward and you might want to put an audio plug on the 2 audio (orange/brown) wires for later use. Otherwise just cut the rest of the bare wires off the 276C cable. A few people are running a GPS off the park/position light circuit as the GPS draws less than 1/2 an amp. You can wire it direct or put one of those BM socket/plugs in somewhere around the instruments. It is useful having it on a switched circuit so the GPS powers up/down with the ignition (you can override it and let it run off its internal battery as well). Sorry the Navigator and Navigator II use a different plug to the GPSmap 276C.
Call me wimp all you want-I don't have the stuff to mess around with wires that skinny anyhow. Besides, if you weren't too chicken to scoot yourself onto a plane and across to the good old US of A you could wire the thing for me in Ouray Thanks for the tips on the wiring, might come in handy real quick
Another satisfied 276C user But, I wish Garmin would offer a "remote" button pad that could be connected into the Data/Power Plug. I really do prefer to use my left hand while riding or when I stop (sometimes right hand is on the brake). This can't be to hard. Expect I could even make one if Garmin would provide Data-In specs.
I believe that everything should be in a single unit for robustness. However, I agree that it would be much better, for motorcycle use, for all the buttons to be in their mirror position to the left of the unit.
Can someone post some pictures? Just about every GPS I've seen has one big problem: the screens wash out on a nice and sunny day. Is this the case for 276c?
It's a TFT screen- so it actually uses the sunlight to intensify the image. It's a damned sight better than the old LCD style- and works great.
I just bought a 276C at the BMW MOA national rally and put over 2,500 miles on it returning to St. Louis. The picture was absolutely incredible in the full sunlight of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, etc. With the sun over your shoulder, it was fully readable. The night lighting scheme is equally awesome. The only weak point is the power plug. Mine came apart leaving half the guts still stuck in the receptacle. When I called Garmin about it, they acknowledged they were having problems with the design. Shipment of a replacement (hopefully a better version) is probably 3 weeks to a month away.
Yes, I have noticed that this plug is very tight. One also must make sure the plug is aligned correctly or you could easily bend one of the small pins. Hope they do fix this but don't make it to sloppy.
Happened to me early on. They sent a replacement in just days and included a little freebie for my troubles. Typical Garmin service! Anyway, just wiggle it out instead of pulling straight and it seems to be a non-issue.
I do not think that bending the pins is an issue but the plug is certainly very tight. It is also difficult to get a good grip on it with the aerial and cradle immediately next to it.
I got the replacement, it took much longer than a few days, and there was no "freebie"... Did they send a girl to your house, or was the "freebie" something else? Explanation, please... I feel really slighted...
I just heard from a Garmin dealer that Garmin is going to be severly slowing down production of the 276c for the remainder of the summer; quite odd since it seems the unit is all the rage; at least in the M/C community - consequently dealers will likely have a limited supply of them over the next couple of months Furthermore, regarding mounts; Touratech has just relased a prototype of the 276c mount but I was told it has some issues so it may be a few more weeks before it's ready for mass release. As for Ram; they are also being somewhat slow in releasing the cradles made for the 276c; I tried several dealers and they were out; except for one - http://www.cyclegadgets.com/Products/RAM/ram.asp?prod=GPS176 - who has just a couple left
Update: Used the unit on my 2+ week trip to Spokane and Ouray. 4,300+ miles and it worked flawlessly. The find function was GREAT. The more I use this thing the better I like it Touratech USA had the new mount (prototype) at Spokane. Very nice It'll be a few more weeks before it becomes available. It's mount is much more like the Garmin V mount than the 176. MUCH MUCH smaller and just as robust. The one on display was the MGV type. I'll be buying one when they become available. Sorry, I didn't take a picture Gerg
Gerg, Sorry if you covered this earlier... I don't feel like re-reading the whole thread... where did you get your 276c? THX