Is a separate nav needed

Getting a new 2022rt next week,
I have a garmin zumo xt from my old rt
Question is?
Is the built in nav good enough, I have a European trip coming up and they send the routes through by gpx files.

Would it be better to keep the xt and mount it, no idea
How,
Somewhere on the bike ?
Also does an iPhone 11 Pro Max fit in the cubby hole
For
Charging ?

Sat nav is definitely needed. We went around the Lake District and Northumberland the other week. My pal on his GS was using the built in stuff on his bike. I was using the proper satnav on the wing. He failed to get a signal at times and was left without navigation. I was ok, it was time for my smug face .
These app based things are getting better,but not totally reliable yet.

stever1 said:

Sat nav is definitely needed. We went around the Lake District and Northumberland the other week. My pal on his GS was using the built in stuff on his bike. I was using the proper satnav on the wing. He failed to get a signal at times and was left without navigation. I was ok, it was time for my smug face .
These app based things are getting better,but not totally reliable yet.

Click to expand...

Strange, because the GS doesn’t have a built in sat nav

You need to download the BMW Apps maps to the phone, then it will use your gps in the phone, which is as reliable as any normal sat nav.

If he was using Waze or Google maps etc, they are internet reliant and unreliable.

My advice would be to check how the system gets its information, if it has built in GPS then it will be fine, if it uses the ride connect app and you download the maps….it’ll be fine. If it relies on internet connection……keep your Garmin XT.

Flipfly said:

Strange, because the GS doesn’t have a built in sat nav

You need to download the BMW Apps maps to the phone, then it will use your gps in the phone, which is as reliable as any normal sat nav.

If he was using Waze or Google maps etc, they are internet reliant and unreliable.

My advice would be to check how the system gets its information, if it has built in GPS then it will be fine, if it uses the ride connect app and you download the maps….it’ll be fine. If it relies on internet connection……keep your Garmin XT.

Click to expand...

Sorry, maybe I didn’t make it clear. I had the built in proper satnav, he was using the BMW app and TFT thing.

oly said:

Getting a new 2022rt next week,
I have a garmin zumo xt from my old rt
Question is?
Is the built in nav good enough, I have a European trip coming up and they send the routes through by gpx files.

Would it be better to keep the xt and mount it, no idea
How,
Somewhere on the bike ?
Also does an iPhone 11 Pro Max fit in the cubby hole
For
Charging ?

Click to expand...

BMW make a bracket for the RT so you can attach a Nav V1 above the TFT a bit like a GSA. Bahnstormer BMW Alton have fitted a few now. Perhaps have a conversation with them. It's not cheap at £500.00 approx but integrates very well as you would expect. Not sure your XT will fit and work properly thou, worth a conversation with the dealer.

I use my phone as a back up. I have the TomTom app which I think is £12 quid a year. Mounted using quadlock above the dash. Very neat.
I will take a picture if it helps.

Like this.

Although the latest software updates have massively improved the reliability of the built-in navigation I have decided to keep my Zumo XT as the "go to" nav solution on my 2021 RT, for two main reasons:-

Firstly, it is accessible and easy to use whilst riding - whilst some functions of the nav can be accessed via the bike menu, anything complex requires stopping, taking out the phone and faffing about (particularly if you have to put on reading glasses to see the phone )

Secondly, the re-starting of the bike system after e.g. a petrol stop (and yes it does actually re-start properly now, it didn't before) takes a ludicrously long time. Not ideal if you are relying on it in unfamiliar territory.

I mounted the Zumo using a Wunderlich bar bolt thingy as here https://www.bmwlt.com/threads/mount...0rt-has-anyone-done-this.191915/#post-1972724 (Hors Piste posts are mine)

But I see in one of his recent videos that Nothing to Prove Scott has used a different Wunderlich solution to mount a RAM ball, which is quite neat.

I understand that the BMW mount referenced above requires the drilling of holes. I didn't want any of that.

I power mine from an ezCAN, since I wanted to power some other things as well.

An iPhone 11 Pro Max will just about fit in the charging cubby but only if it has no sleeve of any kind fitted. Removing the sleeve made mine so slippery that I was bound to drop it so I bought a Mark 2(3?) iPhone SE to use as a dedicated bike phone.

I guess lots of cheaper phone solutions would work (you don't even need a SIM card if you're not worried about traffic updates).

For me the bike system is a handy back-up, but I use the Zumo for "proper" nav.

Some people still seem to be having issues with the bike system, although my nav now seems to work OK I do have the "app doesn't recognise the bike" trip recording issue, but this doesn't affect the nav.

I'm off to Spain next month & I will be using my Garmin proper sat nav as I just don't trust the BMW app to restart quick enough after a petrol, lunch stop etc. It may be ok if you are travelling alone but whilst leading a group I can't be arsed waiting for the app to re-connect before setting off on an unfamiliar route.

I use my BMW Street Nav, re-badged Zumo 390