so if I want to use my android phone on the bike, what do I need to set it up?

[birdseye]

I need a gps for the bike and one with bluetooth to my helmet . I have a Nexus 4 phone so how do I set it up for the bike? Waterproof holder? RAM mount attachment? Charging cable? Decent software and maps? And what is recommended as a helmet earpiece - not two way, just route guidance

 

[JKW]

Software - I use Copilot - low cost, free lifetime map updates, can plan routes in anything you like and use Routeconvertor to convert to .trp files, copy to phone and Bob, as they say, is your uncle.

 

[birdseye]

is there an equivalent app that I can have on the phone itself? or is it best to use google maps?

is co-pilot really free? there seemed to be a charge for voice guidance

 

[Bumpkin]

Route planning in CoPilot itself is easier than most sat navs TBH, a bit fiddly due to screen size, but easier than my Garmin 660. You can drag a route to influence it's path.

Haven't seen any appropriate route planning apps yet. Easy to do on PC using the likes of ITN Converter or TYRE, both of which use the Google Maps API. I prefer ITN Converter myself as it's got a cleaner interface and you can also use Michelin mapping which has all those green edged scenic routes that almost always make great biking roads. ITN Converter saves in TRP format albeit currently v8. The current CoPilot produces v9 files, however, v8 seems to work OK, not sure what the difference is? My mate used CoPilot on his iPhone for our recent Pyrenees trip and used the v8 files I produced for him using ITN Converter without issue.

As stated above, you can use RouteConverter to spit out v9 TRP files from most GPS route file formats.

 

[cbrgaz]

You could also try sygic, nice 3d view and uses tomtom maps...................can be had for free if you look in the right places lol.

 

[buellzebub]

You could also try sygic, nice 3d view and uses tomtom maps...................can be had for free if you look in the right places lol.

+1 for Sygic. I've been using it in the car for a while now and it's pretty good. It also works 'offline' so no data charges when abroad and it still works if no signal over here.

Mick

livin' the dream

 

[JKW]

is there an equivalent app that I can have on the phone itself? or is it best to use google maps?

is co-pilot really free? there seemed to be a charge for voice guidance

Didn't say it was free... I said 'low cost'! I bought the Western Europe Premium package (I think ) which was about £30 from memory - something ending £9.99 anyway - and use it in my pocket just following the voice guidance which is excellent as it provides full street name instructions in a 'proper' voice rather than in Steven Hawking style robot-speak. You have to bear in mind that 'bear right' or 'keep right' often means 'turn right' but, that aside, it's quite 'followable'. If you get lost it re-routes automatically as you would expect.

I do all my route planning (such as it is) in Routeconvertor itself on the PC. Just pop in waypoints on the map, turn these into a route and then 'save as' a Copilot .trp file on the phone. The only 'difficult' bit is finding out where Copilot needs the .trp file saving in order to find it again - it's a different directory for each version/package! What I did was create a route in Copilot, saved it as '12345' and then used Windows Explorer to search the phone memory to find out where it had stored '12345.trp'...simples!

 

[birdseye]

OK that sounds like a way forward.

so for the practical questions:
1/ whats the best way to protect the phone on a bike?
2/ best way to hold the phone?
3/ how to get sound to my ear?

I had thought of simply putting the phone in the breast pocket of my jacket with a wired earpiece but there are times when you need to glance at the map to interpret the verbal instruction. There is also the issue of charging / battery life - I have 12v in my topbox so I could put the phone in there but again the visibility question

So for those guys using their phones, how have you tackled these issues?

 

[cbritton]

OK that sounds like a way forward.

so for the practical questions:
1/ whats the best way to protect the phone on a bike?
2/ best way to hold the phone?
3/ how to get sound to my ear?

I had thought of simply putting the phone in the breast pocket of my jacket with a wired earpiece but there are times when you need to glance at the map to interpret the verbal instruction. There is also the issue of charging / battery life - I have 12v in my topbox so I could put the phone in there but again the visibility question

So for those guys using their phones, how have you tackled these issues?

You Can Mount it in a case ón your handlebars if you want to see it. We dó a selection of cases / power cables ón ridermount.com
Regards, [email protected]

 

[Bumpkin]

Make sure the power connector, where it plugs into the phone, is well supported. If this is 'swinging free' the vibrations and shock may well kill the connector or the phone. My touring buddy's iPhone died a week ago, this was after one charging lead had already gone bad.

Ultimate Add Ons case (search eBay for that and your phone model) combined with RAM parts to mount to your bike and one of the USB power solutions out there (or make one up for about £10 using bits from Maplin). I did the latter and have a cigar lighter adapter in my tank bag, so I can use it for other devices, and just plug the HTC mini USB adapter into that to charge my phone.

 

[SamK]

+1 for the ultimate addons case. They also do a range of chargers.
I have my iphone mounted on the standard GS LC sat nav bar using a handlebar mount with some extra padding for the smaller diameter bar and powered from the aux power socket.