TomTom Urban Rider & FJR1300 alu-mount....

[Hans]

Hi there....

I have always used TomTom Rider1, 2 and now the "new one" called Urban Rider. It comes in two editions ie. standard and Pro. Difference is... well... just select the standard! User Interface on the Urban Rider is updated compared to Rider1 and/or 2. Big improvements - but still fast when you miss a turn and it has to recalc new directions. Urban Rider is now black-ish - nice design. Short cut(s) can be established and even used when riding. Quite good and very cheap! You can use the standard (none 12V) mounting-block - plenty of time-to-go ie. 10-12 hours without any problems - or even longer when you switch into ECO-mode (ie. cut-off screen between directions). Or you can buy active 12V mount and wire up for constant 12V power connection.

Although Kawasaki has their GPS mount I do find the FJR-style much better and nicer design. It even has the ability to angle brackets underway. It is made of fine quality aluminum. Overall very good.

Photo of the FJR-mount here... I'll drop some photo's of my installation later.....

[fred24]

Looks a lot better than the kawasaki option which puts the sat nav to low down and too near to me to be able to take a quick look. Actually made up a plate to fit between the bracket and sat nav to move the sat nav further away. If it wasnt for the lockable holder for the satnav I would have put the satnav on the bars

[Rusty]

That looks good ... just when I am In the final throws of deciding Tom Tom or Garmin ? I take it then that you are quite happy not to wire the GPS into the bike and just ride all day relying on battery life ?

[Lonewolf]

Rusty, Garmin everytime. Dont waste your hard earned on anything less. I have mine wired up to the front connectors and its so discreet you cant even notice. If your interested I'll take a pic tomorrow for you.

[Hans]

Rusty, Garmin everytime. Dont waste your hard earned on anything less. I have mine wired up to the front connectors and its so discreet you cant even notice. If your interested I'll take a pic tomorrow for you.

Rysty: It's wired, but it can run on battery all day long!

Now... Wolfy... Have you ever tried TomTom Rider? Or just religious? Why pay more money for something that aint that good - or better? I know Garmin quite well.. and yes, it's a good GPS for the bike, but the pricetag compared to Urban Rider, hmm..... well... I'll take Urban anytime!

[Lonewolf]

I've had a Tom Tom Rider 1 & Rider 2 over the years and dont get me wrong they are both capable units. I personally just find that the build quality and support connected to the Garmin unit is top notch. With the original V1 Rider there was a problem which Tom Tom recognised in respect of the plastic mount which would suffer stress fractures and then snap. Tom Tom at the time did not manufacture the mounts, only the units and they could not get hold of the replacement mounts from their suppliers and they had no expected delivery date. I considered that a poor business strategy from Tom Tom who even then were making a significant impact on the market of navigation systems. Tom Tom were never able to provide me with a replacement mount. I eventually bought a Rider V2 which had a different design of mount if memory serves me correctly but it still wasn't infallible.
The Zumo 550 had been launched about this time and it looked a decent, solid piece of kit with the backing of a huge reputation from Garmin. I bought my Zumo 550 second hand off Ebay for about £250, never had any problems with it and its been 100% reliable. I've only ever had to contact Garmin once to get the unit unregistered from the previous owner and registered to me and the process could not have been easier and their customer services more helpful. Full credit to Garmin, Tom Tom couldn't even replace a mount for their unit!!

I have to admit I am not familiar with the Urban Rider and I have not read any reviews on it, but once bitten by Tom Tom I doubt I will ever revert to their kit. I do however have one of their units in my works car and thats fine, but the bike units, not for me I'm afraid.

[Hans]

When making comparisons, you obviously know the respective entities. I acknowledge that Rider1 had some problems with their installation, but this is certainly solved for Rider2  & Urban Rider. Newest Urban is also improved on their "user interface" and makes planning much easier than Garmin. The actual OS used by Urban (TomTom) is also quicker to recalculate routes, and many more "features" when it comes to trip planning. In particular I note the possibility of scheduling special motorcycle routes. Finally, I also note that the new price for the Urban Rider is near half of Garmin. This makes the decision on buying a new motorcycle GPS easy!