macman
11-21-2006, 09:05 AM
OK, I understand that for most of us "the ride" is what attracts us to motorcycles. Gear up, hop on and let it roll. Where we are going isn't near as important as the journey to get there.
I don't know about you but occassionally, "the journey" takes me places that I have to ask "Where in the world am I?". Since I seem to spend more time enjoying the scenery and less time remembering the roads I took to get there, I bought a GPS. I got a nice one (Garmin GPSMap 276C (http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap276c)) but it was designed for automobiles and boats. It does an excellent job but the buttons are small and on the right hand side. Stopping to remove your gloves to change a function gets old quickly. However, someone at Garmin finally got it!!!
Enter the new Garmin Zumo 550 (http://www.garmin.com/products/zumo/) specifically designed for the motorcyclist. This thing has it all: left hand controls, glove friendly touch screen, waterproof, fuel-resistant plastic, BlueTooth headset capable, XM radio capable, turn-by-turn voice directions, points of interest database, etc. Granted the price is a little hefty ($1077 MSRP) but that includes preloaded maps for all of North America, motorcycle power cord, motorcycle RAM mount...all the things that you have to buy seperately when you buy a different GPS (they cost me around $400).
I haven't tried one yet but so far, I like what I see. Check it out.
http://www.garmin.com/zumo/
I don't know about you but occassionally, "the journey" takes me places that I have to ask "Where in the world am I?". Since I seem to spend more time enjoying the scenery and less time remembering the roads I took to get there, I bought a GPS. I got a nice one (Garmin GPSMap 276C (http://www.garmin.com/products/gpsmap276c)) but it was designed for automobiles and boats. It does an excellent job but the buttons are small and on the right hand side. Stopping to remove your gloves to change a function gets old quickly. However, someone at Garmin finally got it!!!
Enter the new Garmin Zumo 550 (http://www.garmin.com/products/zumo/) specifically designed for the motorcyclist. This thing has it all: left hand controls, glove friendly touch screen, waterproof, fuel-resistant plastic, BlueTooth headset capable, XM radio capable, turn-by-turn voice directions, points of interest database, etc. Granted the price is a little hefty ($1077 MSRP) but that includes preloaded maps for all of North America, motorcycle power cord, motorcycle RAM mount...all the things that you have to buy seperately when you buy a different GPS (they cost me around $400).
I haven't tried one yet but so far, I like what I see. Check it out.
http://www.garmin.com/zumo/