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Here's a neat little addition. This is a ripoff of BubbaJon's "super simple GPS mount" for a TomTom (see my version of his mod at <[topic48156.2#678039]>).

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.
The Gi2 on my MP3. The lanyard from my ignition key hooks to a quick-disconnect that is looped through the battery cover on the right.
The Gi2 on my MP3. The lanyard from my ignition key hooks to a quick-disconnect that is looped through the battery cover on the right.
⚠️ Last edited by rjeffb on UTC; edited 1 time
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Re: Gi2 on an MP3
rjeffb wrote:
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.
Monochrome=one color. Like an all gray readout or one that only uses images in shades of green. Perhaps it is backlit? That would explain the night visibility.
I do not think that word means what you think it means...
I do not think that word means what you think it means...
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Tee-hee - I love that movie. My tech geek friends have long called black and white monitors monochrome. Or the amber and black - remember those? From the early eighties when I was in grade school? I threw one away at my school this week.
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Okay, take it easy. We all know that "monochrome" is a common misnomer for these things, in fact it took me under two seconds to find an LCD computer monitor manufacturer that makes "monochrome" monitors that displays in "black and white" 256 shades of grey. For that matter, I have many years of experience taking photograhs on Black and White film, which amazingly was able to produce more shades than just black and white.

Nonetheless, Garmin refers to this as a "grayscale" display and I should have used the correct term. It is not backlit, it is sidelit, just like the instrument display on your MP3 and a million other places you look at every day - including very likely on your wrist.
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I have a GPS 5 that I still use. It is also monochrome. And water resistant.
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[quote="mjm50cal"]I have a GPS 5 that I still use. It is also monochrome. And water resistant.[/quote]
And I bet you can see it in the sun. Which is kinda important when driving a motorcycle, hence my excitment over this little i2 unit.
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Trans Reflective Screen. Like my Zumo better. Even in the light.

I use my GPS 5 for hiking, metal detecting, bicycle riding with TOPO maps. It does route though.
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Have an old magillian pocket GPS with grayscale mounted on a bicycle mount to handlebars. Just use to verify speed and better then no gps navigating. Backlite only last six seconds to save battery life. 2 aa batterys.
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mjm50cal wrote:
I have a GPS 5 that I still use. It is also monochrome. And water resistant.
Great unit, I have one too, but it's showing it's age. Give info the new-school ones don't including altitude which I like....
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mattgordon wrote:
mjm50cal wrote:
I have a GPS 5 that I still use. It is also monochrome. And water resistant.
Great unit, I have one too, but it's showing it's age. Give info the new-school ones don't including altitude which I like....
I loved the tweakability of the older GPSs. I also liked to display altitude on the map page. On the way to Tahoe in the winter time everyone asks me what our altitude is. If you have a large screen smart phone or a PDA, get the Garmin GPS-10. It is a bluetooth only receiver and the software is very tweakable. Plus the orientation of the screen is long instead of wide, but that is tweakable too! Just down load it to your flash drive. Nerd emoticon
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[quote="mjm50cal"][quote="mattgordon"][quote="mjm50cal"]I have a GPS 5 that I still use. It is also monochrome. And water resistant.[/quote]

Great unit, I have one too, but it's showing it's age. Give info the new-school ones don't including altitude which I like....[/quote]
I loved the tweakability of the older GPSs. I also liked to display altitude on the map page. On the way to Tahoe in the winter time everyone asks me what our altitude is. If you have a large screen smart phone or a PDA, get the Garmin GPS-10. It is a bluetooth only receiver and the software is very tweakable. Plus the orientation of the screen is long instead of wide, but that is tweakable too! Just down load it to your flash drive. :nerd:[/quote]

I have no idea why Garmin moved away from the idea that you could define for yourself what was displayed (I had a GPS III). Great idea. If you go into any Garmin's disagnostics screens you'll see that stuff like barametric pressure and temperature are still there, too, but there's no way to display them other than through the diagnostic screens, which require secret key presses to even get to.
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