GPS's

[BZeto]

I'm looking into buying my parents a GPS. They have Harley's and like to take rides on the country roads in Utah/Idaho. I figure a GPS would be a pretty good thing to have on a motorcycle. So I'm wondering, will most of the big name GPS units out there have a lot of the rural back country roads? And how often do you have to update the maps? I hear each upgrades runs upwards of $99.

Thank ya

 

[iamwiz82]

Timewarp - Completed

OP:

I'm looking into buying my parents a GPS. They have Harley's and like to take rides on the country roads in Utah/Idaho. I figure a GPS would be a pretty good thing to have on a motorcycle. So I'm wondering, will most of the big name GPS units out there have a lot of the rural back country roads? And how often do you have to update the maps? I hear each upgrades runs upwards of $99.

Thank ya

They are fine. I have had one that led me to a very, very sketchy two-track seasonal road, but I had 4wd so never had any issues. But that was off even backroads.

 

[PricklyPete]

I have a TomTom 920 and I've had great luck with the rural roads. The issues is with new roads (like new subdivisions) or in cities where they remove roads or block them off at points to change the flow of traffic or allow for new construction. Since rural roads seem to stay pretty consistent...I don't have many issues there.

On a side note...I've used my 920 for a lot of trips over to Europe...and in a lot of places where highways don't exist, it has done a marvelous job getting me from point A to point B on almost completely rural roads.

 

[yh125d]

Both the TomTom 9 something I use at work and the google maps on my GPS phone have done wonderfully with rural roads. For my work I travel a lot on rural road often 20 or more miles from asphalt (the kind where if you get a flat tire, noone will drive by for hours) and I haven't come across a road it didn't have

 

[Zenmervolt]

I would recommend a motorcycle-specific GPS. They are built to be operated with gloves and are weather sealed as well as being vibration and shock resistant and designed with handlebar mounting in mind. Because of the more durable design and weather resistant design, however, they are significantly more expensive than the average in-car GPS. Garmin's Zumo series of motorcycle GPS receivers, for example, run $800 to $900.

As an alternative, many hand-held "hiking" type GPS units are also waterproof and shock resistant and will have an optional handlebar mount (usually with mountain bikers in mind, but they will also fit motorcycles). These cannot be hard-wired into a motorcycle's electrical system, but with NiMH batteries they typically last 8-12 hours which is sufficient for a day of riding. The map coverage (mainly in terms of attractions and points of interest) isn't as good as dedicated on-road GPS units, but for basic navigation purposes they work just fine. I have a little DeLorme Earthmate PN40 that is fantastic and works just fine on back roads here in PA (as long as I have the right region loaded into it). Unless you're looking to go riding on ranch roads without pavement, something like the PN40 would be just fine.

As far as updating maps, usually you don't need to. Major interchanges don't change that often and even when something does change, as long as you have a half-decent sense of direction you're fine. I bought an automotive GPS (a Lowrance) about 4 years ago and I've never updated the maps and it still gets me around just fine from Maine to Washington (state). Updating the maps is nice to be able to do every now and then, but it's not something you have to do every year or even every 5 years. Rural roads change even less; most of the updates to maps are the addition of new subdivisions, not taking whole roads off.

ZV

 

[BZeto]

Awesome, thanks everyone!

 

[thomsbrain]

If it's paved and wasn't built since my maps were made, my old Garmin has it. I've followed it down long unmarked one-lane roads and it knew where I was. So fear not!

 

[Mojoed]

I have minor issues with my Tomtom One in rural Virginia. Basically whenever there is a sharp curve (tons of them everywhere) the GPS thinks it's a "left or right turn ahead".

Also some less traveled roads (older and newer) don't show up at all.

 

[AMCRambler]

Had a TomTom try and take us through a cornfield once. To its credit I think there may have been a road through that field at one time, but not a paved one. It was pretty funny actually. We were close to our destination and I had mapquest direcitons with us as well. The TomTom had us turn down a side road and on the TomTom map it showed the road continuing straight. Meanwhile in reality the road just dead ended at a cornfield, lol. The Mapquest directions had us go to the next turn off down the road and that actually went around the cornfield to our destination.