Bike Sat Nav recommendations please

I need it to be reliable have good batt life and be waterproof plus have a large screen. Any Idea's?

[rictus01]

the standard fair for motorbike specific satnavs are the TomTom Urban Rider V3/ Garmin Zumo 220 on the cheaper end, then comes the Garmin Zumo 400 / Tom Tom rider 2 on the mid range and the Garmin Zumo 550 / Tom tom rider pro (europe) as top end stuff, there is also a Zumo 660.

the cheaper end start at about £175 for the Tom Tom and £250 for the Garmin and range up to £350-£500 for the rider pro europe or garmin Zumo 550.

all the above are very good and do what they say on the box, however they are an expensive solution, unless you live and die by a satnav everyday then you'd need to use it for many years to justify the expense IMO, I do have a satnav solution, but mine was £50 all in, details can be found here and here.

Cheers Mark.

[maviczap]

Like what Mark said above. I have Garmin 400, which has some strange quirks and changes its mind a junctions sometimes, sending you the wrong way. Plus there's no Bluetooth, so you have to have a hardwired set of headphones under your helmets. Having the cable flapping around is annoying and distracting.

Garmin can play Mp3's from the memory card.

I've just bought a TomTom rider, with a helemet fitting bluetooth headset. But I don't think it can play music?

Best way to go is use a car sat nav in the waterproof cover as Mark does, with a bluetooth headset, if you want voice prompts

I have a Garmin Zumo 660. It is faultless. It is hard wired into the bike so battery life isn't an issue either.

Not to sure about Tom Tom but most Garmin sets have about 4 hours. I sold my Garmin 400 to E.D. and now use a 1340 when I have to on the bike and the 4 hours is adequate for me as I only use it to actually find a location not navigate all the way.
[Or follow Mavicap when mine is saying one way and his the other]

[maviczap]

When you decide what you're getting, then this is a useful prog for route planning. You can plan and alternative route avoiding motorways etc

Its called Tyre

http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/

[Stu]

I find Tom Tom One V3 to be adequate for my purposes - 2 hr battery life (but very easy to plug into a cigarette lighter socket) I don't rely on voice instructions, instead I calculate the distance to next junction against my bike's trip meter and remember what the instruction is at the next junction. (I can sometimes hear the speed camera warnings anyway just with the volume on full & through ear plugs)
I would like a bike specific one though as it's quite an effort to look down to my tank bag to see it.

Ive got a Garmin Zumo 660, and as said above it really is flawless. The battery lasts about 5 hours when not plugged in and only using basic functions. When playing music and stuff, it lasts between 2 and 4, normally earing towards the 4 hour mark. The screen is ridiculously large and so easy to read, even for me and I'm as blind as a bat. And I found it to be glove friendly once you're used to it.
However as said it is rather expensive, but I'm confident it'll last for years.
HTH

[embee]

I've had the Garmin Zumo 550 for 4yrs I think. It works fine but there are issues with them, and now they are superceded by the 660 so get no more software updates, so I'd definitely recommend not going for the 400/500 series. The 660 had issues to begin with but I think most are resolved, and would be my choice if getting something new. Expensive though.

Check out the http://www.zumoforums.com/index.php , just about everything you could want to know.

I use my tom tom 710, its works well for me.
The only thing i like about the bike specific ones is you can drag the google map you have of a route onto it.

I cant get my tom tom to work with my pc, it wont see it.
I bought a factory refurb one off ebay, came boxed with everything, but just wont connect with pc.