GPS Recommendations...

[paulcb]

There are many speedometer apps, but AFAIK, very few have a true speed limit feature, i.e. actual government data on speed limits. Some say speed limit, but it's a limit you program, which is kind of useless IMO. Heck, even Google and Apple maps don't show the speed limit, at least for most users, although I think it's coming out soon.

 

[CYYJ]

I used to have a Nuvi 550. Now I'm planning to mount my Pixel 2XL phone....

I've experimented with using phones (a large iPhone) for navigation in both my Volkswagen and on my ST, but not been happy with the functionality.

The phones are certainly capable of providing adequate directions, figuring out routing, avoiding traffic, stuff like that, but the "human interface" between the phone and the driver/rider is deficient. The problem is that the areas of the screen that one has to touch to operate the navigation app (whatever it may be) are too small for quick, effortless, non-distracting operation when riding or driving, and the font display sizes are too small - a phone requires much more 're-focusing' from distant vision to near vision than a dedicated GPS navigation device.

My first choice for moto navigation is a motorcycle-specific GPS (for example, a Zumo). But, if I could not have a motorcycle-specific GPS, I think my second choice would be an inexpensive automotive GPS (one of the Garmin or TomTom ones), simply because they are optimized for use when operating a motor vehicle. Both the phone and the inexpensive automotive GPS are not waterproof, so, there's no advantage to using the phone.

My 2¢.

Michael

 

[rjs987]

... Both the phone and the inexpensive automotive GPS are not waterproof, so, there's no advantage to using the phone.

My 2¢.

Michael

While I agree with you on this about the inexpensive automotive GPS units and OLDER phones My current Pixel 2XL has the same waterproof rating as a motorcycle specific GPS unit. I also agree a Zumo (for example) is specific to the task and is slightly easier to use on the fly. BUT many devices, phone and automotive GPS devices alike, lock out certain functions while moving. My phone actually locks out less. Where a device is mounted has a lot to do with change of focus, which is why my preferred location is top center between the instruments and windshield. One, and possibly the only, big benefit to having bifocals is I don't need to move my head to look down and also don't need to refocus much, if at all, to see my navigation device and instruments vs the road ahead. But that's just me with my flawed eyesight. I also simply don't like the idea of spending the price on a Zumo when my phone, in my current practice use of it, has done the same job.

 

[ST Gui]

I'm using iOS 12.1.4 and Maps shows speed limits (but not speed). There are a few advantages for me with phones over dedicated GPSs but I'm not going to turn this into an oil thread. That's wasted of time and often ends up trying to present opinion as fact. That's why oil threads suck.

But what's a thread without offering opinion when offered as an opinion – regardless of whether it's a phone or DGPS any fool who operates either while riding or driving is no better than texters or soccer moms who are apparently the sole cause of all collisions. Some violators compromise by stopping six car lengths back from the vehicle in front of them so that's something I guess.

 

[Daboo]

I'll toss this suggestion out in the mix...

One of the issues of using a phone or a car GPS is the screens usually wash out in the sun. There are some sun shades sold for far more money than they are worth and they are too small to really do much good. I made one from a plastic black folder like you'd buy at an office supply store. It probably cost about a buck. I used velcro to attach it to the car GPS I was using at the time. It not only helped shield the screen from the sun light, but also from rain.

Chris

 

[T_C]

Just a note - I talked to the folks at Worx today after they received my shock. Turn around appears to be a couple of week. I'll let you know how it goes.

Focus... Focus Phil... GPS thread.

 

[Tankereng]

Received my Zumo 595 yesterday...

Now back to your regularly scheduled.... SQUIRREL!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ST-venture]

Where did you order your 595 from, how much was it?
I have found GPScity to be pretty good on prices.

 

[heffly]

I am just running a Samsung tablet with Tom Tom and a full load of maps. So it runs offline. I was using Maps.me but creating routes was tedious. I am using a Laptop then sharing to tablet. My biggest problem so far has been getting Bluetooth to my Sena consistently from my phone and tablet.
I haven't had my TT change my routes yet...……….
I am tired of my reflection on the screens......…......

 

[Tankereng]

Where did you order your 595 from, how much was it?
I have found GPScity to be pretty good on prices.

I ordered it from GPSCITY... prices were the same everywhere for a new unit and they had the RAM Mount parts I needed. The unit was $699

 

[Uncle Phil]

Focus... Focus Phil... GPS thread.

Do what?

 

[Upt' North]

Do what?

A Ford Focus GPS in Phili, you said what......
Upt'North.

 

[Andrew Shadow]

On the Garmin site regarding the Zumo 595 TPMS they only write about monitoring tire pressure. There is no mention of tire temperature. Does anyone know if, unlike other TPMS, if the Garmin TPMS only monitors temperature?

Maybe one of you kow a trick that I don't. One feature that I have always thought was missing on a GPS (I have a Zumo 550) is the ability to set the avoidance feature to avoid international borders. Riding along the Canada/US border it is a pain sometimes as it will route me to where I want to go using a route that crosses the border. It would be nice to able to tell it to not cross an international border. Or is there a way to do this that I don't know about without entering a bunch of waypoints?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

Nothing that I am aware of. But the Canadian borders are almost straight lines aren't they ?

They are not quite as straight on the ground in many areas as they appear on a map. It is more of an issue when you are just pleasure riding and not following a route that was planned out in advance so you have already programmed the GPS to avoid them by using waypoints. The road network crosses back and forth over the border all over the place in many areas. If you are just wondering around you can suddenly find yourself at a border crossing that you were not expecting.

Thanks for the suggestion as I was not aware of the 'avoid an area' option. My Zumo 550 is pretty old so I don't know if that will work as I have never seen that option in the menu- I will have to look.

It would be much easier if an international border could be selected as an avoidance. I never really understood why it was not an option as the GPS knows where all the borders are anyway.

 

[CYYJ]

On the Garmin site regarding the Zumo 595 TPMS they only write about monitoring tire pressure. There is no mention of tire temperature. Does anyone know if, unlike other TPMS, if the Garmin TPMS only monitors temperature?

I discussed this with Garmin engineers a few years ago (I beta-tested for Garmin for many years), and they advised me that the little sensors only monitor pressure, however, the device calculates implied tire temperature rise based on the speed and travel history data that it has available to it from the GPS unit itself. In other words, if you have been riding for 10 minutes at 60 MPH, the unit assumes that tire temperatures (and therefore pressures) will have increased.

the ability to set the avoidance feature to avoid international borders.... is there a way to do this that I don't know about without entering a bunch of waypoints?

I don't have a 550, and I don't use the avoidance feature myself, but I think it should be possible to define an avoidance area based either on map segments (which do split at international borders), or by defining the border using several (not a lot) of waypoints. For example, the straight-line Canada-USA border south of Montreal can be easily defined from Cornwall to Beecher Falls (about 250 km) with two waypoints. East of there, it would be best to use map segments for definition, but if you can't do that, you could accomplish the same thing with only 3 more waypoints between Beecher Falls and Provincial Route 289, a distance of 325 km.

The 590 I use lets the user set avoidance areas using finger touch points, so it should not take more than a couple of minutes to define the avoidance area set out above. You'll need to add another 3 waypoints somewhere to the south (e.g. St. Stephen NB, New York City, then Cornwall again) to create a rectangular shape south of the Montreal area that the unit will avoid.

Michael

 

[CYYJ]

It is more of an issue when you are just pleasure riding and not following a route that was planned out in advance...

Andrew:

The GPS devices will only provide avoidance guidance if a route is active. That could be a pre-planned route you have loaded into the unit, or a route you just initiated by telling the unit to take you somewhere (a favourite, a city, an address, etc.). When a route is initially calculated, the device will keep the route out of avoidance areas. If 'on the fly' recalculation is needed because you missed a turn, it will also keep you out of pre-defined avoidance areas.

In other words, if you don't have a magenta line active and the device is not providing you with route guidance, you won't receive any advice from the unit telling you to stay away from avoidance areas you have defined. The avoidance feature only functions when route guidance is active. This applies to all devices.

Michael

 

[Andrew Shadow]

The GPS devices will only provide avoidance guidance if a route is active.

Hi Michael:

I understand that there needs to an active route to take advantage of the avoidance feature. If I was using a pre-planned route that I had plotted myself this is not an issue as I would use way-points to avoid the border. To expand a little here are a couple of examples of why I think this would be a nice feature.

You are just meandering around the Canada/US border area when you decide it is time for lunch. You select a town that you know is in Canada and tell the GPS to take you there. Because I am in Canada and going to a town I know is in Canada I am not expecting to go through the US. The GPS will take you there but it might route you through the US to get there as that is the shortest route. In a situation like this I am not looking at a map because it doesn't matter to me how I get there (except for crossing the border) because I am just out joy-riding. Suddenly I find myself at a border crossing with no passport and no reason for being there. Turning around and going back is the simple solution. One time when I did that the border patrol found that to be suspicious behaviour. In their eyes I was trying to avoid being inspected and wanted to know why. They came after me and pulled me over to "investigate". I had to go back to the border, go inside and go through all of the security checks while they inspected my motorcycle. Big PITA and a lot of lost time. Being able to set the international border as an avoidance would be a useful feature in this circumstance.

Recently I went to Welland Ontario. We had an address of where we were going. We did not plot a route out in advance as we had no need for a pre-plotted route. We wanted to get there the quickest way possible so I set the GPS to take the fastest route and simply put the address in to the GPS and hit go. The GPS took us from Montréal to this address in Welland without any issue and without crossing any border. When we left there to return to Montréal we simply instructed the GPS to take us home again set to fastest route. We presumed (incorrectly, mistake #1) that the fastest route home would be similar to the fastest route there. We know that Welland is close to the US border but have no knowledge of the area other than that. Since we did not cross any border to get there we saw no reason that we would do so to get home. We simply followed the GPS and really didn't pay much attention to where we were going (mistake #2) and we ended up on an entrance ramp on to a bridge going to the US with no way to exit by the time we realised where we were headed. We found ourselves at a US border with no passports, hauling a rented trailer with a registered vehicle as cargo on it that we had just purchased in Welland. We had no receipt for this vehicle as it was a private sale. The cargo vehicle was still registered to the person I had just purchased it from as the transfer would only be done in Quebec when I got home. The two of us had to go in to US customs and go through all of the security checks. They inspected my truck, the trailer and the cargo vehicle. They wanted to talk to the registered owner to make sure that we were not stealing the vehicle. They would not accept the phone number that we had for him as in their eyes we could be giving them the number of a cohort. They got a phone number from somewhere, the Ontario licence bureau where the vehicle was registered I presume. They called and of course there was no answer. They finally got a hold of him and he confirmed that he had just sold this vehicle to us and that it was not stolen. They were happy and let us turn around and go back in to Canada. Fortunately they did not find anything in the purchased vehicle that should not be there. Had they found something left there by the previous owner (i.e. drugs) we would have been in a real pickle. We then had to go through most of this all over again with the Canadian border officials to get back in to Canada without passports. All of this took around three hours and added a lot of time to what was already a long drive home.

I realize that all of this could have been easily avoided had we simply looked at a map to confirm where we were going. At the time we did not see a need to do so because as we weren't routed through the US to get there we so reason why we would be to get home. We simply followed the GPS.

It would be far simpler in both of these scenarios if the international border could be set as an avoidance just like any of the other features that can be avoided. If the system can be set to avoid car pool lanes, ferries, etc., that are available I see absolutely no reason why it can not also be set to avoid international borders at least. It definitely knows where all of the international, provincial and state borders are so why can we not avoid them just as easily as we avoid these other features?

 

[Andrew Shadow]

I discussed this with Garmin engineers a few years ago (I beta-tested for Garmin for many years), and they advised me that the little sensors only monitor pressure, however, the device calculates implied tire temperature rise based on the speed and travel history data that it has available to it from the GPS unit itself. In other words, if you have been riding for 10 minutes at 60 MPH, the unit assumes that tire temperatures (and therefore pressures) will have increased.

Would you, or anyone else, know if this is how all of these systems work or do some of them actually have temperature sensors built in? I am considering one of these systems and if I have a choice for the same money I would rather see an actual temperature rather than an algorithm guess.

 

[drrod]

The TPMS sensors that I have display psi as well as temp but I can't really be sure how the temp is measured.

ALUNAR Wireless TPMS Motorbike Auto Tire Alarm Motorcycle Tire Pressure Monitoring System Super Waterproof Sun Protection Autocycle Tool CAREUD M3 LCD Display with 2 Sensors for Two-wheeled Motor Bicycle (Sensor 18*13 mm) : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

ALUNAR Wireless TPMS Motorbike Auto Tire Alarm Motorcycle Tire Pressure Monitoring System Super Waterproof Sun Protection Autocycle Tool CAREUD M3 LCD Display with 2 Sensors for Two-wheeled Motor Bicycle (Sensor 18*13 mm) : Amazon.ca: Industrial & Scientific

www.amazon.ca

I doubt it works like the Garmin since it does not know speed/time/distance.

 

[fnmag]

Hi Michael:

I understand that there needs to an active route to take advantage of the avoidance feature. If I was using a pre-planned route that I had plotted myself this is not an issue as I would use way-points to avoid the border. To expand a little here are a couple of examples of why I think this would be a nice feature.

You are just meandering around the Canada/US border area when you decide it is time for lunch. You select a town that you know is in Canada and tell the GPS to take you there. Because I am in Canada and going to a town I know is in Canada I am not expecting to go through the US. The GPS will take you there but it might route you through the US to get there as that is the shortest route. In a situation like this I am not looking at a map because it doesn't matter to me how I get there (except for crossing the border) because I am just out joy-riding. Suddenly I find myself at a border crossing with no passport and no reason for being there. Turning around and going back is the simple solution. One time when I did that the border patrol found that to be suspicious behaviour. In their eyes I was trying to avoid being inspected and wanted to know why. They came after me and pulled me over to "investigate". I had to go back to the border, go inside and go through all of the security checks while they inspected my motorcycle. Big PITA and a lot of lost time. Being able to set the international border as an avoidance would be a useful feature in this circumstance.

Recently I went to Welland Ontario. We had an address of where we were going. We did not plot a route out in advance as we had no need for a pre-plotted route. We wanted to get there the quickest way possible so I set the GPS to take the fastest route and simply put the address in to the GPS and hit go. The GPS took us from Montréal to this address in Welland without any issue and without crossing any border. When we left there to return to Montréal we simply instructed the GPS to take us home again set to fastest route. We presumed (incorrectly, mistake #1) that the fastest route home would be similar to the fastest route there. We know that Welland is close to the US border but have no knowledge of the area other than that. Since we did not cross any border to get there we saw no reason that we would do so to get home. We simply followed the GPS and really didn't pay much attention to where we were going (mistake #2) and we ended up on an entrance ramp on to a bridge going to the US with no way to exit by the time we realised where we were headed. We found ourselves at a US border with no passports, hauling a rented trailer with a registered vehicle as cargo on it that we had just purchased in Welland. We had no receipt for this vehicle as it was a private sale. The cargo vehicle was still registered to the person I had just purchased it from as the transfer would only be done in Quebec when I got home. The two of us had to go in to US customs and go through all of the security checks. They inspected my truck, the trailer and the cargo vehicle. They wanted to talk to the registered owner to make sure that we were not stealing the vehicle. They would not accept the phone number that we had for him as in their eyes we could be giving them the number of a cohort. They got a phone number from somewhere, the Ontario licence bureau where the vehicle was registered I presume. They called and of course there was no answer. They finally got a hold of him and he confirmed that he had just sold this vehicle to us and that it was not stolen. They were happy and let us turn around and go back in to Canada. Fortunately they did not find anything in the purchased vehicle that should not be there. Had they found something left there by the previous owner (i.e. drugs) we would have been in a real pickle. We then had to go through most of this all over again with the Canadian border officials to get back in to Canada without passports. All of this took around three hours and added a lot of time to what was already a long drive home.

I realize that all of this could have been easily avoided had we simply looked at a map to confirm where we were going. At the time we did not see a need to do so because as we weren't routed through the US to get there we so reason why we would be to get home. We simply followed the GPS.

It would be far simpler in both of these scenarios if the international border could be set as an avoidance just like any of the other features that can be avoided. If the system can be set to avoid car pool lanes, ferries, etc., that are available I see absolutely no reason why it can not also be set to avoid international borders at least. It definitely knows where all of the international, provincial and state borders are so why can we not avoid them just as easily as we avoid these other features?

I've also had problems with inadvertent border crossings.
I also tried to turn around one time and the Border Patrol was all over me like white on rice. I was allowed to proceed back after almost an hour which included an in depth inspection of my ST.
Another time at International Falls, Mn. I thought I'd take a quick ride across the border.
After entering Canada I was told by other riders that a helmet law was in effect and I immediately turned around because I didn't have my helmet at the time.
Well, another hour of intense questioning and inspection of my ST.
No inadvertent border crossings for me.