Motorcycle GPS: The good, the bad, and the downright ugly.

It's 2016, so honestly if you have not used a GPS yet in your life you wither live under a rock or have been hiding in the wilderness.   Some die hard riders out there will claim they will never use a GPS as paper maps are good enough.   Yes, you can navigate the world with paper maps, but it's not a safe as a GPS.  On my recent short 3 day trip I had both my GPS and a papre map stuffed in the clear map pocket on my tank bag, and I learned something useful.   Paper maps are more dangerous than a GPS when riding, Looking at it to see the road I needed to turn on is impossible. You have to look straight down completely looking away from the road ahead. On top of this you have to spend at least a fraction of a second to find what you are after even if it's circled in red.   I travel almost 40 feet in 1/2 a second at 55 on the back roads, so a total of 2 seconds need to find and read the road name you are going to travel 160 feet, plenty of time for a cager to aim for you, or a suicidal deer to get a good spot in front of you.  While my GPS being mounted directly ahead by the instrument cluster takes only a glance to see the name of the next turn, add to that the audio cues from the GPS telling me "turn right in 1/2 mile" makes it so I do not even have to look at it.  So contrary to the old fogeys that hate technology, having a GPS on your bike is a lot safer.

But what to you buy?  A quick search on Garmin's website for a motorcycle GPS turns up the most expensive GPS devices you can ever find.  How they think that these are worth $500 to $800 I will never understand.   I have done a lot of research on them as I was curious if they had real motorcycle features that were important,  so let me cover what I feel is very important to a motorcyclist.

1 - clear screen in direct sunlight.   If I can not read the screen easily in bright sunlight It's useless.
2 - Easy to use with gloved hands.  I should be able to mash a physical button or on screen button easily without taking off a glove.
3 - Secure easy to use mount with power and audio.  I should be able to clip in and go, hooking up cables is not something I am interested in.
4 - rain and weather resisatant.
5 - able to secure it so it will not walk away at a gas stop.  I am not asking for theft proof, I am asking for scumbag snatch and grab proof.  I will be in the gas station for less than 5 minutes the GPS should be able to be secured so that without my key or special tool it will not come off the bike easily.
6 - external audio either via wire or bluetooth, built in speakers do not work on motorcycles.

Sadly every single Motorcycle GPS sold out there fails on one or more of these requirements.  The Garmin Zumo's all have horrible screens in direct sunlight except for their flagship the 590LM that one is the first Garmin GPS to have the correct screen for a GPS,  It's called "transreflective" and should be on every single motorcycle GPS.

Garmin has it's Zumo line, and if you search the motorcycle forums and youtube you will find reviews where the rider really does not ride much and loves it, and  then the long distance riders that hate it.  The Bluetooth units have a love/hate relationship out there as well because if you like using a smartphone with your bluetooth helmet, you will hate ALL the GPS devices out there as they disable 90% of your phones features.  But Garmin's 590LM unit fixes audio streaming with iPhone owners, android owners are left to twist in the wind, and if your helmet has any controls for audio, those are disabled by garmin.  Your best bet with  bluetooth enabled GPS devices is if your helmet comms can support multiple Bluetooth connections.  One for the GPS and one for your phone and keep them separate.  The scala Rider G9 and the Sena SMH-10 or 20s are as of this writing your only choices for reliable use for this multiple audio patching.  Luckily motorcycle helmet bluetooth is heating up and things are always changing, so keep an eye out on  what is new.   But watch out as if you are on a phone call none of the headsets will mix audio so you will not hear the GPS turn instructions.  So if you are relying on the audio you could miss your turn using bluetooth because of how audio priority is set up on most headsets.  Right now only one Bluetooth headset can fix this and it's the Sena 20s as they claim it will do audio mixing.  I have not used these yet as they have an incredibly high price point right now.

TomTom Rider is the other big commercial choice, and there are a lot of complaints on these as well.  Again the screen is not designed for outdoor use so they wash out instantly.  they are more bulky and their motorcycle mounting cradle runs $150 on it's own.  So that $450 low price that the Tom Tom had is now $600 with the cradle you need to actually use it.   They also do not have any audio out, only bluetooth. So this limits injecting it into your motorcycles audio system if it has one. turning them on or off is incredibly difficult, some users reporting they have to use a coin to push on the power button. It really is only a entry level tom tom GPS with a waterproof case on it.

Lastly there is the China Grey market option.  There is a popular GPS sold on ebay and amazon.com called the "Rage"  (search for motorcycle GPS rage)  These are affordable at around $150 to $200 but they do not come with maps and are not ready to go.  you must find software for it (Navigon) and  buy it plus the map files and install them yourself.   This brings the price up to around $250 to $300  and it is still bluetooth only for audio.  But at least it is easy to remove so you can pocket it when you head to the gas station bathroom.  It's screen is still the cheap indoor only type so it washes out  on bright days.  It also does not have an audio out, but does come with the cradle you need.

My current choice is non of the above.  I refuse to pay the insane prices that motorcycle specific GPS's cost for new devices plus I am paranoid about having someone swipe an $800 GPS from my handlebars at a gas stop, instead I chose to find what is out of date and available on the used market.   The older zumo 450 and 550 are still going for insane prices so I do not even consider those.  In fact I went for even older.   The Garmin Streetpilot 2720 fits MOST of what I need in my list.  It's screen is not visible in direct sunlight, but it has real buttons as well as a button I use a lot, "speak" will repeat the last thing said so I can simply punch it and hear the last turn direction.  I was able to find a like new unit for around $60 with the cradle and some accessories.   I bought a car cable and cut it to make my own power connection and audio output connection, but you can still find the motorcycle cables on ebay if you look for them.  I run the audio into a Sena SM10 so that the GPS audio is mixed with my phone audio as well as the two way radio I use as a ham radio operator (more on that in a future story)  You can buy an updated map for it from garmin if you really need the latest maps,  mine came with 2011 dated maps which is just fine for me.

The advantage of going the used route gives me a GPS that works for what I need with some of the features I wanted plus it's dirt cheap so if some scumbag steals it off my bike I do not feel so bad about it.  It's the best solution I could find for a bad situation we have in motorcycling.   there really are no decent motorcycle GPS devices out there.  You just can not buy a good GPS for your motorcycle right now.   I know a lot of riders that just use a $199 car GPS and buy the ram mount for it, several others enjoy just using their phone in the pocket and just use voice control with siri on the iphone.   Sadly nobody makes a good motorcycle phone mount that is waterproof and powers the phone from the bike.   That would be a product I would buy, but phone screens are useless outside in the sunlight.

The advantage of seeing the GPS  on your handlebars comes in with a POI file.  Points of interest files will put markers on the GPS to let you know what you are coming up on.  I have a POI file of all the rest areas,  motorcycle dealers, and known speed trap towns/speed cameras.

As an update, I have upgraded from the Garmin 2720 to a Zumo 350LM as they are now under $260 used with all the accessories.  At least that is what I found on ebay this past winter.  It's screen is not the best but it is better than the older 2720.  but my favorite part is that it has bluetooth built in.  BUT that bluetooth is connect only,  your phone can not connect with it.  so unless you have a brand new headset that can connect to two devices at once, you will have to choose between phone or GPS.   The screen helps a bit with a fabric shade over it, something that no motorcycle GPS should be required to have.

Getting ready for riding season

Yes riding season is upon us for some of you lucky people that live where spring was allowed to show up.  I sit here in the north where it's 30 degrees out and still have snow and salt on the roads, with every once in a while a day of 50 degrees taunting me.

But It is time to get ready for riding, and I dont mean prepping the bike.  I am talking about your personal strength.  you dont spend all winter manipulating a clutch, so your fingers are weak, and you dont have t hold up a heavy machine with your legs all winter.   Time to start getting back in shape!

First get one of those hand exercisers, the cheap plastic and metal spring type and hold it in your hand like your handlebar and clutch. now squeeze several times with a moment of holding it in for 30 seconds.   Yes it's probably stiffer than your bike unless you ride a old classic with a clutch cable and strong spring.   do this once a day for 5 minutes and even just after 1 week when you hop on the bike for that first long ride, you will not have an aching hand when you are done.

Leg strength is another,   yes it takes no effort to stand there on the bike, but what is important is the moments where you get past the tip point having the leg strength to get the bike back to vertical.  I ride a very heavy and very top heavy  K1200LT my bike when you get it past 20degrees will make the biggest baddest Harley biker squeal like a girl as it continues over, you are not stopping the bike unless you can leg press with one leg over 600 pounds.  I had to learn that I have a short window to attempt recovery and anything past that I need to just let it go or suffer a major injury.   Now try doing this in heavy traffic with a passenger because some nimrod cut you off and you had to stop hard with the front wheel cocked.  I recovered the bike from a 18 degree lean with my old lady on back and 3 days of luggage.  but my leg was hurt and I had problems for a year afterwards.   Doing squats and leg exercises strengthens your muscles and reduces the chances of injury when you need it.     This right here is the #1 reason that big touring bikes should be owned by young strong riders and not the retired old guy.  I know of many that had to sell the bike because when they drop it they can not get it back up and they hurt themselves badly.

Basically do squats over an over, you need to work on the upper and lower leg, and if you do have access to a leg press machine, do that as well.  If you dont have access to the machine do squats with some weight like a medicine ball or a couple of barbells,  not a lot, but enough to feel the burn and know you are working those legs.    Again only 5-10 minutes a day and in a week you will be better off than you are now.

Your overall health and strength makes a huge difference to your riding and it's enjoyment.  Your safety as well goes up the more prepared you are, so also prepare your body for riding.