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Affordable GPS


Guest Chaos

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Guest Chaos
rod

 

would love to see how you mounted it.

 

thanks

 

jim

 

:sign09:

 

I'm getting ready to drop $50 for a ram mount that will allow me to mount the unit just above the front brake master cyclinder. Maybe if I see your setup I can save some cash.

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Guest Chaos
If you make it to Vogal in August I'll give to the grand tour.

 

I probably won't make Vogel as I plan on doing the Colorado Trip in July, and I get really busy later in the fall. I sure will look you up if I make it down that way again. Kennesaw is only placed I have lived where it was a city ordinance that every homeowner must own a handgun. :rotf:

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I'm watching this thread as I'm interested in an afforable GPS myself. Going to see if I can find one localy in my area this week and get a better look at them . Till then I'll keep up with you guys giving out info here.

BTW has anyone found any negative features on these units? Other than poentially getting wet?

Larry

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Guest Chaos

Here are the mounting pictures that Rod was nice enough to send me. I will let him explain his mounting system.

Thanks Rod ! !

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I used a 3/4" insulated EMT strap on the handle bar because I wanted to clamp on the bend of the bars. The Knuckle mount is off a CCTV mount but some automotive cell phone holders use the same setup (I have an old mount that is exactly the same as the GPS car mount but the stem was too long). I had to drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the GPS and grind the nut down so it did not stick too far out (you can get thinner nuts I just did not have one handy).I like it sitting next to the audio control. Thanks to Chaos for posting the pics. Rod

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I was just looking at the car mount that came with the GPS and had an idea so checked it out on the bike. If you take the top piece off the car mount you can use this with the clamp I used and no need to use the knuckle I have. It may need a spacer depending on how close you want it to the radio control. Hope this helps. Rod

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Guest Chaos

Well I finally got a chance this morning to look into mounting my GPS on the bike. I wanted to mount the unit over the front brake master cylinder and was just about to drop $50 on a ram mount. I came up with a system using the brackets that came with the unit and bent piece of flat stock steel which secures under the mirror mount. I think once I finish rounding off some corners and painting the bracket it will work out pretty slick.

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I'm watching this thread as I'm interested in an afforable GPS myself. Going to see if I can find one localy in my area this week and get a better look at them . Till then I'll keep up with you guys giving out info here.

BTW has anyone found any negative features on these units? Other than poentially getting wet?

Larry

 

Took mine for a ride this morning. I had to do without the MP3 player. It wouldn't start. The map feature worked OK and got me to my first stop. After breakfast I did a hard reset and mapped out my next location, then the MP3 player worked. Not very much volume with the MP3 player, barely adequate at freeway speeds.

 

On my next stop I decided to take the freeway home. The unit had me get off the freeway, then get back on when I could have just kept on going. Told me to turn right when there was no road, then recalculated and got me home. Came to the computer to load some more MP3's and had to do a hard reset again. At this point I'm thinking this thing is going back.

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Guest VentureCruiser
Took mine for a ride this morning. I had to do without the MP3 player. It wouldn't start. The map feature worked OK and got me to my first stop. After breakfast I did a hard reset and mapped out my next location, then the MP3 player worked. Not very much volume with the MP3 player, barely adequate at freeway speeds.

 

On my next stop I decided to take the freeway home. The unit had me get off the freeway, then get back on when I could have just kept on going. Told me to turn right when there was no road, then recalculated and got me home. Came to the computer to load some more MP3's and had to do a hard reset again. At this point I'm thinking this thing is going back.

 

Just curious, are you using the speaker in the Mio or did you hook up to the aux. input next to the cassette player? If you hooked to the aux. you should be able to run the sound through your intercom or speakers.

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Guest Chaos
Took mine for a ride this morning. I had to do without the MP3 player. It wouldn't start. The map feature worked OK and got me to my first stop. After breakfast I did a hard reset and mapped out my next location, then the MP3 player worked. Not very much volume with the MP3 player, barely adequate at freeway speeds.

 

On my next stop I decided to take the freeway home. The unit had me get off the freeway, then get back on when I could have just kept on going. Told me to turn right when there was no road, then recalculated and got me home. Came to the computer to load some more MP3's and had to do a hard reset again. At this point I'm thinking this thing is going back.

 

I've been using mine in the car and now on the bike for a couple of weeks and I have to say I'm very pleased with the routing. I have taken a couple 200 mile trips with it on my bike and used it around town in my car and it has worked flawlessly. If you take a turn before or after the suggested route the GPS automatically recalculates a new route within seconds When exiting a highway it way give you an exit warning at .4 miles, 300 yards, and 100 yards. If the off ramp splits it will tell you to stay left or stay right. I also haven't had any issues with the MP3 player hanging up or variable volume during playback. I love this unit and it will only get better when the updated maps are released this spring.

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Something is wrong with this picture. Looks like a bunch of stuff all over the floor and the workbench.

 

Marc you must be going nuts with that mess. Starting to look just a little like my garage.

 

:rotf: :rotf:

 

Brad

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Guest Chaos
Something is wrong with this picture. Looks like a bunch of stuff all over the floor and the workbench.

 

Marc you must be going nuts with that mess. Starting to look just a little like my garage.

 

:rotf: :rotf:

 

Brad

 

Believe me it is driving me nuts ! ! :bang head: That is proof positive of how busy I have been. By the way thanks for pointing that out ! ! :rasberry:

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Believe me it is driving me nuts ! ! :bang head: That is proof positive of how busy I have been. By the way thanks for pointing that out ! ! :rasberry:

 

Yah right Busy me arse. Driving around on the bike pulling the trailer for fun.

 

That is a good enough reason to have a messy garage, No it is not, a garage is not suppose to be clean :sick:

 

Brad

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Just curious, are you using the speaker in the Mio or did you hook up to the aux. input next to the cassette player? If you hooked to the aux. you should be able to run the sound through your intercom or speakers.

 

I run mine through an intercom, not the Venture one, but an aftermarket one. I'll adjust the volume on the intercom since I had it set up for use with an iPOD. My intercom does monitor exterior noise and adjusts the volume accordingly.

 

Since Chaos is sold on this thing I'll give it another week or two of use in the car and see if it works any better. I have not had to reset the MP3 player since that day. Maybe I've just got a defective unit.

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Guest Chaos
Since Chaos is sold on this thing I'll give it another week or two of use in the car and see if it works any better. I have not had to reset the MP3 player since that day. Maybe I've just got a defective unit.

 

I wouldn't bet the farm on my opinion ! ! ! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

All GPS units have their shortcomings you just have to decide what you can live with. If you think it's defective I would at least return it for another unit while you still can. The new map release is suppose to be one of the best TeleAtlas versions ever, so that should take care of any routing inconsistency that you are experiencing. Of course that is probably going to cost money also. All I'm saying is in this area the routing has been right on the mark.

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I was looking around at the local electronic stores. None had the C310 thou Circuit City had a C220 at $250. I tried to find out what the differences were but really haven't gotten that answered yet. The sales kid I talked to said it was the latest model from Mio so maybe it's the replacement of the C310. I duno thou either way.

Also I was poking around on E-bay to find some. They're being sold at $178 and up. Which way to go here??? So undecided. :confused24: If the C220 is the replacement then it probably already has all the latest upgrades on mapping, Guess I need to do some more info digging here.

Larry

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Guest Chaos
I was looking around at the local electronic stores. None had the C310 thou Circuit City had a C220 at $250. I tried to find out what the differences were but really haven't gotten that answered yet.

 

Larry

 

Larry,

The C220 Basically the same maps/interface as the C310X, but it doesn't support MP3 playback. One other major difference is the C310X has 2 gig internal flash memory where maps are loaded. The C220 uses the removable memory card to store the maps. I am almost positive the version of the software and maps are the same on both units.

Here are the versions if you want to call and check on them.

MioMap 3.2 (This is the interface software)

Map 2005.2 (This is the maps themselves)

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I wouldn't bet the farm on my opinion ! ! ! :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

 

I'm not betting the farm on your opinion, but I did bet the cost of the GPS. I've made worse bets in my life. I knew this would be a learning experience when I bought it. The first of anything I buy is always that way. I could have spent a lot more money on a lot worse product.

 

I read up on the hacks for this thing today. I may try to fool with it a bit more and see if I can't customize it with some Windows CE apps that would be useful on the bike.

 

I'm going to see if I can get this one to remember some waypoints out in the boonies where I hunt and fish. If I can use the pedestrian mode to get back to my fishin hole and such I may be able to forgive a little routing error now and again.

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Larry,

 

The C220 Basically the same maps/interface as the C310X, but it doesn't support MP3 playback. One other major difference is the C310X has 2 gig internal flash memory where maps are loaded. The C220 uses the removable memory card to store the maps. I am almost positive the version of the software and maps are the same on both units.

 

Here are the versions if you want to call and check on them.

 

MioMap 3.2 (This is the interface software)

Map 2005.2 (This is the maps themselves)

 

Yea that's what I found out tonight as well. I really don't need the mp3 system as all I really wanted was a cheap gps unit but then the C310 is cheaper by $50.00 on average. Whether having a built in memory or using a removable chip is best I can't really say. I'm not the sharpest tack when it comes to this electronic gizzmo stuff.

Thanks for the help here as it's appreciated.

Larry

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Guest Chaos
Will the cradle of the mio C310x attach to the RAM mount extention bar. I already have thehandlebar mount and wonder if will adapt to it.

 

I'm not familiar with the how the Ram mount works, but I would think it would be pretty easy to make something to attach it with. I have attached a better picture of the back of the cradle that houses the GPS. The bolt going through my mount is an M6 metric which is about the same as 1/4 standard fastener. The bracket itself is 1/8" flat stock that I bent up. If I get a chance I will post a picture of the mount painted and installed. It turned out looking very nice. Hope this helps. :080402gudl_prv:

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Guest Chaos
If the C220 is the replacement then it probably already has all the latest upgrades on mapping.

Larry

 

Larry I saw something today that said the C220 does have the 2007.1 version of the TeleAtlas maps installed. It is just something I read, so I would check it out before I believed it.

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Well I bought one of the C220 models today off e-bay. I paid just a bit more for it than the C310's were going for but I didn't need or want the mp3 system thus the reason for the C220 model. Plus it being black will match the bike better. :cool10:

Next I'll have to decide where it'll be mounted.

Larry

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