Garmin Edge 830 for Motorcycling

[Cpt Sisko]

Hi All, For various reasons I wouldn't mind taking a spare GPS device with me on a long motorcycle trip I've got planned. As I have already have an Edge 830 I was just wondering if anyone has used one either in a car on on a motorbike. The route will be lengthy, mainly on A & B roads so nothing complicated, however it will be over 1,000miles long. So a few questions for those with better knowledge of these things than me.

1. Is there a limit to the length of a route? (I can split it up into planned fuel stops, but for simplicity I'd rather keep it to one route if I can).
2. Ditto the waypoints.
3. Baring in mind it's cycling computer, will it throw a wobbly if I try to include motorways?
4. Similarly, if I come across a road closure and have to divert, will it 'revert' to cycling mode, reroute and avoid motorways & dual carriageways.
5. At motorcycle speed, will the notifications for junctions be advised early enough?
6. My motorcycle helmet has a Bluetooth Intercom that normally connects to the main satnav, a Garmin Zumo XT. The Edge 830 has bluetooth capability. I assume Bluetooth is Bluetooth. Is the Edge's system anything special or different.

Sorry if the above is bit long winded and the answer to many of the questions is to just try it, but any hints that would save me wasting time would be appreciated.

[StuAff]

Not got an 830, but I used my (now dead) Edge 705 on my Honda PCX a couple of times, and I've used my eTrex 30x a few times with my Yamahas. Edges will be a better bet for this than eTrexes because they can do TBT properly from tracks.
My suggestions would be:
1. Use tracks, with automotive routing (natch). You won't run into course length/trackpoint limits, but probably easiest if you break it down into days/sections, just for convenience.
2. Set routing mode to car/automotive and it won't throw a wobbly with motorways or try to send you on cycle paths.Switch recalculation off to be on the safe side.
3. You can adjust the notification for turns etc, if I recall- so a higher setting would obviously be better for this.
4. Bluetooth should work just fine, but not sure why you'd want it connected to a headset as it'll only give you any benefits connected to a phone (Garmin Connect, SMS notifications, etc), which you're not going to do here. The beep's loud enough to hear it with a helmet on.

[Lightning Phil]

It doesn’t talk to Bluetooth speakers (which is presume is essentially what your helmet intercom has / mixed with a mike).   It will talk to Connect mobile app over Bluetooth if you turn audio prompts on.  Thus if you can connect your helmet speakers to your phone it’ll likely all work to get the voice prompts in your helmet.

Plot the course and add the course points in Garmin Connect with routing set to follow road should do what you want.

[yoav]

I have tried to use a Garmin Edge on my motorbike but my issues were more practical.
1. Depending on the bike you’ll have to jury rig some sort of mount for it unless you have round bars and use the elastic bands. I had clip ons and I made a mount by bolting the Garmin mount onto a metal plate and bolting that to the handlebars.
2. Unlike bike specific GPS, the mounts aren’t powered so you’ll need to recharge it off the bike.
3. I found the screen too small to read comfortably when on the move at 60mph. A friend of mine uses a Garmin Oregon walkers GPS on his motorbike. It has a much larger screen but the mounting and power issues are still there.
4. Garmin Edge mounts don’t have adjustability of position and angle of viewing that dedicated motorcycle mounts have. When riding a motorbike, you need to have the GPS mounted in such a way, you can read it with a quick glance. At speed, you just don’t have the time to safely stare at the screen to read the smaller text and press the smaller buttons with gloves on.
I’d stick with my Zumo.

[lissotriton]

Routing would depend on what maps you have loaded. The standard map is designed for cycling, maybe would work better with a generic road map.