GPS vs Phone

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Replaced my Zumo with scenic on iPhone 5 years ago and recently added a Carpiride wireless CarPlay/ Android screen.

Worked very well on my 3 week tour in Colorado/ west tour last June

Purchased the one equipped with the BMW bracket to fit the Nav prep. No additional wiring needed.

My phone now sits in my pocket or top case on longer rides and out of the harsh elements my old iPhone 8 endured for years.

Carpuride W702B Pro Wireless Portable Upgraded Dual Bluetooth Waterproof IP67 Motorcycle Stereo, with Intercom function, Compass/Barometer, BMW Motorcycles Bracket

Ride smarter with the BMW motor cycle radio W702B Pro! Packed with the smart motorcycle compass and and Bluetooth stereo, experience unbeatable audio and reliable navigation now!

carpuride.com

 

[adri]

I spent 25 days riding across Italy using just my phone. No GPS unit. It rained for the first two weeks. The country was flooding. 17 people died.

Some days I put it in a ziplock bag, some days I just let it get wet. That phone still works great.

Not being too glove-friendly is a totally valid point... but let's be realistic here: If you aren't in a position where you can unzip a little, take your glove off, and do what you need to do on screen while riding... are you really in a position where you should be fiddling with a screen while riding in the first place?

Not saying I'm the global standard for safe riding practices... I ride my Vespa in my flip flops, bathing suit, and a t-shirt because I come from a beach people, but like... maybe if you've got too much going on while riding to just take off your glove, you've got too much going on to be fingering a screen?

 

[Lightcycle]

I spent 25 days riding across Italy using just my phone. No GPS unit. It rained for the first two weeks. The country was flooding. 17 people died.

Some days I put it in a ziplock bag, some days I just let it get wet. That phone still works great.

Not being too glove-friendly is a totally valid point... but let's be realistic here: If you aren't in a position where you can unzip a little, take your glove off, and do what you need to do on screen while riding... are you really in a position where you should be fiddling with a screen while riding in the first place?

Not saying I'm the global standard for safe riding practices... I ride my Vespa in my flip flops, bathing suit, and a t-shirt because I come from a beach people, but like... maybe if you've got too much going on while riding to just take off your glove, you've got too much going on to be fingering a screen?

You're a better rider than I am.

I can't take my gloves off and put them back on when I'm riding.

I crash into trees and ride off into ditches quite regularly even with both hands on the grips...

 

[adri]

You're a better rider than I am.

I can't take my gloves off and put them back on when I'm riding.

I crash into trees and ride off into ditches quite regularly even with both hands on the grips...

That's because you do more riding where there are interesting things like trees and ditches to explore.

Back here in Chrawno, all we have is bike lanes and crackheads.

 

[Dunc]

I'm going to try reusing my old phone as a head unit, hotspot for data, use the apps I like.
I'm deep in the Garmin world so not sure how i will survive without.

 

[PrivatePilot]

I can't take my gloves off and put them back on when I'm riding.

Some bikes do well with no hands at all on the handlebars. Others seem to immediately want to steer you into the nearest immovable object.

One nice thing about the suspension rake angles on most cruisers and tourers is that they track perfectly find hands free, if the need arises. I have experimented at times on long rides and was able to go many kilometers at a time hands free. I'm not saying it's safe or even advisable, but it is possible.

Back on the original topic, the other thing that I forgot to say was a huge advantage for phone vs dedicated GPS is route planning and loading. There are lots of ways to plan a route on your computer at home and seamlessly transfer them to nav apps - Scenic for example lets you literally upload a GPX file to your account on their website and it magically pops up in your app ready to be imported. Google maps you can plot a basic route and send it by text to your phone. A standalone GPS, you get into memory sticks etc. And then my experience has been that if you want/need to rejig your route on the fly it can be challenging once loaded from a prefab plan.

As some may have noticed, I'm a big fan of the Scenic app. It's iPhone only, but well worth the ~$25/year to support motorcycle specific app development, and it has offline capabilities as well as great on the fly route plotting options depending on what you're looking for - scenery, twisties, fast, etc.

 

[shanekingsley]

Back on the original topic, the other thing that I forgot to say was a huge advantage for phone vs dedicated GPS is route planning and loading. There are lots of ways to plan a route on your computer at home and seamlessly transfer them to nav apps - Scenic for example lets you literally upload a GPX file to your account on their website and it magically pops up in your app ready to be imported. Google maps you can plot a basic route and send it by text to your phone. A standalone GPS, you get into memory sticks etc. And then my experience has been that if you want/need to rejig your route on the fly it can be challenging once loaded from a prefab plan.

I haven't used a memory card for route loading into the GPS devices in over 10 years. Now it's super quick and easy to create my routes on the laptop and transfer to the device, but I use MyRouteApp to do all that stuff because the Garmin basecamp is one of the least user intuitive programs out there.

Changing a detailed route on the device is clunky for sure though - I've done it many times, but it's definitely not as user friendly as many of the available nowadays.

One of these days I should try one of those tablets and mount em up and run MyRouteApp from that and see how it does vs the Zumo.

Being completely waterproof and glove friendly in the rain is a must for me.

 

[shanekingsley]

Replaced my Zumo with scenic on iPhone 5 years ago and recently added a Carpiride wireless CarPlay/ Android screen.

Worked very well on my 3 week tour in Colorado/ west tour last June

Purchased the one equipped with the BMW bracket to fit the Nav prep. No additional wiring needed.

My phone now sits in my pocket or top case on longer rides and out of the harsh elements my old iPhone 8 endured for years.

Carpuride W702B Pro Wireless Portable Upgraded Dual Bluetooth Waterproof IP67 Motorcycle Stereo, with Intercom function, Compass/Barometer, BMW Motorcycles Bracket

Ride smarter with the BMW motor cycle radio W702B Pro! Packed with the smart motorcycle compass and and Bluetooth stereo, experience unbeatable audio and reliable navigation now!

carpuride.com

That looks pretty sweet. Anything like that for non-BMW bikes?

 

[Morrissey]

At some point new motorcycle screens will interface with Apple or Android well enough, and GPSs will decline in value. My 2022 Tiger connects to the phone which has a charging station under the seat, but the Triumph navigation is rudimentary turn by turn, and you have to stop and pull the phone out from under the seat to change destinations. We’re almost there but not quite. I’m not so sure that having a larger and larger screen tempting a rider to not pay attention to the road is a great idea. Joysticks and the like can also be distracting, as they are fiddily to adjust, and may require the turn signals and horn buttons to move.

I looked at a few Hondas this year and their new Honda-sync technology pairs to your phone and displays turn by turn on the TFT and lets you control your music and phone with the toggle or with voice. I've never tried it but it seems like the best solution to the problem as it would be future compatible. It isn't software, it's just a display for what your phone sends it and your phone is easy to update.

Sadly my 20 year old ST1300 doesn't even have a charging port on it.

 

[adri]

Replaced my Zumo with scenic on iPhone 5 years ago and recently added a Carpiride wireless CarPlay/ Android screen.

Worked very well on my 3 week tour in Colorado/ west tour last June

Purchased the one equipped with the BMW bracket to fit the Nav prep. No additional wiring needed.

My phone now sits in my pocket or top case on longer rides and out of the harsh elements my old iPhone 8 endured for years.

Carpuride W702B Pro Wireless Portable Upgraded Dual Bluetooth Waterproof IP67 Motorcycle Stereo, with Intercom function, Compass/Barometer, BMW Motorcycles Bracket

Ride smarter with the BMW motor cycle radio W702B Pro! Packed with the smart motorcycle compass and and Bluetooth stereo, experience unbeatable audio and reliable navigation now!

carpuride.com

I have something similar to that for BMWs as well, made by a company called Chigee.

Capuride were ********. They offered to send me product, pay me to review their product in a YouTube video. Then after I made the video, decided not to pay after all. I removed huge portions of the video and left it at that, lesson learned. They have a ton of 5 star reviews on Amazon in a short period of time, you can guess why.

Unfortunately, in the mean time I bought one of their units for my truck, so now I have to see their **** ass logo every time I drive somewhere.

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