Well I’ve finally brought a GPS for the F800.
I think $688 for a Garmin Zumo 350LM GPS is a bit rich when you can get in car stuff for a few hundred, but then I picked it up it certainly felt a lot more solid than my car GPS. On top of the GPS I also spent $180 on the Garmin Aus/NZ Topo maps, pretty much a requirement if you’re actually going to use your GS off road (I mean, off even gravel roads).
Anyway I thought I’d document the install. Garmin include a RAM Mount (http://www.rammount.com/) as part of the $688 but I also ordered the RAM Motorcycle Handlebar Clamp Base with M8 Screws (RAM-B-367U) as I think this is a cleaner solution than the Garmin supplied mount.
This is a simple install, but be sure to make sure all your handle bar clamp bolts are correctly tightened, don’t want shit going wrong here.
Next up was power for the GPS. There is an unused accessory plug (I think for BMW GPS) under the ‘tank’ cover. I’d purchased a BMW part (83 30 0413 585), which is what you need to plug into this accessory plug.
The cables on this part are labelled (very small, look closely) 1 to 3.
Cable 1 is GND (negative), 3 is +12v (positive) and cable 2 is used by the factory GPS (a speed pulse I think).
A quick bit of soldering and heat shrinking and I had this connected to the GPS on bike power supply (included with the GPS).
A bit of testing with the multi-meter to make sure everything was OK and I popped the GPS into the cradle and it powers up no problem :)
When you test with the multi meter (on the 12v side of the connection) it’s worth noting that you may see ‘funny’ readings; 12v, then down to 5v, maybe back up again. I believe this is because of some trick CANbus stuff going on, but it all works so giddy up. Also the output at the GPS cradle is only 5v, not 12v.
So far my impression of the GPS unit and the cradle are very good. The GPS clips in and seems very firmly attached, but I’ll need a couple of good rides to really test this out.
Now it’s time to try and work out Basecamp, and plan a ride...