Does anyone use sat nav on their bike and if so is it easy to use and effective?
Any recommendations on what type or where does good deals?
I was looking at this one
http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/tomtom-rider-description.html
I don’t but will be. I know MatCBF and Westie uses that system.
One thing to watch out for is the mount used isn’t as good as it could be and many people go for aftermaket ones. Touratech do one.
I use TomTom rider and love it to bits… I bought the car cradle aswell which makes it well useful.
Our own Charlie is the man to see. He ordered and fitted mine with an LB discount.
yep… ~Talk to Charlie… Me I ask for direction… But only when I cross a sexy lady… Being French and all I get away with it 
Charlie fitted one for me too. Great piece of kit 
Kewl
If anyone speaks to charlie can you ask him to give me a shout.
Thanx
I’ve used one a couple of times and they pi$$ me off… Good thing I have a photographic map memory
Main critisism I have of the Tom Tom rider is the itinerary feature is crap, I would like to be able to make it take you down certain roads, but this doesn’t seem to work that wonderfully well, it would be great if you could make it plan a route joining all your fave bits of road, but it just doesnt seem to want to do this and re-routes you at every opportunity missing out your favourite roads GRRR!
Yey, agree with you there, the itin feature is dreadful. Also because the TomTom system is closed you can’t trans-code itins from other systems. Bloody annoying and I can’t find a hack either 
JZ, I have the Tom Tom rider and I also bought it from that website (so has Overboost). Charlie fitted mine for me and did an excellent job! The mounts that come with it aren’t very good for a sports bike but he had the solution . He has a link on this site which includes his mobile number, not sure where it is but if you find one of his posts, it’s in his signature.
As for not being able to include your favourite roads on an itinery, if they are your favourite roads why would you need sat nav to tell you how to get there?? If you dont go with the directions it gives you it will adjust it’s route accordingly.
I use an Aldi-bought Medion GPS.
Go on, laugh.
You can get this + European maps for the princely sum (inclduding 1GB memory card) of £130 (approximately).
You can power through a cigarette socket adapter. It bolts to handlebars (must be a custom mount somewhere for other types?). The maps are great, it’s easy to use and packed with features (from POI’s to custom waypoints). It’s not waterproof but I bung it in a case or pocket and listen to the voice instructions.
It’s handy because I can switch it to a car aswell. I’ve field tested it for nigh on a year now, in London, Scotland, France and High Wycombe.
got one too. love it. had enough of those ‘lost in the middle of nowhere moments’
have a few gripes with it myself but overall does the job well. dont like the fact you have to specify the city first before the road as i dont always know. dont like the tomtom site much either, pain to navigate
anyone tried the buddies feature on the lastest software update?
Funnily enough I’ve written 2 reviews for GPS units on bikes - the TomTom and the new Garmin - I use the TomTom day to day - it’s wonderful - I really wouldn’t be without it now - I also have the in car kit and it works a treat.
The only down side is my mount has gone a little ‘soft’ so it’s not holding it as secure as it could - but TomTom are replacing it with a newer stiffer one 
m
Yes I’ve got the exact one you’re looking at, it’s very good, with clear bluetooth headset instructions, and yes you can hear them even on a bike! in fact I go according to what I hear rather than see on the screen, as you can imagine, unless I’m at the lights then I can have a good look.
The touch screen is very user friendly, glare proof & rain proof (tried & tested!), quite tricky though with gloved fingers.
The only thing it doesn’t do, which I find annoying, is not tell you the street name you should be turning into, it just says left or right. Apparently other (more expensive) sat navs like Garmin I think have that advantage, so check that out first.
Hope this has been helpful.
It says the name of the street you’re turning into on the bottom of the screen If it’s not there, you can change your preferences to include it.
Yep, I have a Tom Tom too, excellent. Hooked it up myself, lead to the battery and can keep charged on the move. Works a treat, ditto to the earpiece just velcroed into the ear area between the cheek pad and helment, audio via bluetooth.
Touch screen works well with even the thickest gloves.
i find the earpiece speaker you vecro in too quiet to hear even on max vol
Definitely worth having if you tour.
Use a Garmin unit (badged BMW Nav II), mainly for touring in Europe, much easier than maps, helps you find petrol stations, hotels etc and tends not to blow away in wind or get damp in the wet - and if you do make a mistake, at least it tells you where you are/suggests a correction!
As this also links to a PC and lets you put in waypoints, you can easily build up the route you want, ie decent biking roads from A to B, not just the shortest or quickest. Though remember it is a computer, and so if its map says there is a useable road it will take you on it - so can find yourself being asked to do odd things (eg up steep, 1 metre wide path with steps in middle in Italian hill town), ie still need to check what it suggests before head off. But as has it has detailed maps you can find fantastic smaller roads that you would miss on usual large scale map.
Some sites etc also let you download a garmin route, eg some on http://www.bestbikingroads.com/. Even use on familiar routes as distance to go/arrival time estimates can help.
I also love the phone feature. Nice to take calls on a boring section of Mway
Hi,
I found this a few times but the solution for me that works everytime is:
-
Fully charge the bluetooth before going out
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Make sure that the speaker inside the soft outer packing that has the velcro on the otherside is next to your ear. When you put the helmet on the speaker may move about so you might need to pull it down so that it is right opposite your ear. It can be fiddly but it makes a huge difference. I think when you slide the helmet on the velcro outer case stays where it is but the speaker inside slips up to the top so you need to pull it back down whilst the helmet is on to get it in the right location opposite the base of your ear (lughole).
If you do that, then I am not sure why it is quiet but on max volume right next to my ear, I have to turn it down as it is too loud.
Then again “if it’s too loud your’e too old?”