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Navigation - Maps, Compass, GPS How to find your way - traditional map, compass and road signs, or GPS and more
Photo by Marc Gibaud, Clouds on Tres Cerros and Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia

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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia




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  #1  
Old 15 Jul 2015
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Sounds viable. I had problems with the connector to the phone. Same on the Garmin. May have to secure that on the dash a well. 2a should be plenty.
That plastic looks brittle though.
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Old 15 Jul 2015
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I wasn't aware there were 3a chargers. Interesting. Not sure it's required though. 2a is a lot. Not sure on the draw from that large screen thing, but easily tested. I've found screen mirroring to use the most amount of power. The thing really warms up. So using full brightness with GPS and maybe Bluetooth to headphones wouldn't be a problem. Wish the thing could go on Bluetooth on flight mode though. It does for GPS. Turning the cell reception off saves a lot of power.

It's a shame a lot of the maps don't have more contrast. Often it's light colors on white. Some can be manipulated or just put it in might mode. But the glossy screens do produce a bit more glare. It's manageable the same as Garmin screens but I'm thinking of experimenting with a little shade cap. Should also mitigate the heading a bit.
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Old 16 Jul 2015
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten View Post
I wasn't aware there were 3a chargers. Interesting.
My earlier quote was taken from an advert on Amazon for such a fitting.


Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten View Post
Not sure it's required though. 2a is a lot
Agreed.
In any case, the power draw will be in relation to the bit of kit that is attached to the charger i.e. it varies.
So, we are referring here to maximum capacitiies of chargers; I checked the "small print" on a variety of chargers that I possess - small print because I need a magnifying glass to be able to read it and it is the kind of information that we all tend not to bother with, usually.
2 of them are for mobile phones and they are rated at 0.3 amp and 0.6 amp.
The third one is for the Nexus 7 and it is rated at 2 amp.
All 3 are of that type which plugs straight into the mains supply, thereby connecting that power and lowering the output to a constant 5 volt DC passed on to the bit of kit via a USB type A cable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten View Post
I've found screen mirroring to use the most amount of power. The thing really warms up. .
Screen mirroring??


Quote:
Originally Posted by tmotten View Post
It's a shame a lot of the maps don't have more contrast. Often it's light colors on white. Some can be manipulated or just put it in might mode. But the glossy screens do produce a bit more glare. It's manageable the same as Garmin screens but I'm thinking of experimenting with a little shade cap. Should also mitigate the heading a bit.
Yep, I too have played around with a home made shade made of a bit of plastic covered in black tape to reduce reflection and attached to the GPS with more black tape and blu-tack.
Pretty it wasn't, but effective it was.
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Old 17 Jul 2015
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Screen mirroring to a tv. It's pretty awesome but uses a lot of power.
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Old 17 Jul 2015
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Screen mirroring to a tv. It's pretty awesome but uses a lot of power.
Ah OK.
Via a HDMI cable, bluetooth or wifi - any or all of them I guess?
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Old 17 Jul 2015
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No it's wireless through the Wi-Fi network. Hence the power
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Old 20 Jul 2015
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Garmin 590LM

There's a review of one of the latest garmin models in another thread.

It's within "equipment reviews" and I thought it worth bringing a link into here for the "pros and cons argument" contained in the title of this thread.
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...m-review-82727
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Old 4 Aug 2015
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Looks nice. Keen to find out about how it deals with prolonged periods of sun.
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Old 4 Aug 2015
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Looks nice. Keen to find out about how it deals with prolonged periods of sun.
It's not particularly warm in the hand, running a load of software.

Like all screens there is some reflection when outdoors but it's not bad in bright sunshine - I suspect that the resolution of the screen pixels helps with that.

Apart from hand held use, so far I have used it set up in a 4 wheeler; directly exposed to the sun behind a windshield the case was still not especially warm to the touch while running the GPS mode and a mapping app.
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Old 4 Aug 2015
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It's not particularly warm in the hand, running a load of software.
I didn't express that sentence too well: the phone is not warm at all when hand held - it is at whatever the ambient temperature happens to be.
There again, I have warm hands!!

I guess it is down to the powerful processor (see the specs for that detail) which should be able to run a lot of software therefore; I am not in to gaming and all that type of thing so this specification does what I want.
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Last edited by Walkabout; 10 Aug 2015 at 09:26.
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Old 4 Aug 2015
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Looks nice. Keen to find out about how it deals with prolonged periods of sun.
That was the main problem with my old Nokia N80. Back then there weren't really motorcycle GPS about, so it was kept in the map pocket of my tankbag.

The phone was well known for being slow due to a lack of memory, but it would heat up and just get slower until it crashed. Still it got me 5,500 miles to the black sea and back.
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  #12  
Old 4 Aug 2015
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Originally Posted by c-m View Post

The phone was well known for being slow due to a lack of memory
Most phones will accept an internal sd card of course for app storage purposes.
I'm using a 16 Gb card in the Stone which accepts upto 32 Gb max. IIRC.

I've already forgotten the built in memory spec for the AGM Stone (perhaps 4 Gb, maybe 8?) but it will be in the earlier link; that doesn't seem to be a limiting factor for the Stone.
I've yet to find a limiting factor of the Stone for the purposes discussed in this thread.

ps
It's 8 Gb of ROM with 1 GB of built in RAM
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Last edited by Walkabout; 10 Aug 2015 at 09:27. Reason: ps added
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Old 8 Aug 2015
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I've yet to find a limiting factor of the Stone for the purposes discussed in this thread.
Not so much a limiting factor, but it does feel quite heavy to the hand; comparing it today on some scales the AGM Stone weighed in at 248 gms while a Nexus 6 in a plastic protective case weighed 217 gms.
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Old 9 Aug 2015
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My "wanted" smart phone specks...

Need;
micro SD card at least 32Gb
WiFi
USB GTO connection
Small enough to fit is a shirt pocket
Availability of additional protective silicon case
Availability of additional protective gorilla glass
4 band 3G
At least 8 Gb internal memory
MP3 player
Battery life of at least 1 day!!!

Like;
4 band 4G
cheap

Present phone Samsung S4 mini dous. Misses on the USB GTO, has USB and might be routeable for the GTO function.

GPS specks?
Need;
Run 'my' Garmin maps
Battery life of at least 1 day on internal batteries
Automatic swapping between internal and external power
Viewable in bright sunlight!
Able to create a route, and use it.
micro sd card for memory of at least 2 Gb
Tracks automatically go to the memory card, date stamped and saved each day.
Easy swapping between maps
External power, say, 5 volts to 36 volts.

Like;
Run raster maps

Present GPS Garmin 60Cx .. misses ... not great in bright sunlight, no raster maps. External power limits (I'd have to look those up)?
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Old 15 Oct 2015
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Batteries are a definite weak point. I'm struggling right now with communication. Garmin had the rino but I can't seem to get them to show each other on the map like they're meant to. Been emailing Garmin about this. They've given me instructions of how to solve this but nothing worked. Their last instruction was to buy new ones. What planet are they on. Never Garmin again!
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