This time out, I am using a Garmin i2 GPS. This unit has been discontinued because it is monochrome (black and white), which to most people makes it undesireable, plus it's very small (about the size of a baseball). For me, however, those two attributes make it exceedingly desireable.
First, the bad news: unlike the older TomTom that are the subject of BubbaJon's and my earlier mod, this GPS does not use a slide-and-click mount, but instead uses one of those ubiquitous ball-and-socket joints common on Garmins and Magellens. This is quite sturdy, but I don't know how well it will stand up over many mountings and removals. Since the suction-cup windshield mount remains attached to the MP3 (see the link), that means the mount is constantly being unplugged from the GPS.
If that ball-and-socket were to fail, there's nothing to keep it from just launching off the dashboard. No lanyard. However, it uses removable AA batteries (remember those?), and I was able to run a lanyard through some little slots that already exist in the battery cover. Seems reasonably secure.
The display is pretty small, but what do you really need on a motorcycle anyway? It does not display speed while navigating (instead, it displays direction of next turn and time to turn while navigating). For me, that's no problem, because I rarely actually use the GPS on the trike to give me directions (I think I read somewhere that you'd have to be CRAZY to do that) but I do use it for speed, direction, and general location. It also tells you what the next road up ahead is. I had a major issue with it taking ten seconds or more to update my current speed, but once I turned off 'WAIS" ultraprecision triangulation, it worked fine. Oh, and it uses a little wheel to navigate, not a touch screen (making it difficult to navigate while driving), but frankly on a motorcycle that's probably a good thing anyway.
Okay, so what's good about it? Well, unlike the TomTom, when you zoom in or out it stays at the zoom you set. Unlke the older TomToms (that can use this mount mod), it automatically turns on and off with the trike's power (yes I know that newer TomToms do that too).
But the big advantage, hands down, is that it is monochrome. Do you know what that means? It means that you can see it at night. You can see it in the shade. And you can see it in the day; the brighter the sun, the better it displays. Just like the instrument panel on your MP3, in fact.
Three years ago these sold for $300. There are still some web sites claiming to have them, but they're charging something like $200, which means they're either theives or they don't update their web site and don't really have any. If you find one for real, expect to pay about $100.
⚠️ Last edited by rjeffb on UTC; edited 1 time