I’ve had a look at MRA and it seems quite good, I like the track log feature but would like to know more before I subscribe. I’ve just sorted out a decent mount for the phone on the bike (Peak Design) and I’m now looking for a good navigation app.
For the first time in about 35 years, I went abroad without at least a GPS device, riding 700 miles along the D roads of France, Belgium and Luxembourg, using nothing more than the MyRoute app running on a bike powered sacrificial waterproof iPhone 15 (with no SIM card, so zero data usage) fixed to a Peak Design mount.
The phone / app behaved perfectly. Any errors I made were of my own making, right at the start when I hadn’t got used to the display and one when I somehow overode the clear app’s clear instruction and rode towards Calais, when of course I needed to ride towards Reims. No excusing that one!
Upsides:
The phone stayed fully charged.
Placing shaping points every five kilometres (three miles) as recommended by MyRoute for bespoke routes, helped me to reset a bespoke route and navigate around a large road closure.
Route recalculation was quick and pretty much reliable. As with any dumb (but really pretty clever)) device, you do have to say to yourself “No! I am NOT going down that forest fire trail goat track, thank you very much”.
The new and improved integration between MyRoute’s Navigation app and MyRoute’s cloud based RoutePlanner worked well.
The downloaded maps and routes, all worked well.
Roundabout instructions were clear, MyRoute having sorted out the previous problem, caused by its integration with HERE msps.
The phone did not suffer in some persistent drizzle but I did not encounter any all day lashing down rain, so the jury is still out on that one.
The voice directions were clear, though not as loud as those from my Garmin device.
I didn’t run any music or take phone calls on the move, not least as I never do.
The Peak Design mount was damped enough, to stop the phone jiggling around too much. I was never worried that the phone (housed in a Peak Design case) was about to fly off.
Downsides:
Sometimes the phone’s screen would not respond to my finger touches. This made zooming in and out on the move, a hit-and-miss affair.
The cursor position sometimes lagged behind my actual position on the road. Occasionally it would leap forward, just as I got to a small country road turn off.
Sometimes, when putting the phone onto the mount, I pressed on the phone’s volume button, reducing it.
Conclusion:
1. MyRoute have made a good job of it and, most importantly, ironed out the wrinkles (particularly the power demand) that had troubled earlier versions of the app.
2. Whether heavy and persistent rain affects the phone, with the water hitting the screen being interpreted as finger touches, I don’t yet know.
3. I still like the rugged independence and overall reliability of a modern Garmin device. It’s very reliable touch screen is one clear advantage. One linked to a bike’s ’wonder wheel’ thing is even better.
4. Would I use a phone that was not sacrificial? No.
5. Is having a SIM card in the phone a must? No. There again, data useage if you do have one installed and active is pretty minimal.
6. For some uses, MyRoute does require an internet connection. This is no big deal in Western Europe, which is awash with free WiFi.
7. Peak Design’s bike mount requires the phone to be powered via a flying lead, plugged into the phone itself. They will be bringing out a powered (wireless charging) motorcycle mount later this year or early next. I may well upgrade to one, not least as their non-waterproof car wireless charging mount does work well.
