Quote "The dedicated motorcycle units from the well known brands out there are IMHO overpriced and from what I've seen don't always deliver seeing as they're supposed to be bike specific. I'm thinking here of the failed power connectors on the TomTom Riders" Unquote
Hi Si, GC
I have used a TomTom Rider 2 for the last 3 years now, this is it's 4th year. It has done 3 trips to Spain/Portugal on the R75 BMW, numerous trips in Britain on the Velo Thruxton and this will be its 4th. Dragon (I Hope) on the DR. I have had no battery power problems, it runs for around 8 hours with no power connection. In the second year the Velo's vibration and a thin metal homemade mount managed to destoy the battery connection for in use charging, a phone call to TomTom with the serial number of the Unit and 2 days later a new mount arrived, no return requested of the old one so I use that for less than 8 hour runs. Every time I connect it to the PC it updates its maps and for £44/annum I get a complete new updated set of Western European maps every 4 months. The second mount has slightly stronger springs which prevent the vibration reaching the little pins in the back. I agree the mount is the weak spot but as long as consideration is given to limiting the vibration the mount is exposed to, the unit seems to be quite good.
Using Tyre for itinerary planning and downloading to the TomTom gives you an easy choice to add your own sections to routes, avoid bits of road you do'nt want to use or simply go your own chosen way with guidance.
The Bluetooth is a mixed blessing, if you are running an itinerary and change it enroute the bloody GPS is whingeing away in the headphone until you stop and put it right. I keep it turned off. The messages about connections can be an on screen annoyance, you can guarantee that just when you have a tricky bit to follow the bluetooth screen message will come up and tell you you have no connection, you know this anyway, but you cannot turn the messages off and they hide a percentage of the map on screen. The mobile phone stuff is totally uneccesary, who rides a bike and makes and receives bloody phone calls, only pan posers. I had hoped that the new versions of the Rider would correct the faults of the old but they just seem to have limited the functionality (keeping all the ruddy bluetooth) to make the units cheaper so when this dies I will be looking at Garmin I guess.
HTH
Furry
