Garmin 376C

['Flagger]

Originally Posted by BurnieM

The XM radio is worth nothing outside the US...

XM recently received approval to begin offering service in Canada. Expect it sometime in 2006.

http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/050617/gm_c...ling.html?.v=1

B

[autorotate]

Originally Posted by MattS

They retain it for their preprogrammed marine charts ... and there's quite the market for those (much larger than the motorcycle market).

I can't think of one advantage for the consumer for Garmin to keep pushing these proprietary memory formats in thier products.

Pre-loaded map sets could be sold i.e. marine charts on a card of existing format.

We could list all the reasons why Garmin keeps using it....$$$$$ and $$$$$ and $$$$$.

I'll guess in the next generation of products (not these ones that are upgrades from existing designs including new features like Traffic and XM, but when they put together thier next generation of products) that they will go with a commercial off the shelf memory format.

Keep the pressure on Lowrance, Magellan, TomTom.

[autorotate]

Originally Posted by wickedsprint

Maybe not, it might actually have a niche for us bikers, I am more worried about storms on the bike than say in my truck...so for that I could see justifying the weather while on an adventure ride, especially in the mountains...I can't really justify it myself though since I already spent 699 on my 96C and I already have a V for the bike/truck.

But overkill is always good........

It's overkill (but awesome)......for now. 5 years from know, Traffic and Weather situational awareness on a bike will be the standard I'm sure.

Who would've thought of an afordable moving map display with door stop to door stop autorouting on a motorcycle 5 years ago??

[wickedsprint]

No kidding, even the gps V 3 years ago was 550 bucks, now they are 220 at amazon, and then who would have imagined color screen handhelds with better battery life than the black and whites while also working BETTER in the sunlight :)

[bmwhd]

Originally Posted by PhilSpace

Here are a couple other things to remember, that I don't have answers to, but will try to find out.

First, XM weather, it ain't cheap, $100 activation and $99 a month. Also, they specify that the 376C won't give you tunes and wx unless you use the special GXM 30 antenna and they also provide an extention cables yada yada as a part of the kit, so before I were to jump on this would want to see one and figure out what the deal is and how to mount it on a bike.

And the worst part, the "optional" automotive kit - it doesn't come with City Select even so add some more $$ to it

XM weather is $29.99 a month for just the basic NEXRAD stuff which is all you need on a bike.

Street price for the unit is $800 which is not bad considering the feature set.

[Dingo Joe]

hey you guys missed out on one of the other features the 376C has that might be useful on the bike. It has SONAR, great for those unknown water crossings...


"Sonar Capability

In addition, the GPSMAP 376C can also receive sonar data through the GSD 20, Garmin’s “black box� sounder, which offers 4,000 watts of power peak-to-peak (500 watts RMS) in a dual-frequency transducer (purchased separately)."

[Glockenspiel]

Originally Posted by PhilSpace

Here are a couple other things to remember, that I don't have answers to, but will try to find out.

First, XM weather, it ain't cheap, $100 activation and $99 a month. Also, they specify that the 376C won't give you tunes and wx unless you use the special GXM 30 antenna and they also provide an extention cables yada yada as a part of the kit, so before I were to jump on this would want to see one and figure out what the deal is and how to mount it on a bike.

And the worst part, the "optional" automotive kit - it doesn't come with City Select even so add some more $$ to it

What is this GXM 30 antenna??? Any pics? How big are we talking? Too bad the standard antenna won't do the trick. Still might be entertaining.

[autorotate]

Garmin GXM 30 owner's manual http://www.garmin.com/manuals/GPSMAP...nersManual.pdf

[PhilSpace]

I also picked up on another forum about a small mast for the antenna, looked like the arrangement you sometimes see on cars for the Sirus or Iridium antenna.