SPORT TOURING

Sport Touring Corner By Norm Kern, TRO Contributor Why use a GPS when we ride?

24 THUNDER ROADS® OHIO MAGAZINE THUNDERROADSOHIO.COM OHIO’S MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE 24 THUNDER ROADS® OHIO MAGAZINE THUNDERROADSOHIO.COM OHIO’S MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE 24 THUNDER ROADS® OHIO MAGAZINE THUNDERROADSOHIO.COM OHIO’S MOTORCYCLE MAGAZINE I've spent more than half of my fifty plus years of riding using paper maps and thought that I did just fine. County maps showed every road but were too big and unwieldy to use on the bike, so I used state roadmaps. I tended to stick with the roads on them because they were easier to follow, mixing in a few locals roads from time to time. That, however, changed big time once I learned to really use a GPS. I do not mean the vanilla “from here to a destination” point to point routing that Google Maps can do. I mean more complicated routes where it's not just the destination, but the individual roads traveled that are what's important. With GPS, I discovered lots of new fun roads which are not numbered and not particularly easy to follow without a GPS. An added huge bonus was that most of these back roads were free of traffic. GPS allowed me to get completely lost with absolutely no worries about finding my way back, finding gas, finding food, etc. I could also keep track of my time by directing the GPS to Go Home and wander around until the arrival time matched the time I needed to be back. A GPS gives the rider a pretty good idea of what the road is about to do ahead. I am rarely surprised by hairpins or unexpected turns like those on the roads of southeast Ohio. What does a GPS do for you that a paper map does not? • It shows you where you are on the map • What direction you are going • Keeps the map centered on where you are • Allows you to zoom in to show every individual road including name info. • You don't have to refold it, keep it dry, etc. • Turn-by-turn voice prompts and graphic displays make navigation through complicated urban areas easier. 2003-03.jpg It's database contains millions of cities, points of interest, food, fuel and other searchable locations, a level of detail no paper map can show. That's a lot of advantages over paper, but a GPS does something far more powerful- Routing. There are three levels of GPS routing: • Level 1- Get from where you are (point A) to point B- this is what most people are familiar with and use their GPS for. • Level 2- Multi-point routing with stops at points of interest, gas, food etc. • Level 3- Multi-point routing with all of the above plus "shaping" or via points that force the route to follow specific ROADS. Level 3 routing enables route creators to direct you on the enjoyable and interesting back roads that make sport touring the most fun style of motorcycle riding. That brings us to our next question. What GPS features do you need for use on a motorcycle? Here's my list • The device must be able to download and use multi-point routes. My favorite rides snake around from one good road to another. I need a device that is able to do that. • The device must have a large screen that is easy to read. • It must be waterproof. • The device must be glove friendly. • Complete maps database must be stored on the device so it will still work when phone service and WiFi are not available. • Being shock resistant is a priority. • It must provide voice prompts that can be linked to a Bluetooth helmet headset. • Swapping rides with friends must be quick and easy. The GPX file format is an open standard and is most commonly used. • It must be easy to remove from the bike. If integrated, it must easily transfer route and track files back and forth between the bike and the computer.

Why not use a smartphone as a GPS? Pros & cons The deal breaker used to be that phone apps did not support complex multi-point routes. There are now a couple available for both iPhone and android that overcome that limitation. Many now have screens that are large and bright enough but to run a GPS app all day with the screen on full brightness requires external power. Many are waterproof- Unfortunately the USB connector used for charging is not. I find that after the connected phone has been in the rain for awhile, a message pops up that the cable or charger is defective. This blocks my view of the screen and cannot be dismissed. It can take several hours of effort in the hotel room to dry the connector enough that it will take a charge again. There's another problem with the screen in the rain- water droplets hitting it are like button presses and it becomes uncontrollable. Checking weather radar is important during a rainstorm, but that's exactly when you can't access it on your phone! Most phone apps default to using online maps, so you have to be sure you download the maps you need before venturing out so you still have a map when you are out of cel data range. Phones are not inherently glove friendly, so you need specialized gloves. A related problem is that most phone apps lack large text and glove-friendly buttons. On the plus side, searching for addresses, gas, hotels, places to eat is easier and much better on the phone because data is more up to date. The biggest advantage of a smartphone is the fact that most people already have one. They use it for everything else so they just download a GPS app and they are good to go.

Garmin zumo GPS models Zumo is simply Garmin's trade name for their line of motorcycle GPS units. Zumo units have become the standard of the industry and I much prefer to use one of them rather than a smartphone. Here's why: • MUCH more reliable than a phone. • Completely waterproof. • Rugged touch screen designed to work with gloves. • Glove-friendly icons, buttons etc. Text larger, readable from 18" away on the handlebar. • Tracks from the day's ride can be named and saved. • Easily handles complex routes with many via points. • Garmin Basecamp software can create a track from a route. The track can be loaded into the zumo and displayed on the

map as a verification that the route was interpreted correctly by the GPS. Very powerful. • Comes with complete motorcycle handlebar mount and wiring harness • Comes with free lifetime map updates My zumo 590 links to my phone via Bluetooth and can access the internet via phone data network to support lots of features, all integrated right into the excellent GPS screen:

1.Live traffic, including delays ahead, estimated time delays, alternate routes, even live traffic cameras 2.Live weather forecasts, including live weather along your route, live weather radar on the GPS map 3.Search for locations etc just like Waze and other apps on your phone and send to the zumo 590.

To sum up: You can buy the Garmin zumo 396 for $250 or less. It has all the features of the top-of-the-line 595, just a smaller screen. I have both my phone and zumo GPS mounted on my bike for the best of both worlds.