got cheap Radio Shack GPS...

[WWJD]

Picked up a tiny geko 101 GARMIN GPS device from Radio Shack for $84+tax. I guess K-Mart and many sport stores have them too. Does everything that I wanted: max speed, current speed in .5 or 1 sec increment updates, compass, average speed, elevation, lon/lat location, sat synced time/date w/DST, trip time, odometer, heading, draws a little map of where you are going with manual waypoints.
GARMIN geko 101
It's smaller than the Microsoft mousing I'm using right now.
Plus you can do silly little burried treasure hikes with it:
GPS Burried Treasures: GEOCACHING
I got it for the innaccurate busa speedo and to document my top speed once and for all. I rubber banded it to my triple tree cover and promptly scratched up the plate as I forgot and left the mounting screw screwed into the back. GRRRR!!! Anyhow, it's great, and once I figure more out that is handy to us, I'll post about it. Any questions? Hope this helps someone. Oh, and my speed is off by 3 down low and at 82, GPS said 76. I'm sure the busa speedo is worse up higher



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[Revlis]

Um, WWJD Go to Wal-Mart and Head back to their sewing section. Hunt around for 3-M industrial strength Velcro, It's back there somewhere. Anyhoo, cut to fit the top of the Clutch fluid reservoir or the Tripple tree cover. I like the clutch resavoir myself. But anyay, this velcro is super extra grippy and would allow you to easily remove and attach different Things but mostly make it easy for you to peel off the bike and carry with you... Just thought...

I'd be careful though bro, That GPS anywhere on your bike is likely to increase drag....

Don't hurt yourself Bro...

OK Ok sorry bro...

 

[WWJD]

hahahaha Rev you bastige!!!

I plan on velcro, just stuck at work and all they had were rubber bands

 

[fstbusa]

we'll test it out this weekend....

 

[Jace]

WHAT YOU DID NOT USE "DUCK TAPE" .....as we call it or duct tape for the PC

the ultimate adhesive

 

[WWJD]

oh, don't think I didn't consider Duct Tape! .... except it would have covered the display.

 

[MET]

Also take a cell phone belt clip. Holder then clips on to clip. Then just use a safty wire jsut in case. The Phone clip mounts to the tree and the holster mounts to the clip. Just find one that fits your unit. I have the garmin e-trek.

 

[WWJD]

so, how accurate are these things MPH wise anyhow? Mine says accurate to about 18 - 26 feet usually. Does that affect the MPH readings much? You'd think they use fuzzylogic compensation or something to offset the distance in feet.

 

[Revlis]

From what I have heard, WAAS enabled GPS recievers can give accurate speeds to +/- 2%. Or...

GPS receivers typically calculate velocity by measuring the frequency shift (Doppler shift) of the GPS D-band carrier(s). Velocity accuracy can be scenario dependent, (multipath, obstructed sky view from the dash of a car, mountains, city canyons, bad DOP) but 0.2 m/sec per axis (95%) is achievable for PPS and SPS velocity accuracy is the same as PPS when SA is off.

Velocity measured by a GPS is inherently 3 dimension, but consumer GPS receivers only report 2D (horizontal) speed on their readout. Garmin's specifications quote 0.1mph accuracy but due to signal degredation problems noted above, perhaps 0.5mph accuracy in typical automobile applications would be what you can count on.

 

[Krieg]

Very cool post. Thanks for the info. I have been thinking of getting a gps but thought they were ungodly expensive. Let us know how it works for you.

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What was the original purpose for the invention of Duct Tape?



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[thrasherfox]

Uh yeah, what Rev said. Anyway

In easy speak Rev easy speak

Using a GPS for speed measurements is only good so as long there is no elevation increase or decrease. Well at least not a large rise or fall.

Your speed is giving to you by measuring how far you travel between two distances within a given time. If you are on a surface with less than a 25 degree incline or decline you are fine, any road that you are on that is increasing or decreasing more than 25 degrees will throw off the speed measurement due to covering less horizontal space while increasing the vertical space which I don’t believe the satellites track.

While the GPS will provide altitude, I don’t think the altitude increase or decrease is used in conjunction with the horizontal and vertical changes in order to give an accurate speed reading for the 25 degree or greater altitude changes

Anyway, I got this information from my OPSO who is a pilot and the pilots I work with are well versed with GPS, so I figured he probably knows what he is talking about.



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[1127 TO 1299]

Very cool post. Thanks for the info. I have been thinking of getting a gps but thought they were ungodly expensive. Let us know how it works for you.

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What was the original purpose for the invention of Duct Tape?

To seal airtight the joints on ventilation ductwork

 

[WWJD]

Jeez, REV, you never told us you had a Rocket Science Degree!! hhaahha. So, what your saying is it's as accurate as I'll get for $84 from Radio Shack? Good enough for me. The "Testing Ground" is a 2 miles flat, even surfaced road with no obstructions near it... except maybe a rabbit or bird here and there. Even though it reports speed in 2D, this unit has 12 parallel channel recievers and if it's pulling from more than 4, has an indicator that blinks on that says '3D'. I figure that's a good thing. I am really enjoying it and would easily recommend it for anyone wanting something small and not expensive. I think Ninja Eater's eTrex might have more features for just a couple extra bucks

 

[Krieg]

Very cool post. Thanks for the info. I have been thinking of getting a gps but thought they were ungodly expensive. Let us know how it works for you.

TRIVIA QUESTION OF THE DAY:

What was the original purpose for the invention of Duct Tape?

To seal airtight the joints on ventilation ductwork

Drum Roll Please.......

It was originally shipped out with the P-51 Mustang and used to repair holes and other battle damage until the plane could be truely repaired.

 

[btreaves]

So were you able to test it out over the weekend? I'm probably gonna pick up one of those Geko 101's tonight from my local radio shack. I guess the thing won't work if I just put it inside my jacket pocket will it? I don't care about seeing my speed real time...I just wanna see my maximum recorded speed from time to time...See we got this little spot around here that I can go over 200+ speedo indicated...I just wanna see what that really equates to.

But I must admit...Velcro ontop of the clutch reservoir sounds like a good idea...Hmmmmm???

 

[WWJD]

yeah, I thought it worked great. I didn't really put it thru the strait paces other than watching the speed and seeing the top speed of 140 when my speedo read 150ish. spent mroe time watching the road curve. I think it's great. We're gonna take it on a strait after I get new tires. I burned my up this weekend. I highly recommend it. But don't leave it on. It can eat batteries quickly.

forgot. it might work a little but in a coat pocket but it expects line of sight to most of the sky to coordinate tween satellites. vecro or other mount is best. I had mine in teh top of a tank bag - under a clear plastic top - and it still picked up great.



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[btreaves]

I got a Geko 101 last night from my local Radio Shack...On sale for 84.99.

Took it out in my car to get a feel for how it works...Max speed 116mph. I wasn't able to really push it...I've got an Acura TL Type S. I'll probably push it today.

I wasn't able to figure out how to change the speed at which it updates...I see that it can be either .5 seconds or 1 second updating, but couldn't find the option to change it.

Anyway, the thing works great...Now I've just gotta find a good place to mount the thing...I'm thinking suction cups on the well in the front of the gas caps.

Or maybe velcro to the clutch reservoir cap.

 

[WWJD]

sorry, I was GUESSING either .5 or 1 second updates. I think the manual says 1 second updates. No switchable update range. Hey did you find your Acura to be 'limited'? I found my Civic stops climbing at 115

maybe there's a car TRE?

 

[btreaves]

Geko 101 GPS Unit

Well I put his little bugger through it's paces this evening.

First I took my car out. I have a 2003 Acura TL Type S. I got the thing up to 122mph on the GPS before I ran out of room. Not bad considering the thing has the worst 4th gear I've ever experienced. After 3rd gear it just falls on it's face. The cars speedometer was dead on indicating just over 120mph. I was quite surprised that it was so accurate.

Then I took the BUSA out.

I took the bike up to 160mph (speedometer indicated) then shut her down. GPS maximum speed...141mph.

Then I took her up to 180mph (speedometer indicated) then shut her down. GPS maximum speed...161mph.

Finally I wound it out to a GPS speed of 167mph, however I forgot to look down at the speedometer. I hadn't even gone into 6th gear yet.

Anyway, it looks like the speedometers are off by 20mph on the big end. I'll be doing more testing in the upcoming days, but I've got to find a better way to mount this thing. I've got it in a magnetic tank bag for now, but the tank bag doesn't want to stay stuck to the tank at those speeds.

Any ideas of where and how I can safely mount this thing on either myself or the bike?

Thanks in advance!

 

[WWJD]

Pathetically, I'm still using 2 industrial sized rubber bands doubled over to strap it to the right side of the triple tree. the rubber backing keeps it in place and the pressure of the bands keep themselves from sliding off. I plan to go the VELCRO route as mentinoed above. Pretty wild how far off bike speedos are... and it's not just a Suzuki thing. My buddy KAW 636 is off almost equal to mine. REMEMBER to know how to erase your MAX SPEED indicator very quickly if you get pulled over. I would never go over 65, but incase you do that, you might want to reset it....um.... for the next run.... yeah, for the next run erase your max speed. there ya go.