Garmin Edge Touring & Touring Plus

[bmwbikeruk]

Is it worth buying a new Touring or Touring Plus from Garmin for motorcycle use? In other words, you can use it for hiking or cycling! See more info at http://garmin.blogs.com/my_weblog/2...gned-for-navigating-by-bike.html#.Uh6gfxZKpV0

 

[bmwbikeruk]

My goodness! No reply in 6 months so here's a gentle reminder....has anybody bought this Garmin Edge Touring for mini sat nav use by motorcycle?

 

[Beemerman59]

My goodness! No reply in 6 months so here's a gentle reminder....has anybody bought this Garmin Edge Touring for mini sat nav use by motorcycle?

No answer for 6 months - I guess the answer is no then. You could always buy one yourself and let us know how you get on.

 

[Bobbin-Man]

I use a Garmin Edge 800 on my road bike - same basic unit but different software. I have it loaded with some O/S mapping so probably not disimilar and it had crossed my mind that it might work well on the GS. However I suspect it may be a poor alternative to a Zumo ....

- It only runs on it's own charge
- The screen brightness can let it down in strong sunlight
- Smaller screen, your reading eyesight will need to be spot on
- No additional functions such as telephone connectivity
- No spoken directions

If however you were buying one for a bicycle and wanted to have some navigation on the motorbike at no extra cost (I seem to recall the Edge units come with a second mount) then it could prove useful, although not really an alternative to a proper bike-designed setup.

 

[E. Buygum]

I have a Touring Plus for cycling. It's a neat little unit and does what it should do but I wouldn't use it on a motorbike mainly because of the screen size (I use a Zumo 660). One disappointment was that the unit only seems to be supported by Basecamp (which I hate) and not Mapsource (which I know well and has always seemed very logical to me). This is making me consider getting rid of it.

I used to use a Quest 1 on both motorbike & cycle and got on pretty well with it. The problem is the Quest didn't charge through the mini USB socket. The claimed battery life figures are always nonsense so for a day's cycling, I use a "Pebble" type battery backup, usually to give the Sat Nav a boost at lunchtime but this wasn't possible on the Quest 1, otherwise, I would probably still be using it.

I have tried to get to grips with Basecamp a couple of times and failed. If I get to the point that I can no loger use Mapsource, I'll ditch Garmin completely. The new Samsung Galaxy S5, being waterproof, looks an interesting option.

 

[bmwbikeruk]

Thank you guys for your useful replies. Much appreciated. I've now decided to wait till the launch of iPhone 6 which should be more bike-friendly with OS MapFinder app or Garmin sat nav app or any free navfree app so that I may have the best of both worlds, motored or pedalled! In case you are unaware, iOS7.1 comes with CarPlay so I suspect BikePlay will one day feature on BMW bikes as an alternative to BMW Navigator (Garmin) with your iPhone. OS Ride app from Ordnance Survey will soon be launched so it will work with OS MapFinder with routes created (gpx files) aimed at cyclists. It could be handy for off-road motorcycling or even normal GPS location monitoring on the roads! I have used navfree app on my iPad and found it extremely useful. You could get free navfree apps for most of European countries including UK to work on all iOS devices!