Groupon are offering a ticket to the Barcelona GP and a nights stay in a hotel for £99. Thinking I might go down on the bike for an adventure. Any advice on sat navs?
Yes take maps! Lol Sat nav are great for reassurance but in my experience can be temperamental.... If you plan properly with a map and have it as back up for route diversions you can't go wrong. We mark up a map and follow that (you'll also spot routes on maps that sat nabs won't show you), plot the sat nav and use both for re assurance....
Recently bought the new TomTom 400. Riding a sports bike with only a 17.5 litre fuel tank, it is very handy to have this Sat Nav display distances to petrol stations, on the side of the display as you are riding along. It shows them marked out on your route, and/or in succession with the distance to the next one also indicated. It updates very quickly as well, when changing direction. Lots of information although you have to look hard sometimes to read it all - it tells you what exit - route number and direction. It is very easy to set destinations and zoom in and out quickly to get the big picture of where you are in relation to your destination. On the downside it is a bit expensive, and it is not really Mac useful/compatible. It has some online mapping thing but nothing like the Route Planner that Garmin has for the Mac. The Garmin software has Hotels, cash machines campsites, loads of points of interest that can be searched and then loaded from your computer onto the Sat Nav. But anyway I use this info on a separate hand held Garmin E-Trex for finding all that stuff. So, Sat Nav - TomTom 400 for all the driving stuff, where the roads are. Certainly better than the old Garmin Zumo 220, that it replaced. And a Garmin E-Trex hand held unit for Hotels, Campsites, cash machines, petrol stations, and a million other points of interest. I carry the little Garmin like a data bank of Europe's Hotels, campsites and all the rest - takes up no room, runs on AA batteries, no data charges and if it gets lost it does not have my email and online banking on it ! Oh, and take a map as well, as they give unbeatable overview and detail - hope this helps !
Apologies for jumping in but Mattie where do you mount your tom tom? I want one but heard there a bit of a nightmare to mount on a Sports bike.
Have a look at Telferizer. They are a simple ball mount that fits into the top of the steering tube. Take the blank cap off the steering tube, and fit the "Telferizer". It has a rubber bung that expands inside the head tube as you tighten it up. All very low impact, no harm done to the bike, or marks left on the paintwork. Then you can either use the standard short length Ram mount that comes with your Tom Tom, or get a longer one so you can move the Sat Nav a bit off centre so it does not get in the way of the dash. http://www.telferizer.com/ It works fine, only costs a few quid.
That's fantastic mate, exactly what I need by the looks of it. I've been putting off buying the nav as I didn't think it would fit properly.
Ive had a Garmin 660 for the last two road trips, Mugello MotoGP and tour round Germany. First time, perfect, loved it, done routes before I went and downloaded them to satnav ready for each stage. Then I Updated the week before I went to Germany, it shot it in the head, it couldn't cope with the file size and I had to go manually in and strip off daft languages and places that I'll never need to make it function again. The new Garmin looks great and a leap forward like all things, just don't waste your money buying an old satnav, I wouldn't tour without one. Also Scala headsets are helpful and keep all a bit safer too.
Glad you found that useful. I am using the one from my VFR, which is too small (narrower head tube on the VFR) so having to pack it out with some rubber gloves cut into strips to make it fit the wider tube of the CBR. I will get round to getting the proper size one day. The TomTom 400 swivel mount, on the Telferizer.
That's like the one I have. When I first got it I found the bobbin that fits into the headstock was difficult to remove so I emailed Bob Telfer and within 10 minutes he phoned to ask what the problem was. I explained that I wanted to remove the telferizer when it wasn't being used. No problem says Bob I'll machine another one for you and send it FOC. The mans a legend. So if anyone wants a once used telferizer with 2 bobbins it's yours for £20 posted.
+1 on the tom tom 400 and telferizer mount. Bob telfer is a top bloke to deal with too. the only thing I'd suggest, if you're doing serious distance is get an additional ram mount link arm to raise the nav a bit higher into your line of sight, and maybe go for a bluetooth intercom, so you can listen to the nav rather than taking your eyes off the road. 400s were on offer at the NEC the other week at £250
Just bought a TomTom EU400 - seems a good bit of kit. I paid £240 for it at the NEC. There is an offer on at the moment - you can claim a free car mount kit from TomTom which is £50 normally (mine has got lost in transit and delivered to the wrong place - maybe the UPS driver needs a TomTom...) They come with an extension arm - but as mentioned above you will need a Telferizer mount or similar.
Only ever used a Garmin Zumo 660 and while I'm not the best with techy lecky things I wouldn't travel to Europe without one. In 2012 my wife and me did a 15 country 2 month trip around Europe and apart from certain parts of the Balkans (and pilot error) it was close to faultless. Used it with a Scala headset which was ok but not brilliant. Where Sat Navs really excel is navigating in busy cities. The Zumo 660's finest hour was when we approached Istanbul in 5 lane, rush hour mayhem and the sat nav voice in my helmet guided us through the chaos to our city centre hotel. No missed turns, no looking at maps, no head scratching just brilliant functionality. PS.. Zumo took us to the exact parking area at the Circuit de Catalunya when we went last year - 2 minute walk from our seats.
Yes. I have never used them but from the Menu: Bluetooth Connections Headset Hands-free calling Network What I really like though is the distance to the next petrol station indicated on the side bar of the screen. Especially on a bike with no fuel gauge (trip meter aside) and a 17.5 litre petrol tank, and being away from familiar home locations - I use that all the time when away.
