Sat navs

[Stepdoug]

Looking for a new TomTom rider sat Nav
Not into all the techy stuff but have had a rider two now for 12 ish years and now has a problem locking onto a signal.
So think it's time to replace it.
Would rather have the TomTom as used to the lay out and workings.
But who has what and why. ??
Don't really want to pay a fortune for it but would also be used in the car. Now and again.

[KiwiCol]

I think Pete (Ryngleader) would recommend a Garmin Zumo, he often writes about it . . .

I have a Zumo350 & have no problem with the unit itself, just with Garmin & the bullshit they spin (and their programing)

[seth]

Hiya if your looking for an other option
I use on my Samsung phone (it doesnt seam to work as well on iphones)with a extended memory sd card an app called .
OmsAnd+ 
It covers the whole world you pick the areas you need And update the maps monthly
It's a oneoff cost (I paid £2 but think it's around £10 now) it works very well on my phone.
I've used it for years and is as good as my friends Garmin and TomTom's for what we do .
Good luck that's a I can add to this.

[Tony Nitrous]

I was a huge fan of seperate satnav's.
Haven't had a vehicle without one in years.

Recently I started using the maps on my phone.
I much prefer it now.

On the bike I looked at RAM mounts but prefer and use a Quadlock system.

[seth]

@Tony Nitrous
I use ultimateaddons but very simular to quadlock(and I think quadlock might be a slightly better system)
But very handy and there are many other apps than the one I use tho I've had it a long time and it's now evolved into a much better app and very close to a dedicated satnav.
Works very well for what I do .

[Notty]

My sat Nav goes down the road it's £100 - my iPhone does the same and it's £500 - also if u loose the mobile mast ur buggered - I have a scooter Tomtom and it's great around town but crap once u go rural as it looses the mobile gps signal 

[seth]

The app I use doesn't use your data it only uses gps (so doesnt need a mobile mast)and the maps are kept in my phone's 126gb sd card (that's why they update every month).
I get your point on crashing but if you crash then it's just another expence on top of every thing else .
Remember in the UK so not sure about everywhere else that your home insurance covers your phone when it's not in the home.

[Tony Nitrous]

My sat Nav goes down the road it's £100 - my iPhone does the same and it's £500.

Yeah, and a CB250 is cheaper to buy and insure than a GSX1400 but the cheap option isn't always the best.... 

My iPhone is insured and I researched the most secure holder that was suitable to avoid the inconvenience.  If my H2 gets chucked up the road it's unlikely my phone is going to be a major concern.

In all seriousness, I wasn't sure how I would go using the bike mounted phone, but having played with the Nav on my phone for a few weeks now and several rides I'm quite happy with it and won't be returning to older system.

....... and I have a huge itunes collection on the phone too.

[grog]

Have used all sorts of mapping forever. Tom Tom, Navman  etc. Google Maps far away best. Tom Tom are just the worst in new stuff, I rely 9 hrs a day on maps, can answer any question you like on them.

[GSXKING]

I've never used a bike specific GPS unit. But have TomTom GPS in my truck (ease of use more than anything) and a Garmin in my car not as user friendly as TomTom, however the screen is far far better in all light conditions.

[Dusty ST]

I've never used a bike specific GPS unit. But have TomTom GPS in my truck (ease of use more than anything) and a Garmin in my car not as user friendly as TomTom, however the screen is far far better in all light conditions.

On the other hand I've got a Garmin on the bike and Tom Tom in the car...
the Tom Tom drives me nuts, straight forward stuff like stopping navigation seem so difficult!
I've been pretty close to crashing into the car in front trying to cancel directions to somewhere when I'm on the way home.

[gsxbarmy]

I've never used a bike specific GPS unit. But have TomTom GPS in my truck (ease of use more than anything) and a Garmin in my car not as user friendly as TomTom, however the screen is far far better in all light conditions.

On the other hand I've got a Garmin on the bike and Tom Tom in the car...
the Tom Tom drives me nuts, straight forward stuff like stopping navigation seem so difficult!
I've been pretty close to crashing into the car in front trying to cancel directions to somewhere when I'm on the way home.

Can't see why Dusty, really straight forward on the TomTom IMO, dead easy to stop it on my TT400.

On the other hand I wouldn't give you a thank you for Garmin, tried a couple, really hate them and the way they work

It's what you are used to at the end of the day.

[Mister Fishfinger]

I never had a sat nav on a bike until this year, when I bought a used Garmin Zumo 350LM off eBay for my trip to deepest rural Wales.

In all honesty I absolutely hate the bloody thing. It's slow to respond, the user interface looks like something from the 90s and the associated BaseCamp route planning software for the PC is hilariously awful.

The worst thing for me though - tracks. I bought it because I wanted something that would take me along a fixed route, which is what you want when you are touring on a bike. You want to go a certain way on the twisty roads, not the shortest / fastest route like a truck driver would. I found out rather too late that you can import a GPX file which defines the route you want to take but the Garmin just takes the start and end points and plans its own route anyway. Apparently there are some Garmin models that can do this, but not mine. And Garmin's website is not at all clear on this feature.

So I am going to bin it and go with Tony Nitrous' suggestion - Quad Lock case and phone. I was thinking about that option before I bought the Garmin and now I am regretting my choice.

[KiwiCol]

Fishy, they can be bloody awful to set up, agreed.  Have a crack at setting your route with waypoints, you do this on basecamp then import the route to the 350, then import it into the 350 once you unplug & fire it up again. 
Garmin software is bloody awful, full stop! It's not intuitive & the graphics look like something from the 70's or 80's. They deliberately make it non compatible with other platforms such as google maps etc just to keep you having to buy more of their map upgrades.

[gsxbarmy]

I never had a sat nav on a bike until this year, when I bought a used Garmin Zumo 350LM off eBay for my trip to deepest rural Wales.

In all honesty I absolutely hate the bloody thing. It's slow to respond, the user interface looks like something from the 90s and the associated BaseCamp route planning software for the PC is hilariously awful.

The worst thing for me though - tracks. I bought it because I wanted something that would take me along a fixed route, which is what you want when you are touring on a bike. You want to go a certain way on the twisty roads, not the shortest / fastest route like a truck driver would. I found out rather too late that you can import a GPX file which defines the route you want to take but the Garmin just takes the start and end points and plans its own route anyway. Apparently there are some Garmin models that can do this, but not mine. And Garmin's website is not at all clear on this feature.

So I am going to bin it and go with Tony Nitrous' suggestion - Quad Lock case and phone. I was thinking about that option before I bought the Garmin and now I am regretting my choice.

Ah....tracks. Yes I just fell foul of that, thinking that the track file tracked the route. Wrong. What the track file does is track the quickest route between waypoints (or the start and finish if there are no waypoints entered). To run the route you entered you need the .gpx file