Hi. Having received all your wealth regarding satnav the missus and i have decided to purchase the ultimate add-on setup for our iPhones for weatherproof, powered navigation as 2 x 'Garmin this and 2 x Tom Tom that' at £400 each would leave little to spend on our trip next friday. I'm just curious if you guys have experienced stupid phonebills for data to use iphones for nav? Or, whether it would be cheaper to get a decent app to do a similiar / better job, assuming this will not use data? Would appreciate your experience. We're off next Friday, heading to Grenoble, N85 Route Napoleon, westwards across Pyrenees & back home via West coast of France. Little planning has gone into it either as we'll take it as it comes. We've 17 days away, no pressure, best best possible luggage systems (make your own mind up!) a GoPro and hopefully Wifi access to share the journey, any tips and comments appreciated. Just dont want to waste grin factor money on damn data charges thanks
The good looking stuff that packs loads and sits securely on a rack....... You may spot it on my trip update pix that will follow in a week or so time!.....
decent app...........Tom Tom or similar using the GPS element of the phone is surely the cheaper option ??
Used my Tom Tom go on a telferizer mount and weatherproof enclosure for the IOM last yr.... Never got lost round the mountain ! Lol
i just use a tomtom start 20 europe - it sticks to the tank with its own sucker and didnt come off on the autobahn flat out! its got ALL the euro maps, unlike some that say europe but only do western europe. best part is theyre cheap as fk. i bought mine as a refurb as i got the first one nicked out my van - its just as good as the brand new one and has same warranty. Amazon.co.uk: tom tom europe 20 on the journey to misano last year it got piss wet and didnt fail on me... and i mean piss wet as in 800 miles of monsoon! honestly after using this i wouldnt bother with the fancy bike specific satnavs
I used the iphone map app in scotland, but you could try NavFree abroad. I cant remember what countries it covers but its free to find out.
I personally love the copilot app! its a great sat nav and updated regularly for FREE. and the best bit is the maps are stored on your iPhone, so no data charges!! and no I dont work for them, i just thank praise is due. CoPilot Live Premium for iPhone
NavFree is a free ap on iTunes and just uses GPS so no Data charges. Personally, despite owing an iPhone I went with a Car based TomTom in a water proof case mounted using an UM centre yolk mount, all in less than £200 and far better than an iPhone plus a bigger 5" screen.
Ipad mini powered on bike running copilot hd premium,faultless performance and no data charges View attachment 11315 . Ultimate addons power supply from bike avail from buybits I use a gns5870 bluetooth dongle for gps data as its ultra accurate because pilots use them got from fleabag for £65
My Tank Bag will take an iPad which will run the same NavFree software I mentioned earlier. Trouble is I found my eyes were just too close to the iPad when in a riding position and just couldn't focus on the screen properly hence why I bought the TomTom setup
I have the ultimate addons kit on my bike and its excellent. I also have the Western Europe Tom Tom app for my iPhone and this doesn't use any data charges as it relies on the internal GPS receiver. I've used it all over Europe on bike trips and its worked flawlessly. Hope this helps.
Thanks F1reblade. i dont fancy jailbreaking my fone and pretty sure buying the app will be cheaper in the long run than a big spend on bike satnav and/or data charges for NP's We do alot of trips to france and Belgium as drinkers & smokers! Now we've copilot, navfree and W.E. tom tom to consider. Take some explaining if we were to get lost now eh?
I found this when I had the TomTom in the bag too, had to cover with hand to see, and, the cover tended to press the screen, dont get me wrong, I'd learn to live with it? But then I knew most of the Scotland route, it's the Spanish trip that would phase me a little running like this I think?
You're welcome. Also a point to note, the Gadget show recently ran a comparison with a dedicated Tom Tom and the app on the iPhone. Unbelievably the app won as it freshers quicker and the only thing they could criticise it for was the screen size. Win win in my book
+1 for navfree, I've got all of uk, Benelux and France and Germany on the iphone. Used it last year and it was faultless. This year I have a zumo 660 fitted though, but that's because it was too good a deal to miss, was happy enough with the phone, but didn't have a power lead fitted so just switched the phone functions and wifi off to save battery life, got a good seven hours out of it, and charged it with a power monkey every stop. Using the solar panel charger strapped to the bike I could charge the monkey whilst on the move.
You need to be careful in France using a sat nav on a bike as I believe they might have been banned or only if they contain speed camera locations, MCN had an article about it not long ago!
I use a £50 ebay satnav with whole of Europe - its been good so far, maybe not fully waterproof but could always go in a bag. Makes bike specific stuff look very expensive something like this 5" New Car GPS Sat Nav Navigation Bluetooth Europe Map POI TTS SpeedCam DDR128MB | eBay or 5 inch Sat Nav Car GPS Navigation Free 8GB TF Card With Europe UK Maps POI GP17 | eBay
As mentioned earlier I've found said article about sat navs being banned in France France bans sat navs with speed camera warnings - | Motorcycle News | Bike News | Motorbike Videos | MCN
