What is the BEST GPS for my ST????

[Throttlejockey]

I need and WANT one, I want it to be waterproof and visible,
I already have an outlet in the right box if I need to plug is in.
but I have NO CLUE what's good or not I have never seen or used any of them
I do have an Iphone now that has worked perfectly for Car trips but want one JUST for my ST all suggestions are greatly appreciated
Thanks everyone!!

If money is no object then you can't go wrong with any of these depending on what you want it to do.

http://www.gpscity.com/search/q=zumo

And here's a mount.
http://shop.sporttouringgear.com/RBIS-Single-Ball-System-for-ST1300-HST13-RBIS-1.htm

 

[troystr68]

I think i'm gunna look into the Garmin Nuvi, I want brand new as I am sparing no expense in setting myself up to tour

 

[Throttlejockey]

I think i'm gunna look into the Garmin Nuvi, I want brand new as I am sparing no expense in setting myself up to tour

You mean Zumo?

 

[riderguy57]

I think i'm gunna look into the Garmin Nuvi, I want brand new as I am sparing no expense in setting myself up to tour

Then go with the Garmin 590LM and the tire pressure caps. I did, and am very happy with the package. The tire pressure signal drops sometimes, but it almost always comes back. I really like the screen size and I have it mounted to a RAM ball off of a Helibar handlebar mount.

Scott

 

[jmcarruth]

Money is not an option I just want my bike all set up for the season with EVERYTHING it needs and THIS is one of them
I don't want baggies or duct tape I want it to work well, look good, and be reliable for MANY years to come
Garmin was the only ones I saw to this point and YES they are expensive thus why I am asking all you CRAZT ST OWNERS

You do not want a Nuvi unless you get lucky and find a 500 or 550 at a reasonable price. They are the only Nuvis that were sold that are waterproof. Unfortunately, they are discontinued. Otherwise, with a Nuvi, you are looking at plastic bags, etc.

If price is no object, get a Zumo with the features you want. I also recommend a dash shelf that provides a mounting point for this and other accessories like a video camera, etc. I bought my bike used, and it came with the shelf. Did not like it at first, but love it now.You are also going to have to figure out to provide power to the thing. I tapped into the plug where the quartet harness goes with a fused plug to a hardwired power source. There are lots of options for mounting, but getting the power to the GPS in a tasteful and uncluttered fashion to me was the hardest part.

 

[troystr68]

I did mean zumo and thanks for all the advice!!!
you guys are the BEST!
and I do think I like that mount right up front and center!!!

 

[nhdiesel]

I'm in the market and here are my thoughts. Like you, money isn't a factor. I'm far from rich, but my GPS keeps me out of trouble and is an import part of my riding, so I'm going to get the best. Easier said than done.

I had a Garmin Zumo 665 for a few years. It was TERRIBLE. XM had very poor reception. Bluetooth connection was terrible, and often takes 20 minutes into the ride before it gets a proper connection. Usually I will start out receiving XM or MP3s with a very faint, crackly mono signal instead of stereo- think 60's AM radio. Routing was bad. It loved to take me on loops for no reason, but when I needed to do a loop or go up then backtrack, it would see that as inefficient and bypass those sections. Bad for rally bonuses where I have to turn up a road, get the bonus, then ride back to the main road. I've missed several bonuses because I wasn't paying attention when it did this to me. I think it was just a bad unit, and I HOPE so...explanation below.

I needed a replacement. I looked into the 590, but I see no reason to pay a premium price for a GPS with FEWER features than my 665 had. No XM radio? Weather maps are via a phone connection, which goes against my phone's data plan...plus I have to pay extra for the apps? And all of these services only work where I have a good cell connection, which means they don't work around my home area of New England, except in cities.

Next option. I have heard good things about the Garmin 2797 with 7" screen. Several riders have successfully waterproofed the unit, and it has many similarities to the 590 but at a much lower price. One downfall is no bluetooth connection to my headset, but I could fix that with a Sena dongle. I ordered from Amazon and it looked nice. I tried it a couple days, then when I saw it seemed good, I went to order the pay apps (same ones the 590 uses) and try them. Well surprise, I couldn't buy them because of a problem with how Garmin communicates with Google Play! I kept getting an error. Several phone calls to Garmin resulted in the following explanations: First call: The problem is with Google. Garmin hasn't heard of this problem before. OK, next stop- Google. They assured me the problem wasn't on their end; the error was because Garmin couldn't process the transaction. OK, back to Garmin. Again, the problem isn't with Garmin, it's Google. I got an attitude from the CSR because how dare I question Garmin's reliability. He was downright rude. I wasn't satisfied with that answer, so I called again another day. This time I got the truth- Garmin is aware of the problem, and hasn't found a solution. They are working on one, and as soon as they have one, it will be available in an upcoming update. Really? They are selling GPSs with known problems, making the apps useless? They couldn't give me even a rough estimate how long that would be, so I sent the GPS back. I'm just glad I didn't spend the money on the 590 just to find this out!

So at this point I'm left with buying another 665 and hoping it works better than my first one ever did.

If you are considering the 590, go into Google Play and look at the 1-star rating comments. LOTS of them talking about how the apps don't work.

 

[nhdiesel]

ne good feature from Garmin is their support / repair / replace facilty. Its expensive kit, and can sometimes go wrong. Send them your tired and worn out Zumo and a cheque for ?100 (check the figures - its a while since I needed to do this) and they send you a fully refurbished unit by return. 'Refurbished' means looking like new.

My 665 came to me barely working and Garmin refused to take it back for repair. I wouldn't call that particularly good service. Essentially because the map was on the screen and it would calculate a route, they called it functional, even though it had several other problems. I bought it new straight from Garmin just to save warranty hassles.

Now that it is old and tired, I would love to pay $100 to have it "like new". Unfortunately that doesn't cover the non-functional XM antenna, which costs around $250. So I would be spending $350 and take the chance that they actually fix it. And I'm still left with a used GPS. As much as I hate to spend the money I'm looking at another new 665. It just seems like money better spent than hoping they actually correct my old one.

 

[SMSW]

I did mean zumo and thanks for all the advice!!!
you guys are the BEST!
and I do think I like that mount right up front and center!!!

They also make one of those with 3 balls - right left and center on that same bar. I use the center one, but just got a smart phone and might set that up adjacent to the gps. It's nice to have options, so consider the 3 ram ball mount as well as the single mount.