OK time to update
Right I thought I’d give an update on a project I started working on a few weeks ago.
With my upcoming trip to Dent imminent, I want to improve my Nav / music / phone
Situation.
Previously with my Zumo 550 it was music via the phone, and the Nav was just a projector as the 550 doesn’t support A2DP and my headset Sena SMH5 didn’t support multiple BT connections
I changed the Nav a few weeks ago to a Nav IV, and whilst it was I big improvement,
I found it lagging way behind newer Nav units both in operation & functionality
Nice screen, Full A2DP, but the Nav would cut BT audio every time it gave an instruction (why??) and it still had hang ups (lol) with sharing between BT devices
Its OS was still basic and renaming options apps in an attempt to make it look up to date is a bit of a joke. It does have the benefit of lifetime maps, but speed cams is an extra £20 PA.
The Nav VI addresses some of the shortcomings, and finally will allow music to be streamed from your phone, whilst giving you Nav instructions and the screen is nice and bright too, integration with the bike is a bonus, although only if you have a compatible BMW.
On the downside the screen is still on 5” diagonal,And the price is literally eye watering anywhere from £550- £650
I did a quick search of my local auto emporium and found
The most expensive 5” nav was £299, 6” was £289 and the 6.95” was £250
Still near on 50% cheaper than the nav VI, - so what does the extra £250 give you
Waterproofing and ruggedisation appear to be the only things I can see.
Anyway that’s not the purpose of this update, I’ve other plans
So as you’ve seen, the standard size for a nav unit appears to be 5” diagonally
A nice size piece of real estate, but it soon becomes cluttered when you start adding
Icons, speed warnings, junction views, etc. Smart coding and OS management help
But you need to see stuff clearly and make sense of what’s being displayed.
And I’m going to be honest, in your 20’s 5” is the equivalent of a sheet of A3 in front of your face, you could probably pick out individual pixels on screen lol
So to bastardise a phrase, two score and ten years on, a 5” screen is the equivalent of a postage stamp when its 24 inches from your face lol
(its not but you get the idea) Looking at what’s around, I found the following
Nav IV 4.75” diagonal
Garmin Zumo 55 5” diagonal
Honor 9 (phone) 5” diagonal
Nav VI 5” diagonal
So I wanted some more real estate..
Enter the Nexus 7
7” of pixel heaven and with an overall size of 190mm x 120mm its overall size meant it could sit in the area of the low screen above the Kombi and still give me a clear view of the road ahead
A quick search of the web showed it had been done before, so it was a viable option.
So what did I have and what did need –
I had Nexus 7 32GB wifi model running Jelly bean
A GSA nav bar
A short Ram arm
A Ram plate & ball
What did I need?
A mount for the Nexus
Bar mount to lift the Nexus up and away from the Kombi
A waterproof case for the Nexus
Ebay came up with the goods and I ended up with a case & mount and a bar mount
So plastic flashed and posty on his way the parts arrived
Bar mount self explanatory,
Case and mount, not good,
the case was good, however the mount was useless.
The nexus flopped round like it was on a jelly … so I was going to have to go to work
Removing the original mount on the back of the case was easy, I just cut the liner in
The back of the case and unscrewed the mount.
The holes / mounting posts didn’t fit to the Ram ball, but 5 minutes with a drill and Stanley knife rectified that.
Fitment to the Nexus was good, the case comes with 3 thickness if neoprene shims to stop the unit from moving, I used all 3 it keeps the Nexus pressed against the plastic case
So now I have a case with ram ball on the back coupled to a short arm
One bank holiday weekend later and I have a bar mount
Fitting was straight forward, I slid the Nav IV mount to the left and bolted the bar mount in and angles everything to an approximate position.
It’s WIP at the moment so needs final tweaks
Now the fun starts –
Rigidity and flexibility.
There is some vibration seen in the unit, this I think is due to the small mount plate coupled with the physical overhang of the unit. It’s not a problem but could be better if I wanted to be a perfectionist.
Doing a search of the web I came across a Brodit powered mount, heaven!
For those who don’t know Brodit, they are the equivalent of Ram for automotive mounts of phones & navs.
Believe me, if you have a Brodit mount in your car its tailor made to the panel / it’s mounted to, and it wont move, ever.
The downside – not cheap near on £90 for a new unit
The bay had some cheaper used stuff, so there on watch at the moment.
The other option is an ally plate bolted inside to give some rigidity
But that’s for later … So we have a display, mount, and power, albeit internal, but that’s another topic to address
Screen legibility
In daylight I’ll admit there are some issues with reflection and glare,
However I had the unit on half brightness, so that could be tweaked, and I have a sun shade on order. The plastic screen of the case does reflect somewhat, so a matt screen may be called for However in darker or overcast conditions it’s legible
Software –
This is where the fun starts; the nexus runs droid, so the play store was the place to start
I looked at free stuff first, and there’s plenty of it. And plenty of shite too.
Shonky front ends and linking apps are not sat navs lol
After an evening of downloading, installing, configuring, and uninstalling lol I’d narrowed it down a bit.So the arsenal consisted of
Co pilot
Tom Tom go
Igo
Navigator
Navrut moto
Here wego
Navion
Navfree
Maps me
Kurviger
There were loads more, but they either didn’t work with the nexus, or they required a data plan, and the nexus I have doesn’t have a sim card option
So that kissed goodbye to Android Auto & Waze
Testing
Each is being subjected to two runs - from Home to work, & vice versa
At this stage its work in progress so the results may change lol
Co – pilot
Pros
Nice screen layout,
Good clear voice instructions at low and high speed
Seamless integration with media being streamed from the nexus (spotty offline mode)
No audio stopping and starting to give nav instructions
Cons
If it goes off map, it wont recentre, voice still works but the display just stays on the last picture it has.
Speed cameras, not tested. Either for voice or position
It’s a free app, but to upgrade traffic and cams is £10.99 for the year
Tom Tom Go
Pro’s
Speech is outstanding, with the best descriptions of routing, clear and fully descriptive
Cons
Speech lol, the audio at high speeds is too low, whether it needs a menu tweak I don’t know, but it was the only negative
Speed cams not tested
Free app or £4.99 pcm or £14.99 PA
Navigator
2 versions - Free & TTG maps
Free version
Pro’s
Best screen display so far Uncluttered and legible
Cons
Screen goes dark after a couple of minutes ( settings box not ticked lol)
Spoken audio very basic, but may be tweak able
So there you are …
Next steps is a long term test –
I’m aiming to take it with me to Dent as a trial by fire so to speak
( The Nav iv / phone will be there as backup though)