I find myself not using the GPS on my Strada as much as I did on my Yamaha WR250X. I used it for a speedo on the Yamaha, because it was soooooo far off. The husky's speedo seems to be only off 2 mph @ 65 mph, so I'm much happier using the stock speedo, and not relying on GPS for speed. --Chris
I have and still use a Garmin 76csx mapping GPS with RAM mount. I have it hard wired to the ignition switch so it powers up when I turn on the ignition and keeps the color screen lit while running. My son uses my old 76 and enjoys leading the ride once in awhile. it is real easy to how many miles your loop is and to plan a gas stop when needed. It is easy to make your own tracks with map source. I piece together old rides. http://www.dualsportmaps.com/ is a very cool website where you can make your own map, share your rides or ride someone's track they have posted from all over.
My 3 and 5 year old boys play with my compass from when I was a Boy Scout. My 5 year old is starting to understand it more. Can't wait to teach them how to use one in the woods to find there way without any electrical aid. I'm still using my Garmin etrex vista C and leaving it in my backpack to track where I've been.
I'm only 33 and these kids these days won't know how much fun can be had without electrical gizmos. I was born in the wrong generation. I didn't learn to email till I got an iPhone. Lol
I will definitely teach my kids how to use a compass to plot a course and follow a heading. Tools are just tools. Skills are something you learn.
Lekolite, why didn't it work? Did you connect the data cables to each other and connect only the power and ground to the socket?
Yes, that is exactly what I did. After further reading, the newer iPhones ie 4 and 5 require a small amount of power to come down the data cables as a signal to the charging system. The phones charging symbol came on but no charging happened. I ended up converting a 12volt USB adapter by soldering wires to the positive and negative contacts. Wrapped the whole thing in rubberized tape and wired it to the switched 12 volt line on the right side. This adapter lives in the electronics area under the seat and an Apple data cable runs from there to my handle bars.
Hate to get off topic here but it's not just Apple who do this. HTC telephones will draw 1A with a HTC car charger. On a USB connection they will only draw 500mA. Many aftermarket microUSB car chargers will only charge the HTC phone at 500mA, but 500mA is not enough to maintain battery level when using the phone for navigation. If the pins 2&3 (I think) in the microUSB car charger are shorted it will charge at 1A. Go figure why they make it so difficult. Motorola car chargers have the correct pin wiring to charge the HTC phone at 1A, at half the price of the HTC charger.
I stumbled across this useful history on why chargers don't always work the same for different devices. Quoted from: http://www.amazon.com/review/R1BSQF...N=B00622AG6S&nodeID=2335752011&store=wireless
So, all this GPS hubub...I'm planning out my trip for next week, and I'm planning on making a roll chart for each day and using my roll chart holder. I've got my phone's gps if needed. But I've found that if my phone is in the map pocket of my tank bag, and the screen is on with GPS navigation running, that it will overheat and shut off after an hour or so. Re-routes will be an issue with my roll charts I'll have pre-made before I leave, but other than that, I think it will work very well. My typical rides are go out in a random direction, and try to get lost. 90% of the time I can keep my bearings and find a direct route back without resorting to a GPS. So, I'm not sold on them for motorcycle use yet. I am enjoying the charging discussions though. I'm working on something now to make a compact charger to run in my tank bag. I'll post up pictures later on, but I'm shooting for a very simple and clean setup, with the primary need of charging my cell phone, Garmin bicycle computer (for recording my trip), and my mp3 player.
Finally got around to wiring my GPS to bike power. I've been running of it's rechargeable, and that's ok, but it's not as bright, and I ran out of juice last Sunday and spent $7 on gas station AAs. So I figured it was time to get to it. The marker lamp at the top of the headlight shares a 4A fuse with ABS (not on my US Terra) so I figured that would be perfect for running the GPS. I ran the lead from my mount down into the headlight assembly along the existing cable and joined it into the existing harness. I even had some of that UberGooey tape that BMW seems to love and I taped it back up, looks more or less stock. On the marker light, brown is ground, Green/Blue is 12V. Here's the opening with the headlight removed. I have the marker lamp pulled and the tape removed from the wires that power it. Here's the back of the light, you can see the whole where the marker light comes from. After a near drop to the floor I zip tied the lamp to it's mount. Garmin power cable mated with the factory wiring. I just remove a small section of insulation on the factory harness, wrap the ends of the gps wire, and soldered. After re-taping with fresh tape. The magic icon in the upper right. Key on, GPS on, key off, GPS asks if you want to leave it on battery, or turn off. All good.
