Curious if anyone out there has a GPS unit on their ATV. If so, I'd like to know what kind and if you have any recommendations. I'm about to purchase one, but I think I would like one that is functional for both streets and trails. Thanks for any info.

 

I have a Garmin 76CSX. I really like it. It's a color big screen and a high(er) end unit. It's very nice with their software. Garmins street software even shows most of the trails I ride on.
I can also use the unit in my truck while on vacation and it will show things like hotels and restaurants and POI's.
I does what I want and then some.

 

I have spent a lot of time over the past month getting GPS capabilities added to my cell phone. It is a Motorola Q, Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone, no touchscreen, full keyboard, 3.5" color screen, built-in Bluetooth. I purchased a Navibe 735 sirf3 GPS for it and it works perfect on the BT connection.

I wanted to see if I could get a single device to serve all my GPS needs. After a lot of searching and testing, I have a working suite of tools that enable the single device to do a totally satisfactory job of:

* car navigation with voice turn-by-turn support, complete POI support;
* integrated with Google Maps and MS Live Search for total location based internet services;
* off road mapping and navigation, integrating USGS Topo maps, Google satellite images, and any custom map image. This even allows audible turn-by-turn route navigation. One of the coolest features is real-time position reporting to a website so you anyone on the earth with Internet access can see your moving track as you actually move, udpated every 10 seconds.

It may be hard to believe it all works but it does and is the most capabilities available I've come across from a single unit. Oh - and of course, it is a cell phone as well as has full time Internet web browsing capability, and a host of other PDA features including real time Outlook email, calendar, notes, and contact, just in case you need to do real work as well.

 

Thanks for the info. Doc, I'll check into the 76csx. I have been really focused on Garmin as opposed to other products. So thanks. Windtrader, I've had the smartphone before and it's great. Unfortunately, I changed service providers and at the time they couldn't provide service to that phone. I think they can now but they couldn't at the time. I'm just not sure I want to buy that phone again. I know I bought it when it first came out and it was 499.00. Plus, I wanted something with a little bigger screen. Thanks again to the both of you.

 

I've been using a Magellan Meridian Marine with a handlebar mount and 12v accessory power plug, just because I already had it for sailing. It works pretty well, but I've been looking around to find out which hand-held GPS units can display the best color topo maps. I've only found one model that can load and display topo maps of any area within the USA based on the 1:24,000 scale USGS topo maps. This is the Delorme Earthmate PN-20.

Garmin has an edge with their experience building good GPS units, and the 76CSX is their high end hand-held GPS, but their maps don't come close to those by Delorme. Garmin sells the MapSource Topo US 2008 on DVD covering the US which can be used to load desired topo maps onto the 76CSX unit (uses microSD data storage cards) from the DVD with your computer, but they are based on a scale of 1:100,000 so the maps are neither as detailed nor accurate as those based on the 1:24,000 scale . MapSource does offer maps of National Parks based on the 1:24,000 scale for Garmin GPS units, but these end at the park boundary.

I think I'll keep using my Magellan Meridian Marine a while longer. Maybe sometime next year the Delorme Earthmate PN-20 will have established a track record as a good unit, or maybe MapSource will begin offering topo maps for the Garmin units which are closer to the detail and quality of those by Delorme.

 

@woodrat - I have USGS 7 1/2 color topo maps in my Motorola Q. cost - free. The color topos for usa are all scanned and in the public domain. They are already in GeoTif format so all the calibration is done, just need to input in Run.GPS

 

Windtrader, if I understand your first post correctly, you've installed a new chip in your Motorola Q smartphone which enables it to receive GPS signals via Bluetooth connectivity.

I like the large screen of the Motorola Q, but most places I ride there are no Bluetooth signals, and I am not especially interested in a cell phone combination unit.

What I need is a rugged, waterproof, purpose-built, portable GPS unit that receives signals directly from the GPS satellites anywhere, like the Garmin 76CSX or the Delorme Earthmate PN-20. You raise an interesting point on the USGS 7.5 topos being in public domain in GeoTiff format. Garmin units cannot use these, because like most all GPS receivers they can only handle vector files, and then only the proprietary type made available by each respective maker for their own units. But it might be possible to load the USGS 7.5 GeoTiff topos on the Delorme Earthmate PN-20 by some process, because this unit does accept some rastor(bitmap) images. I'll have to look into that, but Delorme has made all this much easier by converting all the USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle maps into vector files for use on the Earthmate PN-20.

By definition a USGS 7.5 minute quadrangle map shows an area spanning 7.5 minutes longitude and 7.5 min. latititude at a scale of 1:24,000 (1 inch =2,000 ft.). Delorme has put all the 7.5 min. quadrangle maps for the US on one DVD, and offers it bundled with their Earthmate PN-20 GPS unit in various packages; such as with or without the travel kit, etc. The current version is Topo USA 7.0.

Thanks for mentioning the USGS 7.5 GeoTiff files. Though these would be huge files to load on a device, compared to the vector equivalents, it does bring up some intriguing possibilities.

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>if I understand your first post correctly, you've installed a new chip in your Motorola Q smartphone which enables it to receive GPS signals via Bluetooth connectivity.</end quote></div>It's not a new chip. It is an external GPS receiver that uses Bluetooth to communicate with another device that manages the GPS signal.

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>I like the large screen of the Motorola Q, but most places I ride there are no Bluetooth signals, and I am not especially interested in a cell phone combination unit.</end quote></div>I think you are getting confused with data connection like GPRS and EVDO that give you ability to do internet on a phone. Most places where people ride are out of range of cell and data signals. You don't need to have the cell or data connection working while using the phone as a GPS navigator. Bluetooth is just a short range wireless communication standard to allow devices to communicate to each other. For example, a wireless mouse to a PC, a wireless headset to a phone, an external GPS receiver to a phone, etc. It has nothing to do with long range over the air communication.
<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>What I need is a rugged, waterproof, purpose-built, portable GPS unit that receives signals directly from the GPS satellites anywhere, like the Garmin 76CSX or the Delorme Earthmate PN-20.</end quote></div>I suspected that the types of units being sought out would need to be more rugged and water resistant than a phone but it depends on what you want it to do. As far as I know there are very many hand held GPS devices that display USGS 7.5 min color quads. I've seen the vector based ones and they are lacking when compared to the true USGS maps. The vector ones have much less detail and also are, well, vector, lines, rather than continuous contour lines.

The GPS PN-20 seems to still use an older 12 ch receiver chip, My oold trusty Garmin eTrek hasd a 12ch and the new GPS has a Sirf 3 chip which has truely amazing performance. I can keep the GPS buried in my pocket and it works fine, inside the house works just fine, walking under heavy tree cover or in dense urban areas, no problem. The eTrek would lose signal all the time, especially when in the field, in dense trees or canyons.

THe GPS PN20 is also a small display although it is color. And the thing is quite cheap.

There is a new MotoQ model that has GPS built in but I am not sure how good the chip is. The external receive is the size of couple small matchboxes, very small and compact.

The Motoq phone was "free" in that I already had it, the GPS unit was 50 bucks, and the software is between free and $50,

What I have going is not for most, and certainly not a plug and play, grab it off the shelf and turn it on solution, but just wanted what is possible as I discovered myself how much capability can be had these days. Again, depending on how you are using it, having audio navigation directions might come in nicely as you don't even need to look at a screen, just listen for directions that guide you along your plotted route.

 

Thanks for the clarification on your setup Windtrader.

Delorme claims their Earthmate PN-20 uses a newer 12 channel "STMicroelectronics chip technology with SiGE front-end and DeLorme firmware for faster acquisition times and outstanding signal retention". If you can believe testimonials on their website some users say it acquires and retains it's signal as well as the Garmin 76CSX. The display size on the Earthmate PN-20 seems to be close to that on the Garmin, but yes, significantly smaller than that on the Motorola Q smartphone.

I'm not sold on the Delorme GPS unit itself because of it's relatively recent introduction, but their maps definitely shine over those offered by Garmin. As I said before, I can wait another year to see how these issues pan out.

 

I have the Lowrance H2Oc ......Great unit with the Topo S/D card...........Large color screen front user buttons(great while riding)....And R.A.M handlebar mount!!.....Canme with the 12 volt plug-in also........Caper.........