Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Garmin GXM-30
The Roady 2 XM radio on the FJR was beginning to show the inevitable signs of a hard life - the antenna would flake out semi-regularly, and the audio cable had to be reseated constantly. This was my third Roady 2 unit, so I knew it was time to upgrade.
First, I sent away for a Skyway GXM-30 mount. Ian's unit comes with a a disk that mounts on top of either reservoir, along with the necessary screws. Next, I hit eBay, and found a new, never-opened GXM-30 for $169 — a lot, but still a bargain from its $300+ MSRP.
I've been using the Zumo with the GXM for about a week now, and have to say I love it. It fits smoothly into the cockpit, without the bulk of the Roady, and the whole packages integrates almost perfectly. When I activated it, I added the traffic and weather to the XM package; it's still a little weird for the voice to tell me that there's slow traffic two miles ahead.
Tonight while Carole was off at Disneyland with Logan, I pulled the front panels, unplugged the now-surplus V-1 accessory cable, tucked the Roady power cable behind the panels, and rerouted the GXM cable. The whole cockpit area now looks clean and neat, with the minimum number of extra cables.
