which Garmin

**harleydan** · #1 20th November 2008

My TomTom Rider 1 has finally died after being run over, dropped from great height, soaked in water and leading me all over Europe and through Florida. I am in need of a replacement and was going for a Garmin, maybe the Zumo 550, but they go for around $600/$700, a it more than I can affird, any advice out there on the 450, 500 or other Garmin units that are bike friendly?
ta
Dan
RoadGlidin' acros the states, Central and South America, 2 up

**bobkat** · #2 20th November 2008

It older and therefore cheaper but is very handy. The Quest (Atlantic Model) is what took us all over Europe for three years, about 70,000 km. It requires uploading the maps you need but holds enough for several days run. (The Quest II has the maps built in and has room to upload your personal POI's.) One of the best things is you can pop it out of its mount (Touratech makes a locking one), slip it in your pocket and take it with you when you take the train into the big city. Then you can mark your hotel or campsite or whatever to find your way back to it at the end of the day. It finds addresses or gasoline or hotels/restuarants but does not have music or pictures or bluetooth. The voice driving directions come from an external speaker at the 12 v. plug, so we didn't use them on the bike. We just watched the screen. One of my favorite features is that the four little data cells on the screen are user settable to any of about fifty data items like speed, distance, altitude, time to next, time to destination, etc. etc. etc.

**ivan2332** · #3 19th September 2009

I used the tom tom rider 2 in a Round Europe Trip, and I think that is a very good choice.

**maja** · #4 24th September 2009

Hi Dan, after my first Sreet Pilot 111 finally died and Garmin said that they would charge US$200.00 just to look at it, it was back to ebay and another Street Pilot 111, hardly used and then in a car, for £70.00. This came with a newer Europe base map, a couple of 256 cards and a newer US map CD than my old one had. I like this model, it is very robust, has large print (I am after all a pensioner) easy to use and designed with motorbikes in mind. It is mounted on the left hand wing mirror stalk of my BMWR1200GS in an expensive Touratech mount and has been fitted with my patented sunshade made from the remains of a truck tyre inner tube picked up from the side of the Pan American in the Atacama desert, ethnic or what. Ride safe.