TomTom Rider 550 or BMW Nav 6

DaveDay

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Hi guys,
I’m currently in the market for a Sat Nav for my R1200GS. It has the Navigator Cradle already fitted.

I have no experience with Garmin or Nav 5/6.
I currently use TomTom on my iPhone and really like its interface and system which is drawing me to the new Rider 550. However, I’m also curious about using the wonder wheel and having additional bike information displayed on-screen which are Nav 6 only features.

Any help on this decision would be greatly appreciated.

Dave
 
Simple.

If you want / need to use the IWheel thing, you need a BMW branded device. If you don’t, you don’t.

If you want to plot your own routes, then a Garmin / BMW device is possibly best. If you don’t or all you want is to just push a button for the device to spit out awesome great windy and twisty roads from A to B, then it’s probably a TomTom that’s best for you.
 
Simple.

If you want / need to use the IWheel thing, you need a BMW branded device. If you don’t, you don’t.

If you want to plot your own routes, then a Garmin / BMW device is possibly best. If you don’t or all you want is to just push a button for the device to spit out awesome great windy and twisty roads from A to B, then it’s probably a TomTom that’s best for you.

Hi, thanks for that.
I think the only way is actually try them I guess.
I’ve just ordered a TomTom Rider from Amazon. They have a great returns policy.
I’m sure TomTom will be the system best suited for me. I will be planning detailed routes with many waypoints but I’m sure that can just as easily be done with a TomTom as it can with a Garmin.
I like the TomTom speed camera warning system too.

If it doesn’t do all I want it to I will return it within 30 days and then try a Nav 6.
 
Hi, thanks for that.
I think the only way is actually try them I guess.
I’ve just ordered a TomTom Rider from Amazon. They have a great returns policy.
I’m sure TomTom will be the system best suited for me. I will be planning detailed routes with many waypoints but I’m sure that can just as easily be done with a TomTom as it can with a Garmin.
I like the TomTom speed camera warning system too.

If it doesn’t do all I want it to I will return it within 30 days and then try a Nav 6.

Doesn’t the item have to be unopened or used?
 
Doesn’t the item have to be unopened or used?
Amazon always accepts opened electrical items. As long you’re careful with it, and return it like new. It’s never been a problem in the past.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Doesn’t the item have to be unopened or used?

I called to TomTom uk and bought a new unit to replace my rider v5 and because I'm a TomTom user, clarified by my email addy, they give 20% discount. Anyways the rider 450 was shite lots of bugs and poor user ability tbh. I sent it back, used it for 4 weeks (I could have sold it for more on eBay then I actually paid for it) and full refund was issued.

I might try the 550 seeing there's 20% discount to be had.
 
Anyways the rider 450 was shite lots of bugs and poor user ability tbh.

A useful heads-up, as lots of bods announce that they have binned (or will be binning) their Garmin devices, for exactly the same reasons.

If it helps DaveDay, I use my Nav VI (fully integrated with the iWheel on my BMW 1600) very happily. I plot my own routes in BaseCamp creating them from new and / or by stealing or borrowing them from other (non-Garmin) source, to amend as I see fit, to suit me. I used to do the same in Mapsource, before I switched from a pc to a Mac. I rarely, if ever, ask the device to create an A to B route itself and have little reason to try windy roads or whatever it’s called. I don’t use sound, play music, link it to a telephone, look at the weather, have speed camera detectors turned on, ask it to tell me about my bike, use it to send ‘Here I am, mum’ messages to anyone or as a funtertainment device of any sort to enhance my biking experience. I just use it as a very good GPS device.... and I use a paper map, too.

But, hey, that’s just me. They - the home computers, the GPS devices, the bells and whistles, everything - are all (to some extent or another) just personal computers, with emphasis on the word. ‘personal’. What suits me, will maybe not suit you or the man next door. Chose the device, the toys, the methodology of using it and them that suits YOU best; if that's a TomTom or a Garmin or a Chinese copy of either, that’s great.
 
Ive just sold my Nav 6 as I couldn't get on with it. For the money, I think its a pretty poor effort by Garmin. I was going to get the TomTom Rider 550 once available, but I think I may experiment with the iPhone with Google maps or the TomTom app option for a while.
 
Ive just sold my Nav 6 as I couldn't get on with it. For the money, I think its a pretty poor effort by Garmin. I was going to get the TomTom Rider 550 once available, but I think I may experiment with the iPhone with Google maps or the TomTom app option for a while.

See above and closing paragraph of post #8, DaveDay
 
Like you say, personal choice.

Eggzakerly, I've been using a TT 400 for several years and get on with it and MyRouteapp.com for trip planning. I too was looking at the new 550 as I believe it has a built in SIM for traffic updates on the move which is handy (my car TT has same.) :thumb2

Will be interested to see how you get on with using it;);)
 
Mt car has a TT built in sat nav and it really is the best in car sat nav I have ever used. I have always been a Garmin man and still have watches, action cams etc made by them. I bought the Nav 6 for the GS in the hope that it had moved on a bit since the Zumo, but apart from the interaction with the bike, its still very similar, with the same glitches as far as I could see. I have downloaded the TT app for my iPhone and thus far its doing the business. I have paid up for a month to see how I get on with it, before committing to the £17 annual fee! I like the fact that I have only one farkle connected by Bluetooth to my helmet and that the maps are always up to date. It also means my bike looks less like the cockpit of a 747 as its one less screen to worry about. Only gripe is that my phone is smaller than a dedicated sat nav and that it cannot be used with a gloved hand.
 
Thanks for the advice guys.
I’ve been using the TomTom app on the iPhone for a while now and really like the interface and the way it routes winding roads and handles speed cameras etc.
My only gripe is that you can’t operate it with gloves on and you can’t save routes with multiple waypoints.
This is why I’ve decided to buy a dedicated TomTom Rider. It should be arriving today so I’ll be giving it a thorough test over the next few days.

I’m not bothered about using the iWheel and the only info I want to see on-screen is the current speed, which the TomTom can provide.

I’ll report back in the next few days.
 
I called to TomTom uk and bought a new unit to replace my rider v5 and because I'm a TomTom user, clarified by my email addy, they give 20% discount. Anyways the rider 450 was shite lots of bugs and poor user ability tbh. I sent it back, used it for 4 weeks (I could have sold it for more on eBay then I actually paid for it) and full refund was issued.

I might try the 550 seeing there's 20% discount to be had.

How do I get the 20% discount? I’m a TomTom app user and have an account, how do I gain this 20%.
 
Well for anyone who may be interested here’s my opinion of the TomTom Rider 500/550 after a couple of days of testing it with an iPhone X and Sena S10 headset.

* The first thing I noticed is how much smaller and lower the resolution of the TomTom screen is compared to the iPhone. It’s like using an iPhone from ten years ago.

* Bluetooth connection is very hit and miss. Traffic data sometimes works, sometimes doesn’t, same for spoken SMS messages. After a while TomTom stopped receiving traffic and cloud information for no apparent reason and even a reboot didn’t resolve it. TomTom also stopped connecting to the Sena headset for no apparent reason.

* The Phone Button on the Sena, which normally invokes Siri, no longer works. Likewise pressing the phone icon on the TomTom screen, which should invoke Siri does nothing. Quite often the phone icon on the TomTom screen is not even displayed.

* Spoken instructions from the TomTom is crackly.

I’ve decided to return the TomTom and go back to using the TomTom Go app on the iPhone. The app doesn’t have ‘Routes’ or the ‘Plan a Thrill’ feature which is a shame but it works flawlessly with the Sena headset and traffic data is always up to date. You can sort of recreate the ‘Plan a Thrill’ feature on the iPhone by choosing Winding route in Route Planning but it’s not as good.
I won’t bother trying the BMW Nav 6 as I’m sure it’ll have the same connection issues as the TomTom.
 


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