Its been great having some time off as its given me the chance to update the website, post some updates about the Gear chosen, write reviews as well as continue to play with the Techno stuff.
So for the Maps and Routes, Kris and I are using Garmin Base Camp with two Garmin ZUMO 350LM models for each bike. A memory card holds the routes. Kudos to Kris for spending hours and hours plotting turn by turn the route from Chicago to Los Angeles and including several " off Road - Dirt Tracks" should the weather be on our side :-)
Knowing that this is going to be a trip of a lifetime, its been great planning and trying out gear as well as what technology is going to be needed.
Okay so now for a break down of all the techno stuff that we are going to be using for the trip. Its been great fun researching and the playing about continues
First up was Bluetooth communication devices for the helmets.
I chose the 10c SENA Bluetooth camera for the helmet and I am impressed with it. The video shots on this website were taken with the 10c SENA. Henry at Union Garage recently fitted it to the new SHOEI NeoTec helmet. The speakers, when fitted correctly by a pro and not by me now work great and don't crunch my ears!. The little microphone has been fitted to the left cheek pad as the helmet is modular. The plan is to enable us to talk to each other whilst riding rather than hand signals when one needs to stop for a pee!
The handlebar remote has not been fitted and to be honest, not sure it ever will given the stuff now on FJ - bit limited for space.
Cameras
The GoPro Silver Hero 4 and the Sena 10C Helmet camera are the chosen products. The Go Pro will be mounted in three different places. After much deliberation I have chosen the Right Hand Guard, the handle bar with the camera facing me for some action shots and the final mounting position will be the vest chest bracket.
Laptops
Both of us have gone for the Apple Macbook Air with an external Porsche 1TB drive. This will enable us to upload video and stills each night after a day of riding and if the wifi is good - upload updates along the way
GoPole Trek Case
This was a steal off Amazon. We have one each with our colors coded on them. Great for all the GoPro stuff as well as the self stick !
3 channel charger for the Go-Pro with additional battery supplies. The batteries don't last that long so with extra fully charged batteries swapping them out will be much easier. The last thing you want to do is ride along thinking you are capturing all the scenes to find out that actually your battery died some while back.
GoPro Starter Kit
When this bag of goodies arrived it took some time to go through all the different products. You Tube has a video which helped. Brackets, Gadgets, tripod, selfie stick, and nuts and bolts. If you are in the market for a Go-Pro get this bag of goodies it is well worth it
Life Limit Accessories from Amazon
SanDisk - 6 of them at 64GB - as there is going to be a lot of photographer going on. Video and stills.
Breadcrumbs
So I have been telling everyone that the plan was to update a map after each day 1) so you knew where we were and 2) show a breadcrumb trail on the map highlighting distance ride etc.,etc., well these past days have been researching software that can do this easily. Check back often to find out how we do.