This simple answer to the problem of using a Sat Nav/GPS on a bike is something that many people have found their own way of working out, but until the So Easy Rider, I hadn't seen such an elegant, practical solution. The Easy Rider is a very simple, protective, strong, vibration free and 100% waterproof cover that we're going to review here.
I've never had the time or inclination to bother trying to learn the layout of London's roads, so when the opportunity to get a cheap, second hand TomTom presented itself, I jumped at the chance - cool! A new gadget! I even went to the extent of buying a handlebar mount on ebay so I could attach it to the Honda Hornet I had at the time. Of course, this was far from ideal as it didn't take much breaking power for my tank bag to shift forward and pop the TomTom off it's mount and send it skittering down the road!
Putting my Sat Nav in the clear top pocket of the tankbag worked well, although it meant using the bulky bag whenever I need the Sat Nav; also, the glance downwards I would have to make to see the device was just a little too distracting for me.
The main problem for many bikers when it comes to GPS systems is that although the main players in the market make a great variety of models to suit differing budgets and needs, the amount of weatherproof models suitable for use on a bike straight out of the box is severely limited - to basically the Gamin Zumo or TomTom Rider range - both of which are priced out of many people's pockets and are hard to find second hand. In car systems are plentiful both new and second hand; and if you happen to drive and ride a bike, it makes sense to have the one device you can use for both situations.
The accompanying gallery of photos is referenced throughout this review.
Enter the So Easy Rider!
Made by European company Xtream Wearther, it is a very simple, protective, strong, vibration free and 100% waterproof cover for almost any Sat Nav which can be installed on almost any motorcycle in seconds. Cordura, Neoprene, Velcro and ultra strong stitching have been used throughout with a tough transparent 'window' that is thin enough to allow the touch sensitivity required to operate a Sat Nav. Now in it's third version, the So Easy Rider is already very popular in the rest of Europe.
On test were the Kit Zumo Red So Easy Rider V3 pack, a So Easy Power V2x battery and a pair of slim, Velcro-in headphones for use in a crash helmet. I used a Garmin Nuvi 350 Sat Nav on my CBR 600 FS1 Sport. To the So Easy Rider's credit, it stayed anchored to the handlebars and held my Garmin perfectly safe during a moderate speed off I had recently.
Form
Essentially the So Easy Rider consists of a Cordura® and Neoprene® soft case with a clear top facing window. Access is via a 'sealed' weather-proof zip. It's dimensions are 17 x 13.5 x 5cm / 60 g. There is a hole in the lower side of the So Easy Rider which allows for a headphone lead to be connected to your Sat Nav, this is also weather-proof (
photos 1&2).
The So Easy Power battery's dimensions are 10 x 6 x 1.7cm it comes included with a USB to mini-USB lead (
photos 3-7).
The headphones are about 2.5cm in diameter, quite slim and made to fit next to your ear inside a helmet. They are fixed in place with a thin ring of velcro attched to the back of some foam padding which is more than sufficient to hold them in place (
photos 8-11).
What's in the box?
The first thing I noticed when opening the So Easy Rider's box was the smell of new stuff - very nice. All individual parts were wrapped seperarately with nothing floating around loose in the box. Which I think shows an attention to detail.
The Kit I was testing included the main So Easy Rider cover (
photo 1), an auxilliary/extra cover for increased protection (
photo 12), a 'click' finger stylus to enable more accurate use of the Sat Nav (
photo 13) and a shoulder strap.
Xtream Wearther also make an 'in ear' headphone system which can be used with Sat Navs that don't have a mini-jack audio out socket. One end of this sticks over the Sat Nav's speaker and sound is fed through a transparent tube to an earpiece placed, ear bud style, in the ear cavity. However, this is not part of the review. It must be noted that neither earpiece system is included with the So Easy Rider basic kit, although I guess this saves you having to put up with a system you don't like and gives you the choice to get one that works for you.
Fitting
The cover is attached with two fairly long, Velcro covered straps which wrap around themselves so that the hooks and loops of the Velcro fasten for the complete length of the strap (photo 1).
The Velcro backed headphones are easily fastened to the inside padding of a crash helmet and the excess wire routed the to a suitable location - I chose to loosen the helmet padding and place the wire behind it with the mini-jack plug, hanging down about 6cm, close to the helmet strap on the right side of my Arai (photos 8-11).
Connecting the headphones to the So Easy Rider is done with the short mini-jack (1/8") lead included in the headphones pack (photo 14). The plug end this is placed through the hole in the bottom side of the So Easy Rider with the socket end outside of the cover (photos 41&42). The main headphone lead then connects the short lead to the headphones and can be secured to your jacket with the supplied crocodile clip. The main lead also has a useful volume control dial (photo 16).
The So Easy Power has a space set aside for it in the So Easy Rider cover with a Cordura flap separating it from the GPS (photo 17). Charging the battery means connecting the USB plug of the supplied lead into a computer and the mini-USB to the So Easy Rider, the same lead is used, in reverse, to feed power to the GPS; this means that it only powers devices that have mini-USB sockets, but most modern systems do these days (photos 7&22).
The device charges in a few hours and the power remaining in the battery is shown by five ultra bright blue LEDs on the face of the battery (photo 3). The button below the LEDs illuminates the LEDs to show the remaining power with 1 light = nearly discharged and 5 lights = fully charged. Xtream Wearther claim an extra 10 hours of use of a Sat Nav with the So Easy Power. Use of this battery would make obsolete the need to attach a power socket to your bike in certain circumstances.
The 'Click' finger stylus is attached to your selected finger with the pointer facing downwards and is secured with a non-adjustable rubber band (photo 46).
Use
As mentioned earlier, I have 'crash tested' the So Easy Rider and it survived the off very well, although admittedly it wasn't a high speed collision. It has also been at 'progress making' motorway speeds and been rock solid - gotta love Velcro.
The stylus is made to fit securely over a gloved hand, which it does well if placed correctly, but I found this can make it difficult to attach in the first place; I didn't use it because of this and lost it soon afterwards; and before you ask, yes, I had some problems selecting things on my Sat Nav.
One thing that suffers at higher speeds is the ability to hear directions via the headphones. I have even tried without earplugs, but the wind noise gets too much for me to hear directions past about 50mph. Please remember that this may also be due to my hearing ability!
The Garmin I use emits a warning beep before giving directions which I could still hear and used as a cue to take a quick glance at the Sat Nav (not a good idea, I admit) to confirm the direction. However, at regular 'city' speeds, the headphones were more than adequate. I especially enjoyed knowing that they were already in my lid rather than having to remember to put them in each time I wanted to use them.
The headphone lead is of decent quality, although there seems to be a weak point where the volume dial is connected as the lead I tested required electrical tape on either end of the dial casing to secure it to the lead. Wires inside the casing were exposed when the lead separated from the casing has caused problems with stereo separation, but not volume. Also the crocodile clip was lost fairly quickly, so it now moves about in the wind at the motorway speeds - this is only a niggle and did not affect the connection in any way.
I feel that these problems could possibly be alleviated by the lengthening of the headphones lead which would reduce the stress on any points of attachment and perhaps redesigning the clip.
The sound quality is more than adequate considering the expected use of the headphones. It would be silly to expect top-of-the-line quality from small, affordable headphones when there is gap between them and your ears which often contains fast moving air! The music I played through them was faithfully, reproduced if a little tinny (emphasis on higher frequencies - ideal for spoken directions); besides, being able to hear other traffic around you in town is a good thing.
Using the So Easy Power battery is really a no-brainer - just secure it in the case with the elastic strap, fold down the dividing flap, plug it into your Sat Nav and away you go (photos 18-20 & 22/23). I found that with the Garmin, it was better to use the So Easy Power as a portable recharger and leave it plugged in until the Sat Nav showed full charge (which it did very quickly - photo 24) and then remove the So Easy Power, rather than leave it constantly connected to the Garmin. One LED on the battery seemed to equal one full charge of the GPS in my case.
I didn't get the chance to use the So Easy Rider on my arm, although I can see that it would be secure and very useful around town especially if you have many stops to make, but less useable at faster motorway speeds.
Related Links
www.soeasyrider.com
Kit Moto So Easy Rider V3
Kit Zumo Red
So Easy Power V2x
