GPS for her now, then for bike trip
 

I need a gps that my partner can use now in the car to get to various locations for work(she is map challenged) then to use on our trip overland trip UK to OZ. Do all come with ability to use bike power? What are waypoints,routes and track logs? what do I need? No really adventurous stuff on trip. but need to know my way back when lost.

Many thanks

andrew and wendy

Gps
 

TomTom Rider works well for me (and the missus) both in the car and on the GS. Maps are very good for OZ. It's taken me around the country a few times without problem. Cheers.

Garmin quest 11
 

I have just bought a Garmin quest to use on my overland trip from here to OZ.

Works quite well, easy to use, read etc etc plus it is fairly robust.

It comes with all the car mounting brakets you need to use in the car.

You can buy RAM mount to install on the handlebars. I think you can get these in the UK now however I arranged mine from the States and also bought the power unit so that it can run off the battery. All up it was £60 for the mount and power unit. See link
RAM Mounting Systems UK - Garmin Quest Cradle - RAM-HOL-GA15

The Quest units are usually on ebay if you are looking for a deal however make sure to get all the unlock codes off the previous owner if you do happen to pick one up second hand. I have heard of people having trouble installing maps at a later date.

The original quest can be bought for about £175 new on the internet if you shop around and the newer quest 11 is a little more with the main differance being the internal memory

Then you should be thinking of a GPS that does autorouting, and software to support the same (maybe comes with unit, maybe an additional purchase). Many here recommend the Garmin 276C or one of the later like models. Large color screen (so easier to read than a grey-scale monitor). Autorouting software - I can't speak about Australia, but for Europe and North America, you can load areas of a country which includes detail down to street level in major cities. Then, use the Find function, enter an address, and generally you'll get turn by turn instructions to your destination - could be an address, a major feature (museum, park, zoo, shopping centers) and the like. Most of Garmins GPS units come with bracket for mounting GPS in car, includes 12v cigarette lighter plug, cables to connect to computer etc. The 276C even includes audio output so you can hear it tell you where to go, instead of watching the screen (it may need a headphone or something, maybe its possible to connect to in-car speaker system (I don't use it for that, so can't say).


Touratech, Ram, others sell mounts to attach to bikes. I use Touratech-USA Motorcycle Adventure Touring Accessories from Germany - they sell both Ram and Touratech mounts, lots of other stuff for mounting, wiring GPS.

No, some use batteries only, which are a pain. Batteries don't do so well with all the vibration. For the 276C, you'd want to order an optional cable that you can connect power and ground to bike battery. (it comes with a cable for this, but you want this for use in the car, get another for permanent use with the bike). You can even hook the 276C up to an in-helmet speaker and use the voice auto-routing, but then again, for most of us, there isn't autorouting software for "in the bush".

Waypoints - when you aren't using autorouting software, you need to build your own routes. So you use waypoints. You mark road intersections, towns, features. Then you navigate from waypoint to waypoint.

You also can stop and mark a spot on the map with a waypoint - like a hotspring, swimming holes, nude beach, etc. - places you might want to go back to later.

Routes - you build a route in advance, retrieve it to navigate a later time. Often you build the route on your PC where its easier, then transfer to your GPS. You can also build on the GPS. Uses cities and waypoints you already marked, or ones you create while you build the route.

Tracks - what the GPS keeps track of while you ride. You save these from time to time, then you can transfer back to your PC, use them later. Or, you get lost or the road is a dead end, you backtrack to where you last were found.