Choosing a GPS for your motorcycle - FlamesOnMyTank



Choosing a GPS for your motorcycle

(when you know less than zero about them)

We knew we needed a GPS as my wife and I travel off-road on our own. This always put my navigation skills under huge pressure as things start to go wrong when you make miscalculations, mistakes or bad decisions based on inaccurate or incomplete information.

I read a number of magazines on the topic but all they served to do was trot out a lot of technical mumbo-jumbo that meant nothing to me. Therefore I started my research and over a number of weeks learnt enough to make a decision. Here are the questions I needed to ask and the answers I was able to find. My most useful source of information was from Mark Roache’s GPS shop ie GPSshop.co.za

Q – Which brand should I be looking at?

A – Presently the only brand that is able to serve South Africa which is very far from the technological hub of the USA or Europe, is Garmin

Q – Units vary from just over R1000 to nearly R8000. Why?

A – They may all be called by the same name but there capabilities are very different. The basic Garmin models tell you were you are and can point out, in a straight line, where you are going to. If no road (path, trail) exists in this “straight line” you need more information from a good map and a compass (more about compasses later)

Then there are models which can store a map electronically. This functionality requires memory e.g. the detailed street maps of Pretoria, Johannesburg, East and West Rand is about 15Mb. Add Durban and Pietermaritzburg and you are up to 20Mb. Clearly a GPS that offers less than 24mb of memory is therefore a problem if you need to store maps.

Then there are Autorouting units. They store maps but can also guide you from where you are, to where you need to be, via existing roads (not in a straight line). These units can calculate your route and inform you where to go via text or even audio instructions. NOTE: Not all maps are autorouting. Autorouting is only possible with autorouting software and hardware.

Q – Can’t I just buy a cheaper unit overseas or over the Internet?

A – No. In the first instance the unit may be useless for a number of different reasons. Secondly, you need a ‘local’ unit with SA roads. You can however buy extra MiniSD cards overseas and save some money that way.

Q – How much memory do I need?

A – You don’t know. You will only know this after you have used it for awhile. For this reason you should only buy a unit that supports external memory cards, like cameras i.e. 32, 64, 128 and 512Mb MiniSD cards. You need more memory, you buy another card. You can even have Gauteng on one card, KZN on another etc and swop them around.

Q – Why are some units a lot bigger than others?

A – You get handheld units and vehicle units. The first are smaller while the latter are designed to be mounted on a car’s dashboard

Q – Why does the unit come with a CD with street maps. Someone told me that the units come with pre-loaded maps.

A – The preloaded maps are of little use in SA (we are a backwater remember?) You need a CD containing all the street maps in SA which you have to load into the GPS memory. You only load what you need as the unit will probably not have enough memory to load it all.

Q – What is MapSource and Garmap?

A – MapSource is a map viewing program that allows you to view maps produced by Garmin. Maps produced by Garmin for our region are generally poor. Garmap however is a local company that produces accurate local maps for the Southern African market. Garmap South African Streetmaps ver 3 supports autorouting and covers all cities and most rural towns i.e. it is comparable to a good road touring map from the AA.

Q – I am also interested in the off road stuff as well as hiking

A – Then you need two or even three different maps products i.e. either Garmap SA Street maps or Garmap African Road Atlas to get to the area you are interested in and then Garmap Topographical and Recreational for 1:50 000 topographical data. Note: Only Garmap SA street maps supports autorouting. Topographical data is huge and then you need at least 64Mb of memory on your unit.

Q – What is the Trip and Waypoint Manager software that comes with the unit for?

A – Even the unit with the largest amount of memory is hopelessly insufficient for the serious touring enthusiast. This software allows you to save and manage the accumulated data from you individual trips e.g. last year’s trip to Mozambique is of no use to you when this year you are traveling to Angola this year.

Q – Why is a PC so important?

A – Again the unit’s memory is insufficient. You need a way of reading map CDs and transferring only the areas you need to the unit. You also need a place to store the accumulated data from a trip for archive purposes

Q – What is this “accumulated data” from a trip?

A – Your trip will generate a thousands of points of reference i.e. waypoints, routes, tracks etc which you will want to store for later reference or to share with others. This is one of the most interesting by-products of owning a GPS. You up-to-date data from your latest trip has huge value to others (as their data will be to you when planning your next trip). Again available memory is important.

Q – What is a waypoint?

A – It is a point on a map e.g. a hotel, an intersection, an ATM. Your GPS can guide you to any point as long as you have the co-ordinates. A string of waypoints is a route or track.

Q – What is all this fuss about accuracy? Who cares about a couple of meters when you are looking for a whole town?

A – People use their GPSs for a huge variety of different applications e.g. to calculate the area of a piece of land or find an ATM in a town. An accurate GPS can also be used to calculate your speed, average speed, stationary time and a host of other trip related, time and distance data

Q – What is with this electronic compass? Why is it an extra?

A – A GPS uses movement relative to its position to various satellites to determine direction and position. Therefore if you are stationary it cannot tell you where North is. Therefore an extra feature is an electronic compass if you would like this information when stationary.

Q – How do I attach the unit to my bike?

A – You need to purchase an additional vibration absorbing mount to your handlebars.

Q – What about power?

A – Batteries are not the answer if you are doing a three week motorcycle tour. You need a power point on your bike. If you don’t have one your dealer can easily and cheaply fit one.

Q – Is it possible to safely view that tiny screen while riding at 160kph?

A – It is best to get a large colour display with variable colour schemes and backlighting. Also a mount that offers a variety of different positions when the sun is shining directly onto the screen.

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