Help please ...

[EVskiy]

Then any modern GPS unit from the likes of Garmin or TomTom will do you.

There are lots of posts / threads on which communication (coms, to use the bikermate speak) system is best.

Me? I’d suggest:

BMW Nav V or a third generation Nav VI, especially if your bike has BMW ‘sat nav prep’ and the wonder wheel. Or, failing those, any Garmin equivalent, up to and including the first generation XT unit.

Several suitable devices come up for sale on UKGSer, quite regularly.

Move on with the times, and buy a BMW compatible Carpuride or CHIGEE unit. Your wonderwheel will work its magic just as well as with Nav 5 or 6. The difference is, you will have an option to use Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, MyRoute App, Kurviger, and a whole host of other navigation and routing software that is installed on your phone.
For example you are the type who does ride all day on your euro jaunt then at 3pm decides that you have had enough and need ti find that hotel for the night. Google maps search, tap on a desired hospitality venue, directions, chose your route (normally you’ll have 3 options to choose from) then tap on directions and start. No faffing with taping in address into ageing Nav 5, then hoping if it’ll find the correct coordinates. Simple and effective.

I’ve got a CHIGEE device (non BMW) and am very happy with what it does for me.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Move on with the times, and buy a BMW compatible Carpuride or CHIGEE unit. Your wonderwheel will work its magic just as well as with Nav 5 or 6. The difference is, you will have an option to use Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, MyRoute App, Kurviger, and a whole host of other navigation and routing software that is installed on your phone.
For example you are the type who does ride all day on your euro jaunt then at 3pm decides that you have had enough and need ti find that hotel for the night. Google maps search, tap on a desired hospitality venue, directions, chose your route (normally you’ll have 3 options to choose from) then tap on directions and start. No faffing with taping in address into ageing Nav 5, then hoping if it’ll find the correct coordinates. Simple and effective.

I’ve got a CHIGEE device (non BMW) and am very happy with what it does for me.

What he says
I use a Carpuride BS and it revolutionised the whole experience. Using a dedicated Nav is obsolete IMOO. its so limited. Its like having an old analogue phone. No screen, No internet, No music, no maps, no camera . . . . . .But you can make calls from it.

 

[EPG_19]

I have read through quite a few threads in my search for a sat nav for a new bike however, much of the jargon is like chaff, I can't decipher what I actually need to give me the following:

I like Carpuride but losing phone signal would concern me. Do I therefore need dedicated satnav, like Garmin, where the maps are stored on the device? Is TomTom for bikes like Garmin, but simpler? European maps are essential, particularly Western/Southern Europe, including Spain, Greece and Italy as well as the UK.

I want to link to my helmet to hear instructions, not just see them on a screen. I'll need speakers and a microphone using Bluetooth to what, the satnav (Garmin/other), my phone or to Carpuride? Any suggestion on what to get for this element.

Almost certainly, I only want sat nav and maybe the ability to connect and answer my phone (iOS), piped through to the helmet. Not interested in listening to Ride of the Valkyries, while feeling the wind on my face.

I will be buying a new helmet, probably an Arai, new bike (a Honda)

Thank you.

Forgot to mention, I would like to consider the addition of front and rear cameras to the bike, if that has any bearing on the above.

Does your new Honda come with apple car play some do

 

[Skippy]

Then any modern GPS unit from the likes of Garmin or TomTom will do you.

There are lots of posts / threads on which communication (coms, to use the bikermate speak) system is best.

Me? I’d suggest:

BMW Nav V or a third generation Nav VI, especially if your bike has BMW ‘sat nav prep’ and the wonder wheel. Or, failing those, any Garmin equivalent, up to and including the first generation XT unit.

Several suitable devices come up for sale on UKGSer, quite regularly.

All, really sorry not to have responded until now. I have no idea why but, I only got a notification this evening that I had responses. Shows my ability with tech! I have had Garmin previously, including an early BMW system that did not have post code capability ! That was interesting. Latterly, I had another Garmin, though I can't remember which one it was. That worked very well and got me across Europe to Greece and the Islands and many other places.

Anyway, I have bought a secondhand Nav V from one of our fellow constituents. It will be fitted to the bike (2023 1250 Adv) when I get it later this month. I believe the bike is prep'd for the Nav, though having read a bit more, I need to check if it has the necessary wiring etc.

I also bought my new helmet and a Bluetooth headset and mic to fit on it.

Once I have the bike, sat nav and the helmet/speakers installed, I'll have a play. I'll then see what I can do with the phone, for both communication and a backup sat nav.

Thank you all so much for all the advice and suggestions. Very much appreciated.

 

[Skippy]

Does your new Honda come with apple car play some do

Not a Honda, not any more!

 

[Wapping]

Thank you all so much for all the advice and suggestions. Very much appreciated.

Welcome.

Good choice with the Nav V, A simple, neat and pretty reliable piece of kit.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Welcome.

Good choice with the Nav V, A simple, neat and pretty reliable piece of kit.

Yes, a one trick pony.
C'mon, its 2025, there's much better, capable devices out there.

 

[Skippy]

Yes, a one trick pony.
C'mon, its 2025, there's much better, capable devices out there.

As Wapping suggested in an earlier post, I will use my phone with GoogleMaps too. I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to tech and nav systems are a strange world for me (lol). I'm ok with the one trick pony as I've used Garmin before, though I'd love to be able to get a bit closer to Wapping's skill and knowledge of said systems.

I tend to make decisions on the fly, at a crossroads or junction, not caring if it's the fastest/shortest/quickest, if I see hills and mountains, that'll do for me, even if it's "the wrong direction", according to the voice in my ears.. Satnav simply gets me to a place on the map, how I get there is up to me.

I'm sure I'll be dragged kicking and screaming into using more up to date systems, but for now .....

Thanks again for all the ideas and advice. I'll be back. Or maybe I wont!

 

[Wapping]

That’s a pragmatic decision, Skippy

The Nav V will do everything YOU want it to do and you have your phone and its screen for doing the rest.

All a Carpuride / Chigee will do is mirror (in other words, copy) your phone, onto a larger screen. Basically, the two devices turn your bike into a car with its Apple CarPlay / Android Auto. All fine and dandy but that’s about it. If you don’t want or need the bigger screen, then don’t bother.

=======

As with Mzokk, I was running my XT (displaying quite complicated bespoke routes, created in MyRoute) alongside a large iPhone, running the same MyRoute bespoke routes, via MyRoute’s Navigation app. I was also running BMW’s in-house navigation app (running the same bespoke MyRoute created routes) too when on my 1600; three separate navigation tools, all running simultaneously, just as Mzokk did. Why? Like Mzokk, I wanted to find out for myself how all three worked and / or maybe then be able to help others, if they had problems. I was / am very late to the whole phone based stuff, so much so that it was only in the last three months that I had a car with Apple CaPlay capability. I had to learn how to use that, alongside learning how to use Google for navigation on ‘Take me from A to B’ journeys…. It does make you very lazy!

The XT and MyRoute’s Navigation app on my phone, both cope admirably, with MyRoute’s Navigation app the phone catching up with the XT for reliability as it has been developed over the last year. So much so that (like Mzokk) I now use my phone / MyRoute Navigion as my primary GPS device, relegating the XT to back-up. I haven’t as yet found a need for a larger display screen, nor any need for music, texts, phone calls or other ‘Must do’ stuff, which means that (for now at least) the Chigee I bought has stayed in its box.

That said, I think BMW missed a trick when they went ahead with their own in-house phone based navigation app, which DOES display on my 1600’s big TFT screen. No doubt I’d have been very happy had BMW gone down either the Apple CarPlay / Android Auto or the MyRoute channels instead.



PS Would I rely on my expensive phone (with every detail of my life on it) for my sole means of navigation? No. I have bought a sacrificial phone for that task. From it I have deleted everything but the basic apps I need. It doesn’t even have a SIM card.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

That’s a pragmatic decision, Skippy

The Nav V will do everything YOU want it to do and you have your phone and its screen for doing the rest.

All a Carpuride / Chigee will do is mirror (in other words, copy) your phone, onto a larger screen. Basically, the two devices turn your bike into a car with its Apple CarPlay / Android Auto. All fine and dandy but that’s about it. If you don’t want or need the bigger screen, then don’t bother.

=======

As with Mzokk, I was running my XT (displaying quite complicated bespoke routes, created in MyRoute) alongside a large iPhone, running the same MyRoute bespoke routes, via MyRoute’s Navigation app. I was also running BMW’s in-house navigation app (running the same bespoke MyRoute created routes) too when on my 1600; three separate navigation tools, all running simultaneously, just as Mzokk did. Why? Like Mzokk, I wanted to find out for myself how all three worked and / or maybe then be able to help others, if they had problems. I was / am very late to the whole phone based stuff, so much so that it was only in the last three months that I had a car with Apple CaPlay capability. I had to learn how to use that, alongside learning how to use Google for navigation on ‘Take me from A to B’ journeys…. It does make you very lazy!

The XT and MyRoute’s Navigation app on my phone, both cope admirably, with MyRoute’s Navigation app the phone catching up with the XT for reliability as it has been developed over the last year. So much so that (like Mzokk) I now use my phone / MyRoute Navigion as my primary GPS device, relegating the XT to back-up. I haven’t as yet found a need for a larger display screen, nor any need for music, texts, phone calls or other ‘Must do’ stuff, which means that (for now at least) the Chigee I bought has stayed in its box.

That said, I think BMW missed a trick when they went ahead with their own in-house phone based navigation app, which DOES display on my 1600’s big TFT screen. No doubt I’d have been very happy had BMW gone down either the Apple CarPlay / Android Auto or the MyRoute channels instead.



PS Would I rely on my expensive phone (with every detail of my life on it) for my sole means of navigation? No. I have bought a sacrificial phone for that task. From it I have deleted everything but the basic apps I need. It doesn’t even have a SIM card.

All other devices offer is a bigger screen ? What ?
The Chigee screen is 5".
Do you work for BMW ? If you dont, you should

 

[Wapping]

The BMW branded (Garmin parented) navigation devices were and remain (up until the problematic Nav VI) very good, as were their non-BMW branded Garmin series equivalents. The XT (I have the XT1) is similarly good, at least in my experience of the device. Linked to MyRoute’s cloud based bespoke route creation thing, they all remain good enough for most purposes, up to and including (if necessary) phone calls, music, lean angles, how often the brakes have been applied and whether it might rain on the way to Tesco…… if that’s the additional ‘must have’ stuff that’speople ‘must have’ in order to ride a motorcycle in the 21st century to feel alive and connected.

I found the BMW in-house developed navigation app * very quirky. Not helped as my spanking new 1600’s big TFT screen equipped bike, suffered from appalling EMF leaks, rendering any navigation (up to and including standalone Garmin devices) impossible. In a word, it was unusable garbage. There’s a post and thread on it. Three (or maybe four, I forget now) TFT screens later, the problem was mended, including intervention by BMW Munich. BMW think that there was a very duff batch of TFT screens which leaked EMF’s, coming from I think Bosch.

That I had to buy a sacrificial Android phone, as Apple phones would not reconnect automatically with the 1600’s local wi-fi network **, nor would they fit in the very awkward cubbyhole at the top of the bike’s redesigned dashboard, was just the cherry on top of the pile of BMW’s dung. It could have been really good on the 1600 but BMW screwed it all up completely.


* For about a year I took part in BMW’s navigation app’s Beta test programme, run by Rainbirds or whatever the testing agency was called. I also participate in MyRoute’s public Beta test of app updates, via their very good forum. BMW could learn a thing or two from MyRoute as how to test (and more importantly, mend) navigation app problems.


** The detailed maps come from the phone to the 1600’s big TFT via wi-fi only. The routes come across separately, via Bluetooth.

 

[Wapping]

I will at some point mount my Chigee thing to my Himalayan, but for now at least, I am happy with its XT and sacrificial phone dual navigation devices and screens, linked to my Shoei Neotec III for voice instructions. They seem to work reliably together.

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

I will at some point mount my Chigee thing to my Himalayan, but for now at least, I am happy with its XT and sacrificial phone dual navigation devices and screens, linked to my Shoei Neotec III for voice instructions. They seem to work reliably together.

My father in law, still uses his Nokia phone. He loves it

 

[MrC99]

Until recently my partner was still using my old Nokia E71 which was bought new in 2009. I finally managed to persuade her to leap to a less ancient phone mostly because of the imminent 3G shutdown which will make many older phones unviable. She still won't let me throw the E71 away tho' !

 

[Deleted account 250319001]

Until recently my partner was still using my old Nokia E71 which was bought new in 2009. I finally managed to persuade her to leap to a less ancient phone mostly because of the imminent 3G shutdown which will make many older phones unviable. She still won't let me throw the E71 away tho' !

My Father in law is exactly the same. That said, He knows the phone will out see him. So he's not interested at all in changing it. What makes me laugh, is when I see him, He will always end up watching stuff on it, He gets the papers delivered every day, But reads it on my wife & my phones
Difference is, He knows and accepts a smart phone is an amazing tool, and opens up a whole world of Tech & experience. But, he's happy !

 

[Wapping]

I use:

iPhone 15 Pro Max (personal use) - Vodafone SIM.

Samsung S10 (sacrificial) but only because it fits (sort of) in the 1600’s cubbyhole and reconnects well with the bike’s own wi-fi. No SIM card. I had to learn how to use an Android phone, as I had never touched one until I bought my new 1600.

iPhone 15 plus (sacrificial). No SIM card.

These three are in Peak Design cases, so I can (when required) mount them easily on my bikes.

iPhone 11 Pro Max (office use) - Vodafone SIM. It’s in some case or other that I bought from a shop in Brick Lane.

I was using a Lebara SIM in my sacrificial phone(s) but I don’t need it. If I do want a cheap sacrificial SIM in the future, I’ll go back to Lebara or try one of the E-sim things, whatever they are. Arsey can tell me all about them whilst we hoon around Grand Canaria.

 

[Deleted account 250722001]

see here
Great tune too
life's grand!