gps

[Ryda85]

is a gps unit worth the money? what features do they have that i could actually use on a shee.

 

i know they can tell your speed..anything else useful? i

[SDD]

GPS is one of the most useful things you can put on your Banshee. One you can tell how fast you currently are going. Two it will save your max speed. You can save points/locations so you can find things which are hard to find like jumps or buddies that are hurt or have run out of gas. You can make a "track" which you can follow over and over again. There is tons of stuff you can do with them. The most important is marking where someone got hurt or broken down so if you have to go back for tools or a tow rope you can get directly back to them. I have used my GPS to help a friend that ran out of gas in the dunes. He was about a mile and a half from camp at the bottom of a bowl. If I didn't have my GPS it would have been a pain to find him.

[Ryda85]

so i would need a gps with a memory function correct?

[fixitrod]

Did you win the lottery or something

[Ryda85]

lol...nah spending money is like a drug...once i start i cant stop

[PUSH THE THROTTLE]

lol...nah spending money is like a drug...once i start i cant stop

303764[/snapback]

I thought that was potato chips?

 

Most GPS's will store the info that SDD talked about. My girlfriend has one and it's pretty nice, Etrex Legend, I don't use it on the Shee I'd probably destroy it where I ride but for the dunes or riding trips to places I don't know as well it'd be pretty nice. I have clocked my shee with it and got it up to 90mph so that was cool. My girlfriend bought it so we could go geocaching which is a good activity for a nice quiet relaxing walk in most parks and forests around the country, i'd rather rip through on the shee but it's nice to take in nature occasionally. Check out http://www.geocaching.com/ they have info on the units there.

[STLBILL]

Hi all:

 

A GPS does not tell you your current speed. It tells you how fast you went between the previous two points. It is always one update from real time. This technicalityy is important on something like a Banshee that accelerates and brakes quickly.

 

For odd-roading avoid the ones that have roads or street maps in them. Realize that "you cannot always get there from here". It is not like an airplane or in some most cases a boat where you can drive a straight trajectory to your destination.

 

For example your desitination could be on a bluff or ridge. The GPS will tell you drive straight up the cliff. Afterall, this is the shortest route. In reality you might need to find the trail that takes you to top first. The track-back function on many Garmin's helps with this by recording where you were and leading you back the exact same course. You can also program waypoints or routes on almost all of them to circumvent this limitation but it requires work.

 

If you really want to see something cool check out the Uniden Mystic. It utilizes something called Digital Selective Calling and Automatic Position Send and Receive to transmit your location in an emergency. However, this is only for boats. Not for off-roading. The FCC will find and fine you for using it on land - especially if you are interfering with or transmitting false distress calls.

 

I think the advice about using the GPS to make a race track is just plain stupid. You should never rely on the GPS that much! If you can't see where the trail leads you slow down and be careful.

 

 

Regards,

Bill

[Dr. Overkill]

I loved having a GPS receiver on my old bike:

 

http://members.cox.net/dr.overkill/banshee5.JPG

 

http://members.cox.net/dr.overkill/banshee4.JPG

 

It was a Garmin GPS II+. The GPS V is, I think, the current version. I used their handlebar mount, with a little bit of trimming to narrow the underside of the mount enough to fit under the bar with it clamped down. I can't wait to put another GPS receiver on my current bike, but it's a ways off.

 

I highly recommend using a vibration-isolating mount, but if you don't (like in my case above) definitely hardwire it to a 12v battery on the bike. The vibration causes the AA batteries to rotate against each other and for some reason they will cut out sometimes, turning off the unit. No fun having to repeatedly turn it back on (which requires some time to locate the sats each time).

 

At least that's what has happened to me, as well as some others I've read about. Once I wired mine into the bike's battery, it never shut down on me again. Besides, then you can run it with the backlighting on all the time at night without worrying about draining the AA batteries I think it draws about 0.75 watts max.

 

_dennis

[PUSH THE THROTTLE]

Hi all:

 

A GPS does not tell you your current speed.  It tells you how fast you went between the previous two points.  It is always one update from real time.  This technicalityy is important on something like a Banshee that accelerates and brakes quickly.

303816[/snapback]

I'll give you that the gps uses points to give your speed but my girlfriends outputs current speed, which if you put it on the dash in my truck is accurate as long as I'm not in a hard acceleration normal accel and it's right with the speedo.

 

For odd-roading avoid the ones that have roads or street maps in them.  Realize that "you cannot always get there from here".  It is not like an airplane or in some most cases a boat where you can drive a straight trajectory to your destination.

303816[/snapback]

You should be able to turn off the street maps for offroad use since there isn't any streets. It's a good feature to have if you are going to use it elsewhere, such as the one we have has features that will tell you what places are at a certain exit on interstate to grab a bite to eat. It'll also tell you what time of the day is best for fishing, and all kinds of stuff that the average person won't ever use.

 

For example your desitination could be on a bluff or ridge.  The GPS will tell you drive straight up the cliff

303816[/snapback]

That's where common sense comes into play.

 

I think the advice about using the GPS to make a race track is just plain stupid.  You should never rely on the GPS that much!  If you can't see where the trail leads you slow down and be careful.

303816[/snapback]

I don't think he meant "race" tracks. You need to drive it first to know where you are going to make the track so you should know what your getting into. If someone drives by looking at the gps and not in front of them they deserve their punishment.

[kw04]

no shit you can get just the speed off a gps you dont have to have a map on screen because you can get them with a sreen that is just a speedo.

[Wallrat]

I've got a Garmin Etrex Legend as well and damn that thing is handy. I bought a handlebar mount for $7 that lets me attach it to any 7/8" bar. You may be able to attach it to fat bars by removing the rubber gasket inside the mount but its gonna vibrate more and may have problems. The current speed reading is very accurate as long as you've been holding that speed for about 1-2 seconds. If your trying to figure out your speed on a MX track...it ain't gonna give you a very good idea. But if you're cruising on a trail or on some sand then it works like a charm. As far as maps go you can get Topo map downloads. I think the software is $100 for the garmins and its the entire US. Topo maps use lines to show elevation. After you've figured out how to read them they're friggin awesome. I don't bother with any maps but then I only ride sand so its always changing. I just have "waypoints" saved for some of my favorite places to ride to (camp, hills, good jumps, etc.) I can have it on map mode but even better is the goto mode which points an arrow in the direction of my waypoint no matter which direction I turn on the shee. I've found that I save a ton of gas having the gps on my handlebars which I only do when I'm cruising to a destination. Once I get there I usually turn it off and stash it in my pocket for safety. I never go out riding anymore without the gps simply because you never know what's gonna happen around the next corner.

 

Garmin also makes a 2-way radio/gps called the Rhino. What's cool about this gizmo is that not only can you talk to your buddies up to 5 miles away, but if you're both using Rhino's it shows you on the screen where they are. So technically I could get hurt up to 5 miles from camp and just by talking to them they could come and get me.

 

Oh and the 'track' function isn't to be confused with making a MX track that you ride. "Track" is the gps term to draw a line on the route that you took. That way you can select to "track back" and the gps will tell you exactly which way to go to retrace your steps. Or if your back at camp and want to go on the same exact ride that you did yesterday you can do that too. Works great for when you find a good ride that you want to try at night.

[dnhyoung]

Several of the guys that I ride with, invested in the Rhino 120, and they work great. Like Wallrat said they are really handy if someone breaks down, or your loose track of someone, you can track right to them.