This month’s RiDE magazine, phone app’s for navigation article

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This month’s magazine, in the shops today but with September on the cover, has a pretty good several page review of assorted phone app’s. Worth a look if that’s your thing. For simple, “Tell me how to get from A to B, maybe for free and I don’t want to plot anything myself and I don’t want to buy a Garmin or a TomTom” use, they are undoubtedly pretty good.

Here’s a screen shot of the opening page of the article:

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Interesting comment from the article on data use:

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Some phone packages limit the size of overseas data packages, to under that available in the UK. So do check, before you hoon off to the south of Spain..... and don’t moan when your phone loses its 3g or 4g signal, gets soaking wet, won’t function unless you take your gloves off, doesn’t recognise your face with your helmet on, whizzes past your shoulder as you hurtle along or shuts down, baked in the heat, to leave you lost with no shade to be seen for miles.

From elsewhere in the magazine, a gizmo that might be a useful way to extend your phone’s battery life if you don’t have it charged via the bike.

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I wonder why they didn't include the Tomtom Go app? I tend to use it in the car all the time now in favour of my Rider 400. It can be programmed with hilly & twisty routes from the MyDrive app just like a Rider sat-nav. Maps are downloaded so no network connection required. Includes traffic updates and speed cameras and a 1 month, 3 month or a whole year subscription for just £14. Highly recommended

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
 
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Be just spent a few days in Europe with guys running garmins, god they are crap, lousy routing and difficulties in rerouting on the fly, then there was the time when the navigator’s Garmin deciding to go into re processing mode on entry to a roundabout so he totally missed the big blue signs showing us the way to Calais (which was all of 20 miles away)

I’m a Co Pilot person, really easy to set and amend routes an because you load the maps onto the phone you don’t need Data. I’ll put up with an iffy touchscreen and the phone turning itself down if it gets too hot so as to not put up with Garmins crappy screens and old fashioned operating system.


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the navigator’s Garmin... on entry to a roundabout so he totally missed the big blue signs showing us the way to Calais (which was all of 20 miles away)

I’d sack the navigator or persuade him to gain a little imagination on the way to the optician’s.

Anyway, why weren’t you leading everyone all day, instead of fuming at their (and Garmin’s) ineptitude whilst sat at the back?
 
Be just spent a few days in Europe with guys running garmins, god they are crap, lousy routing and difficulties in rerouting on the fly, then there was the time when the navigator’s Garmin deciding to go into re processing mode on entry to a roundabout so he totally missed the big blue signs showing us the way to Calais (which was all of 20 miles away)

Hence useful to be looking where you are going instead of relying on any device, these devices for me are basically get out of trouble when you are seriously lost, and a little help to see the shape of oncoming roads.
 
Never had a problem with my Garmin (Nav v). Just done 3 days around wales and didn’t really put a foot wrong, apart from the location of petrol stations being woefully out of date. So did have to refer to my phone once, luckily had signal at that point.


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I have been using the MyRoute Navigation app for a while now, in preference to my previous Nav V which I have now sold, so was pleased to see that it got recommended as the best app in the Bike article. The app is pretty good, and pre-planned routes and country maps can all be downloaded in advance, so no data connection is needed on the road. It has one or two relatively minor issues, but is still being developed, and there are very frequent releases with bug fixes and improvements. I have now used it for two tours so far this year, one in Spain and the other in France, via my phone securely fixed to my GS with a QuadLock mount, and it has done everything I need. In particular the close integration of the route planning and navigation functions means it is very quick to alter a route or create a new one, even on the phone, though you can do it on a PC or laptop too - basically you just slide the map around under some crosshairs, zoom in for accurate placement, and then click on the add waypoint button. You can easily call up the list of waypoints in a route to remove unwanted ones or re-order them, particularly if you have added new waypoints. Routes get stored in the MyRoute cloud, so can be accessed for editing by, or downloading to, multiple devices. I found it very easy to create the next day's route in Spain where we did not have a pre-planned itinerary, and just booked the next hotel and set up the next day's route the night before. This would have been a real faff with the Nav V.
 
I wonder why they didn't include the Tomtom Go app? I tend to use it in the car all the time now in favour of my Rider 400. It can be programmed with hilly & twisty routes from the MyDrive app just like a Rider sat-nav. Maps are downloaded so no network connection required. Includes traffic updates and speed cameras and a 1 month, 3 month or a whole year subscription for just £14. Highly recommended

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tomtom.gplay.navapp
I'd agree with that. I've barely used my Rider 400 since getting the phone app which has the same layout, features & usability as the dedicated sat nav.

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MyRoute - can you create or modify routes without an internet connection and do the maps show contours or shaded topography?
 
I like Garmin stuff and have used it extensively for yonks with both mapsorse and basecamp. If I can master it almost anyone can. You just have to take a bit of time and have fun and a laugh when YOU make errors programming the bloody things. I dont use all the functions - just the ones needed for a great day out or a nice route to a destination. Music telephone etc. I leave them alone whilst riding
 


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