The Best Motorcycle GPS Navigation System
Its all very well to take your motorcycle out for a Sunday afternoon ride, however you often end up with a choice – Do you ride along a road that you already know or do you take on a new road that will allow you explore but comes with the added risk that you might get lost? It’s a choice that you have to make as motorcycles do not come as standard with a Sat Nav unit, and therefore, if you’re going to follow a route, you will need to get a separate unit that will fit onto your motorcycle and provide you with directions that you can follow.
This is where our next problem comes into focus as there is not a lot of room on your average motorcycle and therefore you need to make sure that you consider the features that you will actually need. Again, as always on this website, we highly recommend that you buy yourself a Brand name motorcycle Satellite Navigation device as whilst there are plenty of models on the market and you can get some really cheap models from China, often they don’t work or you cannot update them meaning that they will not last very long before they become out of date.
Before you choose the right motorcycle Sat Nav device for Your needs, take into account the following:
- The Mount Design – Your Sat Nav needs to stay on your motorbike
- Bluetooth – You need to use your smartphone to control your device
- Processor Speed – You need a quick device to calculate routes
- WaterProof – It sometimes rains, so you need it to be waterproof
- Price – No one wants to spend every penny they have on a Sat Nav
The Best Motorcycle Sat Nav Unit
Our favourite motorcycle Sat Nav unit is the TomTom Rider as its both good value for money and super easy to use whilst giving you a motorcycle satellite navigation system that provides you with all the latest maps and turn-by-turn directions to allow you to get to your destination. The Garmin Zumo series is probably a better Sat Nav unit, however if you want to get any form of useable features, then you will have to pay for the top model that has a massive price tag that simply cannot be justified.
TomTom Rider Motorcycle GPS Navigation Unit
The TomTom Rider is TomTom’s all-new model that comes with a new 5-inch high resolution touchscreen with that has been designed to help with use in direct sunlight and allows you to press buttons on the touchscreen without taking your gloves off. The rider comes with a new super-fast processor that helps to find satellite connections and calculated routes quickly.
The interface is very easy to use and comes with a menu system that is so simply to use that you don’t even need to read the instructions to be able to understand how the unit works. The all-new updated maps provides you with turn-by-turn directions, route re-calculations and a huge “points of interest” database that means you are never short of places to go if you won't to stop for a quick break.
The Rider is fully waterproof meaning that you can use your Sat Nav whilst its raining without any fear its going to stop working due to the rain and while both on-screen text and voice-activated directions help you with you directions, Bluetooth comes in handy to help connect to your smartphone allowing you to take hands-free calls whilst your riding at the click of a button.
Past problems especially with Motorcycle Sat Nav systems has been their battery life-giving the power needed to run the high resolution screen and the inbuilt computer, however with this model the battery life is superb and allows you to ride your motorcycle Sat Nav for over 5 hours without needing to charge your Sat Nav unit. One slightly annoying problem with the the TomTom ride is that you will need separate TomTom accounts for your car and motorcycle as you cannot update multiple products through one TomTom online account.