TomTom GPS vs Garmin

[Barkingshins_imp]

I have a Tom Tom iPhone app which works fine. It doesn't require network access as all the data is stored on the phone. It cost less than $100.

Just took in the peek in the App Store and saw that the TomTom U.S.A. app that I think you're referring to is available at a promo price of $24.99 right now... usually $49.99. There's also a 30-day trial version of the app available for $0.99. I may have to give it a try.

Just took in the peek in the App Store and saw that the TomTom U.S.A. app that I think you're referring to is available at a promo price of $24.99 right now... usually $49.99. There's also a 30-day trial version of the app available for $0.99. I may have to give it a try. I guess for this to work properly on a motorcycle you would need some kind of blue tooth device so you can hear the directions as they are announced by the phone? Maybe a Bluetooth headset like this and my iPhone is the best solution. http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/sena-...-dual-pack

Just took in the peek in the App Store and saw that the TomTom U.S.A. app that I think you're referring to is available at a promo price of $24.99 right now... usually $49.99. There's also a 30-day trial version of the app available for $0.99. I may have to give it a try. I guess for this to work properly on a motorcycle you would need some kind of blue tooth device so you can hear the directions as they are announced by the phone? Maybe a Bluetooth headset like this and my iPhone is the best solution. http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/sena-...-dual-pack
I suppose that would be the ideal setup but, I wonder how necessary voice prompts really are. Not sure which one scares me more... having audio in my helmet that could be a distraction or having to glance down at phone/GPS periodically to know when turns are coming up. Then there's the additional cost of the Bluetooth device. I'll probably start with just a phone mount and a USB power port and see how it goes. Who knows... I may find that all of the GPS options available are more of a distraction than I'm comfortable with.

[Cormanus]

Barkingshins, check out [url=http://cb1100forum.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=3056]this post.

The guts of it is that, on Pterodactyl's recommendation, I bought a set of Bose noise cancelling in-ear headphones to deal with high levels of wind noise in my helmet. One of the reasons was that I wanted to be able to use them to get voice instructions from my GPS app on the occasions (pretty rare) that I use it. I've attached the phone to the bars with a Lifeproof mount and it is relatively easy to see, but it is not nearly as effective to have to look at it as it is to get voice instructions and look if there is some ambiguity.

Having started from the position that I didn't really want to listen to music on the bike, I now have it playing lots on long rides. If the GPS app is running, it interrupts when it needs to.

[Offroad]

I'm glad to see this post.....I ran into problems using my Android when riding east and south of Knoxville, TN in the national parks there, including of course, the dragon, skyway etc. I mounted a water resistant 12 volt / 5 volt USB on my handle bars and ran the wires under my tank to my battery. Worked out great except when out of cell phone tower range.....so I was wondering if a truly GPS unit would work up in those hills and mountains?
I use a "Riggs-Nelson" tank bag I saw first on this forum that has a phone and GPS tilt up zipper pouch with a clear window that works pretty good...I could see it pretty easily when riding, but sometimes I would be happy to pull off just to see where I was at.
I was lost once going up out of Gatlinburg, TN (it was a STILL a nice 60 mile ride on extreme curvy roads) and the cell phone was not much help....a GPS unit would have been nice!

[Cormanus]

offroad, it looks like [url=http://www.tomtom.com/en_au/products/your-drive/smartphone-navigation/]Tom Tom makes its app for Android as well as the iPhone. It's big—around 250MB—but I find it works well. I've also found the turn-by-turn feature in Google maps a bit of a problem in that I can't seem to get it to let me use waypoints. I've a suspicion it doesn't need the network once you've loaded the route, but I've not really tried it as I've had the Tom Tom app for about 3 or 4 years.

[HikerToo_imp]

I'm wondering on the ones that download the map to your phone, how it can track your exact position if it does not need or have cell contact, how would it know where you are ?

[rboe]

I use the TomTom app on my iPad. Works, but the screen is so big I've gone back to the dedicated TomTom GPS.

[Cormanus]

I'm wondering on the ones that download the map to your phone, how it can track your exact position if it does not need or have cell contact, how would it know where you are ?

HikerToo, these new fangled smartphones have a dedicated GPS chip which, while it works better when it has cell contact, can work OK without it.

I use the TomTom app on my iPad. Works, but the screen is so big I've gone back to the dedicated TomTom GPS.

Haven't figured out how to mount the iPad on the bike yet. I see people have car mounts for them, partly so they can use the GPS apps.

[AzBob_imp]

I'm glad to see this post.....I ran into problems using my Android when riding east and south of Knoxville, TN in the national parks there, including of course, the dragon, skyway etc. I mounted a water resistant 12 volt / 5 volt USB on my handle bars and ran the wires under my tank to my battery. Worked out great except when out of cell phone tower range.....so I was wondering if a truly GPS unit would work up in those hills and mountains?
I use a "Riggs-Nelson" tank bag I saw first on this forum that has a phone and GPS tilt up zipper pouch with a clear window that works pretty good...I could see it pretty easily when riding, but sometimes I would be happy to pull off just to see where I was at.
I was lost once going up out of Gatlinburg, TN (it was a STILL a nice 60 mile ride on extreme curvy roads) and the cell phone was not much help....a GPS unit would have been nice!

A GPS (or a cellphone with the maps downloaded previously) works perfectly as long as it has clear line-of-sight to the sky. The only reason a phone GPS may not work so great is usually the map data are downloaded dynamically, so if the data connection drops (usually due to not having cell towers near by or being blocked by mountains), then, while the GPS chip and radio in the phone can tell you your coordinates, it can't plot them on a map because it doesn't have and can't get the map data; dedicated GPS devices always have the maps on the device.

[Elipten_imp]

But you can get apps and download the maps in advance so no need for cell or wifi. I use one for my travels all around the world. Just requires planning in advance.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Cormanus]

As I said earlier the Tom Tom app comes complete with the maps so they're on board the phone all the time.