Speedohealer or GPS?

[Rooster Jr.]

I was wondering should I shell out the 90 bucks plus shipping for a speedohealer, or take that and add some more cash and go with a GPS.

[Kingpin]

If you get the right gps, it won't be that much more money but you can use it anywhere. I went with a Garmin E-Trex Legend. It's about the size of a cell phone and can attach to your handlebar if you want. I use mine all over the place and in all my cars. It was only a couple hundred bucks. I would suggest getting the one that has the higher memory capacity though as mine is only 8mb and I have to change the maps over pretty frequently. Mine will hold just about the entire D/FW area which may not sound like a lot but it is a great deal of detail. When you get outside major cities, it will hold huge areas of square miles. The E-Trex series is the least expensive (Garmin) and they are very easy to use. Not the most full-featured but definitely great for the money.

[winddance]

You can easily get a cheap gps that you won't worry about getting ripped off. Just be aware that they aren't accurate on hills or curves.

[HotFix]

I also have a Garmin eTrex Legend (b/w 8MB). It is a good unit for basic navigation and geocaching. I also like pulling my track logs out an mapping them in 3D in Google Earth (so you can rub the mountain and Valley rides in the face of those that didn't go) :twisted:
If you don't mind using the basic interstates and highway stick figures inside - it is a good option.
You can find an eTrex Legend for almost $100.

I would suggest getting the new eTrex Legend Cx. It is color, has upgradable memory, 2x the battery life off the same batteries, and is routeable if you buy the mapping software. You can find it for just over $200 (+$100 for mapping software).

[ctriba]

Why get a speedo healer? I like that it reads a bit high cause' I know I probably wont get a ticket even though it reads 80. I would drop my cash on a GPS. (But not for speed accuracy, I would want one for road trips)

[HotFix]

Here is some of the fun I have with my cheap a$$ eTrex

Planning a route...
http://www.beginnerbikers.org/gallery/files/6/8/route1.jpg

Pulling it out of your GPS...
http://www.beginnerbikers.org/gallery/files/6/8/lake2mt.jpg

[Tommy Kelly]

Geocacheing is a blast. I've been going with my brother inlaw and and having a ball. I have a old lowrance gps and am planning on updating soon. We go almost every weekend and find 2to3 caches. It takes you to places you would never go and is really fun. He is really into it and has 2 gps units and a palm pilot with caches loaded in it that he uses and we have fun finding them. The gps units are great for planning trips and finding motels or places to eat on the road. We are going on vacation tomorrow and he has got all the caches on our trip loaded in so we will take the wives and find a few while on vacation they have never gone with us before. Like I said before we go almost every weekend and usually end up riding at least 150 miles while geocacheing I've been to places that are within 30 miles of my house that I have never seen and I have lived here for 50 years and thought I had seen everything around here. Give it a try I believe you will enjoy it.

[HotFix]

I have found a large waterfall on the river 7 miles from my house. Never would have found it if someone didn't 'hide' somethere there to lure me in.

It is also a great way to walk off some monkey butt after a long ride. :D

[cool runnins]

I don't have my GPS mounted all the time due to the fact every time you stop to run into a store or something if you don't remove it, good chance it won't be there when you come back. So I have both, speedohealer so I know what speed I'm going, proper mileage readings for figuring out gas mileage, trip distances when I don't have my GPS with me, things like that. GPS for planing routes or mapping to places or roads I've never been.

Thats what I do, everyone's different :wink:

[HotFix]

I don't have my GPS mounted all the time due to the fact every time you stop to run into a store or something if you don't remove it, good chance it won't be there when you come back.
Good point. I have mine mounted ~20% of the time. the RAM mount comes off with no tools and sometimes I loosen it up and swing next to my mirror - then hang my helmet off both to conceal.

[Tommy Kelly]

My brother inlaw uses the ram mount also with it in the center of his handlebars it raises the gps up to where it is easy to see without taking your eyes off the road. Its a lot better than honda's idea with the speedometer on the tank. you can see the road and upcoming curves and turns without taking your eyes off the road. It makes it really nice to use . When I decide on which gps I want it will be on a ram mount in the center of the bars.

[Rooster Jr.]

Ok 2 quick questions, what is geocaching and how do you mount the eTrex Legend to the handlebars. I'll have to look into wiring in a cigarette adapter if I would get one.

[Kingpin]

Ok 2 quick questions, what is geocaching and how do you mount the eTrex Legend to the handlebars. I'll have to look into wiring in a cigarette adapter if I would get one.

E-Trex Legend is battery operated so you won't have to run power (although you can) so you can have a clean, wireless install. Garmin sells a kit including a replacement battery door with a clip and a handlebar mount that fits the clip on th handheld unit. Again, it's a very clean unobtrusive install. You can remove the unit from the handlebar with one hand in about 1 second and it's small enough to fit in your pocket. I really like mine for trips.

Oh yeah, geocaching. It's pretty cool. You get physical coordinates to a place on earth and then you go and find the place where someone has left a package usually containing some inexpensive trinket and a log of visitors. When you find the package, you sign the log and trade trinkets and then replace it for someone else to find it. Someone here has in there sig line "I use billion dollar satelites to find tupperware in the woods". That's geocaching in a nutshell but it's waaay more fun than that sounds. Google geocaching and you'll find more information than you'll ever need!

[AzAce]

Ok 2 quick questions, what is geocaching

http://www.geocaching.com/faq/
this link will answer a lot of your questions about geocaching.... it's kinda like hide and seek, people hide things and enter the co-ordinates on sites like http://www.geocaching.com you can do a search for your area, and then go find them, *** your GPS unit will get you close to the stuff, then you're going to have to look for it, it's generally not in plain sight, so if someone is just walking by, they don't just pick it up and take it***a lot of times there is a log book, that you can sign, write what you took out of it, and what you left in it's place ..... take something, leave something

[Dontom]

Everyone keeps mentioning the speed-o being off on their X's. I was riding the other day and came up on one of those road signs that have the radar in them. It gave me a read out of 58 mph and my speed-o was showing just under 60. I had another guy clock me with his car and 70 in his car was 70 on my X. Maybe I just got lucky. Anyway it never bothered me to think it was off. I just ride what is comfortable for the road I am on.

[hilf]

R.A.M. mounts offer a key lockable knob that can help keep sticky fingers at bay. I bought one from Cycle Gadgets for my Veypor VR2. If someone wants it they'll have to saw something off to get it. The knob costs about $12.

[Reaper]

I realy like my Garmin quest, comes off in one second, water resistant, and can be submerged for up 30 seconds, and tis little unit will fit in your pocket. Lookin the pic here, I just tapped two 1/4 x 20 holes on my top clamp. the navagation comes out of the mount, but the whole mont can be removed also.


http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c19/VTXreaper/Dells035.jpg

[NDAna]

Why get a speedo healer? I like that it reads a bit high cause' I know I probably wont get a ticket even though it reads 80. I would drop my cash on a GPS. (But not for speed accuracy, I would want one for road trips)

Because not only is the speedometer 10% fast- so is the odometer. Issue for maint. and resale value. Don't figure on selling my bike but if you have a stealer do one extra service in your ownership of the bike then you have MORE than paid for the 'healer'.