I've been looking to buy a gps for my dual sport, but am kinda overwhelmed by all the different choices. Do any of you guys use a gps, and if so which one? I ride alot of heavy woods and understand that I probably will have trouble with one reading in the dense cover. I also want to start riding out in west Texas more including the Big Bend area, and am wondering if one particular brand/model supports the maps out there more than another. I always appreciate the help and advice I get on this forum. Thanks in advance!

You would get more results on "The GPS Exchange" forum on TON.

I use a Magellan GPS 320. I've used it to GPS all the PMT in the Sam Houston National Forest. They are posted on the Trail Riders of Houston forum. I almost always have a minimum of 3 satellites, usually more. You must keep a medium steady speed. There is one dead spot in the NF north of 208 & west of 208B.

I want a GPS.....Having said that....I feel one would be of limited use in the Big Bend area because the maps available do not discriminate between public and private ranch roads....What looks like a great route on the map usually stops at a private ranch gate....There are so few roads in general it's not easy to get really seriously lost.....Although you can be a long way from anywhere a lot of times.

Now...When I want to pony up the $ to buy one I'll probably swear by it.

Steve Smith

I've got an old Garmin GPS II+. It died on me once, I sent it back to Garmin, and they rebuilt it like new for a very reasonable fee, I think it was $35 or something. Like you said, it doesn't do well in dense cover, I understand the newer GPS's are better at that, but don't really know. The II+ doesn't have maps, you just collect waypoints, track your route as you ride so you can backtrack, etc. It is also a speedometer, since I don't have one on the DRZ. The advrider forum has some good info and links on GPS, but those guys are mostly BMW riders, and money is not an object, they buy the good stuff. see www.advrider.com/forums.

I just replaced my Garmin Legend with a GPSMAP60C. It's a great unit. With a RAM mount and hardwired to the bike, you can't beat it.

Rocketman does'nt use a gps because he only rides in west Texas and he knows the roads out there better than any computer. He has 512megs worth of memory in his head and most gps are limited to 256.

Thanks for the response. I would like to download Rocket-man's brain for the maps! I would like to get a GPS before my trip to the Big Bend area in a few weeks. I think that the "back-track" feature might be worth it with my sense of direction. I believe I'll seriously look into the Garmin GPS V unit. it seems popular with bikers and there is a decent mount system for it too. Thanks MC for the info on riding with the GPS in Huntsville. That is where I ride alot and seem to get kinda lost on the northeast trail system. Maybe I'll see you out there some time. I live out in Tomball, and don't know too many trail riders out here.
Thanks again,
Bill

I've got a Garmin GPSMAP 76CS and I have to say the unit is great. I picked the 76 over the 60 because it floats and that is important for trips down the Rio Grande etc.

The software package does differentiate between known public and private roads but only in line width on the screen. The differences are very subtle on a mono screen, so, for my money the color screen is the way to go. The V has been around for a number of years and is a bullet proof unit, but it isn't color. I would vote for ANY color unit over any mono unit.

The 76 had the largest available memory when I got mine last year and I have loaded all the base maps for Texas, part of New Mexico and Oklahoma on it with room still left. This is important if you don't want to carry a laptop.

If you save all of your tracks like I do, the 76 will hold 20 tracks which is nice.

Hard wire it into your charging system and you will never need to worry, but the 60 and 72 both have significantly longer battery life than the V. At some point you will want to get off the bike and wander around on foot, start goecaching, benchmark hunting, whatever.

I used a ram mount for my GPS on my bike and love it. As big as it seems when looking at it, it is not in the way when I ride.

So ... my vote would be the 76CS

Tony....When you get a chance use your mapping software to check out Hwy 169 from Marfa South to Casa Piedra and on to Hwy 170 between Presidio and Redford.....That will be Presidio and Brewster Counties....8 miles North of 170 there is a right (East) turn into the Big Bend State Park which loops around and connects back up to 169....Also I believe just South of Casa Pietra there is turn to the East that loops back South and then North East to connect with 118 around Elephant Mountain......How do these show, public or private?

I have been on these roads.

What do you ride, when and where?

Steve Smith....another Grandpa!!

That's not really true Fastmonster......Some of my memory is cluttered up with old Baja rides, Horsetail Falls, Cloudcroft, Alberquerque and Arizona trails plus a couple of thousand miles at Milano.....Remember....The older we get the more we did and the faster we did it....Riding this Sunday is a little questionable.....Back's not much better.

Steve

Steve:

I know the road into the park of which you speak. I have driven the road up to the turn back into the BBRSP and on into the park to the dead end.

Frankly I had never followed the line north until just now. On my maping software it does not distinguish between road types, but on my GPS unit the entire road system between 170 and 169 at Plata shows to be county roads. The split past Casa Piedra appears to loop back through BBRSP, but I know the road is blocked a few (many) miles past the ranch headquarters.

The road heading east from Casa Piedra past Elephant Mountain and on to 118 appears to be all public. The funny part is the roads only connect if you assume you can use a runway section that is just south of Needle Peak.

There is a road heading off 169 through Peridiz that appears to connect to 118 as well. There is a road at Peridiz on both sides of the railroad track but no clear connection across the tracks there.

Obviously, the people tracing the USGS quads and or aerial photographs got lazy at times. because I have found a fair number of errors on my treks around Texas. I have visited over 200 of the 254 counties in Texas and expect to hit the remainder this summer.

I spoke with a kid filling up a beat up quad at the store in Study Butte and he told be that there were tons of unmapped roads and trails in the mountains north of Terlingua. He said take the county road north out of Terlingua and you couldn't miss them. He also said there are miles of roads behind the housing development north of Study Butte on the east side between 118 and Terlingua Ranch.

As far as what I ride, I have a couple of true dirtbikes and no DS at the moment. I have contemplated plating my KTM 400, but I haven't done so yet. It would be great, but it doesn't have a cush drive, so I would have to be gentle with it on asphalt. It does have the big tank though.

If KTM ever brings back the 640 (rumored to be this year) I have hopes that a few folks will move up and I can pick up an older 640.

As far as when, not nearly often enough. I own my own architectural firm and I never seem to get projects close to home, so I am always on the road. I end next week in Fort Stockton (lunch on Friday) and if it wasn't for the fact that I have already promised to help build some fence, I would head south from there and check these roads out. Maybe it will rain here in the metromess and I can head that way anyway! Now if I had a DS bike, I would plant that sucker the bed of my truck and take it with me ...