is the garmin 2620 ok for a motorcycle

[briana]

I was on gpsinformation.net and they were comparing the 2610 and the 2620. They said there could be issues using the 2620 on a motorcycle because it has an internal hard drive and the vibration might damage it. Is this true? Don't most GPSs have an internal hard drive besides the 2610. I know a ton of 2610s have been sold to you guys and i was about ready to buy one when i found a good deal on a used 2620. I'm not sure it is as good as the 2610 for a motorcycle, what do you think?
Brian

[wmubrown]

I was on gpsinformation.net and they were comparing the 2610 and the 2620. They said there could be issues using the 2620 on a motorcycle because it has an internal hard drive and the vibration might damage it. Is this true? Don't most GPSs have an internal hard drive besides the 2610. I know a ton of 2610s have been sold to you guys and i was about ready to buy one when i found a good deal on a used 2620. I'm not sure it is as good as the 2610 for a motorcycle, what do you think?
Brian

The 2620 did use a hard drive and it is NOT recommended for motorcycles. Go with the 2610, it's pretty reasonable at $210 (factory refurb) lately. I have a 2720 and don't like it as much as the 2610 though the 2720's display is better. Most GPS's don't use hard drives.

[cmhitch]

A riding buddy's 2620 sewered because of vibration. The 2610 is clearly the way to go. Unless you must have weather and a built in MP3 player, a remanufactured 2610 will save you about $600. And while you're at it, check out the Touratech mount. It's an ideal set up, and I happen to have one for sale for a '00RT as I moved to an'07RT.

[nortonrt]

The 2720 works like a dream on my RT. Sound to the helmet speakers is loud and clear. The screen is easy to read at speed. I have mine mounted on a Garmin motorcycle mounting kit, bolted to aluminum "L" bracket I made which is bolted to an RCU shelf. Vibration is not noticeable, it is securely held in place. If you do not need voice directions, then by all means get the 2710 - but the price difference is not all that great, and you'd be preadapted for helmet speakers should you get them. It's the 2730 that has the MP3 player and XM radio.

I got my 2720 for $289 at Edgegps.com. Also got the Garmin motorcycle mount from them, which saved about $9 in shipping cost.

[bearsfolks]

I have a 1983 R80RT and I also have a Garmin 2720 that I use in my car and pickup. I am looking at the RAM mounting system. A couple questions:

Can I just hardwire a basic power cord and leave it near the mounting bracket when the unit is off, or should I use an adapter and plug it into the 12 volt port near the seat? I don't care about the voice feature.

I can get the bracket in 1-3/4, 3, or 5-1/4 inch length. Which would not interfere with the fairing, or least cover the speedo/tach? How high does one mount these things?

[rkasal]

The 2720 works like a dream on my RT. Sound to the helmet speakers is loud and clear. The screen is easy to read at speed. I have mine mounted on a Garmin motorcycle mounting kit, bolted to aluminum "L" bracket I made which is bolted to an RCU shelf. Vibration is not noticeable, it is securely held in place. If you do not need voice directions, then by all means get the 2710 - but the price difference is not all that great, and you'd be preadapted for helmet speakers should you get them. It's the 2730 that has the MP3 player and XM radio.

I got my 2720 for $289 at Edgegps.com. Also got the Garmin motorcycle mount from them, which saved about $9 in shipping cost.

Hello, what helmet speakers do you have? How do you hear the sound over the wind noise and do you wear ear plugs?

Regards,


Randy Kasal

[nortonrt]

Hello, what helmet speakers do you have? How do you hear the sound over the wind noise and do you wear ear plugs?

Regards,


Randy Kasal

I use the Autocom M1 Pro unit, and Autocom helmet speakers. I have the BMW standard cassette radio on my '03 RT. I ran a stereo line directly from the radio to the Autocom velcro'd beneath the front seat on the air filter box so the radio plays through my headphones. I have a cassette adapter, which plugs into the BMW radio when I want to feed one of my MP3 players (popular or classical music) into the helmet speakers. The 2720 is fed directly to one of the Autocom's AUX inputs, so I get voice directions that mutes the music feed for a few seconds. I built a 3.5mm input box mounted beneath the cockpit shelf using a 3.5mm female/female (input) to female (output) adapter (one female input interfacing with two female inputs). This allows me to connect the cassette adapter to the back of the unit and feed two inputs (i.e., MP3 players) through it to the radio's cassette player - one at a time, of course. I also used that box to mount the on/off switch for the auxiliary running lights. The switch is LED lighted and clearly seen - another safeguard against leaving the aux lights on with the motor off.

As for the 12V power feed - it's all through a fuse panel, which mounts comfortably beneath the rear seat of the RT.

If all of this sounds complicated, believe me, it's not. If diagrams or pictures would help to visualize this set-up, I'd be glad to send them or post them, if you request that.

By-the-way, the radio display shows radio gain numerically 0-24, and I usually have it on 4 to 7 even at interstate speeds. Any louder and it's painful. Of course, "loudness" depends also on the volume of what's being fed to the radio. The BMW radio amplifies!

Forgot: The XM radio is fed into one of the 3.5 inputs in the box-mounted stereo splitter

[jskene]

I have heard of a lot of problems using the 2720 on a bike. The hard drive is not up to the task. Better to use a 2610.