South West Bikers | Motorcycle Forum

Ok so, I was reading the newbie question post got inspired.

I've been using my phone, but there are things about it that annoy me...also the sharing maps feature on google maps has parts of it that is not entirely biker friendly....anybody got round these?

Importing maps
sharing maps
adding way points on the fly.

tips and tricks appreciated.

None of the above.

Hard-wired head on broad shoulders. No twat nav, no phone.

...and I lead lots of rides-out all over the place.

I guess "i know where i'm going" should have been on the poll too...won't let me edit it now.

All of the above.
Done with map taped to tank,
Used phone
Used phone and headset/earbuds
Used Sarnav

Out of it all I like the raw Ness of nothing but
Sat nav for convenience especially abroad.

Just have to look at the map and remember the route.
Otherwise if your battery goes down or it gets damaged what ya gonna do?

It's easy once you've done a few.

No satnav and no map means nobody knows when I get us lost on a rideout..........
Phil doesn't use one either and he takes us green laning when we thought we'd be on actual tarmac.......

Actually, I have had a satnav "softwired" just for an accurate speedo and indicating likely camera spots, though as it's on the blink I'm not missing it.

The Bike tends to be a play toy for rides out rather then to get somewhere so tend to just go with the flow or figure a route before I leave home. If I do get lost then stop and check the phone before carrying on.

However if I was going to do any kind of serious trip or start using the bike to get me to location outside of Devon then would 100% go the sat nav route.

well this is all good stuff...always intrigued by others setups

yeh I like the speed limit/camera spots indication on satnavs.
I generally like going out with my bluetooth-less helmet and just pootaling around wherever without distractions and the extra faff before takeoff.

It's just longer trips up wales etc that I feel I need to pickup the extra directional tech...I think the fact you make a google map on the computer then try and send it to your phone and all the points have changed and you have to rebuild it is slightly annoying. But in the grand scheme of things, not a biggie.

Depends. Normaly never, just rely on my Aprilia's Homing Pidgeon instincts and sometimes a bullet point list on the tank bag, to punt me/us around the route I've planned from the map and then 'remembered' + local knowledge. Which lead to impromptu grasstracking around darkest Stockland recently - ahem - so not an infallable system!
I've also got a v' cheap 5" screen car sat'nav' with a home made dashboard mount (cost = absolutely zero, Royb would be proud) that, like others on here, I sometimes use as a back up speedo (mine doesn't work anyway, it just failed 100 yards down the road Officer - honest!), camera spotter and for finding my way in areas I don't know - and for that it's invaluable.
As for Bluetooth intercom, bike-to-bike/pillion-waffle gadgetry and suchlike; pah! why would I bother with all that when I have all those lovely voices in my head to listen to

Normally I ride with a mate who has pretty much the same set up as me, Bluetooth headset and intercom plus Garmin satnav. He'll plan a route, send it to me to load on mine and I guarantee the two units will differ as to various turnings 4 or 5 times on the ride. Which is why we have intercoms, so we're chatting all the time and can double check which junction we're taking.

Makes long journeys bearable and more flowing

I use a fourth option: a car sat-nav bought for a quarter the price in a waterproof case and detailed large-scale OS touring maps for off-bike route planning and hand written reprogramming notes in the map window of the tank bag for use when required.
The sat-nav is a quarter the price of a dedicated bike unit (and bigger and easier to read), with all the stuff I need for the tricky to navigate stuff which is all that really matters - 3-D junction views, camera alerts, delay warnings etc, and there's no annoying computerised voice butting into your thoughts with mispronounced place names every five minutes (have you ever listened to Md Garmin trying to talk her way round north Wales? its hilarious). I can even ride off and get lost and set it to record where I've been. I don't need blue-toothing and pairing with other devices that I don't understand anyway.

I hate all virtual mapping systems. None come within a country mile of supplying the landscape detail that you get from a proper paper map. All of them without exception offer simplified and featureless maps which tell you nothing at all about the landscape you are going to be riding through, They are useless for pre-exploring a region you've never been to before. And what detail a screen map does give you is only obtainable when you zoom right in so you have no overview and no fix on your position in the wider landscape. You're never lost with a paper map. I've got a shelf full of them that I've used on previous travels and they're as full of memories as a photo album.
The day Ordnance Survey goes fully digital civilisation will crumble, and rightly so.

You can tall that Jim's yet another "curmudgeonly old fart"

Almost always have a sat nav with me, all bikes have a permanent power supply wired in and a holder.
My touring bike will normally have both a dedicated sat nav (above the clocks) and my phone on the bars, both powered/charging. That way I can 2 map views at once (detailed & overview).
Towards the end of the day I can pull up our destination on the phone sat nav and have that do constant direct routing so I can quickly see how long it will take us to get there if we abandon our planned route, but that's only if it's starting to get late.

I don't always use it but I do like to have it there just in case, especially due to the tank range of my SD, it's nice to be able to pull up the distance to available fuel.

One thing from bitter experience - if you rely on electronic devices, when they fail or hiccup (and they will) they will do so at the most inconvenient/innoportune moment.
Reliance on satnav also tends to mean that you have little knowledge of the area's you are travelling in (Vs having looked at a map) and when you do get lost, you are truly lost, with little idea where to head for next.
As yet another curmudgeonly old fart, I've successfully managed to navigate myself (and others) around Europe many, many, times by simply writing out a list of towns and putting it in the top of a tank bag along with a decent scaled map.
When it comes to fun days & holidays, many of the best places I've been can be thanked to unintentional navigation choices .....

ptolemyx wrote: ↑Aug 19th, '18, 05:33 You can tall that Jim's yet another "curmudgeonly old fart"

Watch out Brian, it seems there's plenty of us here, and we're gaining in numbers all the time.
I can feel a COF ride out coming on soon. . . . . . ..
Oh sorry, I forgot; we've got one on the 23rd September!