Bike Sat Nav's

[Aloonatic]

Why are they so expensive?

Is a Tomtom one XL not good enough at £100 ish?

Is it the fact that they aren't water-proof?

Or are there features available on the Garmin Nuvo etc that I'd absolutely need to get me to my destination?

I have a Garmin streetpilot with a rotary wheel which would be unsuitable and my bro has the OneXL which works even with gloves on.....Do I make a water-proof housing for the Tomtom and save a small fortune.....or spend the readies for one from Garmin....

I seem to remember the TT Rider being discontinued....and even before it's pricey!

I have plenty of 6082 to make it from......or could scrounge some 7 series for overkill

I have 2 buddies (not quite in the whole world) who like me are due a new bike in the spring so it would be a run of 3.....Saving approx £1100.

 

[swissrob]

use a normal gps and get an otter box or bag.

there is no real difference otherwise

 

[Schtum]

Everything's relative - they're not really expensive. What's a Zumo 660 now - £450? I paid £580 + VAT for my old Streetpilot III from Makro several years ago and I remember they were c. £1500 when they were first released.

However, I see today that you can get a nüvi 765 for £137.

http://www.satnaveasy.co.uk/item.do?item=19351&gclid=CN_SxM2t_6MCFSn-2AoddUdwHg

Bung it in one of these at 50 Quid and you've got a good GPS system...

http://www.buybits.com/product/sku_7504.aspx

 

[Greg Masters]

I have several sat-navs - they all do different things.

For the GS I use a Zumo 660 - it's waterproof; has full European mapping; carries .mp3 files; has 2 x Bluetooth conectivity; touch-screen designed for gloves etc.

For my trail bike I use a Garmin Oregon - it's also waterproof and has road-routable Ordnance Survey maps. It tracks where I've been and I can load track-logs back into it.

For my bicycle I use my old Geko 201. It's a bit long in the tooth now but it's waterproof; tracklogs and routes; waypoints; journey data but no maps.

For skiing I might buy a Garmin Forerunner 305 (complete with heart-rate monitor!!).

Always be clear about what you want the unit to do - then chose the one that does that the best.

Greg

PS I paid £1k for a StreetPilot III - I wouldn't use one as a doorstop now - but they were the DB's in their day.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Big difference between car GPS and Bike GPS other than being waterproof is the 2x bluetooth connections. You can pair your phone and a headset at the same time. Car ones you can only pair your phone. If you want/need this then you will have to pay the money. Personally I use my phone with copilot on it and an Otterbox although I am about to do something different for a box. The phone costs less than a Garmin 660 and does a hell of a lot more and is better at it too.

 

[Aloonatic]

Big difference between car GPS and Bike GPS other than being waterproof is the 2x bluetooth connections. You can pair your phone and a headset at the same time. Car ones you can only pair your phone. If you want/need this then you will have to pay the money. Personally I use my phone with copilot on it and an Otterbox although I am about to do something different for a box. The phone costs less than a Garmin 660 and does a hell of a lot more and is better at it too.

That is gold dust! What is "Co-Pilot"...... an app for a "smart-phone"?

I just closed the cad-cam and told the cnc mill to stand down....educate me....please

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Copilot Live http://www.alk.eu.com/ yes its software for a phone. I use it on my HTC Desire which is an Android phone but you can get it for the iPhone and windows phones. Does everything you could want including lane assist and all that with liftime free speedcam updates. Have a look at the site and you will see what I mean. Oh and its £19 on the Android Market so cheap as chips.

 

[madmax]

I have both the tom tom 910 for the car and a tom tom rider 2 for the bike.
Neither have never let me down, used both in europe, and the 910 state side with no problems at all. Rider 2 has been used in all weathers with no problems.
I'ts all down to personnal preferance and cost.

 

[Chrizm]

I have an iPhone and just bought an otterbox off a member of the Parish, I gonna make a mount then hopefully get copilot for when I eventually get to tour somewhere!

iPhone is perfect for me coz can use it for tunes and phone also through Starcom unit.

 

[STUBBS]

just be aware of vibration i have used car gps on my bike mounted in boxes and tankbags and they have shaken themselves to fail

 

[Aloonatic]

just be aware of vibration i have used car gps on my bike mounted in boxes and tankbags and they have shaken themselves to fail

Damn...another good point! By the time it's ruggedised and housed the unit would have cost the price of a ready made item....possibly if labour is factored in.

Sounds like Zumo time!

Thanks for the replies....saved me some time over winter

 

[Chrizm]

I always thought that soldering is soldering, only difference they could make is to terminations of connections really.
The case that has been mentioned is padded anyway so should take away a large mount of vibration and unless your going off road there wont be that much vibration, will there?
Just my outlook on it.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

Vibration has never been a problem for me with 2000 miles of use. Not a huge amount I know but no adverse effects. Solder is solder but there is a lot more to it for being rugged. Depends on the unit I suppose, I imagine so of the cheap ones will fail more readily than the more expensive. Also be aware that any smartphone these days will do tunes and everything else that you could want, you don't have to pay the Apple tax and get an iphone. In fact if you get an Android phone you get Sat Nav for free with Google navigate which is really good. Only downside of that is that you need to be in a phone reception area if you change your route. This is the reason I don't use it, especially as I just did the highlands and Islands.
Its really all down to preference and how much money you have or are willing to spend. If you already have a good phone then why not give it a go and see how you get on, especially if it is only for occasional use. If you do thousands of miles with GPS all year round then a Zummo might well be the best option.
Here is another option to do your head in. Why not get something like the new Android tablets such as the Samsung galaxy. Around £400 with a 7" touchscreen and the same functionality as the Android phones. Think how the navigation will look on that size of screen, hmmmmmm. Or a bit smaller get a Dell streak with a 5" screen if you think the 7" is too big.

 

[Bumpkin]

use a normal gps and get an otter box or bag.

there is no real difference otherwise

So long as you're able to plan routes on it then any GPS will be OK for bike use.

The lesser Garmins are just point to point devices (not sure about TomToms as I'm a dediacted Garmin user), the GPS decides how you get there. The higher end models including the bike specific ones are capable of navigating a route that you have specified using Mapsource or uploading a GPX file made using the likes of Tyre or ITN Converter.

Having a ruggedised waterproof unit is a reassurance that it's made to take the punishment it'll get on a bike. In addition there are other bonuses such as bigger buttons or touch-screen controls added to which cradles rather than fiddly connectors and a clunky box or zippered bag (such as the Givi).

Whilst, if on a budget, using a GPS designed primarily for car use is a viable alternative it can also be somewhat frustrating with a considerable number of compromises.

The alternative is to buy a used bike specific unit. More recent models might have funky features like lane assist, bigger screens, Bluetooth and MP3 players etc. But an older unit will do just as good a job of getting you to your destination along a route that you've specified. It might be a touch slower calculating the route to start with but once that's done the core GPS functionality is the same. You'd need to ensure that the used unit has up to date mapping, or that you can obtain it and factor that into the total cost.

 

[andyclift]

My wife's Garmin Nuvi at £120

- UK only mapping
- No internal battery
- No charger supplied (no battery!)
- No Mapsource disc
- Simple car bracket that has no power input socket. Fly lead needs connecting to Nuvi every time
- No Bluetooth hands free
- No MP3 player
- Not waterproof

My Garmin Zumo cost £420
- Full Western and Eastern European mapping (Note that Tomtom only supplied West Europe)
- Powered car bracket
- Powered bike bracket with audio and USB terminals
- RAM mount kit for fitting to bike
- Mains charger
- Internal battery
- Bluetooth for both phone and headset
- MP3 player and ability to add SD cards
- Waterproof
- Mapsource and mapping disc supplied

Start adding things like Otterbox and RAM mount to car kit so it can be used on bike, then need European mapping. Now want to get a hands free kit for your phone. Add all this together and you finish up with a poor Heath Robinson system that has saved little if any cash.

Its also likely that although the Zumo is a super bit of kit Garmin probably sell a lot less than their car satnavs which tends to push the unit cost up.

 

[Bumpkin]

My wife's Garmin Nuvi at £120
......

My Garmin Zumo cost £420
......

And with a Nuvi at that price there'd be no real point for Mapsource anyway as you can't create specific routes on it anyway. For recreational bike use a sat nav must have the ability to be programmed to follow the exact roads that you want to ride down.

One of the lesser Nuvis will just get you there by the route that it thinks is the best.

 

[sven]

The basic car units do not support itinerary planning, so they're fine for A-to-B-via-C, but not for long cross country routes with multiple waypoints.

A Garmin Nuvi 550 is probably the cheapest waterproof solution (much neater than Otterboxes etc.) with intinerary planning

My TT Rider 2 was pretty cheap a couple of year ago at £250 including full EU mapping, but it's £100 dearer nowadays

 

[RAM-man]

This one question that keeps coming around.. but it usually appears inthe GPS Info section

Many have already offered reasons so, shall not repeat the obvious.

Simply it comes down to budget, if you have a Primark budget but with Prada taste then it aint gonna happen.

Greg rightly comments, some years ago the 2610 (regarded by many as the dogs b*ll*x in its day) was a grand, zumo 550 halved that after Quest come along. But in 'real terms' these devices cost less then a few years ago, add to this the online resellers discount off the suggested RRP/MRP/SRP price, so they're giving away their own margin which is why they're less dealers around these days but some operate their 'empires' out of the bedroom.

If you want to 'stick' a basic Nuvi 2xx series on yer bike, OK fine.. it can be done, suitable mount £35 with cradle non waterproof, same mount with Arkon GPS zip pouch is £50 so now compare that these costs to the initial outlay of the device (£100 - £125), unless its a SWMBO shared offering.

Then the power lead, a car ciggy charger is fine in cool climates but if you hit Spain or further south expect the regulator to fry, so another cost to factor in, so at some point you'll realise, what cost do you really want or expect to pay.. sometime 'much cheapness' is a false economy.

 

[andyclift]

Only downside of that is that you need to be in a phone reception area if you change your route.

This is a big downside but not the only one. I saw an article in a newspaper recently that users of on-line map download type satnavs were not realising that once they are out of UK (or run out of their free data plan) the cost of running this software can be very high. An example given was, on a typical data plan, a single trip to Paris would cost over £70.00 in map downloads.

Also geting the maps is not the same as getting calls. Experimenting in my local area, less than 15 miles from Central London, I have no problems with voice on my mobile but lots of black spots where I cannot get data. In Cumbria last year my son-in-law and myself, on different providers, only managed a voice connection a couple of time in a week. I would have hated to try to use mobile phone satnav - but my Garmin GPSMAP60CSX did not have that problem.

 

[Deleted account 190920001]

This is a big downside but not the only one. I saw an article in a newspaper recently that users of on-line map download type satnavs were not realising that once they are out of UK (or run out of their free data plan) the cost of running this software can be very high. An example given was, on a typical data plan, a single trip to Paris would cost over £70.00 in map downloads.

Also geting the maps is not the same as getting calls. Experimenting in my local area, less than 15 miles from Central London, I have no problems with voice on my mobile but lots of black spots where I cannot get data. In Cumbria last year my son-in-law and myself, on different providers, only managed a voice connection a couple of time in a week. I would have hated to try to use mobile phone satnav - but my Garmin GPSMAP60CSX did not have that problem.

Your right of course which is why my phone is set to not data roam as its too expensive and also another reason why I use maps on phone software. Copilot doesn't use the internet to get maps as they are loaded on the phone the same as a garmin has its maps on the unit.