Splash
Well-known member
You missed out on the Canadian Tire $55 Garmin units.
Cheap GPS device @ Canadian Tire, may be great for warm weather rides.
- Thread starter Car2Slo
- Start date
You missed out on the Canadian Tire $55 Garmin units.
A GPS receiver is never truly hackable. You may install Garmin instead of Igo (or vice versa), but they're all pretty much the same crap. I'd be more interested in map quality/availability and base my decision on that. Been happy with iGO so far though. You can also look at Dealextreme if you're not in a rush.
Splash
Well-known member
yes it can be hackable... The curtice was locked to a crappy GPS software and someone figured out how to get to the Windows CE interface and from there we could put the iGo software.
You still replaced its substandard off the shelf software with standard off the shelf software. If it already comes with Garmin or iGO, then there's little need to replace it. It's as much of a hack as uninstalling WMC on a computer and installing XBMC.
Splash
Well-known member
Please look up the definition of "Hacking".... Installing XBMC in windows is not hacking... installing XBMC on the original xbox is.
wonderings
Well-known member
I am curious why there is a need to hack a gps? Is it for free maps or is there some benefit? I have a Zumo and it does everything I need, mind you it has a high price tag for that.
What benefits do you gain from a unit you can hack yourself? I could care less about colours and icons, so thats not a draw at all, what good features can you do with it being hacked?
What benefits do you gain from a unit you can hack yourself? I could care less about colours and icons, so thats not a draw at all, what good features can you do with it being hacked?
Splash
Well-known member
We are talking about the Curtis GPS that was sold at canadian tire for $50. The Curtis GPS was actually a Windows CE device locked down to run a crappy GPS software. Someone figured out how to unlock it so you can run any Windows CE software on it. One of the software you can run is iGO which is on par (if not better with some tweaking) with the Garmin software.
No there's no reason to "hack" your garmin GPS.
wonderings
Well-known member
I was not interested in hacking my garmin, I was curious about the Curtis and other devices that people do hack. Other then running iGO, what other software would you want to run on a windows CE device that would make a gps a better unit?
i had the same problem. i used a wide rubber band to hold the connector in place, and that helped, but was not ideal. i bought another wire (with an "L" shaped connector and the problem went away)
I think you'll have the same USB connector issues with pretty much any GPS, especially on a vibey bike. You can try to secure it with elastic bands and/or make it tighter by squeezing the male side a little. I'd be more concerned about it not being waterproof, that's a harder challenge to solve. As for the battery, see the few posts above...
Any other Win. CE based GPS should be hackable, but I can't say for sure as I haven't tried them. Plenty of units with powerful features on DealExtreme.com for under $100. Very good deal even if they are not hackable.
I don't really need a GPS for the rest of this season, so I'm probably going to hold of on getting anything for now. Eventually I think I'll just suck it up and pick up a new ZUMO.The new one has XM Radio built in, with XM Weather reports and it's waterproof and designed for motorcycle use. It's bloody expensive, but I think worth the money instead of having all the issues I ended up having with the curtis unit.
That's what I thought when I purchased a Zumo before my recent trip to Death Valley (my trusty eTrex Vista died a week before launch
). It took me less than a day to realize that it's nothing but a ridiculously overpriced waterproof Nuvi with a motorcycle mount. I was terribly dissapointed and returned it promptly. Do yourself a favor and buy it from a store with solid return with full refund policy.
That Magellan looks interesting. Would you care to elaborate on why you chose that model and what you did to hack it? I'm wondering how it would stack up compared to similarly priced CE units from Dealextreme, like this one for example:
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/5-lcd-...-bluetooth-internal-2gb-usa-canada-maps-47092
That's what I thought when I purchased a Zumo before my recent trip to Death Valley (my trusty eTrex Vista died a week before launch
i've been happy with my garmin nuvi 765t, it's not waterproof but it plays mp3s on bluetooth or fm.
I've tried several nuvi's and returned them all. After all the trials I've done, I stand firmly behind the conviction that a touch screen GPS is next to useless on the motorcycle. At the very least one should be able to quickly, easily and reliably zoom in-out in moderately thick gloves. No touch screen GPS units I've tried came even close to fulfilling that basic requirement. Zumo was by far the worst disappointment of them all.
I'm currently looking at purchasing one of Garmin GPSmap series, but in the mean time have attached the Curtis cradle to the RAM mount previously used with a Nuvi (cut, file and glue job, 30 minutes in all). It looks well and sturdy, but only time will tell how long it will last on the Bandit's "electric toothbrush" vibrating handlebar (I'm mostly worried about that one lip/tooth that holds the Curtis in it's cradle). I'm not sure how Curtis will stand it either, but I have two...
Anyway, does anyone know how to transfer/convert Google maps routes for use on Curtis (iGo)?
Ive had no issue with my curtis on the bike. I bought an aqua box to put the curtis in and the flexable window makes it easy to navigate
I was considering the Aquabox, but I'm cheap and Aquabox costs as much as the Curtis did. It's also to big and unwieldy for my taste. It will protect your Curtis from both elements and vibration, so it should last considerably longer than in my configuration. As mentioned, this is only a temporary solution to buy me some time while I research long term options.
