Basic bike sat Nav

[O.C.]

A good poal of mine is an avid Brit Iron Classic rider and has a few lovely 1950s Triumphs etc

Now, he admits that he knows F*ck all about Sat Navs but would like to use one on his next trip to Northern Ireland

Obviously his bike is not equipped with accessory sockets etc , but being a retired technician he can easily sort that out

BUT, he has asked me if there is any recommended basic (read cheaper) Sat Nav system available that will give him visual and audible directions.....does anyone have any suggestions....better still does anyone on here have owt for sale that might do the job ?   

Ta V Mucho

[ChrisB]

Many new type mobile phones have it for free as an app. Mine is an HTC Wildfire, My son's Samsung has it and my other son's i phone too.

[O.C.]

Thanks Chris  ....I suggested that to my pal , but he said "Kin ell, I don't even know how to send one of those text things on my mobile"    ....so, whilst I agree with you, I think that's gonna be a 'no no'   

[Lonewolf]

How much is cheap re how much he ix expecting to pay?
Cheap Zumo on ebay probably approx £200, thats a resonable price. He can always buy one, use it then re sell it, he'll get most of his money back, might even make a couple of quid.

[O.C.]

he had been talking to a guy in local Halfords who said that it wasn't possible to get a Sat Nav which would provide audible directions through speakers inside a bike helmet 

I think he wants to spend as little as possible maybe £90.00, so I reckon his options are limited...maybe he should revert to a map.

Thinking about that ...wasn't it possible once over to get 'bike friendly' A5 sized maps for use on a tank bag with a window. ?

[Mogster]

he had been talking to a guy in local Halfords who said that it wasn't possible to get a Sat Nav which would provide audible directions through speakers inside a bike helmet 

I think he wants to spend as little as possible maybe £90.00, so I reckon his options are limited...maybe he should revert to a map.

Thinking about that ...wasn't it possible once over to get 'bike friendly' A5 sized maps for use on a tank bag with a window. ?

Easy way is to print off bits off google maps and then laminate them.. 

[O.C.]

good idea Mogs

I'll have to do that for him cos he doesn't possess a computer 

[ChrisB]

Being a bit of a luddite myself, I usually use at nav in the car but print maps as well. Sat nav has sent me in the wrong direction several times. For biking, I prefer maps and a sense of direction, as this is part of the fun for me in riding bikes. Getting lost and exploring new roads is enjoyable, unless time is importatnt of course.

[Boomer]

I'm with Chris.
Get lost and see the world. 

Then if you really are a dead loss at reading signs and have absolutely no sense of direction, the fire up the SatNav to get you where you need to be.

For work they are useful but they still require the user to have something between the ears,... like a brain, and to use it!
If they tell you to turn right when yer doing 80 in the right lane of a motorway,.... DON'T! 

[Kawdolph]

I usually have the sat nav on the bike but rarely have a route planned in follow my nose ,lets be honest in the uk and more so here in ireland its an island you cant get lost drive till you see an ocean then turn left or right.For things like the gtr meet i will use it as it will be nice to have a rough idea of where im going.

[Martin#30]

£60 worth of Garmin car SatNav with European mapping from Amazon, plus one freezer bag for waterproofing, plus one small packet of cable ties = el cheapo, perfectly acceptable bike Satnav.

I simply cannot bring myself to pay major money for the (admittedly waterproof) bike specific ones.

Martin.

[Mogster]

This bloke http://stores.ebay.co.uk/buybitsgpsnavigationstore on fleabay has some good waterproof cases for various car sat navs and phones, and they have ram mounts on 'em too... i got one fer me phone and they are good quality for the dosh.

[Ziderman]

Said this before..I have a I phone & for £60 I down loaded the full European Tom tom...I plug phone into Autocom , put I phone in tank bag & bobs yer nanny....for the times I need sat nav it's brilliant. Think decent system installed on Bike dont come for under £500

[nogoslow]

Coney. Not sure if your mate would be interested but ive got a Navman S80 with European maps, in the original box in really good condition- i'd say almost as new. I paid for safety camera alerts at the start of this year and had an adapter made by Bob at Telferiser that enables the unit to be used with the car cradle and be powered via a cigar socket. I'm pretty sure the unit has an earphone socket. It is a car satnav but with the plastic bag waterproofing it worked well on the bike for me until i bought my zumo 550. I'm open to offers before i put it on ebay.

[O.C.]

Coney. Not sure if your mate would be interested but ive got a Navman S80 with European maps, in the original box in really good condition- i'd say almost as new. I paid for safety camera alerts at the start of this year and had an adapter made by Bob at Telferiser that enables the unit to be used with the car cradle and be powered via a cigar socket. I'm pretty sure the unit has an earphone socket. It is a car satnav but with the plastic bag waterproofing it worked well on the bike for me until i bought my zumo 550. I'm open to offers before i put it on ebay.

Thanks V mucho .....I'll try and contact him

Any idea what you want for it... he's only gonna ask me that question