I am thinking about buying a GPS for the bike.
What I can find out, the TomTom Rider is the best but it is damn expensive.
Also it is ment to be mounted around the handlebars in the center but this is not possible.

Any comments about:
1. GPS for bikes.
2. How to mount it.
3. Anybody got a gps using it together with the CBR, do you use it or was it only fun for 2 weeks?

 

A couple of friends use the garmin quest, and recommend it

 

+1 to the Quest. I have a Quest 2 and it rocks. I comes with a car mount and I bought he garmin motorcycle mount for another $40. I had it mounted on my FJR with a RAM mount, and plan to do the same on the CBR1000F. I think I'll use the GCREDS steering stem mount from Cycoactive and put the RAM ball on it. I'll power it with a powerlet socket hooked into a Bluesea fuse box mounted under the fairing, and power the fuse box with a 30 Bosch relay. Good solid 12 Volt power all the time.

 

Thanks.
Whenever you put it on the bike, please be shure to post pictures of it.
IĀ“ve read about the quest 2 also, however it is more expensive then the TomTom.
Getting back to question number 3. Did you use it frequently or just sometimes. The reason why I ask is beacuse it is such a big investment and I donĀ“t want to end up finding it to much trouble getting on and off.

 

I use my Navman Pin in my car and bike just buy an after market cigarette lighter outlet mount it up in the fairing and plug the Navman in, it has a device which allows it to be attached to a window ( Fairing Sheild ) or simply on top of your Tank bag and you buy an ear piece so that you can hear the directions given an asset in city traffice as you dont have to look at it just listen to it. I wouldnt leave town with out it, and its so small it simply fits into your pocket about half the thickness of a packet of smokes.

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Yes I actually use it all the time. Lot's of times I pass a road and wonder where it goes. With the GPS I can scroll and see where it will take me. Handy in unfimilar areas.
I'm suprised the Tom Tom is less expensive then the Quest 2. Here in the states the Tom Tom is more. I Paid $575 for my Quest 2 with both the car and the MC mount. Oh yeah I use it in the car all the time too 8-) BTW the Quest 2 will guide you with voice instructions, if you have an Autocomm or some type of mixer and a headset. Listen to MP3's or Sat radio and when the GPS gives you an instruction, the music volume will lower. The voice portion in the car is on the power plug cigerette adapter.

 

I would definitly go for the TomTom Rider for a Bike. It's built for exactly that purpose and TomTom's products always gets top scores.
See test on software and hardware on http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/ In the car I use a Pocket PC with TomTom 3 I beleive it is. That unit it is not rugged enough to use on a bike. On the bike I have TomTom 5 in my mobile Phone Nokia 6680 and TomTom's bluetooth GPS module. Both the phone and GPS module are in my pocket and just I listen to voice directions in a Koss in-ear hedset which also works as good noise silencer. I think the TomTom rider would be the ultimate solution for bikes, but has not bought one since as you said, it cost a lot and I have two good working systems already, plus a hand held Garmin Venture for walks in the forrest. The handheld has a driving computer which can record maximum speed, but is not a good unit for cars and bikes, it's more like an electronic compass.

I have always order TomTom stuff from their home page www.tomtom.com I beleive they are located in the Netherlands. Fast deliveries and far better prices than in Sweden.

 

So, here it is.
I went for the TomTom Rider and finally after a lot of fiddeling around I think I got a nice clean install.
What do you think?


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It can't possibly get much better than that. Please report your findings when you have been using it during some trips. I think I have to get one to, but will wait for your comments. Just having voice directions as on my trip to Germany, is not as optimal. You really need to take a look on a map screen sometimes, like in roundabouts to get the right leg on exits and other complex road layouts.

Does it display information about remaning distance and time to the destination as well?

Did you buy it in Sweden or from TomTom directly?

 

I bought it from www.misco.se because there it was cheapest according to pricerunner. On tomtom.com it was more expensive but that was with Europe maps.
The one I bought was only Scandinavian.

Yes it displays info about remaining distance and time to destination both with time left and arrival time.

My findings so far:

Positive:
1. This is really quality in everything, very solid in every detail from manuals, brackets to cables.
2. The sattelite reception is very good you can even use it indoors.
3. Many functions and cool features like that the (3D) map changes to other colors when in dark environment and in tunnels.
4. I can hear the directions and telephone conversation in the headset even though I have ear plugs. This is providing that you mount the speaker directly where your ear is.
I have a Schubert concept helmet and it looks like it was built for having a speaker there. (almost :-))
5. The touch screen is very solid and "hard" enough.

Negative
1. The map is not updated enough and I have read that it is another variant of map in the Rider than the other TomTomsĀ“s.
2. My Sony Ericsson K700i is not working well with the TomTom, it looks like the bluetooth from the telephone disturbs the bluetooth headset of the TomTom.
If I look at tomtom web page my phone is not compatible but it looks like only Nokia phones is. I can make it work anyway but its "buggy"
3. There is no top speed measurement what I can see.
4. I discover that my Honda speedometer is totally wrong it shows 140 km/h when iĀ“m really driving 127 km/h that 9% wrong!!!!. On my Volvo itĀ“s only 4% wrong.
5. No external speaker for the car is included and what I can find out it is not possible to buy one either. The set includes a ordinary headset that you can use in the car instead.
6. It is somewhat difficult to program a route from a to b to c but maby this is because I am new to GPS.

I can write much more abut this, but thats maby later on when I have more experience.
Conclusion is that I am very satisfyed so far despite the negativeĀ“s.
I hope you buy one R1000 so you can teach me more functions :-)