Sat Nav Mounting?

[asta1]

Hi all,

I have put down a deposit for my first bike today, yay me. Anyway, I have already got a (non waterproof) garmin sat nav which I use in my car and it would be good if I could use it on the bike as well. Has anyone done this and if so, can you point me in the direction of the mounts used?

Cheers,
A

[Itchy]

What bike is it?

You can either get a handle bar mount and a bag to put it in. Or for a bike with a full fairing put it on the top yoke. The top yoke is dangerous as you need to take your eyes off the road completely to look at it.

So you can buy a waterproof GPS bag and use paracord or something similar to hang it on mirrors of a faired bike.
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[asta1]

[Snowdonia Rider]

There's loads 'n' loads of handlebar mounts on eBay, some have waterproof bags attached that have a see through, touch screen friendly section. They also have little foam inserts included so you can get a snug fit. Like I said there's loads on there, some cheap, some not, check carefully before (if) you buy so you don't buy North Koreas finest quality.
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[MCN]

Bike satnavs are constructed more robustly than car satnavs. Not only to deal with water ingress but to be more resistant to damage from vibration. Motorcycle handlebars vibrate like bastirts.

But.... there are plenty of folk who use phones (and like) on their bikes with no reports of fail. (Though not many will admit they FUBARed their new iPhone 6S whilst Sellotaped to the bars of the CG125. )

RAM are a gadget mounting specialist.
Look on Nippy Normans or www.touratech.com if you cannot find anything suitable on Aliexpress.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[grr666]

Agree with this^
Some bike specific navs have RAM mounts in the box supplied with them. My Garmin did. Plus a second screen mount for in car use.
The cleverest thing is the unit knows which mount it is attached to and the settings change to suit, for instance bigger function
buttons for gloved hands when on the bike mount.
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[BTTD]

Another vote for the Ram mounts. More expensive than many of the offerings on ebay, but well made.
I use a Garmin walking gps on the bike. It gets me where I want to go, although it is a pain to program routes. It is mostly waterproof and has a specific Ram holder for it. I don't use it enough to justify a bike specific GPS.
I've tried using my phone in a cheap holder, but the screen kept flipping direction every time I leaned over and the vibration was causing it all kinds of confusion. It was a pain to use as the mounting required it to be on the yoke which meant looking down too often at an upside down map that was telling me that I was either off the road or heading in the opposite direction or both. Utter rubbish, but that was an older windows phone from a couple of years ago so a newer phone might be fine.

[Aff]

For the last 4 or so years I've been using a secondhand widescreen Garmin that i got off ebay for 30quid. Its taken me all over Europe numerous times and has never failed.

I dont plumb it into the bike as it always seems to be the chargers that fail with these. I have it inside one of the £5 ebay waterproof cases with a stack of powerbanks, this gives me about 30 hours runtime.

I used to have it mounted on a bit of sheetmetal that I bent and mounted to some nearby bolts on the frame. This worked well but was a bit vibey.

This year I made this instead, its basically a fancy RAM mount that attaches to the headstock, works perfectly.

I don't really see the need to spend 10x more on a 'bike' satnav.

https://i.imgur.com/GGC7IWZh.jpg
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[MCN]

[pepperami]

[pepperami]

I have only ever used my car sat-nav and it has not let me down yet.


https://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t87/pepperami_photos/Finallythere2_zps3661a2d1.jpg

The only thing I do different is put a lanyard on it in case the sucker fails and it hasn`t yet, fingers crossed .
If it rains, I put a Tesco`s zip bag over it.
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[UnknownStuntm...]

Phone in pocket, Google Navigation, Headphones.

Win

[DrSnoosnoo]

In my car, I used a sat nav every time I wanted to go anywhere.

Since I've had my bike I've tried to reduce my reliance on appliances telling me where to go. I enjoy looking at a (google) map and seeing the route and trying to remember it. Thinking about what landmarks are around to know when to turn. If I take a wrong turning or am not sure, I'll just pull over and whip the phone out.

If time limits my number of potential wrong turns I'll have navigation from my phone into my ear phones, that generally is enough for me.
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[MCN]

If your Talk, TXT and Surf device doesn't have the required mapping installed then you will find your self falling off the edge of your known world.

Satnav mapping accommodates much more data so you should run out of enthusiasm before you run out of map.

But I know it is perfectly possible to 'get by' with a phone set-up.

Not my bag though.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[UnknownStuntm...]

[esullivan]

I used a car TomTom in a RAM-mounted, waterproof bag for a while and found it more trouble than it was worth (keeping it charged, for one). I then stuck my iPhone in the bag and it wasn't any better -- I could see it even less than the TomTom and it was just as hard to control (stop, take gloves off, balancing them on the tank, unzip bag, etc.) Both devices used to overheat if the sun was shining.

Now I keep my iPhone in the top box, plugged in to a USB cable and just listen to the directions via a Bluetooth intercom (Sena). It works well enough if you use one of the dedicated SatNav apps (I found Google Maps too laggy), and I'm in less danger of running into the side of a building while looking at a tiny screen on my bars. It's no easier to control, obviously, but I can ignore it by turning the intercom off.

Because of the intercom, this isn't a cheap solution, but I already had a pair of Senas for communicating with my wife, so it made sense for me.
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[inline4]

[Evil Hans]

[asta1]

Cheers for the help guys.
I will take a look at the RAM mounts, but I will probably give the smartphone, pockt and headphone thing a try first. It should be sufficient for most journeys and I dont want to break my car satnav.

[UnknownStuntm...]

[R1stu]

I use a cheap ram X grip rip off, with a built in 2amp usb charge in. £8 on eBay and no vibration with 1 screw fitted.

https://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r232/stuartkeith/ST1100/image_zpsjkawhh8o.jpeg
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[Paris2]

I managed to use an iPhone inside an exercise armband (strapped to the yoke), which took me through France to Spain. And I would do it again.
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[Falco]

I find a cheap (£10) mount from ebay, which screws to the handlebars. With my phone using Co-Pilot works pretty well. Lasts about 1.5 hours unless I put the "big battery" in, when it lasts ~7 hours (I haven't used it longer than that).

Zip burst quite quickly, but 2 elastic bands hold the phone in and even in pouring rain it doesn't seem to get wet.

Also got a gap in the bottom for headphones/power cable

[Dav1son]

Where were going we don't need roads......I mean maps.

Literally never considered a sat nav for the bike. Just know I will get there eventually.
Managed to get from Gods Own down to Rome and back with half a European map and a sense of adventure.


I do have one of those yolk stem mount for my cam. A sat nav here would be okay I guess though. Plenty of options out there.
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[Falco]