The TomTom Rider is water resistant and the mobile phone hands free feature means that you can pair the Rider with a compatible Bluetooth headset to receive and deliver calls. When using this feature, you will hear the sound in your Bluetooth helmet headset and the telephone number and caller's name will appear on the display.
While the display is a LCD touch screen, if you wear thick motorcycle gloves you may have some difficulty in using the TomTom's more detailed screens. Screens affected by this include the one where you input the address you wish to travel to. The solution in this case would be to input the information before you begin your trip with bare hands and then put your gloves on before you take off.
The Rider ships with the following: a screen wipe cloth, wired headset, a SD card, an AC adapter, USB cable, mounting kit, 12 volt-power cable, carrying pouch, Bluetooth headset and required reference material.
The Rider can be securely mounted to your bike's handlebars, mirror or any flat service. The mounting kit, when done properly, will ensure that the GPS unit stays on even when you are traveling over the most roughest terrain you can find. If you also wish, the mounting kit enables you to install the 12 volt-power cable so that you can have constant battery life to your GPS unit.
Its downsides? The TomTom Rider's POI database is out-of-date and occasionally inaccurate by giving wrong street names or no street at all for some side streets. What's more, the included Bluetooth headset has less than average sound quality. The screen could also have been a little larger in order to be able to see the icons more clearly when riding.
The TomTom Rider can sustain five hours of battery life, and that's possible on a single charge. If you let it sit for a week without powering up, it will still have a half-charge left the next time you turn it on. The Rider feels like it can surpass knocks and bumps that it is inevitably expected to experience due to daily use.
While the TomTom rider does have some issues, it is a very tough, hardy and capable navigation unit for use on a motorcycle. The Bluetooth integration is a nice touch that will probably be soon picked up by other brands. Its just a pity that the Bluetooth headset is of average quality. But all in all, the TomTom rider is very much worth it and you should do some investigating for yourself.
A good motorcycle GPS system can turn a disaster into a triumph. It won't stop it raining, they aren't that good, but it should ensure that you get to where you want to go with the minimum of problems via the best route.
Modern GPS is an extremely valuable tool to make navigating a snap. In the past it wasn't totally user friendly for the inexperienced user, giving limited information relating to your position on the planet, and not a lot more. Extremely useful for some, like those in the military, but of limited value for most of us who want a simple efficient and reliable navigation system.
However in the last few years all that has changed and GPS navigation is now a reliable, extremely user friendly and relatively cheap navigation solution for anyone, including bike riders.
Modern satellite GPS navigation systems, for motorcycles, cars, walkers or anyone else who needs one, are extremely good. They are relatively inexpensive considering how useful they are. And now with satellite GPS technology combined with modern mapping software they provide a total navigation solution unlike anything ever seen before.
You can plan your ride before you start it, put the details in your GPS unit and it will plan the entire route for you, and tell you how to get there as you travel, both by screen display and voice prompts direct to your earpiece in your helmet via modern bluetooth technology. Download it all at the end to keep for next time or share with your friends.
With a little time anyone can learn how to use a motorcycle GPS unit and with some practice will be adding a whole new dimension to their rides, particularly the long rides. And you also get all sorts of extras with a modern dedicated motorcycle GPS system that make life a little easier when you're out on your bike, like the ability to load your favorite music to listen to on the ride, or to display your photos to your friends as you go, or to have up to date real time traffic information so that your GPS can direct you around traffic jams, reselect a new route and save you time, fuel and frustration.
And lots lots more.
In the past riders had to make do with GPS units that were not designed for motorcycle use. They were often intended as hand held or auto GPS systems, and lacked many of the features that are essential to operation on a bike that is used outdoors with the display on the handlebars in the weather, and suffering from all the vibrations that are an integral part of motorcycle use, especially offroad.
But there are now dedicated GPS motorcycle systems that are specifically designed for motorbike riders. They offer the sorts of features that are much more important to bike riders than to other users. These include such things as a display that is easier to read in the sun or rain, waterproofing ability and vibration resistance. None of these are important to, say, a driver of a car, but are extremely important to a motorcycle rider.
The waterproofing of these GPS units for example is tested to exacting standards, and they are designed to be used with a dedicated mount that itself has been designed to minimize vibration problems.
Companies well known in the field of GPS design like Garmin or Tom Tom make motorcycle GPS systems that offer all those benefits discussed, and more, and make extremely high quality units that are now in use on many many bikes around the globe.
Systems like the Garmin Zumo or the Tom Tom Rider are both superlative motorcycle GPS systems and if you shop online you can buy these new for well under $1000.
So if you've suffered a motorcycle disaster trip, and you'd like to find a way to avoid another one in the future, consider a good motorcycle GPS system. They make motorcycle navigation easy and fun. You'll never regret it.
Both Derrick Bogaster & Peter Clark are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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