GPS.

[4seasons]

Hi One and all

I was wondering if any one knows and has the time to explain the what the why and the wherefore I can get hold of a GPS unit to take me to Bulgaria on my TA later this year, I have tried to reserch the subject but do not understand what I need, as in do I try to get one that has east europe built in, or buy a cheaper one and download extra software.
Your help will be very much appreciated.

[Robster]

Hi One and all

I was wondering if any one knows and has the time to explain the what the why and the wherefore I can get hold of a GPS unit to take me to Bulgaria on my TA later this year, I have tried to reserch the subject but do not understand what I need, as in do I try to get one that has east europe built in, or buy a cheaper one and download extra software.
Your help will be very much appreciated.

Presuming that you're going to be sticking mostly to actual roads, as opposed to trails and tracks, I'd say go for one that you can load extra maps onto, such as the TomTom Rider or Garmin Zumo. These will come with Western Europe maps (mostly) as standard, and it's a very simple procedure to import another map onto the unit.

[jasonbc]

Hi One and all

I was wondering if any one knows and has the time to explain the what the why and the wherefore I can get hold of a GPS unit to take me to Bulgaria on my TA later this year, I have tried to reserch the subject but do not understand what I need, as in do I try to get one that has east europe built in, or buy a cheaper one and download extra software.
Your help will be very much appreciated.

Any tomtom unit with europe mapping on it should do bulgaria, if it doesn't go onto the tomtom website and go to buy maps. The it gives you a list of maps specific to the model you have and when you select each one the map shows you which countries are covered on that set of maps. It is very easy. As a rule any unit purchased with europe on it should have the latest map set. But if you already have one and the maps are only UK and Ireland then you simply update the map and buy euro maps

When you've got them and installed tomtom home you can then connect your device to the pc open tomtom home it will give you a list of updates to download. You can then go to add POI's (points of interest) again at the top of the screen is a list of countries select the one you want to visit and a list of pio's will come up loads of pages normally then you select one at a time and it downloads it to your device.

I use a tomtom 510 on the bike and in the car it's never yet let me down remains waterproof althoug doesn't claim to be and voice instructions a with the volume tuned up can still be heard at 80-90 mph without any problems. On the xr i use a Garmin gpsmap 60csx with memory map on the pc to write route and then tranfer them to the gps. But the main reason i use that is it gives me OS grid reference where i'm too. So if i get lost i can look at the map and find myself exactly.

Never ever travels with gps alone always take maps with you aswell as batteries and screens don't go tits up on a map

[Mabels Old Man]

I've got a garmin 2610 with CNv8 on that covers eastern europe. CN v9 is out now and that will as well

[angelo]

I have got the cheapest Garmin (Nuvi 250) they sell in Halfords (£99) and have made a mount for it to sit in the middle of my handlebars. It has UK only at street level but I bought a European map on ebay (cheap) and it now has street level across Europe - not checked Bulgaria but with some ebay searching I bet you will find it.

It is not waterproof so I have to put a clear plastic cover over it if it rains bad enough for the rain to get to that part.

It is superb and you can just hear it at about 60mph. I do not believe you need to pay £500 + for bike ones. This one I have took me all the way to Austria without a wrong turn and I set it to take me on the D Roads not M Ways

[btbloke]

I've got a 2610,the guy who sold it to me said he had done croatia,bosnia and romania and gave me an SD card with NE europe on it,the card in it has western europe. I had a quick look and it seems to have czech republic as well. Get yourself a 2610,waterproof,shockproof and runs off the bike power. Your welcome to copy the cards I have.

[stuart]

If you choose the tomtom PLease Please Please back EVERYTHING up before trying to install anything, If theres a problem it could take MONTHS for tom tom to sort it out , My rider two developed a software fault in June and tom tom took from the 2nd July to NOVEMBER to fix it

[jasonbc]

I have got the cheapest Garmin (Nuvi 250) they sell in Halfords (£99) and have made a mount for it to sit in the middle of my handlebars. It has UK only at street level but I bought a European map on ebay (cheap) and it now has street level across Europe - not checked Bulgaria but with some ebay searching I bet you will find it.

It is not waterproof so I have to put a clear plastic cover over it if it rains bad enough for the rain to get to that part.

It is superb and you can just hear it at about 60mph. I do not believe you need to pay £500 + for bike ones. This one I have took me all the way to Austria without a wrong turn and I set it to take me on the D Roads not M Ways

I agree 100% that you don't need the dearest bike unit as the cheap car units have everything the new trendy bike ones do, but the car ones have had it longer so it's cheaper the only difference is the car units are not normally waterproof. I think the bike ones are a bit of a fashion accessorie and status symbol. As far as it being waterproof most bikers don't tend to ride in terential stroms and when they do happen most riders shelter and see the storms out

[Willy]

I use a TomTom XL V2 Western Europe £130, on my TA 700, sucker sticks nicely inside the screen above the rev counter, avoiding most of the climate conditions. The V2 model seemed to have had a better suction cap, more suited to my bike than other models I looked at.
If it rains, it fits in a cheap clear, pvc topped tank bag.

Around xmas, a few stores where doing a TomTom special, text to speach Full Europe for the same price I paid for the W Europe
Mine has only 1Gb of memory, which I belive effects which maps I can use looking at their web site.

[jasonbc]

I use a TomTom XL V2 Western Europe £130, on my TA 700, sucker sticks nicely inside the screen above the rev counter, avoiding most of the climate conditions. The V2 model seemed to have had a better suction cap, more suited to my bike than other models I looked at.
If it rains, it fits in a cheap clear, pvc topped tank bag.

Around xmas, a few stores where doing a TomTom special, text to speach Full Europe for the same price I paid for the W Europe
Mine has only 1Gb of memory, which I belive effects which maps I can use looking at their web site.

My unit takes sd memory cards i put a 2Gb card in it and put western europe and scandinavia on it and poi's on it and it has about 1/2 a gig of space left and i dont use the suctions cups i use a ram mount