Sat Nav?

[mickrick]

Thinking about one of these for my road trip this summer. I hate them in the car. I'm old school and prefer to use a map.
But I'm thinking it might be handy on the bike while riding up through Spain and U.K. to get to the IOM ferry.
I've been considering the Tom Tom Rider. Anyone use one.
Or should I just man up and stick with a map and tea stops

[moanthebairns]

Why would anyone use a map these days.

[bogie]

if you carry a smartphone use that with free google maps...worked fine for all my trips last year to Spain, IOM and europe

I cant be arsed carrying another few hundred quid gadget that needs charging every day when ive already got one

[groundcontrol]

moanthebairns said:

Why would anyone use a map these days.

I do quite a bit and I'm not even middle-aged or owt init. Although tend to remember my route before I set off rather than constantly refer to it.

Satnavs are the most annoying piece of technology on the planet.

[mickrick]

I have to agree, I do tend to find them rather annoying.
I'm going to get myself a Baglux tank bag, maybe I should get one with a map pocket.
If I use Google maps, wont I be paying roaming charges on my Spanish mobile?

Can you tell I'm not a gadget person?

[cramman]

So is this a good thread to ask for decent phone mount options. I'm planning an alps trip so would be useful.

[Wedg1e]

Buy a cheap car Nuvi, they work just as well on a bike. If it rains a lot, put it inside a thin (clear!) plastic bag.

.. and IMHO the higher up you can site it the better as it saves you having to look down. On my bike the satnav is a few inches higher than the clocks, almost just below the horizon
Someone's bound to say that their 'nav is mounted down by their scrotum and that really, how much of a problem is it, but I find that the time you need a satnav the most is in town when you're trying to grab the right exit off a roundabout or finding fifth left off the Rue De Centimes on market day when taking your eyes off the road is risky, let alone apparently examining yourself for pubic lice.

[bogie]

mickrick said:

I have to agree, I do tend to find them rather annoying.
I'm going to get myself a Baglux tank bag, maybe I should get one with a map pocket.
If I use Google maps, wont I be paying roaming charges on my Spanish mobile?

Can you tell I'm not a gadget person?

yes, but its not that dear anymore, might cost you a quid here and there

buy a £30 waterproof mount, and either take a spare battery or wire up a USB charge lead for it

I dont use it all the time, a few notes with key direction changes on a piece of paper on the tank. Only use the nav getting in and out of cities etc

[anonymous-user]

I use a waterproof handle bar mount with a clear window.

Add iphone,

Add an anker usb battery.

Bob is your uncle.

[anonymous-user]

You can get free apps that store the data so no need to use any data what so ever.

I think I use nav free in the states

[mickrick]

Data roaming on my mobile will cost me a fortune. Spanish contracts are not like the U.K.
Thanks for the replies though

[Willy Nilly]

Please follow the highlighted route

[BobSaunders]

Buy TomTom Europe on Apple iphone for £44.99. Continuously updated. No cost on data roaming as all maps are local on the device. It's a big download (use wifi), and big install - so you may have to make some space on the phone or device.

I used it to travel around Scotland last summer in the car and it never skipped a beat

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/tomtom-europe/id35...

Just a matter of powering it.

[moanthebairns]

I'm always getting lost. That's part of the beauty of it. You go places you don't know.

When I told my old boss that he didn't think the same when I was constantly late for jobs.

Honestly I'm worse than james may. I once tried to go to livingstone and ended up in Edinburgh and then Glasgow.

Almost 100 miles for a 15 miles drive.

[bogie]

mickrick said:

Data roaming on my mobile will cost me a fortune. Spanish contracts are not like the U.K.
Thanks for the replies though

guess it depends on your contract, im with Vodafone and spent 10 days in Spain on the bike last year, maybe used the nav for an hour or two per day and never even noticed it, I think it was included in my deal, I have a Euro contract with data as I use it on business anyway

you can buy navigation apps for a phone that dont use data too.

[Dibble]

CoPilot for the iPhone. £25 for the whole of Europe (East AND West) and obvioulsy the UK. CoPilot uses the GPS chip, so no data roaming charges whatsoever. I've used CoPilot all the round round Scandinavia, as far up as the Arctic Circle in Finland. Door to door, no issues.

Ultimate Addons case/mount. Not cheap, but rock solid. Power cable, waterproof cables and case and mount should be about £55.

[Hemingway]

But which of these allow you to use itn routes? I.e. Plan a route on say 'tyre' with lots of waypoints so it takes you down the interesting roads you want and send this to your sat Nav?

I know the TomTom rider does. I have an old TomTom that did this, but this needs replacing and the new car TomToms don't include itn routes anymore. Prefer to use an app on my iPhone, but needs the itn function.

[Wedg1e]

Some Nuvis will accept .itn routes but not all.

[mickrick]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's an itn route?

[vonhosen]

Tom Tom itinerary routes file extension. You plot a route on the computer & then load it to the satnav. The satnav goes through the waypoints you input.