[Jim Jackson]

FedX delivered my first GPS a few minutes ago from Get-feet-wet. A Garmin refurbished 2730. I have never had a GPS before mainly since I never thought I would need one. But I think it will be nice to have directions to a hotel in an unfamiliar place or know how many more miles it is to the hotel or restaurant, etc. Since I don't have the Kennedy Tech stuff yet to hook her up to the Wing, think I will sit down in from of the Buckstove this afternoon and get some education from the setup instructions. Boy, this is going to be interesting. :shrug:Wonder if this will work with my Mac laptop. Guess I will find out.

JJ

 

[trekbiker61]

Good deal on the Garmin. I got my 2730 last week and I'm still figuring it out. I bought the Ram mounts and the harness from CycleGadgets and they just came today so I haven't hooked it all up yet. I bought the auxiliary harness and power cord from them but I've since discovered that there is an FM modulator in the Garmin so I can choose a blank FM station and the GPS will come into the intercom through the radio. Since I mainly listen to the built in XM radio or the MP3 player, I'm thinking I may not need the $150 harness.

 

[ldr_doug]

I've had a couple of gizmo's that had the FM transmitter feature. It worked well as long as there was no other station on the frequency you choose. It worked well in less populated areas but in the big metro areas where either all the frequencies are taken or there's so much RF splatter/interference that you can't find a clear freq, the low power FM transmitter had a difficult time coming through clear and consistently.

I would find a clear frequency, adjust the FM transmitter and enjoy some fine audio only to find that a ways down the road, that freq was being used and I'd have to hunt for another. Stepping FM frequencies can be exasperating and take a long time.

Some folks have found that placing the FM transmitter as close to the antenna as possible helped but that makes access a bit difficult. I've seen adapters that supposedly go from your earphone output to a transmitter that wraps around the antenna wire but they don't work well either especially if the FM station has a strong signal.

In my case, the best and most consistent audio came from either running the audio to the amp directly or using the cassette tape adapter [and that's not an option on the late model GLs].

In the long run, unfortunately, it'll be less aggrivation and more expensive to hard wire the audio to the stereo system.

 

[pshivers]

$150 harness? What this harness is for?

The 2730 can be plugged directly into the AUX cable on the GL1800, at most you may need a GLI to filter out any "whining" noise. This typemof connection will give you Stereo MP3 and XM Radio (with a GXM-30).

For hardwired power A "Motorcycle kit" for the 2730 for $35 is available at http://www.mountguys.com/product_p/010-10495-00.htm This also includes the cradle you will need for a RAM mount.

As I recall the 2730 FM transmitter only works if you are also using the 12v cigarette outlet adapter that comes with the 2730.

Did you purchase the 2730 with or without the GXM-30 so you can have XM radio and XM Weather and Traffic?

 

[Jim Jackson]

:coffee1:Thanks Steve for jogging my memory about the Ram-mounts. I believe I picked up a set of those from a swap-meet last summer. I better go look in my box of bike parts.

Man, don't ever sit down in from of a Buckstove with the warm heat blowing on your feet to read something. The next thing I knew my head was bouncing off the back of my Lazy-boy. Now I've got to start all over.:?

 

[Jim Jackson]

Yep, the GMX-30 antenna came with the kit.

JJ

 

[pshivers]

Yep, the GMX-30 antenna came with the kit.

JJ

Then you have the same setup I have been running for about 3 years now.

I plugged mine into the Goldwing AUX Stereo input with an Electrical Connection GLI in between to filter out Ground Loop noise. Love the XM traffic option here in Southern California. I never listen to AM/FM/WB as the XM radio/weather/traffic provides me all that information. I loaded the 2730 up with just under 1gb of MP3 music and audio books.

I can connect to the 2730 Mono output using my J&M CFRG GL-18 headset interface but I have never needed it.

 

[DrtiBird]

$150 harness? What this harness is for?

The 2730 can be plugged directly into the AUX cable on the GL1800, at most you may need a GLI to filter out any "whining" noise. This typemof connection will give you Stereo MP3 and XM Radio (with a GXM-30).

For hardwired power A "Motorcycle kit" for the 2730 for $35 is available at http://www.mountguys.com/product_p/010-10495-00.htm This also includes the cradle you will need for a RAM mount.

As I recall the 2730 FM transmitter only works if you are also using the 12v cigarette outlet adapter that comes with the 2730.

Did you purchase the 2730 with or without the GXM-30 so you can have XM radio and XM Weather and Traffic?

Someone else was under the impression that the FM transmitter was in the power cord; it is in the GPS. My 2730 is hardwired with a 2610 power cord and the FM transmitter works.

As mentioned above the FM transmitter is a pain when around larger cities. I will eventually connect it through the AUX input; that gives the best sound quality. According to instructions that came with one of my XM radios AUX input was 1st, cassette adapter was 2nd and the FM transmitter came in 3rd.

 

[Pigeon Roost]

2730 is a very nice unit with about all of the bells and whistles too. Like the man said, it plugs in the GL1800 fully functional with just what comes n the box. As you explire its features, consider setting it for quicker time, avoid unpaved roads, and probably a couple of other thing I forget -- at least until you have time to figure it out.

prs

 

[Jim Jackson]

Used it Friday

:shock:Use the 2730 for the first time Friday. Set up a route from my home to Louisville, MS. It wanted to take me a completely different route than I wanted to go. I input some towns so it would route me the way I wanted to go and it worked. Probably a better way to do it, but I'm still learning. Only issue was when I arrived at the towns I input it wanted to route me downtown and not through the city. I'm sure there is a better way. But over all I'm happy with it.

 

[Jon]

You won't want to use cities/towns for creating routes, for this very reason.

You can zoom in and select waypoints on the unit itself, or use MapSource to create the routes you want in advance and then download them to the unit.

 

[rickathome]

The more you use it, the more you'll learn how to use it, and then the more you'll like it. It won't take you long to say to yourself; "How did I ever get by without one?" or "Why did it take me so long to get one?". It's fun trying to get lost!!!! Just remember; technology is your friend!

 

[DrtiBird]

:shock:Use the 2730 for the first time Friday. Set up a route from my home to Louisville, MS. ...... Only issue was when I arrived at the towns I input it wanted to route me downtown and not through the city. I'm sure there is a better way. But over all I'm happy with it.

It took me a while to figure out what I was doing wrong. I finally figured out that it was listing the cities/towns as waypoints. Now I use the cities/towns for quick routing, then zoom in on the town and pick the waypoint I need then delete the city/town.

In routing for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Skyway(?) I really had to make a lot of waypoints to keep it on the pkwy; it wanted to route me onto the state highways.

As others said, the more you use it the better it works for you! :thumbup:

 

[ldr_doug]

snip snip

In routing for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Appalachian Skyway(?) I really had to make a lot of waypoints to keep it on the pkwy; it wanted to route me onto the state highways.

As others said, the more you use it the better it works for you! :thumbup:

That's the way to do it. The GPS does a good job of routing but it occasionally need a bit of guidance.