What has happened to the fuel gauge

[Dee Duble Yuh]

The only problem I find with this scenario is when on a nice ling trip the fuel light suddenly comes on and you have no way of knowing where the next fuel stop is...

Streuth, how far apart are fuel stations in your neck of the woods. I'm seldom more than 5 or 10 miles from one over here. (That leaves well over 30 miles to spare!)

[StumpyFingers]

Streuth, how far apart are fuel stations in your neck of the woods. I'm seldom more than 5 or 10 miles from one over here. (That leaves well over 30 miles to spare!)

When I went to Colchester, I needed to stop for fuel, the first three petrol stations had closed down. It seems recently a lot of the stations are closing to save money.

[Snaphappy]

When I went to Colchester, I needed to stop for fuel, the first three petrol stations had closed down. It seems recently a lot of the stations are closing to save money.

PPPPPPP
some dont like them but a satnav with POI logged with fuel stations are great, if out in wilderness on a sunday start with a full tank

[africajim]

In the North and West of Scotland you need to plan your journeys due to the shortage of fuel stops. I've seen folk with plasi cans bungee'd to the back seat just in case on a sunday run!
I've no issues with the Varadero, I never had faith in petrol guages on bikes, so have always tripped the speedo. The miles countdown on the dash works fine for me as it backs up the trip counter on the speedo. I get around 210 to 220 miles before the light and countdown come on, I've done a further 20 miles with the light on but wouldn't like to push it further (excuse the pun!)
It is strange why bikes haven't came out with a decent guage, can't be weight, the sender unit's not heavy, a bit of wire, a float and a variable resistance switch. Minimal weight at the dash as it could be added to the LED. The sender unit in my Landrover tank is over 40yrs old and still works fine, surely Honda could come up with something as good?
Oh well, ho hum, I'll just have to trip my speedo for now!

[davsato]

on the helicopters its even simpler, no moving parts at all. there is a tube that goes down to the bottom of the tank with another tube centrally inside it. as the fuel goes down electronics (nothing cutting edge, its the same unit out of a westland whirlwind from the fifties) measures the change in capacitance between the two tubes, obviously with some sort of choke to stop it going haywire with sloshing around. very accurate, thats quite important when you are out in the north sea looking for a knackered trawler

[StumpyFingers]

PPPPPPP
some dont like them but a satnav with POI logged with fuel stations are great, if out in wilderness on a sunday start with a full tank

I used my sat nav and that was how I found the three closed stations, luckily I knew of a station in Chelmsford and got fuel from there.

[davsato]

I used my sat nav and that was how I found the three closed stations, luckily I knew of a station in Chelmsford and got fuel from there.

on the zumo the fuel tank range and the "find fuel" button is great, but i wish there was some way to fine tune it, so it takes you to the first petrol station on the route youre already doing and not just the nearest station anywhere. that's a pain when youre on a toll route and you have to come off.
i usually end up plotting the fuel stations along the route, and they spring up and shut down with such regularity the gps is often wrong.

[StumpyFingers]

on the zumo the fuel tank range and the "find fuel" button is great, but i wish there was some way to fine tune it, so it takes you to the first petrol station on the route youre already doing and not just the nearest station anywhere. that's a pain when youre on a toll route and you have to come off.

On the TOM TOM it gives you a list of petrol stations and the locations, it is just a simple if you know the road you are on has a petrol station within the distance you have left to travel. The problem I experienced was the first three had closed and had pumps removed so likely to be another type of business.
I did find that after refuelling as I rejoined the A12 there was an open fuel station 1 mile further down the road.

[Dee Duble Yuh]

on the zumo the fuel tank range and the "find fuel" button is great, but i wish there was some way to fine tune it, so it takes you to the first petrol station on the route youre already doing and not just the nearest station anywhere...

There is a way to do that, but you really need to come to a halt 'cos it's not dead simple. Without my Zumo to hand the following is only a rough guide. The device must be navigating to your destination (otherwise how would it know which stations were on your route?):

From the main menu press "Where to?" At the bottom of the screen is a button labelled "Near...". One of the options is to search for destinations near your route. Then select "Food, lodging...". and fuel stations. The Zumo will then list fuel stations that are ahead of you on your route.

[davsato]

There is a way to do that, but you really need to come to a halt 'cos it's not dead simple. Without my Zumo to hand the following is only a rough guide. The device must be navigating to your destination (otherwise how would it know which stations were on your route?):

From the main menu press "Where to?" At the bottom of the screen is a button labelled "Near...". One of the options is to search for destinations near your route. Then select "Food, lodging...". and fuel stations. The Zumo will then list fuel stations that are ahead of you on your route.

yeah i know it does all that, but it would be nice if after going to the trouble of asking you what your tank range was so it could put up the "find fuel" button on the screen after X miles, it would look along your existing route for stations in range before taking you off route to find the nearest.
when youre on an autoroute it wastes a lot of time coming off, maybe paying a toll, going up a busy secondary road to find fuel 3.2mi away, and then rejoining the autoroute, when along the route you were on there was fuel at 5mi.
i know its just a dum machine and cant think for itself (like a lot of people!) but thats only a simple software addition, and a very useful one i think. if im on a long trip thats preplanned into the zumo i usually plan in my fuel stops for max range with minimum disruption, about 130 miles is long enough to get off, give the buttocks a stretch, have a drink and mars bar and fill the bike.