Saturday 5 December 2009

Which Sat Nav?

Using a Sat Nav on a bike has benefits and disadvantages. Some say it takes away some of the freedom of the road that we all adore so much. Some say it simply helps us from getting lost! I am somewhere in the middle – I use one when I really need to, but leave it off the bike most of the time.


When I do use one is normally when I am on a long trip to somewhere I have never been before. For a few years I have been using a Tom Tom Rider and I have found it OK, but only just. Sure, it is clear with a good screen, the route it finds are normally very good, the speed camera warnings are excellent and it is very easy to use. It is only let down by the longer route planning with many waypoints (places you want to go via on the way). In short, I don’t like its longer route planning capabilities and there is no way to save anything but your currently planned journey. Also, I have never really been happy with the way you connect the unit to speakers / earpieces so you can hear the verbal directions.



For my 13,500 mile tour of the USA I definitely needed a Sat Nav, but I wanted something better than the Tom Tom.


I did some research, checked out what each could do, asked a few buddies (thanks Derek), compared features and prices and decided to go for the Garmin Zumo 660.






















Christmas is coming and guess what is going on my list...... Jackie....... ?

Assuming my wife takes the hint, I will let you know how I get on with it during the tour preparations.

2 comments:

Lol said...

This site might be useful to you for keeping us all up to date on where you are: http://connect.garmin.com.

Gary France said...

Thanks Lol. I had seen a map on somebody elses blog that tracked where they were and I wondered how they did this. Now I know - they must have been using Garmin Connect. So far, I have only taken a quick look at the site you suggested, but I will do so in more detai in the next few days.

Thanks.

Gary