Navigation System

I know that there are going to be many posts about satnavs, but I was hoping that a UK user could answer the question I have regarding them.
I'm looking between a Garmin Zumo 550, and a Tomtom Rider. Anyone have any ideas which is better, or know of a site which directly reviews the 2 against each other?

The Tomtom has the obvious advantage of being £200 cheaper, but i want to know what's so good about the Garmin that makes it worth £500

Cheers
Mark

Either Ride or Superbike magazine did a comparison of these two a couple of months ago. I'll have a look for the article tonight for you.

Or you can go the cheaper route and get a garmin nuvi and fettle it onto the bike like I did, saving a few hundred more quid.

BikerHux's GPS fettling

I couldn't justify blowing 500 quid on something when a couple of quids worth of bits off eBay got me something that did the job (maybe not as well, but saving a considerable number of beer/pie tokens )

Another option is what I did. Find an in car satnav and just slip it into the map pocket of a tankbag.

Use marshmallow type in ear phones to double up as ear defenders and if the lead is too short, you can pick an extension lead for about £3 from Maplins.

I have the TomTom Go 720 as I find the "bike" GPS to be too expensive for what they are. My last cheap car GPS lasted 30,000km on my bike without ever being taken off. My brother now uses it in his car. My TomTom 720 has only been on for about 8000km and will hopefully get me through the UK, France, Switzerland and Italy at the beginning of August.

When I do change it I want a GPS with which I can plan and download and exact route on my PC. I believe the Garmin Zumo does this. I would also make sure it has bluetooth but be very aware that just because it has bluetooth it may not be compatible with YOUR mobile phone or helmet comms system if you have one.

You have to make sure all these things marry up before you buy it.

Steve

I found the review of the garmin zumo and tomtom rider. It's in the June 2009 issue of Ride.

The potted summary appears to be they both do the job, the garmin is easier to use with gloves on and plays mp3's, but is £130 more. Also the list prices are rubbish (zumo listed at £520, whereas I've seen it on amazon for around £400, same with the tomtomrider listed at £390 with amazon doing it for 50-100 quid less depending on the maps you want on it (uk or europe).

Amazon has reviews from people with both so you can see what other people think. Garmin have also launched the new zumo (660) which is about the same price as the old one.

I use my phone a Nokia 6220 and a Bluetooth GPS puck like this one...TomTom Bluetooth GPS Receiver Brand New on eBay (end time 14-Aug-09 02:18:39 BST) and nav4all (Nav4All - Free gps navigation for your mobile phone!) s/w on the phone.

Stuffed in my tank bag and the earphone from the phone under my helmet.

Use the same setup in the car.

I would go TomTom and for planning the routes use TYRE tyre.tk it is free, it maps your route on Google maps and saves it as an itinerary file that TomTom can use. You just choose enough points so that the GPS uses your chosen route between the points. Works really well.

The GPS I have was from ebuyer and cost £60. It can be cracked and runs TomTom brilliantly, it also has MP3 player, video player, games, and can install some Windows CE utilities. It also has a very good built-in FM transmitter, Bluetooth for linking to a phone to give handsfree calling in the car.

On the bike I have a Sony Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into the headphone socket on the GPS, this transmits to my Viper RS-V121 helmet so the GPS is hidden away in my tankbag. You soon get used to the voice prompts and the distances so you can pick out the next turn etc. I feel this is much safer than being tempted to look at the screen while riding.

Oh and with TomTom I can highly recommend Liz Whitaker - TomTom Voices as the guidance voice, nice and clear and not annoying like some.

Cheers all. I've taken the plunge, and ordered a TomTom Rider V2 UK edition. I can't see myself going to europe in the next few months, so if I need the extra maps, I'll just buy them.

It should be here within the next couple of days, and when it arrives I'll post a review of it somewhere on here.

Cheers
Mark

Mark85 said:

Cheers all. I've taken the plunge, and ordered a TomTom Rider V2 UK edition. I can't see myself going to europe in the next few months, so if I need the extra maps, I'll just buy them.

It should be here within the next couple of days, and when it arrives I'll post a review of it somewhere on here.

Cheers
Mark

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Good choice Mark, I sold my garmin on e-bay a few weeks back. Now I have the tomtom rider V2 UK edition like your self, great buy and the bluetooth is very clear. :thumbup:

back last year at the NEC i was talking to an impartial sat nav dealer on one of the stands...he could not say enough bad things about the tom tom..apparently the design is seriously flawed,something to do with the layout of the GPS receiver plates..there are two layed over each other in an X configuration..BUT they can slip out of thier location and give very inaccurate readings..all tomtoms have these same internals,but the harsh conditions of bike riding makes the problem more common on "riders"

That being said ..i like the "one" i use in the car and would probably invest in another tomtom if i was into touring ..i cant believe if they were that bad they would continue to be so popular

I realize I am not in the U.K., but I have had both tom tom and garmin and can I say that neither of them work. That is obviously an exxageration, but i would say 3 times out of 10 they don't work and lead you up the closed side of a roadless mountain, or direct you through multiple tolls, leading you in a circle and down 14$.

They are both the same in my opinion. The tom tom had a catchy name with a few different voices. The garmin has fewer voices, but wild languages. They both have a very useful feature of finding nearby "attractions" or stores, also bringing up their phone number, address, and direct position on the map.

As far as relying on their directions to get where your going - bring a real map and some duct tape because your going to throw it at the window when it gets you lost, and need to tape it back together - then find your way on the actual map.

So all in all? I would choose the TomTom because when you get angry at it (which you will), you can scream at him and call him Tommy in a British accent, where as the Garmin has a less personal feeling name when you are yelling at him.

Seriously though, don't rely on the directions because they will get you lost.

For myself I have only used Navman and Garmin. Yhey were both ib car version that I put on the bike.
I had the Navman 1st and was very disappointed when 18 months later I found there was no further support available for the one I had. The Navman people were puzzled that I didnt want to replace it with another of their products.

So far Garmin has been fine and hasnt got me lost YET.