Sat-Navs Which Sat-Nav?

[Comet]

hi all.
I don't know if this has been covered before or not.
I am thinking of getting a sat nav for the bike, does anyone have any views or recommendations. I am looking at tom tom rider or Garmin Zumo550 or Zumo 660. It is mostly for UK but possibly the rare european one as well.

cheers all.

JK

 

[Tracey Tilley]

We have the Garmin Zumo 550.
It does what it says on the box. Does throw a wobbly occasionally.
Don't know much about the 660 but there's plenty on the net.

 

[Comet]

ello.
Yes I have been playing on the net but there is nothing quite like solid recomendation or absolute "don't bother" is there. I really don't want to get one and then find it loses signal in the middle of a city, or as one did recently got me all the way there by motorway and then 1/2 mile from my destination it got itself lost, I had to find a police station and ask .

 

[Tracey Tilley]

I have heard good things about the Tomtom Rider2.

Could you borrow either for a day?

You can play with ours at the Severn, if you like.

 

[Gerry Jenkinson]

Tom Tom Rider 2 is good, The problem is the headset. The TomTom has no audio output other than Bluetooth. The headset that comes with it seems good but will not fit any of my helmets. Full face BMW, Shoei, Centurion & B-Square, nor will it fit the open face Shoei or TopTek. On the full facers there is no room for the microphone. Thats ok as I dont need to talk to passengers or make phone calls. Open facers suffer wind noise.
The ear piece is designed to fit a hole in the helmet lining. The Shoei does have a hole for it but the mic dont fit. Also the Bluetooth unit has to clip to the helmet somehow.
I have tried various other Bluetooth earpiece ony headsets but had problems establishing a link. Then when I used it in the van it said it couldnt do audio as it could not link. Though sometimes it does. Then the directions are clear and accurate.
As the headset is standalone it requires its battery charging. The screen unit runs of the bike battery.
Bluetooth enabled helmets are available (at a price) but you cant then change helmets.
On the plus side it has been very good in London reducing the stress of navigating areas I dont know. If you ignore it and change route it is fast at recalculating.
Oh, I dont recommend buying from Dell. It took three weeks sorting out delivery problems and sitting on the phone for hours. I gave up and ordered from Amazon, it arrived the next day. Unfortunately it had a fault. Amazon sent a replacement immediately and paid the postage both ways.
If anyone has solved the headset problem please let us all know.
gerry
gerry@gelx.co.uk

 

[Gerry Jenkinson]

Contary to many reports it does have an internal speaker which is good for car/van use,
gerry

 

[Pete Appleton]

Bluetooth

Hello John

All of the above coments are about right but I wouldn't worry too much about getting audio on the bike. I have tried several ways to hear what the gps is saying, with little success.

The first attempt was a wired ear piece from maplin. That worked moderately well but was inconvenient and quickly ended up wrapped around the front wheel.

The next attempt was bluetooth. The Scala rider headset fitted to the crash helmet worked ok but on a noisy bike with no fairing it is impossible to hear what is going on at anything much above 50 mph and it was usually flat when I needed it.

John bought a hideously expensive Caberg crash helmet with bluetooth built in. That wasn't much more use and kept losing the connection to the gps.

At the moment we have both given up on audio although I believe that the Lords are using moulded, wired, ear pieces that double up as ear plugs. Perhaps Stumpy can enlighten us.

 

[John Appleton]

I think Pete is being a bit unfair. The caberg "just speak" is good up to 60 mph, when wind noise becomes a problem. This causes me no concern, as I switch off the audio on the open road and only use it in unfamiliar urban areas , when the speed is low anyway. I have experienced loss of contact, but this is usually because the battery is low due to the fact I cant remember to turn the damn thing off when I remove the helmet! Having said all that, I now dont bother too much about audio as the Garmin 550 display conveys an instant picture, once you are familiar with it, and I am more comfortable without some know it all female arguing with me when I go "off piste" for a look at an interesting goat track or an apple strudel shop.

 

[Comet]

Hi Pete and John,
Thanks. So is it easy to use just by view if you like then. What I mean is if you can not hear what is going on are the displays clear enough to just, well, look where you are going. If so might the 660 be a better option as it is a bigger screen?
Tracey thanks that might be helpfull if I could take you up on the offer of a play at the Severn.
thanks

 

[John Appleton]

Hi John, yes , no problem at all just navigating by the screen. Once you are familiar with the info displayed, a passing glance tells you all you need to know. The 660 display is bigger and has a better way of showing motorway junctions. It is also possible to customise the secondary info displayed on the map screen, ie "distance to destination" rather "than time of arrival", time of day etc etc. The main disadvantage as far as I can see is the fact that the all inclusive wiring loom of the 660 precludes the fitting of a multiplug to the bike mount so that it can be moved from bike to bike as I do with my 550 mount.
I would just like to say that you are welcome to play with mine at the severn rally if you are not completely satisfied with playing with Tracey's

John