Premium Member johan Posted April 20, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2015 Which satellite navigation device do you use, and how do you mount it on the Tracer/FJ 09? I currently use TomTom on my iPhone 5S, mounted in a Twisty Ride case on a ram mount. The TomTom app is not bad, but I find the iPhone unreadable in bright sunshine (admittedly only one or two days per year in the UK), nevertheless for the tour to France I am looking to upgrade. The TomTom gives very good audio instructions and I usually just follow the voice prompts, but still... I also use a Sena 20S bluetooth headset and the iPhone works very well with that. I know that there are TomTom fans and Garmin fans. My car has a built-in satnav but I do also own a Garmin and find the operating system much more intuitive than the TomTom, but apparently the new TomTom Rider 400 is a huge improvement. It costs nearly £200 less than the Garmin 590LM and about the same as a Garmin 390LM. I've more or less made up my mind that I won't pay the premium for the 590LM, so the choice really is between the 390LM and the Rider 400 - unless someone convinces me that I'll be missing out on something amazing. So please post your views, and please comment specifically on how you mounted or powered the device on your MT 09 Tracer/FJ 09. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member johan Posted April 20, 2015 Author Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2015 Forgot to add, one problem I have with TomTom is that Tyre, the route planning software that works best is not available for Mac OS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted April 20, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2015 Forgot to add, one problem I have with TomTom is that Tyre, the route planning software that works best is not available for Mac OS.After I was complaining bitterly about how poor Garmin BaseCamp is a friend turned me on to the H a r l e y D a v i d s o n route planning site, "Ride Planner". (The link is deep in their site so I'm not including it here, but it's easy to find with Google.) It sets up routes like Google Maps, where give it endpoints and then drag waypoints around, except that when you're happy with the route it downloads directly into the GPS. Very nice. Thanks HD! I dunno if I'll ever buy one of your bikes, but I appreciate that gift to the riding community. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member jimf Posted April 20, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2015 Oh, regarding the iPhone version of TomTom, I agree that its interface leaves a lot to be desired. Even after using it for a couple of years I have to stop and think about how to do certain things. One big advantage of the TomTom app over Garmin, however, is that it tells you *all* of the names of each road, rather than whatever Garmin thought was its primary name. When a road has a name and route number, and especially if it has several route numbers, this is a big help. I rarely use the iPhone for bike navigation, however, because I don't like the expen$ive phone out in the elements. For that I use a Zumo. (I tried going cheap with a nuvi but putting it in a box for weather protection made it almost impossible to see during daylight.) The Rider was, unfortunately, not available in the US prior to buying the Zumo. I think the price Garmin charges for the Zumo is ridiculous, but until now they literally had no competition. On the plus side the (also very expensive) 2730 I used to use lasted about a decade before the elements took their toll ... so they do at least have longevity. 2015 FJ-09 (Mary Kate) 2007 Daytona 675 (Tabitha, ret.) 1998 Vulcan 800 (Ret.) 2001 SV650S (Veronica, Ret.) 2000 Intruder 800 (Ret.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member wessie Posted April 20, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted April 20, 2015 I am still using my trusty Garmin 2610 - over a decade old and still working well. Powered using the car adapter in the 12V socket. Attached to the bike using a U-bracket with Ram ball on the bars, just inside the left mirror. Easy to reach and does not obscure any idiot lights or display. Garmin does not produce map updates but there are open source maps that are very good. I could use the satnav on my HTC One phone as well. Garmin maps is excellent but the phone gets very hot and the 1 amp USB charger does not produce enough electrons to recharge the battery when using the satnav function. A mate bought a Garmin 350LM, supposedly factory refurbished. As with many others using the same cradle, the power pins were knackered out of the box. He sent is back and got a Zumo 660 which uses a different cradle. Like you Jimf, he's using the HD mapping app rather than basecamp. One of the advantages of sticking with the 2610, is that I can still use Mapsource, which just works and is happy with the open source maps. This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
falcophil Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 I have just bought a Garmin Zumo 340LM (lifetime maps) price was £240 which I was happy with, and the unit itself seems robust and easy to use. Fitting to the bike is easy, though I bought a 30mm U bolt to replace the smaller one it came with so I could fit it right in the middle of the bars. its massively adjustable so you can set it below the instruments and see both at once, and it stays more or less in the same place. Planning trips on the sat nav seems easy enough, whereas doing them on the laptop with there `basecamp` soft ware has caused more bad langauge than a chubby brown gig! i F**kin hate it!!!! who ever designed this piece of sh*t should be made to walk forever on a sea of Lego! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Basecamp is anything but intuitive - I gave up on it a few times, but have plugged away at it and use it quite frequently now. I have a Zumo 550, which is on the list of farkles to upgrade, till then it is my navigator of choice. Garmin and Tom-Tom have different approaches to mapping, Garmin had Mapsource and TomTom had nothing, Tyre was originally aimed at that market. As it uses Google Maps, and we have become used to using it for all mapping activities, it has become the intuitive way of doing things. What I have found to my peril is trying to use Tyre on my Garmin, the maps are different and I've found I'm being told to navigate offroad (I.O.M. TT course when the road curves around a tree, or being navigated onto the wrong side of the carriage way.. can carry on with horror stories). The same applies to using Google maps and then getting a GPX file from it. If it would be of any help, I could put a basic howto together on using Basecamp for plotting a route with stops (via points) for a rest or fuel/food etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjsracing Posted April 20, 2015 Share Posted April 20, 2015 Forgot to add, one problem I have with TomTom is that Tyre, the route planning software that works best is not available for Mac OS. I'm primarily Mac. I tried Tyre and was extremely disappointed. Looks like a flash back to 1990. I have found a much better, completely cross platform method that is working for me and uses standard web pages and avoids arcane software. 1) Plan route with Google Maps web page. I often find the "bicycle" option gets very close to the route I want. Edit and copy the URL for the route. 2) Paste the route URL into GPS Visualizer. and chose GPX output 3) Save the GPX file. [if you want to tweak further -- Adze (available on the OS X App store) is a general purpose GPX editor.] 4) Use TomTom Home to load the GPX onto your device. Side note. The "Find Winding Route" option build into the TomTom Rider does an excellent job. 2015 FJ-09, 2016 1290 Super Duke, 2017 150 XC-W (primary ride), 2012 DR650 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Order66 Posted April 22, 2015 Share Posted April 22, 2015 I've got my TomTom 350 in a Ram holder, attached to the quick release adaptor, connected to the RAM M6 ball mount, medium stalk. Rock solid, and I got a GlareStomper hood to help with the sun, which is mostly effective for the money. s e t h 2015 FJ-09 (The Me Bike) - CalSci, RAM, Shad, Givi, CrampBuster, Grip Puppies, GoPro, my custom Garage Door Opener Mod 2014 Valkyrie (The We Bike) - Too much to list, and no one on this forum cares anyway Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulyp Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Has anyone tried mounting their GPS unit above the instrument panel? It seems to me that would be a great place for one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommo Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Has anyone tried mounting their GPS unit above the instrument panel? It seems to me that would be a great place for one. I will be mounting mine there. I think I have a solution, and will post a how to if it works! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuff Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 This is what I would like to mount on the bike. Its a mount for my Garmin made by Touratech. Now if Touratech make an adjustable screen mount for the Tracer on which this fitted, just like my Supere Tenere, then I would be a happy bunny. 8-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member wessie Posted April 26, 2015 Premium Member Share Posted April 26, 2015 looks like a bear trap! This signature is left blank as the poster writes enough pretentious bollocks as it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trench Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 Yikes! Are you taking this bike where GPS won't work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scuff Posted April 26, 2015 Share Posted April 26, 2015 It's lockable, so the tea leaves can't grab it when I go in and pay for petrol etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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