[dave95sps]

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Hello group,

What a great place to seek guidance when looking to buy a new Goldwing. I am a newbie here. I currently ride a 2004 Shadow Spirit 1100, and am thinking of purchasing a new Goldwing with the navigation system. I am 59 years old, never owned a Goldwing and figure it is either now or never...:baffled:

I have not seen the GPS operate on the Goldwing. I have a Garmin Nuvi GPS, a portable unit that my wife and I use in the car. Do any of you have experience with the new navigation system on the Goldwing, and if so, how might it compare with the Garmin or Magellan models that are often used in cars ? How user friendly is the design for motorcycle riding ?

Thanks in advance, I sincerely appreciate your thoughts and guidance.
Dave in Virginia

 

[Kit Carson]

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An honest question gets an honest answer!! I love the 1800 try to sell someone on one every day. It is a great toy!!

The GPS is not so hot though........do a search on the site and you will find pages of talk about it. It is okay......it will get you through......and looking at it from an engineers standpoint....fully adequate for most applications.

You do get stuck with having to purchase it if you want all the bells and whistles. It is a part of some of the package deals.......you cannot just pick out I want ABS brakes or I want the NAV.......it is somewhat of a package deal.

As for cost.....they are about the same........depending on where you might buy the Zumo 550 which is at the moment one of the better units for a bike......it can run as high as a grand or better......I purchased the one I have from Amazon.com and it I am sure was a reconditioned one....but I got it and the mount and all the goodies for 500 bucks.

I am still limping along with my factory GPS on the bike.....I am however more old school.....for a long time I simply considered all this stuff a safety issue.....then found out it is actually a great safety feature......if used properly these things talk to you.....and save that erratic hesitation when you are looking for someplace that might cause you to have an accident.

Kit

 

[English Bob]

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I have taken a great interest in the navi system and have spent a lot of time getting to understand it and use it.

It is certainly adequate for the job, we've used it from Manitoba to the west coast and it worked well for us.

You still need a paper map for planning.

It also lacks a lot of features, mostly info such as speed, GPS co-ordinates and so on.

The most significant lack in my view is no offline trip planning, no capability for that whatsoever.

 

[dave95sps]

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It seems the only way I can get ABS is to buy the Navigation package also. I like the fact the navi system is secure (does not need to be taken off and on) and is weather sealed. Not being able to program it in the conveince of my living room may take some getting use to. I really like the GarminNuvi, and it sounds like I will miss some of the features it has. Thanks for your help on this, I am almost ready to committ.

Do you have an opinion on rider backrests? I know I'll need one. I have a Mustang seat on my 1100 Shadow with a backrest, and it pushes right in to the small of my back and takes the stress off the lower back.

Thanks, Dave in Virginia

 

[Big Kahuna]

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Dave,

I just got my new 2008 Goldwing two weeks ago and was in the same dilema as you. I thought that I wanted ABS and heated seats, but I have a lot of experience with navigation systems from aircraft to cars to on my IPAQ, and you are much better off getting an aftermarket navigation system. If you buy a decent one, you can update maps and POIs which (not sure how the Honda one works) most likely cannot be done for the installed navi on the bike. Sure they have updates every year, but if it is like the Honda car systems, that will cost you about $200 an update.

So even though I thought that I wanted ABS, heated seats and hand grips, I wasn't willing to pay the extra $3000+ to get that stuff. And about the ABS, although I am sure that many will talk about great they are, the Honda linked brake system is still pretty nice. On a wet mess of a road, ABS may sell themselves, but that is a lot of extra bucks if all you want is ABS.

But that is what life is about, one choice after another! Good Luck!

 

[jwpa13]

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The Honda Nav is barley adequate. The lack of touch a screen , the update costs, the fact you can't turn off the "safety" feature means you have to pull off to the side of the road or onto an off ramp to find a restaurant or gas station is a pain in the butt. You are SO----MUCH better off getting a semi-weatherproof Lowrance XOG for $175.00 and plugging it in to your headset with any off the several connectors designed for that purpose (Kenedy Tech, etc.). It may cost a bit extra and be a bit redundant having two GPS units but in the long run it will save you money and agravation. If only you could get ABS without the NAV.

I guess Honda needs the money to ship their MC plant back to Japan.

They sure aren't using the extra bucks to improve customer service, which is fast going down the tubes. ....jws

 

[jwpa13]

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hey darkside man, have you ever heard of anyone who can cancel the "safety" feature and get the NAV to work while the bike is moving? jws

 

[Oregonwinger]

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If Honda built something like the Zumo into the bike, the ambulance chasers would be planted at every corner. I'm quite frankly surprised that Honda considered a gps at all, of any fashion, onto a motorcycle. A lot less room for error, and when errors occur, they're usually less forgiving. Can you imagine the people that would be "planning" their trips on the fly, and just general tinkering !!! Perish the thought.

It does suck that we had to get the thing to get ABS (love that ABS). And, I do like the bigger screen when using it for the radio, and other functions.

 

[aht_six]

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jwpa13 wrote:

.....have you ever heard of anyone who can cancel the "safety" feature and get the NAV to work while the bike is moving? jws

Yes, people have figured out how to turn off the safety feature. "Choptop" on the gl1800riders.com board posted the instructions a couple years ago. I think his bike is a 2006.

Check out this link. http://calico.stufftoread.com/gpswires.html

 

[TitaniumWing]

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dave95sps wrote:

It seems the only way I can get ABS is to buy the Navigation package also. I like the fact the navi system is secure .....
Do you have an opinion on rider backrests? I know I'll need one.

The GPS is basic, you can't program it while riding (probably a good thing), but I think it is worth it to as you said, have a built in unit. Overhead view, no 3-D, basic, but it gets you there. Also, its nice to have the larger screen and definitely worth it to get the ABS.

I have a Utopia backrest and really like it. Reasonable price, easily to install, no bars wrapped around the seat to get in the way of the passenger, huge range of adjustment.http://www.utpr.com/

Steve has aninstallation video for the Utopia on this site, makes it easier to make that cut in the seat after watching it and realizing it is easy to do.

Several improvements were made to the 1800 with the 2006 model to include a lighter frame, but supposedly stronger.

 

[aht_six]

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The 09 GPS still has the same limitations that are typical of an on board system but it is much improved. Street names are spoken, no "unverified road" messages and there is a 3-D view. Doppler Weather, cloud cover and traffic info have also been added.

As far as backrests are concerned, I have been very pleased with the Utopia.

 

[Kit Carson]

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Does not look like the new 2009 GPS would be much help to me. Looking at the photo it does not even show roads. I gotta have roads, I may go the wrong way on them but I gotta have roads. :cheeky1::cheeky1:

Okay Kit, serious:

Tip for the long boot up at stop:

I made a spare key, blank number 27 at lowes, home depot , number 27 blank for a honda car. Then take a spare radio knob, or something of choice, put the spare key in the gas door and mark it at the top, then measure your turn button depth(the one you intend to install) and fit it to the spare key. You can carve out a space for the key, melt the plastic knob, whatever. With mine I just heated up the key, pushed it into the knob and filled the whole knob up with epoxy.

Now you have a key that will operate the gas door, but not work in the ignition. It will also open the right locked pocket door. But will not work the ignition. (so you can just leave it there all the time)

So now when you stop instead of turning the bike to off, just turn it to accessory position and leave the key in the bike, now ready to go, back to on and away you go and do not have to wait for the boot up time period for the Navi.

Fit the knob so as it is almost touching the top of the door, if you leave the key long enough it will work the ignition, but if you cut it off and fit the knob so it stops at the bottom of the knob, it will not go deep enough in the ignition to actually work that.

Kit