Car satnav

[Scrogs10]

I have an older car Satnav in good working order and a cheap water resistant case to put it in if used on my bike.

Is this a bad idea ? I am intending to do a few trips away next year and I was wondering if this set up would be practical out on the road on the S10.

Tomtom and Garmin motorcycle specific satnavs are 3 x the price of there car equivalent here the U.K. Its looks they they have the same operating system with one or two bike extras such as Winding Roads and obviously they are water resistant.

Are they worth the extra money ?

 

[Dogdaze]

I've been using a car specific satnav for the last 3 years, never had an issue, I can even hear it above the road/engine noise with my tall Calsci screen on. I made a sunshade for it, that wraps around the back and side so it's relatively water resistant. And if it does go 'pop' then who cares? I'll buy another for 30% of the cost of the bike satnavs.

 

[RicoChet]

Go for it! I've been using refurbished, cheap as hell $100 Garmin GPS's I buy on craigslist from people who have NAV in their cars and don't require their GPS anymore. I find a mount for handlebars and plug it into a power source, I've been using the same GPS's for almost 10 years! And even if one breaks, you can buy another cheap one used and get many more years out of it. They're not designed for "motorcycle use" but they've been through countless miles of wind, sun, heat and no problems. I would cover them up in ziploc bags or remove them if it was a downpour though.

Have fun!

 

[Squibb]

That's fair comment for the OP. The simple answer is NO, bike specific Navs are well over-priced.

I aquired a BMW NavIV (Garmin Zumo 660) free, as an enticement to buy a K1600 a couple of years back. The bike proved to be a rolling (sometimes) disaster it was so unreliable & the Nav ........ well I kept it; came with lifetime maps & still works, but is pretty clunky IMHO.

Whilst it's nice to have a waterproof/shock proof unit on a mount, I really couldn't justify the expense of replacement if/when the time comes. With the advent of Nav on Smartphones I suspect the whole industry is in for a shake-up & even these cheaper car navs will be superseded by better tech/connectivity in the not too distant future.

Then again, I still treat Nav instructions as a rider/driver aid, rather than something I must follow dutifully. Yet I have met riders when touring who frankly have absolutely no idea where they are, they are that wedded to GPS, just their proposed destination. Some of the situations they find themselves in are little short of ridiculous - like riding across a mountain range, up winding narrow passes, rather than the Motorway along the valley floor because they programmed shortest, rather than fastest or forgot to cancel avoid m/ways. Others who stopped a journey when their unit failed & holed up until a new nav could be courriered to them. Couldn't seem to even read a map. All part of lifes rich tapestry.

Ride Safe ....................... KEN

 

[FrontRangeRider]

+1..... What Squibb said. My GPS is a navaid.

When we go for a trip, SWMBO wants to make a route and program all the intersections into the route on the GPS. I always say, "no thank you. I prefer my manual method." The act of looking at a map and preparing my cue sheet helps me understand where the turn points are in relation to each other (direction and rough distance) and ensures I actually go the correct way, regardless of what the GPS says. The only time I didn't follow my protocol (and let SWMBO have her way), I led 10 riders the wrong way on the first day of a five day trip, causing an 80 mile detour via the slab instead of the intended highly scenic route. Not sure what logic in the GPS caused the weird routing but I won't ever make the mistake again.

 

[Checkswrecks]

Waterproof android cellphone with an off-line map app, such as OSMand+
::008::


Nearly all cell phones now have a built in (offline) GPS capability and you can get them off the web or BestBuy.com clearance. Don't buy the cell service, just use wifi. The only things to watch are the reviews that they can be seen in daylight and have enough memory for maps.

 

[markbxr400]

I use a Garmin Drive 60. Let's me pull whatever route it designs to whatever roads I want to ride, let's me go point to point offroad, let's me choose dirt roads if I prefer t take them and has lifetime maps. At about 30% of the cost of a MC unit, I'll toss it and buy another when it craps out. It's taken quite a beating and keeps on working. I also use a ziplock when it's raining.

 

[Chump]

I run motorcycle rallies and I have a zumo and a nuvi. Nuvi is 1/8 the price and works better, better routes and faster recalculation. However I will never not have a zumo because I don't have to worry about rain. Starts raining nuvi goes in the top box and zumo stays on the bike.

 

[Scrogs10]

Thanks for the replies.
I couldn't bring myself to to pay out over £300 on a Rider satnav but I did manage to pick up a used one for 1/3 of that.
So now I am equipped with a Tomtom Rider V5. Not yet tested but feeling confident. I did a bit of research and some people seem to think it was a good machine even compared to the new 410 at £349.