Sat navs...

[L-Jam]

Alright bromeos.

Looking at getting a motorbike specific sat nav, what are my options? I haven't a clue, prices, why are some 400+ etc... and on a sidenote brackets to fit it. Anyone a bit more experienced in these matters?

Thanks a lot
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Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[Deaks]

You essentially have 3 options. Garmin, Tom Tom or the cheap option.

The dedicated bike ones are waterproof, thats why they are £400ish.

The cheap option is buy a car one. Not waterproof but a lot cheaper.

I've got a Garmin 660. Expensive but it is the dogs nuts. And came with the mount and wiring etc.
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[temeluchus]

I bought a subs to a sat nav suite for my mobile and wear headphones under my lid.
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[Skudd]

Garmin +1
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[Vincent]

I reckon that if one of the companies would bring out a competively priced waterproof Satnav they'd make a fortune. I'm looking for an affordable one myself and have decided to go for a cheap car one to be used in the map pocket on my tank bag, (has to be as flat as possible), with a seperate camera detector.
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Space Is Deep

[Polarbear]

TomTom Rider for me, especially the urban with the newer mapping
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[neil.]

I have the original TomTom Rider (v1) got it on eBay a few years ago for £150 I think. The mount it came with was dire for two reasons - the sat-nav would vibrate in it too much, arcing across the electrical contacts (4 sprung pins), wearing them away over time. Also, the mount did not hold the sat-nav securely - hence why TomTom released a 'dog lead' attachment in case the sat-nav was thrown out. I bought a Touratech mount for it which is fantastic - makes use of part of the original mount that has the electrical contacts on it but holds the device so much more securely. The mount was much improved in the later versions of the Rider.

https://cbf125rider.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/100_0712.jpg

I have dropped it a few times on to concrete from chest/waist height and it's withstood it just fine. It's also survived 3 years of commuting, wind, rain, ice, snow, hot sun, everything and is still great. I have replaced the battery (as they do die after a few years - that's the nature of lithium ion cells) which was a bit of a pain as you need specific tools for it due to the tamper-proof screws they use, but once inside it's very easy to disconnect and remove the old battery.

I use a Scala Rider FM (with radio) headset, which has also lasted quite well over the years, but is showing signs of being tired now. Having instructions come through in the helmet via bluetooth is really good, and you can also use the Rider as a hands-free phone with your mobile in your pocket. You get the keypad on the screen as well as being able to send/read text messages. All via bluetooth. Traffic reports are useful (downloaded via your phone's data connection every few minutes) as well as speed camera warnings.

[koolio]

I've used GPS a lot until I decided to stop using it when on my own.

Grab a map, grab balls, start thinking, planning the route, you actually learn the land.

Reason I stopped using it is because I've been riding in London for years and still don't know the roads due to GPS, now I'm actually learning rather than switching off. Its more fun now.

[olionel]

I only use the sat nav when I'm a bit stuck etc or finding a petrol station, supermarket, campsite, hotel etc abroad, or quite like switching "avoid main roads" on and doing some back lanes...

I use a garmin e-Trex HCx, it's meant to be a walking/hiking/mountainbiking gps and comes with a bar mount so easy to attach.

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=8703&ra=true
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[G]

I've been pretty happy with my 660. I did consider the older designs, but the 660 had a few improvements I wanted (ie older bracket apparently suffered off-road).
It was expensive, but I've been using it for a couple of years now in car and bike and still happy with it.

If you've got time to play with your balls, a map's great ... but I definitely like the convenience of cutting out a big chunk of prep time, as well as a chunk of "where the *** am I, when you come to the end of the road you thought was your destination".

[phonesurgeon]

Being a cheapskate, rather than buy a specific sat nav unit...

I ve downloaded the garmin mobile version Garmin XT on my N95 with the full european maps.

And to fix it to handle bar i ve modified an old car kit, and a cheap nokia charger, power point under seat.
The accuracy is stunning, drove to italy twice(in car), and drove all around, without getting lost.

I have 2 device into one, but the N95 internal gps sometimes can be a pain to get satellite reception!

[Easter Bunny]

I used to recommend Tom Tom Rider mainly because of the price and the 2 year warrenty dispite the fact there appears to be a known fault with the rider 2 mount, vibration causes the mount to wear to the stage where there is movement, if nothing is done about this quickly the charging pin wears and then the unit becomes unuseable on the mount throu not charging. As it had a 2 yr warrenty it was getting repaired each time, this happened to me several times and was repaired under the 2 year warrenty once outside the warrenty I ended up using a ciggy lead to the mains point which eventually broke the pin rendering it totally unuseable.

Now even thou this happened I would have still recommended the Rider due to it being nearly half the price of a garmin except now Tom Tom is saying the cradle is now no longer covered on the 2 year warrenty just by the one year guarentee.

If you can afford it buy a Garmin, if you cant buy a car sat nav and mount it in a sandwich box!
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[L-Jam]

Right so basically I should try and go for an older sat nav, not the brand spanking new models? Can anyone point me a few links please guys? I would use a map but it's my job to get to different places in the welsh valleys quickly and trying to find your way way round there is a fucking nightmare. Cheers for all the help so far guys!
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Journalist, student, egotist.
Click here if you're a young biker, wondering what to do after a moped/125!
Skp 50 --> GS 500 --> CBR600F with custom HRC paint jobby --> GSX-R 750 K7, beautiful!

[Vincent]

If you can afford it, and it will get a decent amount of use, get a Rider or Garmin. To me though, there seems to be a big price hike between car and bike Satnavs. The only difference I can think of is the fact that they're supposed to be waterproof.
One major factor when chosing a Satnav is te ability to upgrade now and again without it costing too much.

Have you had a look on the pocketgpsworld website? Plenty of relevant info and reviews there.
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[c-m]

If you have a decent phone, just use that, with a ram mount. Perfect.

A bike specific phone might be something like the motorola defy.
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[Biker Alex]

If you have an iphone...

I accidently downloaded installious and installed tomtom for free.
And then l managed to mount it for almost nothing.. I looked at the ram mounts, they are £30 but I'm too cheap.

I installed that special velcro mushroom stuff to the headstock and to the back of a 50p phone case. I also got a cig lighter for a £5 so I can power it. The lighter has a waterproof cap, I have to put the phone away when it rains, personally I would not go exploring in the rain anyway. Im sure you could come up with a waterproof bodge for next to nothing. You could also just put it in your pocket and listen to audio instructions.

For me it was an itch to have a sat nav, but only used it once before I got bored of it. Something to consider if you are thinking of buying a £400 sat nav or £30 mount instead of the above.

[Vincent]

What are the best phones to use that can be picked up for under 50 knicker?

I'd forgotten that I used to use an ipaq PDA, you can pick PDAs up quite cheap with GPS software already installed too, and there are loads of accessories available.
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[Paulington]

[Peirre oBollox]

Garmin have recently launched the streetpilot app for the iphone
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/garmin-uk-ireland/id439044354?mt=8
Unfortunately its only UK & ROI at the moment, but I suspect that they`ll launch a european version soon
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[Dazbo666]

Car satnav, plus tank bag map pocket for me... if only cos I bought the g/f a satnav, only months before she had to sell the car
https://img.comet.co.uk/images/prod300/731374.jpg
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Word of the day : DILLIGAF

[temeluchus]

Most of the mid to upmarket phones are gps equipped. Subscriptions to telenav, wisepilot and the like can be had cheaply.

Almost all recent blackberries, the iphones and most android phones have built in GPS.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[G]

[Polarbear]

If you have an android phone, use googles free sat nav. Works fine, I ve used it in the car many times
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[Hannibal]

I use Ndrive on my Iphone, cost £10, works well. If I'm on the bike I just blue tooth it into my scala, and don't worry about the maps, just listen to the instructions....sometimes I may be moving a bit too rapidly for the sat nav tho' and am past a turning before she tells me to turn
There are plenty of waterproof covers for phones out there that can be fitted to the bike if you need to see the maps

[JAMSXR]

I'm looking at getting one at the moment - I would be looking at something like the product in the link below to adapt my phone for my bike but as I'm due an upgrade in the next few months I'm holding out.

https://www.beshopdirect.com/ultimateaddons-pro-motorcycle-mount-kit-with-hard-wire-battery-charger-cable-and-hard-waterproof-case-for-apple-iphone-3g-3gs
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