List the top features you look for in a GPS

Do you have an estimated launch date? Been using Garmin since GPS3 and have had several off road units. Bought one street unit - 2610 - and now a Montana for the Track handling and large color screen, don't have any use for the routing features. If I am routing, I am in a car. Of all the failures over the years with Garmin all have been for touch screen - 2610 3times, also on my 3rd Montana. I am ready to try something else and since I have been impressed with my other Trail Tech purchases - I am interested.

That's basically how I use my GPS. Currently, I have a Garmin GPSMAP 60Cx and it checks all those boxes. I haven't kept up on all the newer units (mine must be 6 or 7 years old, now) but I'd imagine anything billed as an offroad GPS can do this.

No target date set as of right now but we are working hard on it. Good info guys, thanks.

Ive had a few garmin units, and been using GPS units since the days of the Palm III when you had an external sensor and needed to wait 5 min for re-calc after missing a turn. Anyway..

I ride 90/10 on road offroad. What I want:

Bluetooth connectivity either as a phone passthrough, or as a separate channel as a media device so I can connect both the phone and the gps. (Have doe this with my tablet int he past)
Street names, exit numbers, etc as part of navigation.
Lane info would be nice, but not 100% needed
route recalculation cancellation, or detour mode wanted
ability to follow tracks, but be able to stray away when planned without the gps routing you backwards would be great (like picking up in the middle of a planned track)
Thumb remote of some sort for on the handlebar would be great with a jog button and a way to ignore issues. Touchscreens are nice, but suck with gloves.

Screen visibility in sun and night. Large vertical screen... I need to see the road Im on, and the road ahead, not the 4 roads to my sides.
Music player would be nice.
Cradle with lock would be great
Waterproof is a must, staying on when the bike is off (to sleep mode) is a must.
if cradled, power connection in the cradle would be ideal

Easy to see in direct daylight... if can't see info then rest doesn't matter

As noted previously in this thread that was a top priority for us and we have a fantastic screen with great sunlight visibility.

trail-tech - i have been watching this, and hoping you meet a great deal of success with it. occasionally, i wander over to the meet-earl website, and see people are STILL checking in to see if there are updates on that project, STILL hopeful that they might actually recieve a product. that's amazing, and shows that there really is interest in these devices, and devices like what you have in planning. hopefully you can absorb some of those folks with this device, or similar devices (oops am i jumping the gun here? ;-) ) you might develop.

anyway, get to it, let's see something soon :)

Any updates?

I have been doing extensive research into trying to adapt marine chartplotters for use on the bike with topo maps. Then stumbled across this thread. Sounds like you are developing exactly what I am after!

I'll be waiting sum what patiently down in Aust with cash in hand.

I use one of these chartplotters in my truck:



These could be adapted to a bigger bike but they're too big for your typical 450.

We are working hard on it and progress is happening fast now but I have no dates for you. Its shaping up to be an amazing GPS solution.

That is exactly what I have been looking at mate, but I have found it hard to find any clear information on detailed topo maps for Australia. I am putting a large rally style fairing on my 650 so I will have room for something this size on top of the dashboard whilst keeping it tucked behind the fairing still.

G'day Trail-Tech,
I'm not really interested in turn by turn gps, the things that I find important are;

- Being able to have the most detailed maps possible
* As I am often riding without a route and I am planning the route as I go from what I find once I am at a location

- At least a 4.3" screen, preferably 5"

- Ease of track creation, modification, uploading, downloading
* I have read through all the posts in this thread and wireless sharing of tracks was mentioned. This would be great if you could wirelessly share a track off your 'Voyager Pro' to your mates one or if you were a ride leader, to share the track with the rest of the group ( That being they all run the same unit). If you could wirelessly send data to a smartphone or table via an app (my vote is for Android platform ;-) ) that would be great for backing up data or you could sharing via email or the Internet.

- The others have been previously been mentioned, powered lockable cradle, highest waterproofing possible for times when your bike is a submarine, colour screen, I'd love solid buttons but I know we live in a touch screen world now so this may be a bit much to ask. I'm sure I have forgotten something but that is some that come to mind.

People have posted some great ideas and some ideas that make me think the zumo product is really there place. Either way if it's not more that a color version of the voyager with detailed map compatibility I would invest in it and I am sure plenty others will too.

I currently use a Chinese unit with a windows ce platform which allows me to use OziExplorer and various maps, it works but is difficult to learn, setup and a bit clunky to use. I am ready to try another unit and was close to going the chartplotter route. But I am excited at the prospect of what you maybe able to offer in your new unit. If it has half the ideas people have put forward in it, it will be a great unit and it makes more sense to use a unit that has been built from the ground up for this application than to adapt a unit developed for the marine environment.

With that said I will be holding off upgrading till I see what you come up with.

If you wanted a unit to do beta testing in outback Australia I am happy to help with your product development and do some testing and reporting for you.

(Sorry if this ramble of sentences doesn't make much sense, I am currently working through the night on a tractor jotting down this post between having to attend to the steering wheel..)

I just thought of a new feature I'd like to see in your GPS device: two way communication for tracking, position broadcasting and text messaging. If the unit could transmit small data packets, it could send its GPS position and other data like text messages. This would be useful for tracking the position of other riders in your party, in case you split up or some riders are faster than others. Then you could send text messages like "Stop and wait for me at the next fork in the road." This technology already exist for tracking sporting dogs. Garmin has its Astro system which transmits on the MURS frequencies and TEK uses Spread Spectrum on the 900 MHz frequencies. The range on these tracking systems is around 10 miles line of sight, but real world range is probably less. Still, even just a mile or two would be great for checking the position of your riding buddies! It's like having a bike radar haha!



This position broadcasting could be encrypted to limit viewing by only units you have paired to, or you could set it to "Broadcast to all." By broadcasting to all, the system would know the position of any bike that is broadcasting its position. Then with some software and math, it could even warn you of possible collisions, like a transponder and TCAS (traffic collision and avoidance system) in commercial aircraft! While on single track I'm always worried about a head on collision. Of course, this all depends on other riders having the same system (or just an inexpensive transponder), but if your system is popular and affordable enough, more and more users would have it.

What do you guys think of this idea?

This is not out of the scope and has already been looked into. Not sure if it will make 1st rev but on the list of possibilities. Good stuff people, thanks. Keep it coming.

Great suggestion mattebox! I can see this being beneficial to all powersports. The Garmin Rino does something similar to what you are saying I believe. I spoke with a bloke who had one on a ride a few weeks ago. He said this feature was the reason him and his mates all got that particular model Garmin.

Just found this thread! Great information about much needed features in GPS for motorcycle applications.
Mr. Trail Tech,
You mentioned Voyager Pro will be able to log sensor data. Are these sensors the same as the current Voyager where you have to install them on the bike? Or does Voyager Pro have CAN interface where you plug into the ECU port and read the OEM engine sensors?
Please remind your Operations Manager, Garridan, that I'm still available for beta testing. I don't want him to forget about me.

Will have stand alone sensors so it can be mounted to virtually anything. That said we may make interfaces for other situations like CAN.

Any update?

We have hardware and software and are in testing mode. THis is going to be a really nice unit.

just a few weeks ago you said

did you progress from not a working model to testing working models in a few weeks?

if you prefer, i will delete this post. i don't want to piss you, our anyone off, just really surprised the changes that happened in so little time? (really, tell me to delete this and i will, no worries)

As you guys know we have been working on this for years in sections. We have a clear path and a lot of motivation now and things are really rolling. I'm not going to post any hopeful dates as I don't want held to them but we are working hard on it and things are solidifying quickly.

I appreciate your input and we are listening and implementing what we can.