Termin

Hey,

I am new here, my name is James Campbell and I have been riding for a few years now. Mostly mountain biking though however I recently got myself a street/racing bike and I have been enjoying that. I live in West Virginia and parts of it are really good for biking and others aren't. A lot of the drivers are more considerate here however as a lot of people biking in my small town.

Anyways, I was wondering if any of you know of a GPS system for a bike? I want something that has at least 16-256 color and HAS to have expandable memory cards. I really don't like these internal memory sources of 64 or 112 megabytes. I have looked at Garmin and Magellan and while some of the things looked good, I need something that I can mount on my bike; i.e. with a GPS holder. Garmin doesn't make any expendables and Magellan hasn't replied to my query as of yet. Any advice/help would be appreciated.

All of my thanks,

Termin

Dahon.Steve

Garmin has a handle bar mount that works perfectly. Don't be afraid of getting one with memory cards because you won't be using any where near 112 meg on the unit. It's not like you need to have the map of the entire US on your GPS all at one time. In fact, having two or three states is good enough. If you intend on traveling across the country, it might be a good idea to have all that memory but for the most part, it will remain unused on your device.

I want a color unit too but unless my Garmin unit brakes, I'll keep the mono screne.

KingTermite 

As far as memory goes, I got this gps:
Garmin 60cs
https://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap60cs/

It has only 56 mb of memory, and I can fit about half the state of Florida into it with that amount.

Termin

I travel a great deal, not just my current state; and I might need to put the entire map of the US on it But really, I really like the idea of expendable memory cards for more then a few reasons. I also need to find something with maps of trails but so far (beyond state parks and such) I have not found much.

KingTermite 

If you want the extra, then you want the extra and I won't try to talk you out of it....I just wanted to make sure you knew how much that amount of memory really was. Also remember, you won't be traveling the entire U.S. at one time between times you could hook up to a computer......As long as you can get to a computer to reset the map area for the area you are going to (map software contains the entire U.S.), you don't need the entire U.S. at one given time.

As far as maps with trails and stuff.....I agree....there are none that I'm aware of...just the "outdoorsy" edition with state parks and stuff.

Dahon.Steve

I was thinking about this and I'm pretty sure you can use a Windows CE machine that's handheld to carry Microsoft Streets and trips or the entire Garmin map program.

KingTermite 

As long as the software is Windows CE compatible (not sure without looking it up) and the handheld has the appropriate serial device to transfer the data (be warned...many still use UART, not USB).

gps_dr

There are trade-offs in almost everything


Of the units currently available, I like the Garmin GPSmap 76C/CS.
Soon out will be the Magellan Explorist XL and Lowrance iFinder Hunt + color

• large screen vs cost
• Is topo contour interval important?
• Trail coverage important?
• Number of tracklogs
• What other uses do you have for it?

Magellan & Lowrance have the most detailed elevation contour intervals (50') in their topo products
Magellan Topo has squat for trails, Garmin some & Lowrance the best trail coverage.
Garmin auto-routes on base map so you don't have to include everything between start & dest.
Garmin auto recalculates if you miss a turn.
Magellan limits loaded maps to 64MB, you can't autoroute across these.
Magellan and Lowrance units use more battery power.
Garmin units support at least 10 tracklogs/breadcrumb trails stored on unit. (magellan 0-5, Lowrance 100)

There are new units under development that of course will make current units "lacking".

My Garmin 76 has taken a few spills with my Mtn Bike & stayed in place & Operating.
Not as impressed as I thought I would be with the Ram-mount for my Lowrance/Brunton, It seems to vibrate too much.

Dahon.Steve

In that case, a Pocket PC with Streets and Trips can give you all the street coordinates you'll need to cross the country. You don't USB or UART and can enter "Way Points" by hand.

Dahon.Steve

I didn't know it could do this and I have to find out if my Legend has this feature. I wish Garmin would display the destination "Way Point" name on the route I created on the screne instead listing just a number. This is because that name is the street I'm headed for and it's important to see it on screne! I consider this the most frustrating aspect of the Garmin GPS on an otherwise excellant product.