The Road Warrior
Well-known member
If so, what kind of a set up do you have? What phone, connections, holders/mounts etc.
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Anybody use their smartphone as a bike GPS?
- Thread starter The Road Warrior
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2500Express
Well-known member
Be careful with that setup, the vibrations can can cause some damage to your phone, I used mine for a trip, and it kept vibrating the sim card out. My phone hasn't been the same since, the UI of the phone is a lot slower.
I have an Iphone 3gs
Use an MV ram mount and iphone holder
Software in Navigon, aprox $60 at app store. Seemed expensive but when compared with a garmin system, about $130 for a decent one, plus you always have this with you so no need for extra hardware and cables, not too bad.
Kills battery pretty quick so I have a backup battery pack.
Use an MV ram mount and iphone holder
Software in Navigon, aprox $60 at app store. Seemed expensive but when compared with a garmin system, about $130 for a decent one, plus you always have this with you so no need for extra hardware and cables, not too bad.
Kills battery pretty quick so I have a backup battery pack.
What kind of phone were you using?
Motorola Droid and Droid X so far.
The X work the best because of screen size. Will have more phone for testing or maybe a tablet this season...
I have a 12v usb adapter cable connected from the battery, then dump the whole thing into my tankbag clear map pocket. In my riding experience I rarely look at it. The sunlight and the clear map pocket make it hard to read. If I ever need it i usually stop my bike, look at it and memorize next couple routes.
The X work the best because of screen size. Will have more phone for testing or maybe a tablet this season...
I have a 12v usb adapter cable connected from the battery, then dump the whole thing into my tankbag clear map pocket. In my riding experience I rarely look at it. The sunlight and the clear map pocket make it hard to read. If I ever need it i usually stop my bike, look at it and memorize next couple routes.
2500Express
Well-known member
I was using a nokia E71, so you may or may not have problems.
I've used both my iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 without issue, in a RAM mount. Since I use my phone with a case, the mounts don't fit all that well, and I don't want to have to take it out of the case to use it so I'm going to see if I can find a cheap refurbed GPS that I can dedicate to the bike.
vrus
Well-known member
fyi there is a new company that seems to be making RAM mounts with case compatibility for a variety of smartphones.
http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/hstrial-eGeneralMerch/-strse-RAM-Mount-Compatible/Categories.bok
I might be trying this setup with my Captivate when I get the $$$.
The Road Warrior
Well-known member
My biggest concern is summer heat and direct sunlight hitting the phone on longer rides.
Does Navigon allow you to download maps locally so you're not using up your data plan? I can't find any information on the subject but it's potentially a pretty huge cost if you have to use data, especially in the US.
superspud9
Active member
I bought that slipgrip mount for my captivate, im just waiting for my otterbox commuter case to come in to give this setup a try
GRN_ZX7R
Well-known member
Navigon won't use any data at all, it uses the built in gps in the phone, i use tomtom on my iphone 4 which works great
vrus
Well-known member
that's fantastic! Now I don't have to play guinea pig
. What software are you going to use? I was thinking of acquiring co-pilot for navi for the offline maps mode. Keep us posted!superspud9
Active member
that's fantastic! Now I don't have to play guinea pig
Im on a family plan with 1GB of shared data so im thinking ill just use google maps/navigation as they dont use a whole lot of bandwith. Im more of a commuter with my bike so i won't be using the maps/navigation enough to be concerned with bandwidth limits. I hope my case comes in before this weekend, then I can give it a test run this weekend with the nice weather
I understand it won't use the data to locate itself, but will it use data to illustrate maps as you go or does it pull that from saved memory in the phone?
I was using google maps/garmin xt on my touch pro but i found it caused it to over heat and over drive the battery. bought a dedicated gps.
all the 3rd party navigation apps will use maps stored locally on the device. I think TomTom has traffic, that would pull from the internet, but I think you can turn that off. I'm going to the states this weekend to do some shopping and pick up my tires, I plan to use TomTom while I'm there.
Navigon will use NO DATA unless you enable traffic. I use it in the US all the time and my data, data roaming etc. is turned off.
