Connected app and Nav comparison

Ok. My post was explaining that with TFT the navigator becomes redundant as all the information is on the TFT. So as you said you "used it a lot" , I asked what exactly did you use it for when navigating?
 
Yup, I use the wheel a lot.

When navigating (ie when using the Navigator device) I mostly use the wheel to zoom the GPS device’s screen in and out. I might also use the wheel to stop or start a route or flick through favourites, to maybe amend a route on the fly or to even create a route on the move. I could of course have done the same with my finger on the screen, old school style.

From memory, on one of my previous bikes I think I could also use the wheel to mark the cursor’s position on the screen. Or maybe I dreamt it? If it did do it, then I did use it (as opposed to prodding the cursor with my finger) to save a location or a point on the map, on the move. Most often it was / is cafes in towns or villages I happen to pass, that I want to save, should I ever find myself going down that road again.
 
The auto zoom worked great for me. So never needed to manually zoom in or out. So very very rarely did I switch over from TFT. So I dont miss the selection wheel with the XT.
 
The auto zoom worked great for me. So never needed to manually zoom in or out. So very very rarely did I switch over from TFT. So I dont miss the selection wheel with the XT.

I like the auto zoom, too. But quite often I like to zoom in and out manually, using the wheel. A good example would be if I go off route, say for road works or if I simply take the wrong turning. I have automatic route recalculation turned off or at least, prompted. In other words, I prefer to navigate myself back onto the magenta line. This is often made easier if I can zoom the map in and out using the wheel. At least, I find it easier.

I won’t be able to use the wheel with my XT; I can accept that disadvantage. I see it as a disadvantage or a negative; others might well not.

I quite like the look of the XT and can see why it may well win over my Nav V and Nav VI devices, not least as my brand new Nav VI has (straight out of the its Make Life a Ride box) developed demonic possession, so I have given it back to BMW Park Lane at Battersea. Though, I see from another thread that the problem with the Nav VI switching screens, freezing and refusing inputs from the wheel and by finger, juddering the map, freezing the route and suddenly thinking I was in Yorkshire (when I was in rural Essex) and then zooming itself so far in that the entire screen went green and stayed that way, might be down to the cradle interface and not the device at all.

I've had this ghosting issue for several months now and as the unit is well out of warranty i have no choice but to muddle on with it.
I've found this on another gs site and tried it on a run out today. The workaround seems to work and the only downside is not being able to use the jog wheel.

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But hey, we are now miles off the OP’s topic.
 
Let’s have a bit of fun and get the thread back on topic…..


A pro of the cradle and phone combination, might be:

The better search function, especially using Google’s vast database.

Though the waters do perhaps get muddied when the owner links their GPS device (in my case I am experimenting with the XT) to an app running on their phone. For example, an XT linked to a phone running the Garmin Drive app. Which device is then running which? Is the XT dependent on the app on the phone or visa-versa?
 
Another pro (positive) of the navigation device, though some might see it as a (negative) con, is:

The ability to create bespoke routes easily, using BaseCamp. Though some might find BaseCamp difficult (ie a negative) and prefer to use, for example, MyRoute. Though here again the water might well not be chrystal clear. BaseCamp needs to be used on a computer, which some see as a con too.


A possible pro (positive) of the phone and cradle combination, is that many bods already have a phone and sometimes quite an expensive one, too. To use the phone as a navigation / infotainment device, saves the separate expense con (negative) of buying a stand alone GPS device and learning how to use it properly.

Another pro (positive) of the phone and cradle combination is perhaps that it is very nearly plug-and-play. Bods, because they use their phone every day, are familiar with its workings. Less so perhaps with a standalone GPS device.
 
When I used my phone in my car (pre sat nav days) I always had it in portrait.

And when I got my GS1200 I used a cheap cradle to replace the Nav 6 but I was disappointed that it would only go landscape.

What I would have liked was a choice of both modes on the new connect cradle but it seems it’s not possible.

So much so that I’d probably rather just do away with the cradle altogether and put a quadlock on. But that doesn’t let me use the wheel.

I can’t be the only one that prefers to navigate in portrait mode?
 
Whilst that the bulk of modern GPS devices operate in landscape mode only (though the XT will do both) I guess some owners of phones prefer to use the portrait mode, as that is the mode they most often employ when holding the phone and using it for its fundamental purpose….. as a telephone. Hence the majority of car cradles are designed to hold the phone in a vertical axis, as opposed to horizontal. Familiarity of use transfers across from the car to the bike.

Not least, I guess that the horizontal axis of the cradle on a motorcycle, takes up less space.

Given the rise of ‘connected’ phone and car design, where the phone can sit in the owners’ pocket, glove box, boot or centre console, the entire view being displayed on a screen built into the car’s dashboard, the separate cradle in a car is rapidly becoming extinct.
 
Given the rise of ‘connected’ phone and car design, where the phone can sit in the owners’ pocket, glove box, boot or centre console, the entire view being displayed on a screen built into the car’s dashboard.

This is already happening with bikes, Honda Africa twin has info from your phone displayed through Apple play, Ducati and KTM also have similar systems. For everyday use the dedicated satnav is dying. There will always be a place for it in specialist areas though. I'm considering getting something like a etrex for off road plotting.
 
When I used my phone in my car (pre sat nav days) I always had it in portrait.

And when I got my GS1200 I used a cheap cradle to replace the Nav 6 but I was disappointed that it would only go landscape.

What I would have liked was a choice of both modes on the new connect cradle but it seems it’s not possible.

So much so that I’d probably rather just do away with the cradle altogether and put a quadlock on. But that doesn’t let me use the wheel.

I can’t be the only one that prefers to navigate in portrait mode?

Touratech do a mount that swivels through 360degrees that would fit to the nav bar allowing you to rotate to portrait.
 
This is already happening with bikes, Honda Africa twin has info from your phone displayed through Apple play, Ducati and KTM also have similar systems. For everyday use the dedicated satnav is dying. There will always be a place for it in specialist areas though. I'm considering getting something like a etrex for off road plotting.

True that.
 
Well I managed to get out for an hour or two today to try the app in the cradle. It definitely has some plus points but also some negatives. These are the things I like and dislike about it.

Firstly I like the inductive charging and the all round feel of the unit. It holds the phone (iPhone 11 Pro) really well, I have it in a Torras case which is really slim but makes the fit nigh on perfect.

The sun was bright and low but could read it easy enough, better than the nav 5 but not as good as the nav 6.

I like how when listening to say podcasts (I presume music as well) the audio directions pauses the sound/track then restarts after the directions have finished.

I like the way the map and directions are laid out with the countdown to the turn on the right of the screen, seems to be 100ft for every mark. I also like the option to choose alternative routes while riding.

That leads me to what I'm not so keen on, you can't change the routing preference while moving, you have to stop the route, you add a new destination, select alternative routes but not the preference??

Obviously no off road routing or mapping.

It shows the speed limit in the top left hand corner minus 1mph, so a 60 speed limit is displayed as 59mph, which is fine even though it makes no sense to me, but there is no actual speed shown like in a proper nav, that would be convenient, or a change colour if you where to over speed, but I suppose that works ok with TFT screens.

No postcode search function, that is a massive omission in my opinion. But that could be my old fashioned way of entering a location.

Lack of adaption on the bike info screen, like you can on the nav, probably not required on TFT but is handy on analogue clock bikes.

This app could have been amazing but it just falls a little short, if you want to let the app direct you from A to B with the addition of a few waypoints it will do that fine, but if they made a few additions like current speed, ability to control what you see on the info screen and let it not reroute the off road GPX files you send it then it would be almost perfect.
 


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