TomTom for Android and Dedicated Sat Navs

[james1988]

Evening All,

I'm heading to France at the beginning of August for 10 days. At the moment, I'm looking at buying a Garmin Zumo 390 for roughly £300 in Halfords but I don't really want to if I can help it as it wont be used all that often after we've been to France.

I've toyed with the idea of buying a car sat nav that has bluetooth and pairing that with a RAM mount along with wiring it into the bike. The reason I haven't bought one yet is that I'm concerned about glare (although with spoken words, that won't be too bad) and vibration; will it vibrate itself to death in the wind (I assume not but don't want to be half way through France when finding out)?

Secondly I've thought about buying the TomTom application and running it on my S5. I've read reviews that say it runs stupidly hot and intermittently crashes. Has anybody here got any experience with it? To further that point, when I used to use my iPhone as a sat nav, it would often shut down due to overheating - I also attribute its nakard battery to this.

Any advice on car, bike and mobile phone sat navs would be hugely appreciated.

Finally there is always the option of taping the directions to the tank and navigating that way. I've done that in the past but I imagine it being far more difficult to use in foreign climes.

Thanks all,
James
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Honda XL1000VA '07

[finniee]

I've been using Navmii GPS World (Navfree) on my phone and just putting the phone into the clear part of the tank bag and hooking it up to the bluetooth.
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Honda CBF125

[willis1337]

You won't need the sound. Quick glace down is all that is needed to know when next turn is. I've been using a bike TomTom for years. Only issue is the mount charging pins failing and losing ability to charge on bike. This happens to all TomTom mounts after about six months / 5000 miles of riding. Very useful to use for touring though. Wouldn't be without it. Use tyre to travel to plan itn routes and save to satnav before you go.
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Current bike: KTM SD1290GT
Previous bike: BMW K1300S

[FriendlyEllis]

I have the Zumo 390lm and am really pleased with it. Lifetime map updates for Europe. Good.

Use the Garmin Basecamp software on your PC to plan longer journeys if you choose, and learn from the basecamp wiki
https://garminbasecamp.wikispaces.com
And you'll be planning an clicking routes all over the place.

I use a Telferizer mount
https://www.telferizer.com

I'm glad I spent the money on this satnav as it really opened up my biking at the weekends not just touring.

Pick a place, hit go, and get a curvy road route.
Or ride off randomly for a couple of hours, then hit home and your on your way back. Great way to discover new places and stop offs.


Re the charging pins on the mount, I give mine a squirt with WD40 to keep them springy and fine so far!
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Honda CB600F Hornet 2013 -> Kawasaki Z1000SX ABS Tourer 2015

[Casper]

Having used the TomTom app i would say dont. CoPilot is much better then Rout66 or even the free navfree or whatever they call themselves now.

[Monkeypony]

I'd always pick a proper bike sat nav over an improved car one (doesn't work with gloves, not waterproof)

but I'd also pick a car one in a waterproof bag over any phone software (no signal, no sat-nav)

But I'd take a phone over directions taped to the tank!

£290 will get you a TomTom rider V5 with lifetime maps

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-2014-Tomtom-Rider-V5-Lifetime-Full-UK-amp-45-Europe-Maps-Tyre-Pro-Motorbike-/321618387841?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

You don't need to worry about spoken directions though. Not really needed.
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Current bike - 2018 H2-SX, 2004 SV1000s, 2016 Aprilia RSV4 RF, 2017 Sherco SERF 300, 2003 Suzuki DRZ400 (stolen - AY53 JUU)

[Matt B]

When I was looking myself a while back I found these ViaNav ones for around £125.

https://www.bs-motoparts.com/en/gps-navigator/vianav-motorcycle-sat-nav-gps-navigation-system-bluetooth-43-europe-map-i4032-44536-0.htm

No idea what they are like, never got one, but may be worth a look if you want a cheaper option.
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stinkwheel: He had an animated .gif of a cat performing fellatio. It's not socially acceptable. It can have real life adverse effects on other people.

[Casper]

[Casper]

[Monkeypony]

[james1988]

Thanks all. After I posted this topic up I checked the classifieds and funnily enough there was a sat nav (Tomtom Rider) up for sale. Hopefully I'll be crossing the palms of the seller with some silver tonight to complete the sale.

Thanks for all the input though. Hugely appreciated.

As for Navfree, I really didn't get along with it at all. It's also what caused my phone to keep overheating.

James
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Honda XL1000VA '07

[noobRider]

I've used the TomTom app on Android. It was pretty good and the maps are on the phone so no data issues. I did have problems with the screen being too reflective and it used power faster than it could charge. I'll try again with my new phone.
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Licence: Nov 2012, Bikes: Suzuki GN125, Moto Guzzi Strada 750, Triumph Sprint ST 955i x 2
AnPhonEh: I need plans, I need contingency plans also, I need back up contingency plans

[Enduro Numpty]

Used a Garmin Zumo 660 for a few years and I do like the voice part of it, particularly in busy cities when you really can't afford to take your eyes off the traffic. Never used a phone for navigating but it's hard to see how they'll ever come close to the functionality of a purpose made sat nav.

[Furrybiker]

I use Waze for Android, it does make the phone run hot, but if it is kept in a pocket that gets some airflow its fine. I use a bluetooth headset and have never really missed not being able to see the screen.

Another one to try that does not use data is "Here" it is the old Nokia satnav updated by ex Nokia staff. Not too shabby.

[G]

[Casper]

I use iGO Primo Android. I was using it in a sat nav that only had 64mb of RAM with no issues so having 1GB RAM on the android it works flawless. Not used the navfree in anger yet so no idea if that overheats my phone but ill play about with that over the next few days to find out.

[ScaredyCat]

I've been testing out osmand which seems pretty good for offline maps do need a lot of space though - tis free for up to 10 maps. Uses OSM data.
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Honda CBF125 ➝ NC700X
Honda CBF125 ↳ Speed Triple

[Casper]

[nelmo]

I use Co-Pilot on my Galaxy S5 (£35 with European maps), in a £10 waterproof case, plugged into a cig lighter connected to my battery. Maps all installed on the phone so you never need a data connection. Excellent built-in route planner.

Phone gets hot but seems ok. In bright sunlight, its difficult to see the screen through the case but the voice directions are normally enough anyway.

If I used it more often and was minted, I'd get a dedicated bike one on a RAM mount but I've seen a couple of people who have had to buy new mounts because the charging pins corroded.
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Bike history: Suzuki GSXF600, BMW F650, Honda Varadero, Suzuki V-Strom, Kawasaki Versys
Current: Honda NC700X

[james1988]

[Pigeon]

[C1REX]

Zumo 390 doesn't have windy routes option. Only Zumo 590 has that and all TomTom riders.

Co-Pilot is probably the best on mobiles. You can also plan a route on your PC the same way you would do for TomTom Rider or Garmin using Tyre software.

Tyre is much, much better that bootcamp.
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MCForum meetup - One of the biggest motorcycle clubs in UK

[james1988]

The sat nav turned up this morning (TomTom One Rider) and I've fitted it to the bike. I can't get over how much heavier it feels compared to car sat navs! I've just installed Tyre so I'm about to begin playing around with that.

James
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Honda XL1000VA '07

[ScaredyCat]

[grr666]

Zumo 660 comes with car and bike mounts in the box, it also knows which it is attached to so switches
settings automatically depending on what it's on. I often use it in my van and my wife uses it in the car
when she's off to a client meeting. It was expensive but I'm getting plenty of use from it so I consider
it reasonable value for money. Lifetime updates helps with value aspect too. I'm off to Monaco for a short
holiday next month, I'll be putting the France maps on it so I can use it in my hire car too, which saves me
paying extra to hire one when i pick the car up from Nice.
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