Peteoz
Well-known member
Don’t you find that the wind blows the paper maps off your lap and into your face shield, making it difficult to see where you are going, Slice? :2thumbs:
Pete
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Do I really need a GPS?
- Thread starter SLICE
- Start date
Don’t you find that the wind blows the paper maps off your lap and into your face shield, making it difficult to see where you are going, Slice? :2thumbs:
Pete
SLICE
Member
NAN just tape em to the inside of the windshield :shocked:
Flamewinger
New member
If I had an earlier Spyder Model I would have my phone mounted to the dash or windshield. As it is, I have the newer model with BRP Go and I mount the phone on top of the dash because it gets too hot in the glovebox. I’ve been using the iPhone for GPS for 14+ years on my Goldwings and Spyders. Never mounted to the bars. I’ve had Garmin and TomTom for GPS and now use Genius maps or Sygic as they work very well in the dash. Love the joystick as it makes it so easy to manipulate what I want to see or do.
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Frostbyte
Member
I have my Garmin mounted overhanging the front edge of the dash top on my 19 RTL using a mount like the one below along with Ram Ball's and an extension arm. The end result is a unit that is nearly a heads up, as I can see my route and speed within my line of sight. As for GPS versus phone...I live in Florida and constantly had weather resistance, heat issues and brightness problems with my Pixel not present with my Zumo. So for me, the opting for a stand alone GPS was worth the expenditure for my road trip routing, and for around town, the high mounted speedo readout on it helps me keep my eyes where they need to be. Bottom line is that it's all up to personal preference.
https://spyderstore.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=51
https://spyderstore.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=60&product_id=51
Do you really need a GPS?
Check this out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUEZK_qmd_g
It highlights some of the reasons why, and some of the issues that go hand in hand with just relying on your phone - and it's a bit 'tongue in cheek' funny too....
Well, I certainly thought it was! 
But that aside, it's got lots of very valid reasons for having & using a GPS, even if you don't use it all the time, and even if you do use your phone for a lot of other things. :thumbup:
Check this out... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUEZK_qmd_g
It highlights some of the reasons why, and some of the issues that go hand in hand with just relying on your phone - and it's a bit 'tongue in cheek' funny too....
Well, I certainly thought it was! But that aside, it's got lots of very valid reasons for having & using a GPS, even if you don't use it all the time, and even if you do use your phone for a lot of other things. :thumbup:
PJveetwin
Member
It's all a personal choice, I live in an area out west with too many dead spots, like within 20 miles of my home going east for over 100 miles, and if I'm heading into the Nevada outback, even further. So I like a GPS, have also been all over Canada, Mexico and Alaska where cell service is nada! I like using Base Camp where I have some 100 waypoints stored of favorite eats, hotels, friends, ect. Download to the unit the ones needed at the time. Some trips are 5-7000 miles on smaller secondary roads that I route out in advance. I started off with Street Pilots in the 90's, 276, 376, 660, currently using a 595 and XT, yeah i'm a GPS whore. Also always carry maps too. On the Spyder, the phone is on the bar mounts connected to the USB port for music thru the bikes speakers. Guess it's whatever floats your boat
cruisinTX
Member
Just my personal opinion based on experience with the Garmin Zumo 590(?). Not really sure what designation it is as we have not used the worthless POS in about 3 years. It came with the Spyder supposedly programmed for good riding routes. HA! What a freaking joke it and Garmin Base Camp are! Stick with your phone and spend your money on farkles for the Spyder -- or for your wife -- whichever has higher priority for you. I tried using the darn thing on a six-day trip and it continually got us lost even though my riding partner was a computer technician who said at the end of that trip the Gramin and Base Camp had to be the most user-UNFRIENDLY device and software he had ever seen. As for me, I'll stick with paper maps and take my leisurely time to stop and check them occasionally completely eliminating the distraction of having to look at a GPS screen or listen to the annoying voice tell me turn in 40-30-20-10 yards that may or may not be the proper directions.
Peteoz
Well-known member
Slice, do you realise that for $30 usd per year, you can buy the Sygic gps app for your iPhone 14, with ongoing map updates etc, running off satellite so there is no phone signal required, with a large display (as large as the Garmin XT), and just about ALL of its features? Compared to around $500 usd outlay for the XT? If I had my IPhone 14 before I bought the XT, I would not have bought the XT.
Pete
Peteoz
Well-known member
Peteoz
Well-known member
Do you really need a GPS?
It highlights some of the reasons why, and some of the issues that go hand in hand with just relying on your phone - and it's a bit 'tongue in cheek' funny too....
But that aside, it's got lots of very valid reasons for having & using a GPS, even if you don't use it all the time, and even if you do use your phone for a lot of other things. :thumbup:
It’s a great video, Peter, but nearly all the features he refers to are available on a smart phone with a $60Aussie per year genuine GPS app like Sygic or TomTom (as opposed to $600aussie to purchase the XT, + mount costs). The app works off the satellite system, not mobile towers……receives constant map/software updates..…is all contained in one unit……and the size and brilliance of current phone screens provide very easy, XT size, viewing.
……another plus of buying Sygic is that, as BRP refine BRP Go (it’s working fairly reliably now…..but still needs improvement), you have the alternative of throwing your phone in the glovebox on the later models and driving music, gps, weather, FOBO etc through the joystick, if you so desire.
Pete
Yeah Pete, but I think he highlights the BIG & important differences - with most real GPS units, for all those travelling within the USA, there's no need to download the maps & attractions, gas station data, maybe even airfield/traffic data & other useful stuff etc for wherever/whatever region you're going to visit before you go, cos they're ALL there, ALL the time, ALREADY! Similarly for those travelling in Oz, if you have an Oz spec GPS (and not just one of those dinky little dash mounted street finder thingies! ) then the whole of the Country is covered (& then some, mine includes most if not all of the Sthn Hemisphere Asia Pacific Region - I just haven't checked it all to be sure! 
) it's ALL there, ALL the time ALREADY! Sure, if I'm heading for Europe, Africa, North &/or South America, I might hafta take the latest SIM for that hemisphere/quadrant, but usually I simply do a once a year upgrade to keep all the maps & data up to date, and I sometimes update more often if I'm going to be visiting & crawling the lesser known backstreets of Sydney or Port Moresby, etc, &/or going somewhere more obscure just to be sure to be sure; but basically, it's a case of 'pick up the unit & go' with everything I want built in. Oh, and mine uses a variety of easily found power supplies & it's very accurate too, far more so than any phone I've ever seen/used! 
hyea:
My passive stand-alone GPS doesn't rely on requesting &/or getting updates from satellites, it just reads whatever time signals it can get from as many satellites as it can get a signal from at the moment (I think it can run with about 18 satellites at any given moment... does any phone do that?? I truly don't know how many GPS receivers those phones have? :dontknow
And it doesn't necessarily keep trying to contact a ground station or Cell Tower whenever/wherever it finds one to update anything or tell everyone where I am, it's completely passive unless I tell it otherwise (unlike any phone I know of that's turned on! ) so it just does what I ask of it when I ask it. Plus, it's got all my driving music on it & then some (Child Bride... ); I get the News & Weather if I ask for it; it's got a Safety Camera recording feature; add the sensors & it's got TPMS that I can program for my preferred pressure and temperature ranges (dunno whether it'll interface with FOBO, cos I don't use any of that lo tech stuff! ) it still fits in a pocket (albeit a fairly big one! ) & it goes with me wherever I go. And as the vid notes, not that this is really all that likely, but if the brown smelly stuff hits the fan & takes out a bunch of cell towers, or even if said 'hits the fan' incident takes out ALL the cell towers in the world, unless someone was really, REALLY intent on wiping out humanity & all sign of their presence, then I STILL stand a much better chance of getting a good fix to tell me where I am for something like the next 10 years - and no matter WHAT phone you've got, it won't do that.... :thumbup:
Just Sayin'
) then the whole of the Country is covered (& then some, mine includes most if not all of the Sthn Hemisphere Asia Pacific Region - I just haven't checked it all to be sure! ) it's ALL there, ALL the time ALREADY! Sure, if I'm heading for Europe, Africa, North &/or South America, I might hafta take the latest SIM for that hemisphere/quadrant, but usually I simply do a once a year upgrade to keep all the maps & data up to date, and I sometimes update more often if I'm going to be visiting & crawling the lesser known backstreets of Sydney or Port Moresby, etc, &/or going somewhere more obscure just to be sure to be sure; but basically, it's a case of 'pick up the unit & go' with everything I want built in. Oh, and mine uses a variety of easily found power supplies & it's very accurate too, far more so than any phone I've ever seen/used! hyea:My passive stand-alone GPS doesn't rely on requesting &/or getting updates from satellites, it just reads whatever time signals it can get from as many satellites as it can get a signal from at the moment (I think it can run with about 18 satellites at any given moment... does any phone do that?? I truly don't know how many GPS receivers those phones have? :dontknow
And it doesn't necessarily keep trying to contact a ground station or Cell Tower whenever/wherever it finds one to update anything or tell everyone where I am, it's completely passive unless I tell it otherwise (unlike any phone I know of that's turned on! ) so it just does what I ask of it when I ask it. Plus, it's got all my driving music on it & then some (Child Bride... ); I get the News & Weather if I ask for it; it's got a Safety Camera recording feature; add the sensors & it's got TPMS that I can program for my preferred pressure and temperature ranges (dunno whether it'll interface with FOBO, cos I don't use any of that lo tech stuff! ) it still fits in a pocket (albeit a fairly big one! ) & it goes with me wherever I go. And as the vid notes, not that this is really all that likely, but if the brown smelly stuff hits the fan & takes out a bunch of cell towers, or even if said 'hits the fan' incident takes out ALL the cell towers in the world, unless someone was really, REALLY intent on wiping out humanity & all sign of their presence, then I STILL stand a much better chance of getting a good fix to tell me where I am for something like the next 10 years - and no matter WHAT phone you've got, it won't do that.... :thumbup:Just Sayin'
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SLICE
Member
i've thought about getting that app, but so far googly maps has worked just fine..........so far
SLICE
Member
Yeah Pete, but I think he highlights the BIG & important differences - with most real GPS units, for all those travelling within the USA, there's no need to download the maps & attractions, gas station data, maybe even airfield/traffic data & other useful stuff etc for wherever/whatever region you're going to visit before you go, cos they're ALL there, ALL the time, ALREADY! Similarly for those travelling in Oz, if you have an Oz spec GPS (and not just one of those dinky little dash mounted street finder thingies!
My passive stand-alone GPS doesn't rely on requesting &/or getting updates from satellites, it just reads whatever time signals it can get from as many satellites as it can get a signal from at the moment (I think it can run with about 18 satellites at any given moment... does any phone do that?? I truly don't know how many GPS receivers those phones have? :dontknow
Just Sayin'
if we get hit by and EMP we best know how to use a paper map and analog compass, :roflblack:
Peteoz
Well-known member
Peter, there is nothing that you have mentioned that Sygic on the smart phone doesn’t do. The whole of Australia map is included, with attractions, fuel etc etc. Sure you might have to download an NZ map if you are going there, or a US map if you are going there, but that takes all of 30 seconds. The maps are updated frequently and automatically. You don’t find too many more easily found power supplies than those used for a smart phone.
For 95% of riders, everything you need is include in the app on the phone. It will continue to provide GPS directions even if, as you say, every phone tower in the world is taken down. I have NEVER not had GPS signal, so it obviously accesses plenty of satellites. I think your arguments apply more to the 5% who want their GPS to perform fairly unique functions, in which case, yes, you need a standalone GPS unit. For nearly all of the rest of us, a smart phone and app work perfectly well
Pete
For 95% of riders, everything you need is include in the app on the phone. It will continue to provide GPS directions even if, as you say, every phone tower in the world is taken down. I have NEVER not had GPS signal, so it obviously accesses plenty of satellites. I think your arguments apply more to the 5% who want their GPS to perform fairly unique functions, in which case, yes, you need a standalone GPS unit. For nearly all of the rest of us, a smart phone and app work perfectly well
Pete
Flamewinger
New member
I’ve been using iPhones since the 3G (2008). I’ve had TomTom as well as Garmin and now use either Sygic or Genius Maps. They have the ability to create custom routes either by adding waypoints or moving the highlighted route to another road. All I have to do it download the maps for wherever I’m going. Free traffic, map updates and more.
Flamewinger
New member
When using it in the bike there is no “temptation” as the phone is dark and can’t be used whether it’s on top of my dash to keep it cool or in the glovebox. We have GPS, Music, FOBO and Rever plus a few other apps. Most of which isn’t needed while riding.
I'm not sure how remote you travel, here in Australia once you leave the areas with Phone coverage not all the smartphones are able to use their location services. Some rely on multiple Cell towers to transmit their location and thus allowing the phone to calculate its location. I've only been caught a few times in remote locations like this and it was quite a surprise to realise this.
Its certainly handy when whatever device you do choose to be receiving advance warning of traffic conditions/accidents/amended travel time - and for my better half - being able to watch real time where I am travelling.
L:astly the GPS is weatherproof. I've not seen the USB unable to power devices I have a USB splitter connected to my port and charge phones, spare batteries for the helmet, Tablets x 2
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Tango
Well-known member
Wife and I use my Android phone for GPS directions. It's awesome. Have it linked to the bike, 2020 RTL so directions come over the speakers. We usually mount it on the handle bar, but have found it works great from the rear trunk. Safe from rain, or falling off. And it plugs in and gets charged as well. :thumbup: Tom :spyder:
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