TomTom Rider 2

[MikeWa]

Ok I installed a TomTom Rider 2 on my 2nd gen a couple of weeks ago. Here is a report on my impressions so far. Again my personal opinions.

First The Good;

It is easy to install. The Ram Mount and cradle work pretty well. The unit snaps in and out of the cradle easily and feels solid. The wiring is very simple. I just soldered the ends to the back of the accessory plug behind the fairing. The unit turns on automatically with the key but I have to power it off. Satellite locks are very quick. Usually under 40 seconds. Rerouting is also very quick. This is usually good but sometimes it can be a problem which I will bring up later. The thing is impervious to rain. Even the cover for the usb jack has a solid rubber seal around it. The light gray color does not absorb as much heat from the sun as black does. It may be minor but since heat is a killer of electronics I like this small detail. It even has a little built in visor, nice touch. The touch screen works well even with gloves.

The Bad;

The screen washes out easily. It doesn't have to be in really bright sunlight either. While it offers several screen color options none work well in sunlight. It is hard to follow a map you can't see. The automatic zoom is also a real problem. There is no manual zoom or pan functions while moving. That is not to bad when navigating a predetermined route but when you just want to use the map you can't even see two blocks away. When you are allowed to zoom out it is only temporary and the map returns to it's automatic setting after a few seconds. This makes it almost impossible to find alternate routes with the gps map, very frustrating.

The use of the menu is also limited to four buttons when moving. It is called a Safety Driving Menu. You can't make outgoing calls with the Blue Tooth while moving either. So you are forced to stop to scan the map or make changes etc. This creates some new problems. When you pull off the road say into a parking lot (not that a motorcycle would ever be driven off the road or heaven forbid into a parking lot) the gps will assign your position and direction to a nearby street and quickly recalculate your route from that artificial point. Frequently, as in every time you pull off the road, sending you off in the wrong direction. Who ever thought of this feature should be hung. I understand it is to make sure the gps shows you on a road when you are navigating but it creates more problems than it solves. And sometimes you are not actually on a road.

There is no internal speaker and no speaker connection. So it is their Blue Tooth helmet speakers or nothing. As far as I know it will not work with any other helmet speakers or Blue Tooth set up.

Like most others today their user guide sucks. I don't take my computer along on the bike so the CD is useless on the road. I would take a good user manual along. Like so many others the claim is to be environmentally friendly and save paper. But they included a useless user guide with little information in half a dozen different languages. Then tell me to print my own from the CD. A pet peeve of mine.

When navigating the maps miss the second largest freeway interchange in the state keeping you on the wrong side of the freeway until you are two blocks past the exit. Then it wants to turn you around and do the same thing going the other way.

Would Like to Haves;

A screen that doesn't wash out so easily. An automatic zoom override that stays where I put it. The ability to pan a map. A better edit function for the favorites including a line for notes and the ability to change the address. Larger street names. I don't have a lot of time to squint at the map while I am riding. A speaker connection so I could plug it into the bikes auxiliary jack. A map scale indicator. Get rid of the automatic street assignment.

Summary;

For a motorcycle gps it sure isn't very rider friendly. It is better than no gps, but not by much. I will not buy another TomTom, Rider or Car navigator.

 

Mike

[Freebird]

Good report. The lack of the speaker output was the killer for me when my wife bought me one two years ago. As soon as I saw that, I took it back and bought the Garmin Zumo 550.

[slick97spirit]

I had one as well. Used it for a while & found pretty much everything you've said. I sold it and bought a Nuvi 780. I like it much better. The only issue is that it's not waterproof so you have to keep a plastic baggie with you. Every other issue you mentioned though is better on this unit.