What GPS???

[TRaGiK]

I know absolutely nothing about GPS, other than basically how it works. I need to be pointed in a direction.
 
Here's what I'm looking for:
 
- Something that gives road maps of the U.S.
 
- Gives me info on camp sites and hotels in the area I'm in.
 
- Won't take up a lot of room in my tankbag, or wherever else I may put it.
 
- Won't break the bank to purchase.
 
- A mount that can be made to fit on my bike would be nice, but not requires.
 
HELP! I'm in GPS hell and can't navigate my way out.

[forester]

I know absolutely nothing about GPS, other than basically how it works. I need to be pointed in a direction.
 
Here's what I'm looking for:
 
- Something that gives road maps of the U.S.

Probably nails it down to 90% of them.
 

- Gives me info on camp sites and hotels in the area I'm in.

That might take some work checking into, google gps software.  See what Magellan and Garmin have...
 

- Won't take up a lot of room in my tankbag, or wherever else I may put it.

It's not a kitchen sink, it's a GPS, most of them aren't bigger than a graphing calculator. How big do you want the screen to be?
 

- Won't break the bank to purchase.

That's probably not going to be a problem.  How much you want to spend?
 

- A mount that can be made to fit on my bike would be nice, but not requires.

Google RAM mounts. There are others, but RAM makes some good mounts and cradles for many brands/models of GPSrs.
 

HELP! I'm in GPS hell and can't navigate my way out.

Try waiting for satellites with a PDOP of less than 8 around here between 1:30 and 3:00 p.m... Sitting there right in the middle of a job and you're SOL., losing money minute by minute... Now THAT's GPS HELL!

[marc11]

Garmin Quest would do just fine.

[RickC1957]

I love my Garmin 2610....can be had for a song now....rock solid....use it on car and bike.

[cjgauthier]

As usual I'll throw in a word for the garmin vista cx. Small screen but color helps that. Waterproof, mini sd will hold all the maps you need, autorouting and voice directions same as big boys. AA batteries will last at least 8 hrs. when not plugged in.  If you want one gps, this can go from car to bike,boat,sled,hiking very conveniently.

[TheRedOnesAreFaster]

I love my Garmin 2610....can be had for a song now....rock solid....use it on car and bike.

+1.
 
Best thing I did was get rid of my Magellan and get the 2610.  Used ones are going very cheaply now.  And with a 2 gig memory card, I've got the USA loaded up and ready to go.
 
The Mapquest software for Garmin is great.  It has all your hotels, campsites, restaurants, etc.  Mine is missing a few, but my software is 3 or 4 years out of date.

[TRaGiK]

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I'll probably be picking up something around the first of the year.

[RBEmerson]

As I write, I have a snipe pending on a 2610 on eBay.  After wading through the info on 2820's, 2730's, and 2610's, particularly on www.gpspassion.com (v. good GPS forum site!), it's become increasingly clear Garmin is dumbing down their products.  XM is nice, of course, but useless outside of the XM coverage area (North America) and I need a unit that works in Europe as well the US.  The MP3 player in the 27xx and 28xx units is, compared to my current iQue 3600's player, close to mindless and space for tunes is limited to the unit's memory (no hope of using an SD or CF chip) which is already busy with maps.  The 26xx doesn't do MP3 at all (bummer!) but will take CF chips up to 2GB (all CN NA and CN E maps!).  The 26xx series doesn't do custom POI alerts (now being billed as how to know when you're near a "known speed camera site") but, IMHO, this is more a case of "neat chrome" than real value.  The 26xx offers a host of user-tunable features (e.g., affecting routing) missing in later series.  The 2730 has already been discontinued (to make way for the 2820, which seems to be the 2730 with Bluetooth added) and prices for the 2830 are, IMNSHO, absurd.  Soooooo... gonna snipe me a 2610.  

Added:
Hah!  The snipe worked!  

[DredheadV2.0]

Holy crap!

The 2610 is down to the same price arena as my GPS V was when I bought it.  Roxious.   If I ever actually start touring again I may have to pick one up.

[hambone_p]

You don't mention routing in your requirements, but I would recommend it. Not all units can give you routes. Think your own private mapquest.

The Vista cx, which someone has already recommended, does this. I have the Garmin Etrex Legend Cx, which I think is just about the same unit. As far as the mount goes, I just bought the bicycle mount ($19) and mounted it dead center of the handlebars.

It's nice when I miss a turn and the unit just figures out another way to get there. I miss a lot of turns when I don't study my route, because I don't pay much attention to the gps when the wheels are spinning.

Another benefit of the gps I never thought of was all the points of interest on your map will have phone numbers stored as part of the listing.  No need to rack up the cell phone bill with 411 calls. See, the unit just payed for itself! Maybe I'll tell my wife that. Think she'll buy it?

btw this is my first post.

[Avigar]

Here's a link, http://www.gpscity.com/compare-garmin-streetpilot-gps.htm, that will give you a comparison of both unit's features. I still say that the 2720 is the better buy based on it's features. It has a better screen resolution, too. Then again, I may be biased since I have a 2720.

[basco]

I found the 2610 to be much easier to play with while riding .  I played with someones 27xx and for what I need it for the 2610 is the best for me. If I was to buy a new GPS I would look at the Zumo or whatever its called.

[Oilhed]

Garmin Quest would do just fine.

That's what I got.  Does the job, reasonable cost, small enough to mount on any bike.  Get the Quest 2 and you have the whole USA map installed.

[couchflyer]

Lowrance iWay 500c works great, it also has a 10 gig mp3 player built in

[torags v2]

I have the Iway 500. Great Touch Screen, heavy w hard drive. The hard drive does shut unit down with excessive vibration. Reasonable price

I also use it in the car (where its even better).

[Against The Wind]

Holy crap!

The 2610 is down to the same price arena as my GPS V was when I bought it.  Roxious.   If I ever actually start touring again I may have to pick one up.

IF?

[chornbe]

I know absolutely nothing about GPS, other than basically how it works. I need to be pointed in a direction.
 
Here's what I'm looking for:
 
- Something that gives road maps of the U.S.
 
- Gives me info on camp sites and hotels in the area I'm in.
 
- Won't take up a lot of room in my tankbag, or wherever else I may put it.
 
- Won't break the bank to purchase.
 
- A mount that can be made to fit on my bike would be nice, but not requires.
 
HELP! I'm in GPS hell and can't navigate my way out.

The Garmin Quest/2 will do what you want. It runs for hours and hours on battery if necessary, it's small and lightweight and the maps update with millions of POIs (points of interest).

Annnnnd... I may just happen to have a used but working unit for sale

[kendenton]

Just avoid the Garmin models with internal hard drives (like the Streetpilot C33x series).  If it's going to spend time on a bike, solid state memory is the safer bet.

[Lazarus]

I recently picked up the Garmin 60Cx and it's an excellent unit.  I wanted a GPS I could use on the bike, in the car, oh a hike or in the canoe.  The 60Cx is waterproof, has a nice colour screen, takes standard MicroSD cards (currently available up to 2GB) does auto-routing and has just about the widest range of features of any handheld.  Since I already had the MapSource software from my GPS 18 (for use with my laptop) I didn't have to pay any extra for it (Garmin allows you to license their software for two units).  The 60Cx is a much faster unit then the 60C it replaces and is far more versatile due to the standard replaceable memory cards.  You can even load multiple mapsets (i.e. CitySelect and Topo) and have them display at the same time.  The unit gets about around 15-18 hours run time from a pair of AA batteries but the hardwire kit for the bike is pretty cheap too. And the RAM mounts are great for the car or the bike.

[DangerMoney]

I know absolutely nothing about GPS, other than basically how it works. I need to be pointed in a direction.
 
Here's what I'm looking for:
 
- Something that gives road maps of the U.S.
 
- Gives me info on camp sites and hotels in the area I'm in.
 
- Won't take up a lot of room in my tankbag, or wherever else I may put it.
 
- Won't break the bank to purchase.
 
- A mount that can be made to fit on my bike would be nice, but not requires.
 
HELP! I'm in GPS hell and can't navigate my way out.

Go here and read the first post.