I used to have a Garmin 660 which I loved simply because it had a built-in FM radio transmitter.... and it stayed in Transmit Mode all the time....
This made hearing the GPS vocal stuff a breeze, as I used the dash speakers on the bike.
alas, that one broke.... then along came a 1450LMT which is pretty good, the screen is the size that I can see it w/o my microscopes on my nose... does NOT have FM radio... is still being updated regularly... Mine is mounted on a Garmin Bean bag because where I go, it goes.
We have about 3 small Garmin Nuvi GPS units, all would be too small for a bike, the keypad size is way too small and picky. Each is dedicated to a vehicle and left there.
I am looking for an new GPS device myself. At the moment, I am trying out CoPilot USA on my Android phone. It is available on iPhones also. It loads the states/region you select and stores it on the extSDcard if available, in the phone if not. What makes this a great app is that once it is running, it never, ever, needs to see the internet again.
With that, you have all the features of the smartphone, bluetooth, earbuds, WiFi connect to a car's system, etc.... just depends on the phone and the vehicle's capabilities.
So, for us to select a "great GPS" for you, is going to be nearly impossible. All we can do is list what each of us has done, and see if that will trigger a synapse in your brain cells and point you where you need to go.
there is a smartphone app that is called WAZE. This one is internet intensive, as it is a kind of Social App. When I see a train wreck of trucks and cars piled up, I can hit the Hazard Button and type up a discription of what is bad, and if North bound or South bound, etc.... then hit SUBMIT.
Immediately that information will show up on every WAZE app provided the user is going down that particular road and near enough that hazard needs to be avoided. It will automatically suggest a detour for you to get around that hazard.... my son is a believer in it, he commutes weekly to Dayton, OH from Atlanta, GA. He said he ignored the suggested detours twice, and found himself sitting once for 4 or 5 hours waiting for the wreckers to clear the road.
After that, he always takes the detours. He might be a few minutes later, but at least he gets where he needs to be.
I used it once from Tulsa, OK to Atlanta, Ga... I found it to be useful, but in my case I did not need to take any detours, as the Hazard went Poof! before I got there.
The Hazards are Automatically deleted as soon as one or more WAZE app users can travel past the Hazard location. neat app, but hell on battery power. You need to keep the phone plugged in, and located in front of the dash a/c outlet, it will get HOT!
That app is data intensive, but for what it was designed for, nothing else on the market can touch it.
