Several reasons: 1) it is right in front of me so I can look down into it, even on the road. 2) it is shallow so the stuff I put in there is readily available and never under anything else. 3) it is big enough to hold everything that I want to put in a glovebox. 4) it is not in the way of anything and because I do not use a tankbag, nothing is ever in the way of it.
I use that thing at least three times every single time I ride; the first time to reach in and press the garage door button to close the garage. The second time to reach in and press the button to arm the house alarm system (which cannot be done until the garage door is closed). The third time for certain is to de-activate the house alarm and open the garage door on the return. In addition to that, I sometimes reach into the glove box to adjust my Starcom audio system, which I can do using the remote control.... because I have a glove box that makes it easy to access. I also use it to hold my EZ- Pass transponder where it is out of the weather, out of sight (the bike has an alarm so anyone opening the glove box will make a lot of light and noise) and works every single time I have gone through an EZ Pass checkpoint. I put earplugs in there, both new and used (OK, now for that collective "Ewwwwwwwww"). I keep a light in there where I can easily grab it anytime, including when riding. I also keep my travel / fuel logs in there along with several pens so I can quickly and easily jot down my stops for the IBA during sanctioned rides.
I can reach into the glove box while rolling (feet up) and open the garage door. I could not do that with a Gen. 2 glove box, plus because they are deeper, some stuff would end up under other stuff and that would not work for me.
In short, I absolutely love that cheap piece of garbage on the Gen. 1 C-14's, use it all the time and have no use for a Gen. 2 glove box.
But I also put two LED's in the glovebox which illuminate it at night and that makes it about a million times more useful for me- I could not find virtually anything in there at night (which is 1/2 of the time I ride on long rides) without it being illuminated. So mine might be substantially more useful than it was stock; I know it is for me being illuminated.
Brian
They are both pretty useless, IMHO. But I also don't think either (gen 1 or gen 2) is larger or has a better space layout than the other. But the gen 2 version can be accessed with a tank bag fitted (unlike the gen 1) and is locking (unlike the gen 2). So I am not sure why you find the gen 1 version is more useful.
