GPS NAVIGATION

[schoei1]

I received a GPS Receiver in the mail yesterday and after charging the battery, went for a 20 mile drive. Everything worked well. But this morning on my way to work, it fell off the scooter and was destroyed. No big deal; for, I only paid $110 for it and have been living by the fraise "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff". Anyway, I have read many people using the GPS with their scooter and was curious how you mount it on. I used the same way it is done on a car, buy using the suction cup attached to the plastic/glass above the speedometer and odometer. The suction worked very well last night in my 20 mile drive, and didn't even hit any hard bumps in the road this morning when it just popped off. I figured that would be better that using Velcro. Before I do purchase another one, I want to make sure this can be used on the scooter. How do you mount it?

[RetroAJ]

My scooter has open handle bars, so I would clamp it to them. Your scooter does not if it is the one in your avatar, so I would drill a hole thru the base and the top bar cover and mount with a nut,bolt,big washers and lock washer. But that's how I would do it.

*A J*

[WarrenS]

I use RAM mounts.
www.ram-mount.com/newramitems.htm

[Dennis D]

Velcro... never even threatened to fall off, but it's been behind a windshield on both of the scooters I've used it on.

[jdearl]

I am sorry for the loss of your GPS, but I can't help but be curious which GPS you purchased. $110 is within my price range for scooter toys .

[T W I S T E R]

jdearl said:

I am sorry for the loss of your GPS, but I can't help but be curious which GPS you purchased. $110 is within my price range for scooter toys .

ME TOO PLEASE.

[schoei1]

Thanks for the suggestions and keep them comming if possable. Here is the inexpensive GPS I bought on Sunday and showed up yesterday. Not bad for the price and 2 day shipping from CA to VA.

cgi.ebay.com/NAViBLUE-Portable-3-5-GPS-Refurbished-2007-MAP-DATA_W0QQitemZ230185700142QQihZ013QQcategoryZ116221QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[swakk]

i fixed the standard mount on a steel bar in the top of the windscreen (kinroad boatking)
it never fall off

[schoei1]

Thanks again for the suggestions and I am going to start working with what I have left and try to find a good place to drill some holes. I have a bench drill press and a cordless drill to work with. I also have about 500 zip ties and about 20ft of Velcro that I could work with, but nuts and bolts are probably the way to go. I really like those RAM mounts warstein suggested, but I am not sure if there is one for this GPS. I installed a Tiny-Tach last weekend, so the left space below the handle bar is no longer available. If I can't get anything back from the 1yr warranty, I will probably buy the same NAViBLUE GPS. For the price, it is a very good deal. After reading many reviews about it, most complaints was the software, and you couldn't delete previously entered addresses. But I had no problem doing that last night with the new updated software installed. Here is a picture of my scooter that I am working with. Thanks again!

[T W I S T E R]

schoei1 said:

Thanks for the suggestions and keep them comming if possable. Here is the inexpensive GPS I bought on Sunday and showed up yesterday. Not bad for the price and 2 day shipping from CA to VA.

cgi.ebay.com/NAViBLUE-Portable-3-5-GPS-Refurbished-2007-MAP-DATA_W0QQitemZ230185700142QQihZ013QQcategoryZ116221QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

does it have a speedometer function ?

[schoei1]

Yes, it does show your mph right at the top left of the map. The LCD is a touch screen and you can zoom in and out, plus move the map just like you can on Google maps. When you do re-position the map, all of the info screens on the left go away. Then, when you are done re-positioning, all of the info features come back on. The voice navigation is very loud when the volume is set high, although I didn't get a chance to use that while I was driving. The mph seemed to be perfect. When I tested mine a few months ago with my buddy driving his car next to me, it seamed to be 10mph off, and that is what the GPS showed last night. Exactly 10mph off.

[schoei1]

Has anyone hooked-up power for their GPS? If so, how did you do it?

[WarrenS]

I installed a cigarette type power outlet in my Morphous. I found a hot wire that is only live when the ignition is on. I mounted it in the glove box.

[schoei1]

Thanks warstein!

Would hooking the GPS straight to the battery cause problems?

[Jacine]

You can hook the 12 volt cig lighter directly to the battery with an in-line fuse. No draw unless you plug something in that is currently working. I installed one on the V3, and use it to plug in and charge cell phones, GPS, and I purchased a battery and alternator plug-in unit from Walmart that shows me how my electrical system is performing. Of course I can't use them all at once.

[schoei1]

Thanks Jacine!

It must be better to hook-up with the power only working when the scooter is on, so the battery doesn't get drained.

[swampsniper]

schoei1 said:

Thanks Jacine!

It must be better to hook-up with the power only working when the scooter is on, so the battery doesn't get drained.

I think that most GPS units need power even when they aren't being used, or they forget where they are.

[glowguy]

swampsniper said:

schoei1 said:

Thanks Jacine!

It must be better to hook-up with the power only working when the scooter is on, so the battery doesn't get drained.

I think that most GPS units need power even when they aren't being used, or they forget where they are.

Uhmmm. Nope, not how GPS receivers work at all. They figure out where they are by triangulting their position relative to 3 or more geostationary satellites. They do this everytime they power up.

[WarrenS]

When turning off the switched power of the scooter the GPS will announce that it is shutting down. It will still remember any waypoints even if you take the batteries out.

[schoei1]

Well, I finally had the time this morning to install a cig lighter to use for my GPS, but no luck. I hooked it up directly to the battery to see if it would charge the GPS, but no charge at all. Even the lighter wasn't getting charged. I do have a multimeter, but not sure how to test the lighter. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[scooterollie]

Not trying to oversimplify but, ...

Is there an in-line fuse? Is there a fuse in the holder? Is the fuse good? Is the polarity correct? When you look down into the 12V power port, the bottom, center metal stud is the positive terminal. The inside metal sides are the negative terminal. Touch the leads of your multimeter to these terminals - red lead of meter to bottom center terminal, black lead of meter to inside metal sides. If you don't get approx. 12V reading on the meter, something may be wrong with the power port of with how you wired it in.

Let us know.

[schoei1]

I tested the battery and that read 12.84, then I tested the lighter wiring and that read 12.84. Then I tested the lighter inside and that also read 12.84. I noticed that the male jack into the lighter did not have an end, only connections on the outer circle of the male. So, I cut the wires from the GPS stand to the male lighter connection, spliced the wires and connected them to the wires connected to the battery. I FRIED THE GPS!
The GPS will not turn on, including resetting and connecting to the charger. Looks like this job is done.

[swampsniper]

Are you sure the polarity was correct?

[swampsniper]

glowguy said:

swampsniper said:

I think that most GPS units need power even when they aren't being used, or they forget where they are.

Uhmmm. Nope, not how GPS receivers work at all. They figure out where they are by triangulting their position relative to 3 or more geostationary satellites. They do this everytime they power up.

Yes, and no. A portable unit will take much longer to get going if the batteries have gone dead or been removed for more than a few minutes.

[johnnyscoots]

My poor butt could only afford a Garmin E-Trex ($79 at Circuit City) and it comes with a very cheap attachment: a lanyard. I just wear it around my neck (since I'm too po to buy a real form of attaching it to the scoot...) and really need it to check speed since scoot speedometers are off...
Maybe Santa will bring me a REAL kinda GPS device, one with a hard drive, preloaded maps...and a means of attaching it to the scoot.
The Garmin is powered by a pair of AA batteries...the 12 V outlet is used primarily for the cellphone.

Turkey, more turkey, leftover turkey, stuffing, beer, and wine on Thursday!!!
Hopefully no hangover for Black Friday!!!

Gobble Gobble!

John

[schoei1]

My luck had to run out again, because I got this used Garmin Ique 3600 GPS/PDA for only $110 and I registered it over a week ago. I called Garmin on Monday to buy new maps because it is 5 years old, and they saw that I registered it and sent me the new 2008 full version w/ all unlocking codes for FREE! The connection to the cig lighter had a speaker attached to it, with volume control. I wasn't thinking clearly, but there must have been a power regulator inside of it, and when I clipped the wired to cig male connector and went straight wires to the battery. The 12v must have been too much power and fried it. Luck only last so long. ;D

Thanks for all the help!

[schoei1]

This was the first time I had registered a used product, and today when I called Garmin to see how much it would cost to repair the Ique GPS after frying it, they told me I was under warranty. After telling them that the tip was missing from the end of the male connector, there was suppose to be a fuse inside, and that is what fried it. I am going to send it in, and they are going to fix it for free! I would have never thought, after buying it off Craigslist, it was under warranty because I registered it. Now I know to not just to register new products, but any product, even if it isn't bought from a company. I figured I would pass this info on to everyone.

Happy Holidays!

[julio]

Good God man, thats luck! Also that why you pay a little more for brand names, the warranty. Thats what I told the guy at Sears when I had a craftman tool replaced too.

[schoei1]

I received the Garmin Ique 3600 back from the Garmin repair shop on Monday, and they did not repair it. They replaced it with a brand new one and with new 2008 maps for free! That is amazing, and all because I decided to register a used 5 year old GPS, that I bought off of Craigslist. I now have a brand new one, with all updated maps, for $110. And it is a PDA also.

[WarrenS]

You must be living right.