I think Garmin has the most intuitive rider interface, and seem to be just a little more weatherproof than TomTom, from what I have heard from friends- depends what kind of weather you ride in. In fairness, though, it took a pretty bad day of Bavarian snow and rain to make my last TomTom play up. Fitting I can't help with, being completely inept in any mechanical wizardry apart from chain adjustment, but I have one located on the left side on one bike and one in the middle over the clocks for the other- checking the visuals makes little difference in practice, I have found.
I know Satnavs are a godsend and any technology that helps is great.
But I've never been inclined to regularly use them. Even though I have a couple in my possession.
Story time 😛I remember a friend who had recently become a delivery driver. Whenever he called me he would subsequently get onto the problems he'd had while out delivering during the day. His main gripe was when his Satnav packed in and he had no idea what to do. He was like a fish out of water.
In my day of delivery driving all you had was a UK map book and a bag of A-Z guides for each city area location. Your Satnav was in your head and if you couldn't source the delivery point (when near location) or with your A-Z, your resulting option was to jump out of your lorry and ask for directions. This usually worked quite well except when in London. Countless times I was ignored by people on the street 😠 Unless I was talking to someone who was born within the sound of Bow bells 😁
Or when I was once in the middle of the Bullring in Birmingham central. When a retired parcel driver not only helped me find my delivery point there, but stayed with me all the way and the rest of the day (breaching Insurance) naughty 😬to help me get all my multi drops off. He was my guardian angel that day. Helping me avoid another night out.
Having said all that I think I would possibly use a Satnav if I went to the continent and the expanse of Europe. But really I do love the challenge and excitement of following your nose and directions given out, with the fun and frill of old school adventure. Maybe getting lost 😂😂 So I'm with Pauls thinking here.
Another example too, was when I was once looking for the Castlerigg standing stones in the Lake District near Keswick. I took a wrong turn and pulled off left onto a B road, stumbling on an old but unknown classic vehicle museum, with old school farm and traction engines. Asking directions for Castlerigg, I was then treated to my very own personal tour around the facility. Something I wouldn't have got using a satnav.
But it's everybody's preference and I very much understand people's use of them. The ease of getting somewhere safely and quickly as got to be a big draw.
So back to the original question, (waffle waffle😂) As for fitting a satnav and picking the right one for your bike, your asking the wrong person 😂😂
I had a tomtom rider on my gen2 busa, it came with a RAM type ball mount and I just bought a RAM steering stem mount adaptor, it worked just fine, no vibration, could still see it over a tank bag and did thousands of miles on euro trips, could probably find a pic of the set up somewhere if needed
You can use it without using your phones mobile data, which is great.
Get it from the play store.
Another one I have, is an handy emergency app called What 3 Words.
It pin points to the exact spot where you are in a location. What it does is put you inside a grid on the map and each section as key words associated to the grid references square.
So you could be say in the corner of a very large car park and it can pin point which corner. Something that is used by the emergency services to help them get directly to the exact location. Because they use the app you can guide them to you in case of an emergency.
Having carried lots of A - Zs around through the 70s 80s and 90s and used maps most of my life, I find the Sat Nav a valuable tool, I would not be without one, google maps is a form of Sat Nav. I use a Garmin Zumo dedicated for bikes, and I have to say it can take you on some interesting routes. I use a map aswell, but when you need to find a specific street, a map is not a lot of good to you on a bike, and I am mostly on a bike, unless working.
I use Scenic on my phone. You can plan a route or use other peoples routes that they've saved. Sat Nav function is great The only let down is it doesn't tell you where speed cameras are.
Satnavs are the work of the devil. They will lead you from the chosen path to the wilderness where you will be nibbled to death by rabbits. Don't say I didn't warn you.
Interesting, the one who posted the question shows as 'deleted member' but the thread still is flowing :) But anyway, if someone else opens it with the same question in mind, I think that the best option would be Garmin Zumo 396 or XT, which will have full Europe including UK and Ireland maps with traffic and scenic routes designed for motorcycles. Plus multitude of other options. Also, an indispensable are Google maps if you don't want to get lost and get to your destination on time. However, you need to plan a route with extra 'route markers' or sub-destinations if you want to take specific route and not the 'fastest' by Google. It works for me very well.
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