Olympia Textile Jacket & Garmin 595lm

fallenarch

THE SLOW RIDER
Registered
Well got to put some miles on the new gear this weekend:

What a jacket: First the Olympia Dakar 2 jacket. This jacket is crazy well built and very complicated to setup! There are no less than 5 fit adjustments on the thing. It's going to take some time to get this thing comfortable and I was pulling and snugging (ok loosening) at every gas stop. The jacket is really light, especially with the thermal and weather linings removed. The weight of the jacket was more of a distraction than I was thinking because this thing does some serious flapping above 70 mph. I'm used to leather year round so it's been awhile since I rode in textile and that took some getting used to. The pockets, all ten million of them, can flap around too so careful what you put where. Still, I do like it. It has very good armor and the Cordura looks up to a slide down the road. Seams are very solid and the zipper looks like something off an F-22 Raptor. So I would say this is all it's supposed to be in a pretty pricy textile jacket. Guess I'm used to my leather Joe Rocket jackets (on perforated one not) that are now shaped like me even hanging on the rack. They have 1 zipper, 2 pockets, and only adjustments on the sleeves. Hey, I can learn new tricks.....

Los Pantolones: Also got some new Joe Rocket Ballistic pants. Been wearing these for well over a decade and this is my 3rd set. Usually the pulls on the zippers fail when they get stuck on the liner. I also have a bad habit of ripping the right leg with the rearset because I drag it some on pull offs, bad habits! Oh did I mention I rubbed the last set on the road too, Lol! Anyway these pants are cheap, well built, weather proof, can be worn year round, pretty much perfect. Only negative is they are technically an over-pant, so they don't exactly flatter the figure. But even lose, they do not flap around to much.

Nav to make a 777 blush: Now for the Garmin 595LM. First if you are not a GPS guy then stick to your phone. I explore a lot on the bike and depend on the reliable GPS as I have been left hanging with a phone with no signal. Second, I already had a Garmin 660 that is still in good shape so I was hesitant to go for another $790 GPS. But this 595 has some really cool features which I'm just starting to explore. I was a little pissed when I found out the 660 mount did not fit the 595, but the new carrier only took about 30 minutes to install. I have a SW Motech mount that clamps to the triple clamp and is very solid. The Garmin mount is solid. I had a buddy total his Beemer and the Garmin was still in the mount after several cartwheels. Anyway the 595 is not a huge step up over the 660, but does sort of catch things up in this world of Bluetooth.

Rolling IT network: It was a real PITA pairing all these things. The SENA, phone, GPS and SM10 (SENA audio to Bluetooth module) were all trying to control the party and link to everything. I wanted the SENA to orchestrate things, with the phone delivering calls, music and XM; SM10 (radar) connected to the SENA; and then the GPS connected to the SENA. The Garmin insisted on running the show and I had to actually turn everything off, pair one thing at a time then turn it off and pair something else. Finally got everybody talking but I'm not sure I have the best options. For example, if the phone was connected to the GPS I could see who is calling. Kinda cool to at least know who you a blowing off! I'm not answering the call unless it's Boyence. Also if I run the music through the GPS I could see who is playing, not a huge thing but sort of cool.

The 595 is nice, very nice. First the screen is better than the 660, considerably better. That's a good thing because you sort of have to really look at the 595 to get all the advantages - which is a negative in my book. I generally set the place I want to go and then never look down at the GPS again, I just listen to it. So the 595 is definitely more interactive that the 660. The touch of the screen is more responsive too though and it is east to enter things with gloves. The build quality of the 595 is major, and makes the 660 feel like a toy. The case has a sort of rubber coating and it feels like pretty high end stuff. Will be interesting to see how long it will take the sun to degrade this. Even the battery chamber has a screw down cover instead of the 660's plastic clip on (however I've never had a leak with the 660). Garmin added a hole to add a lock on the release for the unit too, nice touch.

So what makes a device worth $790 when it does what your phone does? Well maybe nothing, depends on how you look at it. But Garmin has been at it for some time and their product is a true rider aid.

The maintenance records are great. Set it up and it will keep track of when you need service, tires, and oil changes. It keeps statistical data on your ride. An app will let someone track you (wife can see where you are if you're late). You can record a route and save it (great for exploring). Also there is adventure routing. I checked a couple designations I know very well and Garmin did a great job finding fun routes to them. This is very cool and I look forward to playing with this feature.

Of course there is traffic, obstructions, traffic cameras, everything even phones have. One cool thing Garmin has done with the 595 is integrate the network capability of the a smartphone into the system seamlessly. I suspect there is going to be a lot more introduced through the cellphone app with this.

There are now "apps" on the GPS. Hopefully that means the feature-set is expandable in the future. The best apps are tire pressure monitors, air temp, and the weather app (uses smartphone and Garmin App). Some other cool features are the curve warning that tells you there is a curve ahead. This sounds dumb but if you are riding roads you don't know it is cool. Sometimes with the 660 I'll blow the screen up so I have a little preview of what is coming up, but the 595 flashes a red band on the GPS. Problem is I didn't get an audible warning, and I rarely am I even looking at the GPS monitor so this maybe a moot feature without sound.

I'm not sure yet if the GPS will chime in with all of the information it has available, automatically announcing what you need to be aware of. If it doesn't, much of this stuff is rendered useless unfortunately. Unlike when you are in a car, spending more than a quick glance at the GPS is not advisable on a bike. I would say the biggest issue with the 595 is it has a ton of features but you are so limited on controlling how this information is prioritized (displayed). Garmin needs to make the screen configurable like almost every phone app speedo! Also the cable to the docking mount has an audio in, mic in, and a USB power out. They need to have a video in also. They could also have numbers like 1/4 mile, horsepower, lap time, etc. All of this information is there in the GPS but I guess Garmin figures people riding around with a GPS aren't on a track.

Well that's my first impressions. I think my leather jackets are still favorites. The Joe Rocket pants are as awesome as ever. And the Garmin is cool, but not for everyone.
 
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Nice review! I looked at those gps units for weeks and did research for months and found some guy that uses and even modifies Garmin units to use on his goldwing. I couldn’t get pass the price tag on the dedicated motorcycle gps and bought a dezlcam unit that’s made for truckers (still has a car setting), has Bluetooth that works with my headset and has a camera and a crash sensor built in to it. At first, it seemed great, but the thing is huge and this makes it hard to position on my ram X mount in a way that I can see the screen and it can also video record through the windscreen. the crash sensor sensitivity can’t be adjusted and, as you can imagine, every bump I hit on the road causes it to record some footage since it feels an impact every time my front supension gives the triple tree and nice “jerk”. I’m back to relying on my phone for the busa and the Garmin unit now lives in my car mainly for the dash cam feature. I would love the motorcycle specific unit, but it will have to wait since I went salary at my company and can’t work OT to buy toys anymore.
 
I couldn’t get pass the price tag on the dedicated motorcycle gps and bought a dezlcam unit that’s made for truckers (still has a car setting), has Bluetooth that works with my headset and has a camera and a crash sensor built in to it. At first, it seemed great, but the thing is huge and this makes it hard to position on my ram X mount in a way that I can see the screen and it can also video record through the windscreen. the crash sensor sensitivity can’t be adjusted and, as you can imagine, every bump I hit on the road causes it to record some footage since it feels an impact every time my front supension gives the triple tree and nice “jerk”. I’m back to relying on my phone for the busa and the Garmin unit now lives in my car mainly for the dash cam feature. I would love the motorcycle specific unit, but it will have to wait since I went salary at my company and can’t work OT to buy toys anymore.

Is that unit waterproof? I try not to ride in the rain but if you do distance you will eventually get caught. My RD is not waterproof and it was a real PITA to stop and secure it any time I see a drop on the visor! I have a switch to cut power to all my non-water resistant electronics so I can just cut power to them if it starts raining. I used to carry zip-lock bags in my trunk but I put the hot electronics in the bag once in a huge downpour only to find more water in the bag due to condensation.

Also there are a number of cheaper motorcycle specific GPS options. Garmin has the 390 and 395LM units that are $400-$500. Tom Tom also makes a unit but I'm not sure the price but it is more affordable. I think all of these units get the job done with a good basic feature set.
 
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Is that unit waterproof? I try not to ride in the rain but if you do distance you will eventually get caught. My RD is not waterproof and it was a real PITA to stop and secure it any time I see a drop on the visor! I have a switch to cut power to all my non-water resistant electronics so I can just cut power to them if it starts raining. I used to carry zip-lock bags in my trunk but I put the hot electronics in the bag once in a huge downpour only to find more water in the bag due to condensation.

Also there are a number of cheaper motorcycle specific GPS options. Garmin has the 390 and 395LM units that are $400-$500. Tom Tom also makes a unit but I'm not sure the price but it is more affordable. I think all of these units get the job done with a good basic feature set.
The dezlcam is not waterproof, so I use the same zip-lock bag method you mentioned. I researched the cheaper options, but I figured if this one was worth a try to see if I could kill two birds with one stone (GPS and dash cam I always wanted on the bike) and if it didn’t work as I wanted to, I could leave it in my car and eventually buy the latest zumo. I bought this unit refurbished and just got the 3 year warranty for it, so I paid half what the 595 cost. We’ll see how Santa treats me this year. LOL!
 
The dezlcam is not waterproof, so I use the same zip-lock bag method you mentioned. I researched the cheaper options, but I figured if this one was worth a try to see if I could kill two birds with one stone (GPS and dash cam I always wanted on the bike) and if it didn’t work as I wanted to, I could leave it in my car and eventually buy the latest zumo. I bought this unit refurbished and just got the 3 year warranty for it, so I paid half what the 595 cost. We’ll see how Santa treats me this year. LOL!

SENA makes a helmet cam that I think will run on continuous mode. It includes the com setup and is around $300.
 
SENA makes a helmet cam that I think will run on continuous mode. It includes the com setup and is around $300.
I looked into replacing my really old chatterbox for one of those SENA, but have read numerous comments about them no being loud at all compared to my current setup. I’ve also considered noise cancelling headphones like the boss qc20 and plug them in to the headset, but that would be more wires and batteries to charge and hide.
 
Holy cow I started today to read this on my phone , and said to myself no way . They wrote a book here wait till you get home , and use the laptop to read this . :)
 
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Holy cow I started today to read this on my phone , and said to myself no way . They wrote a book here wait till you get home , and use the laptop to read this . :)

I was going to break this into several posts. To be honest I could write 3 more pages on the Garmin! However just this time I'm allowing people to just read as much of it as they like....... Lol!
 
I looked into replacing my really old chatterbox for one of those SENA, but have read numerous comments about them no being loud at all compared to my current setup. I’ve also considered noise cancelling headphones like the boss qc20 and plug them in to the headset, but that would be more wires and batteries to charge and hide.


Large speakers are available and play as loud as you can stand it!
 
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