#1: TomTom Rider v2 Satellite Navigation – Western Europe
Imagine: a perfect summers day. The open road awaits. Do you fancy a pre-programmed favourite tour or maybe a new challenge? Simply choose your route, run through it before you leave, build in a few stops and youre away. Alternatively, just pick a destination and RIDE. Because with RIDER you really can find your way the easy way. Not only have you got the latest and most complete maps for true door-to-door navigation throughout Australia on a single SD card. You decide how you want to get there: the quickest route? the shortest? avoiding motorways? Or why not enjoy one of the free, bikerfriendly scenic routes? Wherever you go and however you decide to get there, your compact and portable RIDER is easy to take with you. From bike to bike or bike to car. For bikers, by bikers Navigating by bike is different. Which is why RIDER has been designed solely with the biker in mind. Not just a glove-friendly touchscreen, but a rugged, waterproof finish that handles even the toughest weather. Not just a secure and easy-to-mount dock, but the dock itself is fixed to your bike with robust universal RAM mounting hardware. And not just TomToms award-winning navigation software, but high quality in-helmet voice instructions delivered through a Cardo scala-rider® Bluetooth® headset. All straight out of the box. Easy RIDER RIDER really offers the easiest, most relaxed possible biking experience. From the moment you straddle your engine, you understand why bikers prefer RIDERs straightforward style. You just plug it in, switch it on & RIDE. Youve got a choice of 3D or 2D maps on a smooth-scrolling display. The crystal clear, glove-friendly, anti-glare touchscreen even has a sun visor to ensure an optimal view at all times. You will receive clear spoken instructions in your preferred language to your destination, but if you decide to take a quick detour, your RIDER immediately recalculates and adjusts its route description. Its not easy to make something so s
Great piece of kit
Having used a Garmin for work i decided to purchase a SatNav for my bike, and after checking the alternatives, i plumped for the TomTom Rider, because:
- you get a wireless headset
- you get a mounting kit
- this is supposedly designed by bikers, for bikers
- its a 2nd version, so any problems would hopefully be ironed out
- TomTom have a reputation for making good SatNavs.
Having purchased the Western Europe version (as the price was reduced in the sales) the package duly arrived. Getting the unit up-and-running was simplicity itself (after charging both the wireless headset and unit for a few hours beforehand). The menu system is pretty easy to work out and is also useful when on the move (although there is a reduced menu-system in this situation) for safety reasons, but all you need to do is pull over for the larger menu.
Initially I did wonder how i would get the mount onto my bike (GSX-R600 K6) but after quickly realising that it wouldnt go anywhere on the handlebars, or clock set up, i attached it to the right mirror stand. This works like a dream as its level with the eyeline and pretty secure. I did have to tighten up the nuts at one point, after going approx. 100 miles, as the mount slipped down when going over rough tarmac, but after that incident it hasnt moved. Just in case it wouldnt fit, i searched online and found a nice alternative mounting system (telferizer – easy to find online), which has a central mounting system (which they say will fit any bike, but you will need to use the back mount of the enclosed ram mount system to attach the TomTom Rider). This does work nicely, but can be a bit uncomfortable as its set below the clocks.
I’ve driven in high winds and torrential rain and although i was drenched through, the TomTom Rider kept on working and didnt miss a beat. I’ve seen comments about the voices not being loud enough at high speed, which is a fair point, but when you use the well-designed visual display with the voice prompts (i use a loudness setting of 95% as 100% is distorted) i’ve not had any problems 90% of the time, and thats with using ear plugs to reduce wind noise too).
To update the software and to get additional downloads you’ll need to install the software and register your unit using TomTom Home. This is again simple to use and quite useful as you can get information on any possible traffic problems before setting out (not that thats a problem for bikers ;o). The unit checks for updates either automatically or when you decide to and informs you of anything pending, then its a simple matter of choosing what to update (this can vary between unit updates, safety camera updates or other downloads, i.e. new voices).
The speed cameras, errm, i mean safety cameras download i consider to be an essential purchase for a biker (you get a years supply of updates for the whole of Western Europe, for a one-off payment) and the audible warnings for each camera is well in advance of the camera location (approx 400 yards) and again its an easy process to update the database by connecting to TomTom Home. I did read (after going online a few times) that you can get a free download of safety cameras if you do this the very first time you run TomTome Home, but this isnt clearly spelt out enough in the documentation.
You are also able to link up your mobile phone with the TomTom so that you can receive calls when on the move via the headset (and also make a call when stationary). Linking my phone to the unit was again easy (even though it wasnt one listed – K850i – it connected straight away with no issues), a few clicks, and its linked, and if you choose to do so, every subsequent time you want to in the future automatically.
The additional voices are a waste of money, imho, i’m still waiting for John Cleese to say something even remotely amusing and the ’sexy voice’ is anything but.
One minor thing would be that i had to remove some, albeit unused software (voices) from the unit so that i could add other downloads, as the unit said it was full, even though it was straight out of the box.
I really cant find any significant fault with this SatNav (a clearer voice would be one thing but thats minor) and would recommend it to any biker looking for the best biker SatNav on the market.
Rider version2
Very good piece of Kit, comes with mounting brackets that should suit any sort of bike.Works well on the bike(better than any other Sat Navs for Bikes that Ive seen).Bought the car mount kit(ensure it is the correct V2 version), which works well and is no fuss to swap between car and bike.The rider2 can be used tas a rider to pillion wireless coms set if you buy an extra headset. My only gripe is that the extra headsets are fairly expensive.Then again, you get what you pay for in the world of intercom systems. Recommended.
Don’t go into the mountains!
I bought this product to take on holiday to the Alps, it worked well staying dry while riding through so very heavy rain storms.
However once we started travelling through the mountains a significant weakness became apparent. Because the unit is water-tight it also appeares to be air-tight. When at altitude the touchscreen expands away from the display making inputs impossible until you have equalised the pressure by opening the usb cover. Then when you have decended the touchscreen is pushing on the display creating spurious reading and errors. All this is very frustrating as you will have to stop to rectify the pressure difference. Shame because apart from this problem it is a good unit, my friends Garmin suffered no such problems during our trip.
