Cost no Objective GPS

[sweptwingnut]

Originally Posted by marco polo

I would not underestimate the usefulness of a battery in the unit itself, even if you have the GPS hard-wired to the bike. I have mine set up to switch to the GPS battery whenever I turn off the bike, e.g., gas stops, meals etc. Also, if you want to take it into a restaurant, or a motel room, to play with it, you need a battery, or an AC adapter etc. Why carry more stuff if you can get a GPS with a battery? The battery recharges when the bike is running. I have a 276C.

NICE!!

How did you set it up to switch to the GPS battery when the bike is off?

[9Dave]

Originally Posted by tbirdsp

Better handling of tracks and I don't like touch screens.

What he said.

Love my 376, and the limited marine subscription is all I need for weather.

Dave

[9Dave]

Originally Posted by marco polo

I would not underestimate the usefulness of a battery in the unit itself, even if you have the GPS hard-wired to the bike.

And when you want to sit down and plan out some tracks, it's great to take your GPS inside (house or restaurant or motel) and work with it.

Dave

[marco polo]

Originally Posted by sweptwingnut

NICE!!

How did you set it up to switch to the GPS battery when the bike is off?

It's easy -- it's one of the choices in the setup menu of the unit itself. When "external power off", you choose either "stay on" (as I have), or "turn off". So when bike power id turned off, it continues to run on the unit's battery. The other choice you have is what the GPS will do when "external power on", in which case I chose "charge battery", so never any problems having a fully charged GPS battery. The reason the 276C has a battery is because it was designed as a marine unit, i.e., for boats. You wouldn't want to suddenly lose your GPS if your boat's motor conked out.

I can't imagine needing a GPS that did more than mine, but they're out there now. The other big advantage of a marine unit is that the display is built for use outdoors in the sun. Car units are built for the darker environment inside an automobile. As for touchscreen, I don't think I'd want to be getting my grubby hands/gloves all over the display all the time, but some people love them. I have no trouble using mine on the go with my left hand, often without even having to look at it to get the right button (the unit is mounted with a RAM mount to the clutch resevoir cover of my RT, so it's very easy to see).

[sweptwingnut]

Thanks Marco,
I have been looking at the 276/376 and did not realize it had that function. I guess that makes up our mind on which one to buy.

Got a pic of your mount?

276C

[marco polo]

Originally Posted by sweptwingnut

Thanks Marco,
I have been looking at the 276/376 and did not realize it had that function. I guess that makes up our mind on which one to buy.

Got a pic of your mount?

276C

Yes, and no. I do have pics, but they're on the hard drive of my desktop PC which is in for warranty service. I'm usng my laptop right now, so I have no pics. The mount which screws into the resevoir cover came from cyclegadgets.com; the rest (arm etc.) is RAM and I got those parts from the GPS supplier in Calgary. Cyclegadgets also have a mount that replaces the stock resevoir cover, but it doesn't fit the 1200RT, so I got one that sits just above the resevoir and comes with longer screws that replace the stock screws on the cover.

[Hotspice]

276 right now and probably bumping up to the 376 for the weather feature after my trip. Like MP I like to keep it running but you could accomplish that on a non-battery model by just wiring it to a non-switched hot.

[Albie]

Originally Posted by marco polo

It's easy -- it's one of the choices in the setup menu of the unit itself. When "external power off", you choose either "stay on" (as I have), or "turn off". So when bike power id turned off, it continues to run on the unit's battery. The other choice you have is what the GPS will do when "external power on", in which case I chose "charge battery", so never any problems having a fully charged GPS battery. The reason the 276C has a battery is because it was designed as a marine unit, i.e., for boats. You wouldn't want to suddenly lose your GPS if your boat's motor conked out.

I can't imagine needing a GPS that did more than mine, but they're out there now. The other big advantage of a marine unit is that the display is built for use outdoors in the sun. Car units are built for the darker environment inside an automobile. As for touchscreen, I don't think I'd want to be getting my grubby hands/gloves all over the display all the time, but some people love them. I have no trouble using mine on the go with my left hand, often without even having to look at it to get the right button (the unit is mounted with a RAM mount to the clutch resevoir cover of my RT, so it's very easy to see).

FWIW, my old E-map has the same power feature, so I imagine most all of the battery powered Garmin units also offer that feature, it's not exclusive to the marine units.

As for the new car units, they use the same type of display technology, so the marine units aren't any better in the in sun.