Sat navs

[Damon]

I am thinking of getting a sat nav for my bike so i can travel a little further from home. Ive looked at the sat navs specifically for bike and they are priced in the region of £300. Im not paying that when car ones can be as cheap as £80. Im not after anything fancy. Could i buy this car one, make my own mount for the and wire it direct to the battery (with an lead that can be split so i can take it home) I will be inputting the info whilst stationary and without gloves on so thats all kool.

Thanks alot

Damon

[Itchy]

Yes... yes you can , the cheapest way to do this is to go to Maplins and buy a perspex box, then buy a clutch assembly the thing that goes on your handlebar, drill an extra hole in the clutch assembly which fits nicely around your bars so it doesn't rotate , buy a couple of rubber erm what are they called now rings small rubber ring things ah grommets from a motorfactors like 10p each , and there you have it, you may also want to hinge the door though so you can actually use the touch screen,

or just stick it in a tank bag...

Or travel like real men do and not use GPS,
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Spain 2008France 2007Big one 2009 We all die. The goal isn't to live forever, the goal is to create something that will. In the end, your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.

[Damon]

[hmmmnz]

i just have mine in my chest pocket, and when i get well and truely lost i pull it out basically, mine is just a stupidly expensive map
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the humans are dead
I kick arse for the lord
Wiring Diagrams BIDNIP it bitches

[Bendy]

Plenty car ones have proper mounts available for bike / cycle use.

I used my old Garmin Streetpilot III on the bike, it's old-school enough that it's got big chunky buttons you can work with gloves on.

[D O G]

[FreshAL]

How far is "a little further?"

I've toured pretty much the whole South of the country, using a map in the clear window pocket of my tank bag.

My flat mate got to Spain and back, and as far as I can tell he used nothing more than a road atlas of Berkshire.

It's far more fun to know the names of a few towns on the way to where you are going and just follow road signs.

If you've got to be in a certain place by a certain time, get a GPS. Otherwise, save the money for fuel

[Pedd]

If you have a half decent phone then it will probably run one of the various sat nav proggys that are avail, So in effect free sat nav Either tomtom,route66,sygic,garminxt are all available im the usual places. So either bung it in your pocket and use headset or in tankbag so you can see it.

[veeeffarr]

I bought mine as 'security' in case I got lost in the middle of fooking nowhere and couldn't get home. Quite good with directions tho

[jonboy22]

[Damon]

[Bendy]

[Damon]

[Bendy]

Thought that was Scotland.

(ok haven't got my specs on)

[panrider_uk]

I've never seen the appeal of having to stop to work out how to get from where you are now to where you want to be.

With satnav you don't even need to know where you are.

Mark
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Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel

[NSR Mick]

[deanoet]

I use one of these

Then just use my standard Car Sat Nav in it (Tom Tom One XL)

The kit costs about $65, so £35 delivered then you need a tank bag to put it into
Works really well, it doesnt have sound obviously, and in direct sunlight it can be difficult to see (i just cup my hand round it to shade it).

Just get the 48" power cable from the battery and not the 24" one
Mine just about reaches


If you want a pic of it all set up let me know and i will go and take one for ya, really neat job, and doest he job nicely.
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CBT Passed 18th July 2007 : Previous Bikes> CG125 : Current Bike> Hornet 600 : PASSED DAS 30th Oct 2007
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[Damon]

[calum17]

hi, i use my sat nav on the bike with no problems at all. i have the tomtom one XL - i bought it cos of the bigger screen, it's also easy to sue with bike gloves on - summer and winter.
i then got a RAM mount setup from GPSW.co.uk which goes on my brake lever mount - or the clutch if you want (but my heated grips controller is on there). if it rains i stop and put a clear sandwich bag over it tight so it doesnt flap about and then its fine - or do it before you go. they now also have a small box which is water proof and you put your satnav in it and can use the touch screen without opening it.
as for power, just go to any cheap shop, pound store etc or even ebay and buy a 12v extension lead - the are designed to go in your car so that you can run appliances in the back or wherever or sometimes even run 2 - i got a twin one and cut off the 12v plug and wired it to my battery, i now have a 12v socket for my sat nav and one spare for my ipod/phone charger which is all good for long journeys! one lives under my seat and the other in the small space in the side of my fairing (like a car's glove box, but not that big - phone sized) and it's fine, very cheap too - about £3 i think it cost me.
i have suggested this to a lot of people and i can prove it works cos i use it all the time for mine when i ride 200 miles to portsmouth on A roads) and it has proved invaluable. also makes a good laugh when you arrive and the queen says 'one ha arrived at ones destination' or 'oh what a pity, there's a toll road - TURN LEFT!' or swearing ozzy osbourne - download the celeb voices for a good laugh when out and much less annoying than Jane (standard voice)
oh yer, the speed camera facility helps too when you're on unknown roads.
i use sat nav cos with directions if you make ONE mistake you're stuffed and you dont always know where you are to be able to use maps effectively. but sat nav just makes life easy - and if you go wrong it'll just give you a new route, i very rarely have to turn around and can give people an accurate time of when i should be there, which makes things run smoothly.

[Damon]

Brill, I was looking at the sony ones today in the show. It had a rather large 4.3" widescreen and it looked pretty good. Ive looked on the website and it has quite a few features too. Can i just download new maps (outside the UK) onto it? How much do they cost? Where can i download voices from?

Thanks for the reply.

Damon

[calum17]

if you know how to use torrents then you can usually get the voices from there, and you have to upload them through the 'my computer screen' as not to pay for them ! that is for tomtom tough - not so sure about sony. and i dont know about maps as i never looked, but now oyu have reminded me i might try and get the europe ones for mine - just cos if i can i should !
but you can get them from sony i would have thought, you'll need to pay unless you can find a torrent for them

[Damon]

[Seb]

If your sticking the satnav in your tank bag, borrow a mates during the day time and do a lap round the block with it. Depending on the angle of your bag and tank you might find it quite hard to read during the daytime, glare/reflection on the screen and plastic cover of the tankbag itself made it dangerously time consuming trying to read upcoming junctions.

Mounting one up by the clocks was a lot quicker and safer to read
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[calum17]

[panrider_uk]

Here's one for those who poo poo electronic gps
https://www.perpetualkid.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2668

Mark
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Current bikes: Honda ST1100 Pan European. Moto Guzzi V85 TT Travel