TomTom Rider GPS

[Mike05]

Anyone purchase/use or otherwise familiar with the " TomTom Rider " GPS navigation system? Would you recommend it? Seems pricey; any other recommendations?

 

Thanks,

Mike05

[ChrisA]

I would stick with Garmin if I were you. So many people here use them, if you have any issue you're bound to find an answer in the forum. As for which model Garmin, well that's up to you. I have the Garmin Nuvi 350 (still waiting on the RAM mount for it).

[Knifemaker]

You can purchase rebuilt Street Pilot III's with 1 year warrenty new software and all parts for less than $400.00. Real good deal and mine works great!!

[TracerBullet]

Mike,

there have been some other discussions on this. Try the search function

[Eckhard Grohe]

Being a frustrated 2610 owner I think buying a SPIII is a good move as all of the colour screen is no good if the sunlight washes it out. Where did you get the SPIII??

[sisu]

Spend a few more bucks and get the 2720. The screen is much better, the processor is faster.

[SSTwin]

You can purchase rebuilt Street Pilot III's with 1 year warrenty new software and all parts for less than $400.00. Real good deal and mine works great!!

 

Looking for a Garmin NAV for my GS. Where do you get these for $400?

[scargoes]

SSTwin...here is one. web page

[steveknapp]

SPIII is a good move as all of the colour screen is no good if the sunlight washes it out. Where did you get the SPIII??

 

The SPIII is color as well.

 

The screen on the 276C looks GREAT in the sun, FWIW. Similar screen in the 60C series.

[EricJRW]

The screen on the 276C looks GREAT in the sun, FWIW.

Is the 276C the one that also gets weather? Met a guy this weekend that had a Garmin unit that plotted weather on the GPS map... Seemed like a neat trick for when on the bike... I was thinking it might be possible to find cover before you need it... Larger display than the 2610 (what I have) too...

 

Oops... Maybe it was a 376... That would be worth a look.

[m0rgb]

I've got one!

 

Had a Garmin Quest that we used for a tour of Europe, worked great until the end of the trip when it kept loosing the satellites. Apparently a common fault with these units. Got a refund eventually....retailers

 

Would have gone for a Garmin 2720 but you have to add the cost of the fitting kit etc. Tomtom rider actually worked out cheaper.

 

Used sd card so you can upgrade memory and maps, works well and intergrates to you phone so you can see who is calling or read the text message on the fly!

 

Cannot pre programme a route like Garmins but overall I like it.

 

Gary

[SSTwin]

SSTwin...here is one. web page

 

Thanks, I'll check it out!

[Aluminum_Butt]

the processor is faster

Agree - I have an SP3, and when it gets into an "off route - recalculating" situation, the calculation can sometimes take so long that I miss the next possible turn...then it's back to recalculating again. This can be a painful and frustrating situation in heavy traffic, or when I've gotten turned around in a really bad neighborhood. It happened in a really nasty part of East St. Louis a few weeks ago - I wanted OUT of there!

 

I've got one buddy with a 276C - the recalculation is almost instantaneous.

 

As to a Tom Tom - it may be a very nice piece of equipment, I've got no experience with it. However, as someone pointed out, it seems like pretty much everyone I ride with is running Garmin. Just being able to trade routes and use the same route file on a ride is a huge plus.

[randy]

generally the rap on Tom Tom is the off unit route planning. I would say most of the Garmin users, create routes on their PC and load them into the unit. Now maybe tom tom has a better unit interface, so route planning with the unit is easy. But for me, I bet i have 500 way points in my garmin unit, and probably 100 routes. to do all that on the actual unit, would have drove me crazy. Doing it on the PC, using a big 20" LCD monitor, made the process fun. Plus as noted above, sharing the routes with other members is a really nice feature.