Best GPS ?

[Mittzy]

Iphone in pocket connected to my bluetooth helmet - just tells me where to go... Just like the wife really....

 

[Ishrub]

But no doubt, no where near as loudly!

 

[jake shaw]

I have a Garmin Nuvi with Eco Route/ Mechanic, that with the antenna that plugs into your OBD connector gives you GPS plus whichever gauges you would like. It displays up to 5 gauges at a time. Mine is set to Tachometer, Charging status, Intake temp, Coolant temp and Engine load. I have it mounted in an inexpensive waterproof cover.

 

[Mittzy]

But no doubt, no where near as loudly!

Yeah she can be lousy

 

[ricochet]

OK Since no one else mentioned it I will do it. If your looking for a relatively inexpensive GPS, go for a Garmin NUVI with a good mounting system. Don't worry about that "Waterproof" and "Vibration proof" crap. I can assure you that I've been riding with NUVI's for more then 10 years with absolutely no problems at all, and best of all is that they are cheap and easy to find EVERYWHERE. The Garmin ZUMO is so friggin expensive, it makes no sense... They all use the Same Operating System and other then the before mentioned stuff, not worth it in my opinion. You can buy 8 used or refurbished Garmin Nuvi's for the price of one of those Zumo's. I've been riding with Nuvi's for years and they simply work great in all conditions. If it rains, I usually just toss a bag over it, or just put it away in my pocket. I have mine hardwired into the battery with a hotwire so it turns on with the ignition. No worry about draining the battery or anything.

The new NUVI's have some great features like a tablet, like instant on and horizontal and vertical navigation. Go to RAM Mounts website and look for a nice handlebar solution for mounting and get yourself a nice Nuvi in your price range and ride. Don't give in to that Zumo nonsense, you'll be overpaying for nothing unless you really do ride in the rain for hours and hours at a time and want to navigate in the rain

Alternatively, you COULD use something like an android or iphone for navigation but I find the screens too small and require something other then a glove to operate... Nuvi's work perfectly with gloves.

 

[ThisGuy]

Google Navigation app - best in existence. Buy a smartphone off ebay/whatever and use it, run a USB charger that is on accessory power to keep it charged. Let it connect to home wifi and download all the maps in the area you ride. Done

Better yet, use a smartphone with a data only plan, and get traffic updates, route advisories, etc

In cars I use Google for city nav, but always the Garmin for trips. If you really get into it, there are a few invaluable features on a Garmin that Google either doesn't do as easily or can't do at all.

For example, what gas stations (restaurants, hotels, stores) are coming up along my current route? Exactly how many miles of driving to each? Pick one and easily add it as a stop along my route.

Or, what's that cool looking town a couple miles over on the hill to my right? Save it as a reference to visit later.

The first you can't do in Google and I use it all the time. The second you could do, pinching and swiping and trying to figure it out. Plus a few others examples. If all you do is navigate from A to B, it doesn't matter. But the Garmins really are refined and specialized to their task.

 

[Claviger]

I like dedicated GPS systems, but I would never buy one. In the world of Alexa, Siri, and Google Voice, the search assistants can all find you places with 1 button press to the Sena on your helmet or saying "Hello Sena" and a single sentence. "Siri give me directions to xxxxxxxxxx". She'll find it, route it, and open it automatically in the nav app.
GPS, only as current as the last software update when you connected it to your PC, or for some, via wifi to update. Phones...always up to date. 5.5" OLED screen is plenty visible, even in direct sun if you've got the colors in the apps set right, and the majority of recently released riding gloves are touch screen functional.

The only reason I'd but a GPS only GPS, is if it integrated all the things, making it more of a mobile automation nexus than a GPS. So, bluetooth to phone, accepts Siri/google/Alexa inputs with no user action required so the voice assistance can kick a destination to the GPS after a voice activated search, updates its maps through the phone, has traffic conditions and alerts, weather, connects to TPMS monitors, works as a gauge panel for the bike via ob2 connection, waterproof, and has a battery. I'd imagine such a GPS will be north of $500, so, that creates another problem, leaving it on the bike when parked.

I've never seen one with all of the above, but my phone does all of the above, which is why I thinks its the best GPS. Saving locations while on route can be done easily as well via voice and siri, though, I've never really found a use for it. Another nice point of using an iphone, is texting. If you get a text while riding, you can have siri read it to you, and voice compose a response and send it all without a single hand touch, and as the texts go back and forth, she'll keep reading them out to you.

THAT SAID: I get that some people prefer a dedicated GPS only GPS, phones do go full retard sometimes and do dumb inexplicable things that will leave your device in a non-responsive condition while riding, requiring a stop to fix the autistic phone and get it doing what it's supposed to do (hasn't happened to me in over a year though).

 

[Claviger]

I did just find this though, perhaps it's feasible to get everything unified on a $100 GPS?

Smartphone Link | Garmin

But I think this is more what I'd be looking for, has a setting to prefer curvy roads

zumo 595 LM | Motorcycle GPS | Garmin

 

[barbagris]

......... In the world of Alexa, Siri, and Google Voice, .....etc.

I can think of nothing worse. I wish there was a switch off phone if doing more than 5kmh option. Not mute, not vibrate only - power off.

 

[Claviger]

I can think of nothing worse. I wish there was a switch off phone if doing more than 5kmh option. Not mute, not vibrate only - power off.

There's an app for that It can drop it into airplane mode based on speed so its silent and non-responsive lol.