General Category > General Discussion
Dedicated GPS/nav device vs cell phone
steven c:
I use older cell phones with no plan as my GPS,right now an Iphone 6s and a bomb prove Kyocera. I use Ride with GPS,Scenic.
Scout63:
In Europe we rent cars and I just use the iPhone navigation. It works wonderfully in Spain and France although she butchers the pronunciations.
Tusayan:
I use a Garmin GPS for touring in Europe and find it extremely crude in its user interface and its exasperating to program a route. On the other hand its weather proof and works with gloves.
In the US I use an iPhone with the opposite result: programing a route is super easy but rain and gloves are an issue.
It would be really nice if an easily programmed, weather proof and glove useable dedicated motorcycle GPS were available, with internet access for looking up hotels etc directly and quickly but without the necessity to have it at all times.
Motormike:
I use both, but rely on a Garmin GPS more often, since they are mounted more-or-less permanently on my bikes. Although my older Garmin's do not have enough memory to hold a complete map of the US without a SIM card. Never had one break yet. Weatherproof and can be used with any gloves I am wearing. Try that with phone screen. I even bought a pair of special "touch-screen" friendly gloves to use on the phone...didn't work. Besides, my iPhone screen is far too small to use as a nav. device for the most part. Then there's the fact that most phones can't take the heat and shut down if left in the sun too long. And now far too many reports of damage to the phone camera focus mechanism caused by vibrations. Considering what a new phone costs...no thanks.
However, in spite of these issues, I have decided to pick up an old obsolete (ie: cheap) iPhone 6 Plus and try it strictly for navigation purposes. Use it as a back-up to my Garmin on longer trips. No SIM card. If the camera breaks, I won't even know about it. I'll keep my iPhone 10 in my jacket pocket.
usedtobefast:
My Garmin devices have been super reliable. Older models were very slow and lots of odd things to put up with on their software (in the past). I have 4 motorcycle garmin devices and they all work fine. 2 of them have been used on dual sport (like TAT ride) thousands of miles.
A while back, I did switch to Android phones ... google maps, and tried various other mapping programs. At the time I switched, Garmins were very slow (like looking around on a map and picking a spot you want to go to) and cell phones were "free" (sign up for 2 years, get a free phone).
When phone charging ports died, no biggie some promotion to get a "free" phone or $50 phone, just replace the phone.
Then phone plans changed, the free phone mostly disappeared (well, really good "free" phones disappeared, mostly), 14 years old Garmins still working and realizing how many phones I'd been through ... decided to try Garmin again.
I bought a Garmin Zumo XT ... on sale for $399.99, came with a Ram mount system and power cradle. So mount things up, click it on the mount, and you have nice waterproof power.
Maps speed wise, the Zumo is WAY faster than older Garmins, but still a bit slower than an Android phone. I use this a lot. Ride along with no GPS running, get into an area I am less familiar with, see a road, pull over, look at GPS/Phone, "Where does this road go", see it routes through to the other side of the mountain range, lots of road options, pick a point on the map, and route to it. So lots of scrolling around on the device's map.
If you like to plan a specific route in advance ... at home on your laptop (or desktop) you can use google maps to create whatever curvy back road way to get somewhere you want, and they are a few steps (very easy once you know them) to get that exact route over to your Garmin Zumo XT and have navigation instructions to guide you along (not just follow a track on the screen and hope you don't miss some turns). Very cool. For everyone that hates Garmin mapsource and basecamp crap software, this is wonderful! You so not need to have those poor products installed.
Next Zumo XT amazing thing ... "Adventurous Route" ... really. So plan nothing ... on your Garmin, enter a destination, like Reno, NV ... you can let it do the normal routing, and for me that would be ~5 hours of interstate riding ... but, tap on "Adventurous Route", and it has 5 levels of how adventurous to be!, and you have a twisty backroads over Sierra mountain passes route laid out for you. Default adventure level is 4 and looking at fun roads I ride that matches up pretty well with what I would do. When you go to 5 it does get a bit silly, like going too far out of the way just to get a 4-5 miles twisty road into the route.
If you are a pavement only guy you can set to avoid dirt roads.
Some other great Zumo XT things ...
... it has built in WiFi, so it connects and updates and gets software/maps updates over WiFi, so no more goofy Garmin map licenses or crappy update software you gotta run.
... For additional functions, you can pair it to your cell phone via bluetooth, and you can see weather forecast along your route and get a rain radar map animation that shows radar over the next few hours (can't remember the exact time, maybe 4 or 6 hours?).
... It has a bunch of somewhat gimmicky built in apps like: Tripadvisor, iOverlander, Ultimate Public Campgrounds, Motorcycle Locations, National Parks, and History channel. These all "work", but with an Android phone you can also track down a campground, or find areas of interest to visit, or find a motorcycle shop, etc.
... also has some music stuff but I don't listen to music while I ride, so have not tried that
... also pairs with an inReach mini so you can use the GPS to activate an SOS or send messages via satellite. Also, just FYI, it does not pair with older inReach devices, guess they did not have the right chips to do this when they were built.
... and a bunch of other stuff too
So I am super happy with the Zumo XT.
Things an Adroid still does better:
- route adjustments due to traffic issues. Haven't figured out if the Zumo can do this (paired to the phone maybe?). But google maps does this really well.
- you can search for hotels, see ratings/reviews, pick one, book one all in one place. With the Zumo XT you can find hotels, TripAdvisor has ratings, but I don't think you can book one right there on the Zumo
One "issue" I have with the Zumo XT ... while the ram mounting kit and power cradle are awesome, buying another one (for another bike) isn't cheap (around $100 each!) . So if you have 3-4 motorcycles you want to put the Zumo on, hummm, do you buy an addition 3 mounting kits? One work around, for the power to the cradle, some guys put on a USB connector there, then you just move the power cradle mount between bikes, and plug it into a USB port on the bike. But then you don't have that powered directly into the bikes wiring connection. But I guess USB connections are fairly reliable and can be waterproof ish?
So I still use both. For a multi day trip into areas I am not familiar with, will use the Zumo XT. If just running around locally and might want to find a lunch place or route to a gas station, will just have an Android phone in my pocket until needed.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version