Has anyone got one? What do you think? Seems like quite an expensive add on.
Other options? Some phones have it but I’ve been told to avoid as they are crap. I know you can get a patch on some PDAs but again probably not that easy to use.
I was coming back from France and met a couple of guys that took the ferry from Newcastle to Norway and ridden back via Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Belgium to France. He’d done it all with a car sat nav wrapped in a plastic bag (as they are not water tight obviously). He reckoned it was OK, but a bit difficult to see at dawn/dusk in low light.
i got a tomtom rider with maps of europe loaded onto it, the mounts are crap though mine cracked after hitting a big level crossing in france a while back the tomtom works ok its just the fitting it to the bike thats a pain in the arse…
i use a cheap car one i got from halfords and a couple of cable ties.A proper bike one would be better because of the fitting and being waterproof.(mine has got wet and has been ok)
the rider tom tom is good as it is bluetooth so you can hear whats being said and the buttons are bigger so you can use it with gloves.
i only use mine for going around london but it does work.You can change the settings for motorcycle but it takes you up allyways and side streets whch can be a pain.
When this is knackard i will buy a good one but this still works after two years.
I have a Zumo 550 which does the job, use it in the car too. Alot easier than using a map or getting lost, especially useful if going to a meeting where being late/lost isn’t an option.
Yep got a Zumo 550, fits nice and neatly on my bike and is ok. I’ve mostly just had mine running then logging the whole day as a trip/route for another time. It’s got me out of few sticky ‘lost’ situations but I don’t use it to anywhere near its potential.
Waterproof …tried and tested in the most dire weather Changes to the light so in the evening its brighter, I don’t even use headphones I just give it the odd glance…s0d having that Yank voice in me ear non stop
I’ve had a Zumo 550 for almost a year. It is pretty rock solid and the mount is like something industrial. It also plays mp3 music (up to 1000 songs) from an SD card which is great for long motoryway runs. I’ve used it in torrential rain and threw the bike down the road with it on. When I got back to the bike and plugged my headphones back in the music was still playing. The screen is readable in bright sunlight too.
Other useful things it does are it can display a giant speedo which you can set to Kilometers for Europe and it tells you where all the Gatsos are regardless of whether you set a route or not.
Garmin replaced a faulty battery and the cradle when one of the pins sheared all under warranty.
If you want to stay up all night reading about it go to www.zumoforums.com .
Then go to Azuras 256 Tottenham court road and tell them how much you’ve seen it for, they will then hand you a computer and you have to show them where. Then they’ll probably charge you 10 quid more than the internt price and you can take it home.
I love my garmin zumo 550 - listen to music on it too and can skip the tracks I cant be arsed with easily cos the buttons are big enough to use gloves with!
Had no problem with my car or bike mounts.
I actually haven’t figured out how to use it properly yet though so still get lost!
Did manage to program in a route last week and it worked fine - it was me that got us turning into dead end streets which was awkward cos I cant (or perhaps just wont try) U turns on the CBR!
I’ve been drooling over the TomTom Rider v2… anyone got experience of this, cos byt he sounds of this forum, Garmin users are satisfied but TomTom users aren’t…
they’re great, i doubt you’ll regret it toby. got the v1 which i’m pretty happy - haven’t bothered to wire mine in as i dont tend to do more than 5 hours riding in one day so just use its battery and velcro it to the yoke
forgot to take it with my from my missus this week and its amazing how much more aggravating running errands has been
also nice to use it to show you whats comin up on unfamiliar rounds like bends and junctions, or the ol last minute petrol station hunt
Seems to work pretty good, but specilises in finding lanes in Kent, Surrey, Sussex covered in horse ****, wet leaves, overhanging trees and big patches of gravel on bends.
Seriously, if he can find those roads and get us out of them, it’s seriously good.
I have a HTC Touch Pro mobile phone with TomTom installed. The back of the phone has velcro superglued to it.
When I want to navigate, i take my phone out of my pocket and stick it onto the dash (which has velcro also). When i park the bike, I rip my phone off (the velcro) and stick it back in my pocket. If i get a call while im riding, it shows on the screen… so i can choose to pull over to answer if i want.
Extremely versatile, no extra GPS unit, no fluffing around with mounting systems etc. Very highly recommended!
My satnav is an out of date GB atlas (or London A to Z) and a compass.
Yes, honestly, I keep a compass in my ride out bag. Not just any old compass, this one was a free gift. Pretty crappy as it only points North, but it does.
Of course it’s not a perfect system, but it’s all I can ars*d to afford.
Zumo 550 for me. Love the MP3 capability, good navigation including street names (e.g. some navs just say “turn right”, the Zumo says “turn right into Alpha Street”). Rock solid mount (I use a Telferizer mount with mine, about another £30). Works in the car too, with a separate mounting cradle (supplied) into a 12v ciggie socket. Then you can use it in any car (have you seen how much car hire companies charge extra for a sat-nav?!?). I also picked up a US maps card for about $70 (Garmin UK charge £100!) so could use it without problems in a hire car on a recent trip to the States.
Just brilliant. Pricy, but brilliant. The only downside I’ve seen is that planning routes (as opposed to just finding destinations) is tricky on the Zumo - best done at home in Mapsource (supplied) then transfer the ropute to the Zumo (easy).
Bit of a homebuilt job for mine. I use an O2 Stellar (PDA) with TomTom 6 & a blue tooth headset. A cheap car holder in the middle of the bars (on a Bandit), couple of elastic bands (the red ones the postman leaves all over the drive so a plentiful supply) for extra security and a freezerbag for waterproofing.
Don’t use it much as same route each day on the commute, but does get road tested some weekends and has not fallen off on the m’way yet.
So I get music / phone / satnav all in one nice package. The bluetooth receiver has controls for the audio and you can just about use the voice recognition to dial if not progressing too quickly.
Changes to the light so in the evening its brighter, I don’t even use headphones I just give it the odd glance…s0d having that Yank voice in me ear non stop 
