is fred okay??? nklr

[Joe Tittiger]

JUST SAY NO TO GARMIN! Well I did what I thought was due diligence when I went shopping for a GPS for the KLR. The actual experience had no relationship to what I was expecting: I got a few recommendations to GPScity.com and put in an order for a 76CSx. The day it was supposed to arrive it didn't. I called them only to get some bogus story about how they had to cancel the order the day I ordered it because they could not ship that day and had to take it off the card to stay legal. They blamed my credit card company for not crediting back the charge and then proceeded to blame me for them not notifying me of the problem. I, in their opinion was negligent because I was not clairvoyant and had not given them my email so that they could notify me. They did have my cell number but somehow that was overlooked. After finding out that it was not the credit card company's fault I got another person at GPS city that told me that the real reason that it did not ship was that the billing address was incorrect. The GPS arrived finally. My first (of many) surprise was that for some reason my burning software would not make a backup copy of city navigator v7.0. If this disk is actually copy protected in some manner the folks at Garmin must be among the most anal retentive folks on the planet. I say this because I spent the next 3 hours licensing this software to function ONLY with my particular GPS serial number. So the software is useless to anyone as far as putting maps or data onto a GPS without purchasing a license. So what is the purpose of copy protecting the actual Software disk? I would not have bought the product had I thought that they would copy protect their software. The next disappointment was that I could not put a decent amount of info on the included card and also how long it takes to create the map. The included card is 128 MB which according to people's posts and my intuition was plenty. WRONG! Just the state of FL was 80 MB. I see 512 mb cards for sale but no one seems to know what size of cards will work with the 76csx. Even if you do get a super sized card like this you are still going to have major headaches on any cross country romp. You had better bring along a laptop and the original CD. The time to load a map will easily kill most laptop batteries. To do the 80 MB FL map my laptop must have crunched numbers for close to an hour. The actual data transfer of the map did not take all that long when this process finished. Less than 10 minutes as I recall. I tried to browse the location that a friend was at in the Ocala National Forest. It turns out that Garmins expensive $130 road map was useless. If this is your only map you will cruise right by things such as national forests. Things are included on the cheapest low-end paper map are not on it. It IS on my $35 DeLorme Street Atlas USA. I guess Garmin wants you to spend $230 on 2 maps and then buy a bigger data card that won't really be big enough, and that is assuming the software doesn't lock up during the multiple hours it will take to format the map data for your GPS. Even then you will have to toggle back and forth between their City Navigator and topo maps to see what you may be missing. The bottom line is that if you do any long distance traveling you are going to have to spring for more memory, always have a working laptop (i.e. if the laptop fails so does your GPS system) and to make the most of your trip more than one of Garmins maps. This is just the first 8 hours of owning this thing . I strongly suggest that you do your due diligence before you even think about handing over your hard earned cash. I wish had.

[J Fortner]

If you want to load up detailed GPSr maps for the entire USA you probably want a 2610 and a 2Gb flashcard. Not a handheld unit. 2Gb flashcards depending on form factor are like $80? Anyone using the 60 Cx with a 2Gb card and all the USA maps loaded? JF [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Andy Kirby]

2Gb is enough to load up the whole of the US and most Iron Butt types rate the 2610, available at around $500 now the 27xx series is out. I'm using the Quest and it has enough memory to load the whole of New England, takes about 5 minutes to load from my laptop and of course has the base maps for the USA preinstalled installed. As to Mapsource, it has some nice routing options but for finding addresses etc I like M$ Streets and Trips, you can create waypoints and then load them to the Garmin system using the GPS Utility from http://www.gpsu.co.uk/ Mapsource is hopeless in the way that it's street names are accessed IMHO but you can have multiple routes whilst S&T will calculate/optimize a series of stops or waypoints into just one route. As always YMMV Andy

----- Original Message ----- From: "J Fortner" To: "Joe Tittiger" Cc: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 2:22 PM Subject: Re: [DSN_KLR650] Motorcycle GPS's > If you want to load up detailed GPSr maps for the entire USA you probably > want a 2610 and a 2Gb flashcard. Not a handheld unit. 2Gb flashcards > depending on form factor are like $80? Anyone using the 60 Cx with a 2Gb > card and all the USA maps loaded? > > JF > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > Archive Quicksearch at: > http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > >

[wannabsmooth1]

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "J Fortner" wrote:

> > If you want to load up detailed GPSr maps for the entire USA you

probably

> want a 2610 and a 2Gb flashcard. Not a handheld unit. 2Gb flashcards > depending on form factor are like $80? Anyone using the 60 Cx with a 2Gb > card and all the USA maps loaded? > > JF > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >

Many of the GPS's don't take ANYTHING but the proprietary cards. The 2610 is an exception, and one of the big reasons I got it. all the best, Mike

[keithrstone]

Love my Garmin II plus, it's everything I need and it does it well. Keith

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "Joe Tittiger" wrote: > > JUST SAY NO TO GARMIN! > > Well I did what I thought was due diligence when I went shopping for a > GPS for the KLR. The actual experience had no relationship to what I > was expecting: > > I got a few recommendations to GPScity.com and put in an order for a > 76CSx. The day it was supposed to arrive it didn't. I called them > only to get some bogus story about how they had to cancel the order > the day I ordered it because they could not ship that day and had to > take it off the card to stay legal. They blamed my credit card > company for not crediting back the charge and then proceeded to blame > me for them not notifying me of the problem. I, in their opinion was > negligent because I was not clairvoyant and had not given them my > email so that they could notify me. They did have my cell number but > somehow that was overlooked. After finding out that it was not the > credit card company's fault I got another person at GPS city that told > me that the real reason that it did not ship was that the billing > address was incorrect. > > The GPS arrived finally. My first (of many) surprise was that for > some reason my burning software would not make a backup copy of city > navigator v7.0. If this disk is actually copy protected in some > manner the folks at Garmin must be among the most anal retentive folks > on the planet. I say this because I spent the next 3 hours licensing > this software to function ONLY with my particular GPS serial number. > So the software is useless to anyone as far as putting maps or data > onto a GPS without purchasing a license. So what is the purpose of > copy protecting the actual Software disk? I would not have bought the > product had I thought that they would copy protect their software. > > > The next disappointment was that I could not put a decent amount of > info on the included card and also how long it takes to create the > map. The included card is 128 MB which according to people's posts > and my intuition was plenty. WRONG! Just the state of FL was 80 MB. > I see 512 mb cards for sale but no one seems to know what size of > cards will work with the 76csx. Even if you do get a super sized card > like this you are still going to have major headaches on any cross > country romp. You had better bring along a laptop and the original > CD. > > The time to load a map will easily kill most laptop batteries. To do > the 80 MB FL map my laptop must have crunched numbers for close to an > hour. The actual data transfer of the map did not take all that long > when this process finished. Less than 10 minutes as I recall. > > > I tried to browse the location that a friend was at in the Ocala > National Forest. It turns out that Garmins expensive $130 road map > was useless. If this is your only map you will cruise right by things > such as national forests. Things are included on the cheapest low- end > paper map are not on it. It IS on my $35 DeLorme Street Atlas USA. > > I guess Garmin wants you to spend $230 on 2 maps and then buy a bigger > data card that won't really be big enough, and that is assuming the > software doesn't lock up during the multiple hours it will take to > format the map data for your GPS. Even then you will have to toggle > back and forth between their City Navigator and topo maps to see what > you may be missing. > > > The bottom line is that if you do any long distance traveling you are > going to have to spring for more memory, always have a working laptop > (i.e. if the laptop fails so does your GPS system) and to make the > most of your trip more than one of Garmins maps. > > > > > This is just the first 8 hours of owning this thing . I strongly > suggest that you do your due diligence before you even think about > handing over your hard earned cash. > I wish had. >

[J Fortner]

On 2/28/06, wannabsmooth1 wrote:>

> Many of the GPS's don't take ANYTHING but the proprietary cards. The > 2610 is an exception, and one of the big reasons I got it.

Any problems with the 2610 Mike? I know when they first released many of the long distance rider types had to send them in for repair/replacement. Garmin has very good customer service in my experience. Thank goodness Garmin is moving away from proprietary memory. Jim [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Denis Dimick]

After playing with a bunch of GPS' I've settled on this: Buy the cheapest GPS, and a print a map covering where I think I might ride. I'm using TOPO! for my mapping needs, I just pre-print maps covering everywhere I may ride, mark on them, etc. I then just use the GPS to help locate myself on the map while I'm out riding. Trying to read a GPS with a tiny map on it while riding is just a crash waiting to happen. When my maps get trashed, I just print new ones. If I want to try and make them last, I just put them in a page protector. I'm in the middle of building my own GPS, it will be a two piece system, a disply that will mount on my left forearm and the CPU and GPS unit that will be mounted on the bike. Denis

On 2/28/06, wannabsmooth1 wrote: > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, "J Fortner" wrote: > > > > If you want to load up detailed GPSr maps for the entire USA you > probably > > want a 2610 and a 2Gb flashcard. Not a handheld unit. 2Gb flashcards > > depending on form factor are like $80? Anyone using the 60 Cx with a 2Gb > > card and all the USA maps loaded? > > > > JF > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > Many of the GPS's don't take ANYTHING but the proprietary cards. The > 2610 is an exception, and one of the big reasons I got it. > > all the best, > > Mike > > > > > > Archive Quicksearch at: > http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Al Maurine]

I've been running a Garmin 276C since April of last year when my 76CS was whacked in an accident. I have the 256M chip in it and using Garmins Mapsource I get most of the Western 1/2 of the USA into it. I found the 76CS screen to be to small but love the 276C .. it sits in a Ram Mount and goes between both my bikes easily and when I use the 'cage' it pops in there pretty easy too. Just my $.02 as always. I have had GPS' on my bikes over the last 5 years .. the 1st being an Emap .. I still always have a paper map in my tankbag though .. -- Al Maurine Tucson, AZ 94 R100M Mystic 01 F650GS Dakar ABC# 8240 MOA 48987

[traderpro2003]

I have an old 2610. The owner's manual says it can only use so much memory. You mean to tell me this can actual USE (I know it fits) a 2gb or 4gb compact flash card? If so, that would be great news. I'd load the lot. Also, anyone have a good way to mount this bad boy (2610) to the flight deck? I run an eTrex Vista at the moment. I've never used it on the KLR as loading all the maps and mounting have been simply too daunting. Lastly, the legendary customer service from Garmin stops a bit short for small repairs and flaws outside a warranty. They aren't very flexible in healing wounds (i.e., losing all waypoints!) especially when they KNOW the unit has a flaw. It's best value when you send them your broken/beatup unit and you get a brand new one in return for the fixed fee (not cheap btw). This flat fee is ridiculous when you have some small cosmetic problem like a torn rubber button.

--- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Al Maurine wrote: > > I've been running a Garmin 276C since April of last year when my 76CS > was whacked in an accident. I have the 256M chip in it and using Garmins > Mapsource I get most of the Western 1/2 of the USA into it. I found the > 76CS screen to be to small but love the 276C .. it sits in a Ram Mount > and goes between both my bikes easily and when I use the 'cage' it pops > in there pretty easy too. > Just my $.02 as always. I have had GPS' on my bikes over the last 5 > years .. the 1st being an Emap .. I still always have a paper map in my > tankbag though .. > > -- > Al Maurine > Tucson, AZ > 94 R100M `Mystic' > 01 F650GS `Dakar' > ABC# 8240 MOA 48987 >

[Andy Kirby]

< You mean to tell me this can actual USE (I know it fits) a 2gb or 4gb compact flash card? Yup As to mounting I use the Garmin/RAM system on my ST but due to the vibes on the KLR I intend to use the Touratech system, not cheap but good old fashioned German Ubber Engineering. Andy

----- Original Message ----- From: "traderpro2003" To: DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Tuesday, February 28, 2006 11:27 PM Subject: [DSN_KLR650] Re: Motorcycle GPS's >I have an old 2610. The owner's manual says it can only use so much > memory. You mean to tell me this can actual USE (I know it fits) a > 2gb or 4gb compact flash card? If so, that would be great news. > I'd load the lot. > > Also, anyone have a good way to mount this bad boy (2610) to the > flight deck? I run an eTrex Vista at the moment. I've never used > it on the KLR as loading all the maps and mounting have been simply > too daunting. > > Lastly, the legendary customer service from Garmin stops a bit short > for small repairs and flaws outside a warranty. They aren't very > flexible in healing wounds (i.e., losing all waypoints!) especially > when they KNOW the unit has a flaw. It's best value when you send > them your broken/beatup unit and you get a brand new one in return > for the fixed fee (not cheap btw). This flat fee is ridiculous when > you have some small cosmetic problem like a torn rubber button. > > --- In DSN_KLR650@yahoogroups.com, Al Maurine wrote: >> >> I've been running a Garmin 276C since April of last year when my > 76CS >> was whacked in an accident. I have the 256M chip in it and using > Garmins >> Mapsource I get most of the Western 1/2 of the USA into it. I > found the >> 76CS screen to be to small but love the 276C .. it sits in a Ram > Mount >> and goes between both my bikes easily and when I use the 'cage' it > pops >> in there pretty easy too. >> Just my $.02 as always. I have had GPS' on my bikes over the last > 5 >> years .. the 1st being an Emap .. I still always have a paper map > in my >> tankbag though .. >> >> -- >> Al Maurine >> Tucson, AZ >> 94 R100M `Mystic' >> 01 F650GS `Dakar' >> ABC# 8240 MOA 48987 >> > > > > > > > Archive Quicksearch at: > http://www.angelfire.com/ut/moab/klr650_data_search.html > List sponsored by Dual Sport News at: www.dualsportnews.com > List FAQ courtesy of Chris Krok at: www.bigcee.com/klr650faq.html > Member Map at: http://www.frappr.com/dsnklr650 > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > >