Best motorcycle satnav. Garmin zumo 590 or tom tom rider 420

[Deadonkey]

Hi.
As a relatively new rider I've found that I'm using my bike to explore areas and roads that I wouldn't normally use in a car and the problem with this is I keep getting slightly lost, or atleast unsure of where I should be going. This then leads to stopping, gloves off, phone out, check, phone away, gloves back on.

Which is why I'm looking at a dedicated motorcycle satnav.
However I can't decide which one to go for.
The garmin zumo seems to have issues with viewing the screen in strong sunlight and poor navigational audio quality over Bluetooth.

The tom tom rider 420 has issues with rain acting like keypresses, which is obviously a massive issue.
I can read all the reviews I want but I was looking for some actual views based on normal useage.
At the moment I'm fancying the garmin.

[SBDJ]

Plenty of people (including myself) also experience really bad Bluetooth audio quality with the Riders too
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1998 ZX9R C1
1998 YZF600R Thundercat

[pepperami]

[raesewell]

I have had both Tomtom and Garmin. I am definitely a Tomtom guy theses days. Garmins can be overly complicated. Both makes have their fans, but I'm in the Tomtom camp, I have the 400 and have had the V5 and V3. I had the Garmin 660.
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Yamaha FJR 1300 Normanton West Yorkshire

[Deadonkey]

[Bozzy]

I bought an old Garmin car sat nav off ebay for £20 allied with a cheap handlebar mount. Does the job of getting me home when I'm lost. If it rains I'll stick it in a clear bag. 99% of the functionality but with minimal cost.

https://i68.tinypic.com/1qh2zd.jpg
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2004 SV650S >>> 2009 Street Triple R

[Scythe]

I bought a Garmin Zumo 350LM a couple of years ago and love it. It's never let me down on big trips, and as it comes with the in-car kit you can use it in the car too. I used to be a TomTom fan but they're not as good anymore.
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2009 Yamaha YBR125 -> 2000 SV650S -> 2005 Kawasaki ZX6R 636

[Polarbear]

I have a Tomtom 400. Now it's stopped being an arse and playing demo videos I'm quite liking it. I have to say I'm a Tomtom bloke on the bike. Had the rider v1, urban and now the 400. Didn't get on with the Garmin I had.

Saying that, wifie has an all singing, all dancing car Garmin which is brilliant.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[raesewell]

[Dave V4]

Also have the 400, I do get the issues with the screen when raining ands it's shit when it happens, it just cycles random options so you have no clue where to go. Going to try clingfilm over it for this year's jollies so with any luck it will be ok. Another issue I have is the screen randomly changing between landscape and portrait as I'm riding along, also very annoying. Route wise it's very good though lol.

[groovylee]

I bought a tomtom v2 recently for an upcoming trip, and have found it brilliant.

£80something and it does everything I need it to.

I just couldn't justify the £ohmygod price tag of the new ones, especially compared to car units that you could put in a waterproof handlebar mount.

as for garmin, I never really got on with them over tomtoms. I have tomtoms in all of my cars, and the only time I had a garmin, I sold it because I didn't like it as much.
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Past - 1988 honda revere 600, 1996 kawasaki gpz500s, 1999 Yamaha R6

Current - 2002 Aprilia RSV1000R & 1999 Kawasaki ZX6R

[Moo.]

I have a TomTom400, personally I've never had too many problems with it.. The screens suffers from trapped condensation inside which is a known problem, and sometimes when riding a straight road it rotates to portrait mode for no reason.

The TomTom forum is full of problems that it's taking an absolute age to fix, it's almost like they shipped a half finished product

But for the basic use of a satnav it does me fine
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A2 Passed 18/6/10

[MCN]

Tom Tom lacks a few of then functions that Garmin has but Garmin are whankers.

I have a Quest 2, a 550 Zumo and thev 650 zumo. The 550 is far better in bright Sun but they are both Shite.

The poor voice over Bluetooth is a simple re install the software job.

It goes off for some reason but easy enough the remedy.

Garmin is expensive.
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Disclaimer: The comments above may be predicted text and not necessarily the opinion of MCN.

[Deadonkey]

It's not an easy choice.

They both seem to have major disadvantages that would matter to motorcyclists.
And being massively overpriced it is a little hard to swallow.
Makes me think about having a handlebar mount and using my Samsung s7 edge.
Which is waterproof anyway.

[esullivan]

I use the TomTom app (GO, I think it's called) on the iPhone, and then Bluetooth the audio to my helmet using the Sena intercom that my wife and I use. The app costs quite a bit (I think it's £20-ish a year?), but a fraction of the cost of a Rider. Last week, we used it to navigate to the centre of Antwerp to a hotel and then (later in the week) around Normandy.

It has a few downsides. The app will very occasionally shut itself off if you just use it in your pocket with the screen off. It doesn't have this problem if I leave it plugged in to the usb charger with the screen on in the top box. In really complicated situations (navigating around the middle of cobble-stoned medieval city, for example), you miss the screen. When we use it in the car, we put it on a phone mount and the screen directions are clear and easy to follow. The voice prompts alone sometimes leave a bit to be desired. But if you go wrong, it'll recalculate quickly and bring you around.
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Current: '14 VFR800X Test passed 31/10/12.
Previous: '12 NC700S, '11 CBF 125, '04 SH 125.

[Polarbear]

I totally agree the price of dedicated motorcycle satnavs is extortionate probably due to manufacturing costs and small quantitys sold.

TBH I am surprised dedicated satnavs still sell at all when you can get phone ones that works perfectly well. I have navigated with my phone on the passenger seat of a car using google maps and it worked fine (naughty me).

I still prefer a dedicated satnav but my kids use their phones all the time (except youngest daughter who has a dedicated lorry satnav for work) so I wouldn't be surprised if satnavs die out completely and phone apps are the only way forward in the future.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Deadonkey]

[Lupo]

I have used the phone on the car a few times and google navigation has worked very good so far. Also Lidl is doing a phone holder for £6.99, it is for cars and just the holder but may work in motorcycles. Also a Bluetooth hands free kit for £9.99 Interesting if your phone have voice control functionality.
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A por ellos, que son pocos y cobardes.

[Dave V4]

best thing with the bike navs is the way to pre load routes that have been planned weeks in advance on a lappy to take in sights you want to visit, along with the ability to choose different types of routing, be it highest roads, windy roads or eco routes etc. the TomTom does this very well, maybe the Garmin also does it but I have never owned one so have no idea tbh. The rider 2 I had before the 400 was easier to use and doesn't have any of the associated problems such as self rotating screen and self menu selection on a wet screen. the rider 2 can be had for £100 or less on ebay and I managed to bag the 400 for £185, not to steep for what they do imo

[waffles]

[chickenstrip]

Just dragged myself into all this with a Zumo 345LM. Seems ok so far, even I could figure it out.
I nearly didn't bother with a sat nav at all, price being one thing, but also, reading about them all, all seem to get a hammering for one thing or another. But if mine is anything to go by, they'll all do the job up to a certain standard - enough to be worth consideration it seemed to me, so I went mid-priced and plumped for the 345 as it seemed to get generally good reviews. Having it has certainly improved my confidence for a first solo Euro trip somewhat.

And you can pre-plan your routes on it; I have several loaded up ready for my Spain trip, although it's possible I haven't used the best method to do it, as I'm still figuring it out really. I hear that using Garmin's own software is one method of doing it on a computer, but for now, I've just plugged in a series of map co-ordinates from Google maps as waypoints to plot the routes. I have been told that trying to upload routes from anything other than the Garmin site is a pain.

Also gone for a Scala Rider QZ bluetooth. No problems with volume from the sat nav - it's capable of being set to an absolutely deafening level, although I haven't figured out yet if I can balance the volumes from my phone and the sat nav properly. Not a problem for me if I can't as I was only trying to set up music from my phone anyway, and I'm not bothered about that really.
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[SBDJ]