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G'day reading riders, I posted a thread early december last year whilst getting prepped for a 3,000klm adventure on my DR650. At the conclusion of the thread, I had purchased and tried out a Navman EZY15.....
topic3182.html

Well. here is my review of the Navman cheapy. yeah it only cost $99 but in essence what was missing from the more expensive variety, was the software and screen size. The basic layout and set-ups were the same.

The units may be fine consigned to auto dashboards or consoles driving down expressways or multi-carriage freeways, but any sort of bumpy road or uneven surface and vibration and the unit soon destroys itself. Built tough for Australian conditions the placard at the counter proclaimed. Balderdash, bullshit, lies, crap.

The mounting lug that the unit marry's to soon chattered itself to pieces.....




Naturally, this made it quite hard to read as it jiggled slightly, but it also made for stronger reliance on the USB port for a connection, resulting in the port boss wearing a deep groove.....




This caused intermittent connection to the charger and it soon went flat. It also developed another fault that manifest itself by turning off all the time, then come back on. But I would have to accept terms & conditions and then it would reload. Next it may decide it needed to be re-routed as I had changed my intended route, and was not "going home". I eventually traced this down to the internal mechanics of the units On-Off-Reset slide switch, which rattles if shaken.....




The only use I had for it was to carry it fully charged in my top pocket and get it out occasionally.


Ya' live and learn....all ya' life.




Cheers,
Chris.

Some useful comments and advice, thanks:)

Try super gluing some velcro on the back side of the GPS and then have a couple of strips on the dash board.
Better if you create a mount which had vibration dampening though. If its on the control panel and not the handles, it wouldnt vibrate as much anyway right? With a little DIY skills, you can even have a Velcro strap going over the GPS top and bottom bezel to secure it firmly.

That is what I am doing with my Android phone. I have a Ram universal mount but added velcro straps that go around the top and bottom of the phone (without hindrance to the screen view) and latch on the back side of the mount. Velcro was decent at eliminating vibrations at low speed, but I havent tested this setup on highways over 60-65mph speeds.

Have you ever considered using an Android phone as your GPS? If you have an Android already great, if you don't you can pick them up cheap or free on contract, or used for $100-$200.
The Dual Sport Maps app for Android is really amazing. All the normal GPS features you want plus unlimited trail downloads from their website. You can use it whether connected to the cellular network or just connected to the GPS satellite. I can't even begin to describe all the features they have here, but suffice it to say it puts the garmins and magellans to shame.
I have a $25 mount I bought from Walmart that keeps it secure and water-proof.

I have stopped using my Magellan altogether now.

Cant vouch for DualSportMaps as I have it but havent really used it. When I had the IPhone though, I have used MotionX which is awesome. When you are in wifi zone or good 3G reception, you can "Download" a whole region depending on your selection and its stored on the phone for offline use. It has REALLY cool features too.

As for the mounts? RAM mount has a universal mount for smartPhones and other small to meduim sized gadgets. I added a couple of velcro straps on top and bottom that go around the mount to keep the phone more secured.


This is what it looks like. Should fit any Android Phone/iPhone

Garmin.

i ran the 76csx (waterpoof=dustproof) to Vegas, dumped it a bunch of times in the sand, RAM mount held up remarkably and was easy to read even in direct sunlight wearing MX helmet & dusty goggles.

no need for anything else. picked up the GPS for $150 on sale & RAM mount was another $30.

I spent many hours trying to set up my Android phone (HTC Desire) for GPS use. I have Copilot Live installed for spoken street names and auto routing, works well, but I couldn't find a decent app that handled dirt roads and tracks nicely.

I had a look at the Dual Sport maps webpage and I see it uses OpenStreetMaps. From what I've looked at this has poor support for anything other than highways in remote parts of Aus (which is where I ride). I know I should get involved in adding tracks/roads to the database, but it just looks soooo time consuming. I see you can download other maps and cache for offline use, I guess this includes Google maps? That could resolve the OpenStreetMaps coverage problem, can you describe how that works?

I now have a Garmin 60csx on a ram mount - it's basic, dependable and does it's job. I also have a Ram Aquabox set up to mount my phone on the bars for CoPilot if I ever need it, and music the rest of the time. It's waterproof, but it's big and ugly - it's not fitted at present, I'd only put it on if I was going to do a big trip with lots of open road or into unfamiliar towns.

Note that my phone (and others from reports) chew the battery up quickly when using mapping software. I broke apart a HTC car charger, soldered leads on in place of the cig lighter plug, and encapsulated the lot in self amalgamating tape. This is hardwired into my battery (along with my Garmin) so it's always charging while it's plugged in.

I have to go with the Garmin guys on this one. I have a bunch, but for rugged, water proof, drop proof etc. I go with my Garmin Oregon 550. Its small, colorful, easy to see in any conditions, and the RAM mounts for it work great. I KNOW my Garmin can handle being dropped, submerged, tossed, slammed....BUT can your iPhone handle that? Even a good otterbox case wouldnt have me too confidant, (and I have one). GPS on a dedicated unit is much more accurate, strong, and reliable. We are geocachers and are pretty well versed in GPS devices, their limitations and what have you. If you spend the time to learn your unit, and keep up with current maps and downloads, its top notch. As much as I do love my smart phones navigation and on the fly info, its just not as user friendly when riding a motorcycle on the fly. I mean, I can just pull over and get my phone out of my tank bag or pocket if I need something that badly. Oh, and a good ziploc freezer bag is a cheap alternative to keeping your smart phone dry and you can still use the touchscreen through the bag.

A decent gps will sh*t over the phone

Looks like its time to dispel some myths...

There are a myriad of Android Phones on the market that are as tough or tougher than a Garmin. See http://www.casiogzone.com/commando/ for example. MILSPEC phone with a great large bright screen.

The dual sport maps app gives you access to many different maps sources (Vector OSM, google, google earth, google terrain, USGS topo, Microsoft Hybrid, mapnik, google satellite, canadian topo, Microsoft, OSMA render, Cycle Map, and Cloudmade). GARMIN CAN'T DO THAT.

The dual sport maps app lets you instantly search for and download tracks that other riders have uploaded. GARMIN CAN'T DO THAT.

The dual sport maps app lets you switch to a full screen speedometer and tank gauge. GARMIN CAN'T DO THAT.

The dual sport maps app lets you broadcast your position to other riders or a loved one. GARMIN CAN'T DO THAT.

The dual sport maps app lets you overlay traffic, weather, and even rider uploaded 3rd party map images over your route. GARMIN CAN'T DO THAT.

The dual sport maps app lets you do all of this on a device you likely carry with you anyways, your phone saving you weight and money.

The dual sport maps app lets you do all of this on a device that can also synch with the bluetooth headset in your helmet to send audio alerts, voice calls, music, etc.

The dual sport maps app runs on so many devices of so many sizes you have a wide variety to choose from (3" to 11" screens).

The devices are easily powered by a 12 volt adapter connected to your battery just like Garmin, but the adapter is likely far cheaper.

See more info on advrider: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=691537