46 replies to this topic

[jht]

Evening all! It's been a while

 

Looking at a bike based sat nav as opposed to using the ol' phone.

 

After peoples opinions of Garmin over TomTom pleaseand thankyou

 

Advantages & disadvantages? Useful bits?

 

Have done a search but all similar questions are quite old, and things have changed a bit I think in the last few years.

 

[RolfieB]

I have a Givi universal sat nav mount & use my car one which is a Garmin. Dedicated bike sat navs I think are to pricey.

I will be looking at ways to improve the position of the mount though (with the help of the guru that is Lee H) as not really that flexible in positioning.

Edited by RolfieB, 26 June 2014 - 08:24 pm.

[pete7]

I have a Givi universal sat nav mount & use my car one which is a Garmin. Dedicated bike sat navs I think are to pricey.

I will be looking at ways to improve the position of the mount though (with the help of the guru that is Lee H) as not really that flexible in positioning.

[Matt101]

Hi Julian

 

Long time no see!

 

I have a Garmin Zumo 350LM. Yes pricey. But I don't mind to be honest. By the time you add up bits to make a car based one bike friendly there isn't that much in it. Lifetime maps, and the routing is different between car and bike. Bike routes tend to be twistier routes, but then set it for the car and routes become more direct. Bluetooth as standard and some other bits like fuel guage, service records etc. Great if you use them, which I do. I've also had TomTom but prefer Garmins.

Edited by Matt101, 26 June 2014 - 08:57 pm.

[AliG]

I followed Sagalout to Germany in May and he was using the Tomtom bike model. He set it to twisties from Ypres to Monschau and we had a ball. Some great roads we would never have found otherwise. Same situation in the Mosel valley. Definitely on my wish list. I've got a car satnav but it doesn't have the capabilities of a bike-specific one. We also had crap weather so he had no worries about it getting wet.
Ali

[leehenty]

I have the Zumo 660 lifetime maps been a very good unit links to phone via bluetooth so you can make calls from the screen.

 

It was very pricey, especially when the Touratech mount added over £100, but what a mount, all laser cut stainless and very neat. Automatically detects which mount it's in, so pop it in the car mount and it's in car mode.

Younger brov has the 350LM like matt101's on his pan euro. He gets on ok with his.

This is the secure mount for the zumo 350 in black a bit spendy but you only live once.

 

http://shop.touratec...able-black.html

[arthurbikemad]

A number of mount options for many devices on ram-mount.co.uk 1" rubber ball mounted to the bar riser and any options you like.

I have the old TomTom rider, is ok but the garmin is a easier and better nav IMO. I often use my HTC One mounted in one of the waterproof covers on ram-mount mounted on the rubber ball and adaptor, works very well.

Edited by arthurbikemad, 26 June 2014 - 09:29 pm.

[RogerD]

I have both a car Garmin on the TDM, and a fully mounted 350LM on the BM, and whilst the cost is one issue, and others have been pointed out, dont forget the basics, such as the fact that the bike version has a display capable of being viewed (more) clearly in direct sunlight, and its possible to use the touch screen with gloves on consistently  .

The BT capability is also organised for the bike set up, not car.

The car version works OK to get me about, but for a serious trip or tour, i would always take the bike version.

As for Tom Tom or Garmin....I have only used Garmin. Route setting for me, on Garmin, is not intuitive with base camp but doable , the product is well made and the lifetime maps are a great bonus.

My 20 cents for what its worth  

[ChrisG]

Navigation and directions wise I much prefer the Tomtom.  The weak point of the Tomtom Riders though is the mounting shoe which can wear and get a bit loose, eventually causing charging problems.  The Garmin mounts much mroe securely but I don't like its display anywhere near as much.

 

Newer Tomtoms (since the Rider 2) get you the winding roads mode which take forever to get you anywhere but you'll love the ride.

[JamieB86]

If you're set on a bike based satnav this might not be of use to you but maybe for someone else. I was treated to a nice Oxford tank bag for my birthday last year and it has a waterproof clear pocket on top for a satnav, which still works on touch screen so I can use my cheapo old satnav out the van on the bike too. Worked a treat, although my bike at the time had such a small tank it was more of a bollock / tank bag - kept them warm though.

Also got a handy usb battery pack from maplin when I was doing a lot of riding away too which would give a few days of satnav and phone power.

[timoc]

I bought the Garmin 350lm this year, and am very pleased with it, but I have only ever bought Garmin  sat nav's.

 

Fitting is easy, the unit is secure in the mount, but its not lockable, so you need to keep taking the unit off when you stop. You can also send custom routes to the 350lm using Basecamp, although, I find Tyre mapping software much easier to use. It is pricy, but you do get life time map updates and a car mount as well as a bike mount. I have it connected to my intercom, blue tooth is easy to set up and works well. I would recommend it, but shop around, prices can vary.

[Matlock]

I've been using the TomTom Rider since 2007 or ‘08, pretty much since it came out. Agree with what everyone says about the mounting/charging - it's dire, I had two replaced under warranty and the sat nav itself replaced as the contacts wore through - another common problem. The latest holder/charger has lasted a few years now, but it's now slowly disintegrating and no longer charges reliably. I’ve also had problems with the on/off switch sometimes being difficult to work. Finally, in the last year the touch screen has started playing up. It seems to sense a touch about 15mm up from where I actually touched on the left hand side of the screen and it gets worse the closer you get to the bottom of the screen. However, I think TomTom have addressed both the mounting/charging bracket and the on/off switch issues in later versions. The touch screen issue is perhaps to be expected after 7 years of use in all weathers.

On the plus side, I like the interface and the ease of creating itineries, especially using the Tyre program. The rolling display is also very good, no delays and the upcoming corners can be seen and are pretty accurate, it’s saved me many times from an unexpectedly tight corner when I’ve not read the road ahead properly. Best not to rely on this feature, but it’s a useful aid.

So despite all the problems I’ve had, I’m going to stick with Tomtom. I’ve looked at Garmin units, but they seem even more pricey than Tomtom and there’s a whole new load of things I’ll need to learn. I’ve never wanted a car sat nav on the bike. It’s enough of an embuggerance having to get my wet weather kit on, without having to worry about the sat nav getting wet. I’ll be treating myself to a new Tomtom Rider V5 in the next few weeks.

[ChrisG]

I’ll be treating myself to a new Tomtom Rider V5 in the next few weeks.

Don't forget to post a review up on here when you do. If and when I get round to replacing my V2 I think it'll be a toss up between that and using my phone. I was very impressed with CoPilot running on Maximus's phone the other year in France, I'd done my usual of planning a route on interesting looking roads using maps/laptop and uploading it to my Tomtom, and the route his CoPilot plotted was virtually identical. Given how many phone are now waterproof, and I can even charge mine without losing the waterproofing, I think the only downside of using a phone is the screen isn't as readable in bright sunlight. £30 for CoPilot vs £300 for a Rider V.

[dablik]

Have to agree about Copilot, world maps included for £34 in 2012.....if you want an adventure, motorcycle mode on Copilot will take you, i could'nt justify £300+ for a dedicated Bike nav.....it's a lot of petrol.

[Matlock]

I hadn't thought about phone sat navs, certainly worth considering. My (iPhone) isn't waterproof, can you get decent waterproof covers and decent brackets? I'd be worried about the phone handling the vibration too.

[lparker]

You can get a i phone waterproof case and charging lead that connects to the bike either with a ram mount to bars or a yoke mount for sports bikes. My mate has one and works well but data is used unless you can find an offline mapping app like navfree but that's only free on android I think.
Back tooriginal question. Personally I have the garmin 550 and yes it is a little more clunky to look at but it does a very good job in my opinion. Never fails to work and has good connectivity for blue tooth and to my autocom. Holder is sturdy and does not move at all and a special key locks it onto bike so thieving fingers won't take it when it's parked!
The Tom Tom rider my mate has and this may not be a problem and may be user error but I plan all my router for trips beforehand using the tyre to travel software and then we both load it onto our sat navs. One problem with Tom tom I've found is where as the garmin you can click on a pre programmed day and it will just follow it perfectly the Tom Tom will still try and navigate you the fastest route between all the points you have preprogrammed into it, so point a to b was without motorways when I did it at home but when following it on the bike it's trying to take you back on! Pointless! I do like the look of the screen on the TomTom better but imo the garmin has the edge.

[Retro]

I use a Garmin handheld, Half the price of a Zumo. Mount costs a tenner. I choose to use rechargeables, battery lasts about 18hrs depending on how much attention you are paying. Theyre waterproof and robust. I beleive the SAS used them in Irac. Garmins come with there own route planning software. Where you can controll to some extent routing preferences.

I can display the grid/long/lat references of where i've broken down to get help. Proved really usefull last year when a mate wiped-out in the middle of North Yorkshire. I could give the Air Ambulance a grid ref right to his bust body

[Matt101]

I hadn't thought about phone sat navs, certainly worth considering. My (iPhone) isn't waterproof, can you get decent waterproof covers and decent brackets? I'd be worried about the phone handling the vibration too.

Have a look here https://www.buybits....logue/3236.aspx

 

I bought one for my Galaxy S3 (no good now as I have an S5) Nice bit of kit and totally waterproof. Mount to a Ram ball so vibration is no problem either.

[TDMick]

I'm so impressed with navfree, I paid up for the full version.
I might be tempted with tom tom be though.

[Hartside Man]

have used a dedicated garmin 550 for years ( now my eyes are getting old) i found it more and more awkward to see and operate the small screen . so i started looking for alternatives .. .settled on a garmin 6 inch widescreen and managed to get it mounted on a ram mount ( have got some ideas on keeping it dry in wet weather ( luckily so far i aint needed it ) good weather. 

 

anyhow you don't get the bluetooth with car model but to be honest it was not used much in the last 6 years with my 550 ... one thing to remember though you CANNOT program and upload itineraries to the new car tom-toms (start and go series onwards) . from a PC  you can however upload to nearly all garmin devices ....and the gamins usually have expandable memory as well ) 

 

the 6 inch widescreen has just done near on 2000 miles on some of the roughest toughest roads in the lakes , moors and west coast of scotland so i think they are robust enough , had one lockup but i think that was because i was hot plugging the power in and out without powering down the sat nav 

 

mines the nuvi 66LM (lifetime maps and all of europe ) £159 quid in halfords .

Edited by Hartside Man, 27 June 2014 - 10:58 pm.