Hi

I want a GPS for use on my motorbike and car.

Ive seen motorbike GPS before but they look like they dont actually have road maps on them, is that right? They look like little trekking GPS what is the point of that?

A few years ago Garmin did a nuvi type waterproof GPS that had a 10 hour battery life and can use on motorbike or car. I cant find anything similar available these day.

Is there such a thing.. normal but non-widescreen gps that is waterproof so you can put on your motorbike? Preferably with a blue tooth ear bud i could use in the helmet. If it can been viewed easily in bright light good also

I just found it, Zumo 220

Price is totally ridiculous 22,000 baht. Im thinking ill just get a cheap 4000 baht gps and buy a $10 handlebar mount from ebay. Ill put it in a plastic bag or put in my pocket if it starts raining. I dont usually ride in the rain anyway

Or maybe ill just get a smart phone instead, is there a way to mount a samsung galaxy or samsung note to handlebars with some kind of protective case? What are the maps like for Thailand for smart phones, am i stuck with google maps - no good when there is not phone signal?

Your topic covers a couple of different sub forums. I think this would be better off in the GPS forum. Let's try it over there and see how it goes. We can always move it around later if you like, OK???

Topic Moved.

I just bought a 250 baht waterproof case for my cheapo Garmin Nuvi 40.

Bought one for my cellphone and I liked it so much I went back and bought a different size for my GPS. It doesn't have a handlebar mount, but it does have elastic straps meant to strap it to a runner's arm.

GPS4U (Fortune Tower) has waterproof handlebar mounts for cycles. A little pricier than 250 baht, but not near as ridiculous as the Zumo 220 or 350. I recall somewhere in the 1200-1800 baht range.

I would say you were looking for the TOM TOM Go Pro. Comes with all the equipment for mounting on bike and car if you wished. Bluetooth, including receiver and mike for helmet. Also has download for Thailand , I have a TomTom Go Live for the car and it has maps of Thailand and Australia, works fine. Just a thought.

In relation to my previous post, I just saw this one.

Sounds like you want the TOM TOM RIDER, new on the market this month. I will be buying one for my bike.

Big 4.3 screen, Bluetooth and cardio headset for helmet. Hands free phone calling and directions through headset.

Its removable and can be mounted in the car as well

It comes with an Australian map. You can downloaded the Thailand map from Tom Tom and it will work fine.

The link below has all the info on all 3 they make for bikes, the tom tom rider has the biggest screen.

https://www.tomtom.com/en_au/products/bike-navigation/

I've got a Garmin Zumo 220 on my Ducati and it works a treat. Don't be a cheap charlie

Nothing cheap and nasty with the Tom Tom's it still comes in at over 15k baht for the urban rider model which is still way cheaper than the zumo

I've got a Garmin Zumo 220 on my Ducati and it works a treat. Don't be a cheap charlie

So why don't you have a Zumo 350 or 650?

Cheap bastard.

(Just kidding.)

I paid significantly less for my barely used Fino scooter than a new Zumo 220 costs. Seems a little out of whack.

Edited February 22, 201313 yr by impulse

Will get the cheap nuvi 40 as suggested and a waterproof case I think.

How can i wire it up to a 6v motorbike battery?

6 Volt may be a non-starter.

I bought one of those extra battery thingies (power brick) for cell phones. Paid about 1500 baht for one that claims 13,000 extra mA-Hrs. Figure I can recharge the Nuvi 6 or 8 times before I need to recharge the power brick.

Since it doesn't have to be visible, I'm looking at a way to just put the power brick under the seat and run a mini-USB cable to the handlebars where the GPS will be mounted. The Nuvi uses a mini-USB port for charging it. (Mini-USB, not Micro-USB) Then I figure I'll get over 24 hours of uninterrupted power from the brick, which will stay dry under the seat. Still in the theoretical stage, but I'm not seeing any reason it won't work.

If you actually have a 12 volt battery, it should be easy to hook up a USB cable to the battery and never look back. I'd do that, except I also want to be able to move my Nuvi to my electric scooter and manual bicycle, too- and the power brick would work on all 3.

Edited February 23, 201313 yr by impulse

Garmin Zumo 550! Had my 5 years for use on bike and in truck and has never let me down.

I wouldn't buy any GPS that are not able to use the ESRI TSM maps. I'm not a Garmin fan boy but I do have a number of Garmins. Garmin maps and their support sucks but with the ESRI TSM map, they are the best units available for Thailand.

As of right now, I have found no maps that perform well on my Android phone and I have tried a number of them. I would say that Nokia has the best GPS maps available for smart phones. At this point, there is really no decent smart phone substitute for a dedicated GPS unit.

ADDED - I haven't seen a 6 volt motorcycle battery for years. You can buy a fused marine cigarette lighter to hook to your motorcycle battery and use the standard GPS cigarette lighter adapter that comes with the unit. If you don't want to look at the cigarette lighter adapter, it's not a big difficult trick to cut off the standard adapter and wire it direct to a fused lead from the battery.

Edited February 25, 201313 yr by Gary A

interesting

so the TPI map ( or whatever its called) that comes with nuvi 40 is no good then?

I have never heard of a TPI map so I cannot say it is no good. If it comes installed on the Garmin, it is likely an ESRI map. I suggest you contact Morris at Eagle GPS. The most recent ESRI map is named TSM, short for Thailand Street Map.

http://www.eaglegps.co.th/index.php/lang-en/car-navigation?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=112&category_id=2

I use my iphone with Tom Tom South East Asia, the maps are far better then the one in my Captiva. I have the RAM mount for the handle bar, you can get at the GPS store at MBK or other places.

I also have a great cigarette charger unit, bought at Touratech Thailand Motorbike accessories. Great quality. Very easy to wire to your battery. I use it on my KLX250 and it works like a charm. In case of rain I always bring a few zip lock plastic bags, you can still use the touch function even with the zip lock.

I believe that RAM mount adapters are available for different phones.

Price TomTom SEA 50 Euros, RAM mount about 2k Baht, charger less then 1k Baht

Edited March 2, 201313 yr by yannic