[Nick Mystic]

I got my GPS unit up and running on the M50 yesterday. I bought a weather proof cigarette lighter receptacle from Auto Zone for $13.99. The unit comes pre-wired with leads about 18” long. For a power source I pulled the headlight out of the shell by removing the two Allen head bolts on either side. Inside the shell is a white plug with two connection slots, which is where I connected my wires after I had soldered connection tabs on both of them. Feeding the wires into the headlight shell is simple since there is a fairly large opening on the lower backside of the shell.

To mount the cigarette lighter receptacle I used a thin strip of stainless steel that measured about two and a half inches long and a half inch wide. I drilled holes in this strip of metal and fastened it to the plastic bracket that is incorporated into the cigarette lighter receptacle (the unit is made to mount under the dash of a car). I also drilled a hole in the portion of the stainless steal strip of metal that stuck out from the unit after it was attached to the back of the receptacle (about a half inch of this metal strip protruded from the receptacle) so that I could bolt it onto my bike.

To mount this unit onto my motorcycle I removed one of the bolts to the top clamp on my windshield and used that as my point of attachment. This windshield clamp fits around one of my steering tubes. You can see the location in the attached photos.

Since my RAM handlebar mounting clamp hasn’t yet arrived I used the suction cup mount that came with the GPS unit for attaching to the inside of a car’s windshield. Initially, I placed the suction cup on my gas tank off to one side and took a test ride. This worked okay and seemed to be very secure, but I could not view the GPS screen very easily in that location. I had to bend my head down at quite and angle and it caused my eyes to move too far away from the road.

When I noticed that the Garmin StreetPilot c330 unit displayed my speed in a digital readout on the screen I decided to mount the suction cup on the front of my speedometer. This worked quite well since the suction cup is just a tad smaller than the round front on the speedometer. In this location I could easily glance at the GPS unit without moving my eyes far from the road. I believe the RAM handlebar mount I’ve ordered will allow me to position my GPS unit in a similar position just off to the side of the speedometer.

One nice surprise was that I could hear the auditory directions from the unit at speeds below about 30 mph. wearing my full face helmet. As I slowed to make turns I would hear the little lady inside the GPS unit say, “Turn right in two tenths of a mile.” And then, “Turn right here.” Or, if I decided to altar my course and passed by the road the unit intended for me to turn on, “Recalculating new route.”

Since this unit is not waterproof (it’s made for use in a car) I plan to carry a plastic bag in pocket so that I can quickly cover the unit if it begins to rain unexpectedly. This should keep it dry long enough to seek shelter and remove the unit and put it inside a saddlebag. The cigarette lighter receptacle I installed has a waterproof cover that flips closed when it’s not being used, however, when the plug is in the receptacle it does not form a water tight seal and rain could seep in and short things out. Perhaps I can find a sheath of rubber from an old bicycle inner tube to slide over the connection to offer some short term protection in rain until I can unplug it and close the water tight cap.