The Future of GPS?

[Spud]

New Garmins--less than 1CM thick. Would be so nice--you could easily slide it in a pocket whenever you stopped....

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=134&pID=63940&ra=true

 

[bramfrank]

Not so practical, considering they have glass touchscreens (subject to breakage), and are less than bulletproof, software-wise.

In your pocket you aren't going to be getting any traffic updates, either

I personally suspect that the future of GPS lies in integration; They will be part of the base car, built into your phones and such. Specialty manufacturers will continue to make Marine, Aircraft, hiking models and stand-alone vehicular models, no different than car stereos, cruise control adapters and such. But the huge supply situation will disappear as the market rationalises.

 

[tmc]

My iPhone has a glass touchscreen and I have yet to break it despite my best attempts to do so.

These new Garmins also have cameras, and a browser. They are very, very interesting, but they do encroach on smartphone-territory.

Pretty quickly our GPS enables smartphones will take over all, and these devices will be mostly obsolete...

 

[Burnspot]

My iPhone has a glass touchscreen and I have yet to break it despite my best attempts to do so.

These new Garmins also have cameras, and a browser. They are very, very interesting, but they do encroach on smartphone-territory.

Pretty quickly our GPS enables smartphones will take over all, and these devices will be mostly obsolete...

+1 Haven't used a Garmin in the car for over a year now as we've found the Motion X GPS app on iPhone to be a better choice, but I'll still use the Garmin on the bike and keep the phone secured in a pocket.

 

[Geezer]

Yeah, I guess the glass touch screen would be fragile, but they had to do something to improve their touch screens or go back to buttons. Personally, I prefer buttons even if they require a larger unit to make room for them.

The lifetime traffic subscription is interesting. I would prefer a lower price and no FM traffic.

Either way, so far they offer nothing that makes me want to upgrade from my 2730, so I guess I'll get the touchscreen repaired on that and I'll be good for a few more years.

 

[bnilguy]

Agreed. I wouldn't want to have stock in Garmin. I get good use out of my 205 in the car..but smartphones are quickly making them redundant. No extra hardware and no ridiculous $$$ for map updates

 

[sin_loki]

Agreed. I wouldn't want to have stock in Garmin. I get good use out of my 205 in the car..but smartphones are quickly making them redundant. No extra hardware and no ridiculous $$$ for map updates

Smart phones are nice and all, they still don't make them "water and dirt" friendly yet. as soon as they are IPX certified, then sign me up. IP65 or IP55 would be ideal.

 

[Crash Cash]

Smart phones are nice and all, they still don't make them "water and dirt" friendly yet.

Yeah, but neither are 90% of the GPSes out there... and I've yet to encounter a GPS where the UI wasn't a total steaming pile, including Tomtom, Garmin, Lowrance/Eagle or Magellan. I'd much rather use Google Maps/Navigator on my Droid.

 

[bramfrank]

Smart phones are nice and all, they still don't make them "water and dirt" friendly yet.

Yeah, but neither are 90% of the GPSes out there... and I've yet to encounter a GPS where the UI wasn't a total steaming pile, including Tomtom, Garmin, Lowrance/Eagle or Magellan. I'd much rather use Google Maps/Navigator on my Droid.

I would too, but that ain't gonna happen out in the wide open spaces where there is no cellular coverage.

 

[art miller]

I picked up a new Garmin Nuvi 1490T for under $200. I got a Ram Mount for $10 and all works great. It has enhanced volume and brightness features. The 5" screen is great. I do not ride in the rain nor travel dirt roads. The unit fits in my jacket pocket. What's better for a fair weather rider?

 

[tmc]

Agreed. I wouldn't want to have stock in Garmin. I get good use out of my 205 in the car..but smartphones are quickly making them redundant. No extra hardware and no ridiculous $$ for map updates

Smart phones are nice and all, they still don't make them "water and dirt" friendly yet. as soon as they are IPX certified, then sign me up. IP65 or IP55 would be ideal.

https://www.magellangps.com/toughcase/

Frank - if you have a paid GPS app, you'll have the maps on the smartphone itself. I have one on my iPhone - it's my "last resort" backup GPS. If it were more stable on my now 2x outdated iPhone3G, I'd use it as primary.

As soon as I upgrade to the iPhone4, I will probably use it as primary and my Garmin as secondary. I even have Bluecharts on it for my nautical adventures.

 

[sin_loki]

... and I've yet to encounter a GPS where the UI wasn't a total steaming pile, including Tomtom, Garmin, Lowrance/Eagle or Magellan. I'd much rather use Google Maps/Navigator on my Droid....

most are, Google by far has the best setup, but my Droid does not work too well with gloves on and if cover it up with a plastic bag you can't see it for crap if you get stuck in the rain, however i use it my car all the time.

The zumo 550 i would call "best use" with a motorcycle, the glove friendly screen and the four buttons on the left make it handy to have, plus if you happen to run into some rain (or rain storm) you don't have worry about it. As far touch UI, meh.. it could be improved, but i think is better than the zumo 660-665.

Any tomtom (dumbdumb) is useful as box of rocks, i demoed the dumbdumb rider on a buddy's bike, i got lost twice...

I never used a Lowrance/Eagle GPS, only sonar equipment. and i used to have a old Magellan tracker that worked great for dirt riding, let you know where you camped at.

now of Google released a Moto friendly Gps...... that would be f'ing AWESOME!

 

[sin_loki]

I would too, but that ain't gonna happen out in the wide open spaces where there is no cellular coverage.

my moto Droid does not have this issue, if i got a good GPS signal, it can get me where i need to be.

 

[sin_loki]

https://www.magellangps.com/toughcase/

Frank - if you have a paid GPS app, you'll have the maps on the smartphone itself. I have one on my iPhone - it's my "last resort" backup GPS. If it were more stable on my now 2x outdated iPhone3G, I'd use it as primary.

As soon as I upgrade to the iPhone4, I will probably use it as primary and my Garmin as secondary. I even have Bluecharts on it for my nautical adventures.

oh ya Droid users get FREE map updates, :lol: and have to pay Jack to use it, :yahoo: and yet verizon still tried to sell me VZnav <_<

 

[FJRGuy]

I 've been using my iPhone and love it. Bought myself something to make my iPhone 'weather-resistant'. Now experimenting with an iPad with a Ram Mount. It rocks and uses the same 'weather protection'. Have no worries using apple iDevices on the bike except in the heaviest of downpours (in which case they easily slip into my tankbag before I pull out it's rain cover.)

I heard a rumour about a mid-sized Apple iDevice in the works (iPad Mini???) that will help in the reduction of demand for Standalone GPS units.

Oh, see my Weather Protection kit here!

 

[sin_loki]

Oh, see my Weather Protection kit here!

geez your doing it wrong

crazy Canadians

 

[RaYzerman19]

The Zumo 550 works for me! I would rather be able to create routes where I want to go, not where the normal GPS will take you from point A to point B. Do your smartphones allow you to do routing, or downloading routes to it, or do you just punch in your destination and follow it wherever it sends you? And, why would I want to put it in my pocket?

 

[Geezer]

The Zumo 550 works for me! I would rather be able to create routes where I want to go, not where the normal GPS will take you from point A to point B. Do your smartphones allow you to do routing, or downloading routes to it, or do you just punch in your destination and follow it wherever it sends you? And, why would I want to put it in my pocket?

Yes, multi-point routes are absolutely necessary. And a mount for the motorcycle so I can see how fast I'm going and what the road ahead looks like before I get there.

 

[RossKean]

Smartphones are sophisticated multi-function devices but IMHO they are not a good substitute for purpose-built devices. The camera in the phone is satisfactory for documenting an accident when nothing better is available but I would never plan to use it to document my vacation. You will NEVER get the same quality as a decent camera because of the tiny lens and sensor. Similarly for GPS - my tired old eyes could not possibly use the small phone screen to navigate (I have a Blackberry). Email and inteernet surfing can be accomplished on the smartphone but I am not going to give up my laptop or desktop computers anytime soon. One solution is, of course, to make the phone larger (i.e. iPad with phone capability and camera) but then you might as well be carying around the old Motorola "brick" phone, if anyone ever had one of those. (Or worse, one of the "bag 'phones".) iPad case is still too shallow for decent photographic quality.

I am all for a good purpose-built GPS. Bluetooth piped into a helmet is good for phone connection, tunes and directions. The one in the original post looks good except for the lack of an MP3 player. Convenient to have that as part of the GPS so the tunes cut out when the GPS is talking. I ride in the rain a fair amount so waterproofing is accomplished with a clear plastic ziplock bag or the GPS goes in the trunk if I know where I am going.

Ross