SatNag for bikes...

[Newbie73]

Morning...

Having had (quite) a few years on pleasure riding, I am getting back into it The tech has moved on significantly since I used a tank bag, maps and a Chinagraph pencil !!!


I have a google pixle7a phone, and a wireless charging mount I want to start using it for much more complex routing where I define a route, and save it.

I would like to be able to do the following:

1) Build a route on my desktop computer - for ease of use and import it into the phone use

2) Have the ability to have offline maps saved - thus saving data usage charges.

3) be able to use different countries, for example, France, Belgium, Denmark, Switerland.... etc

It looks like there are 3 on the market Kurviger, OsmAnd & TomTom GO Navigation.

Does anyone have any info / experience on these?

Thanks

[Ditchfinder]

OSMand is popular, especially if doing off-road too. You can download background maps if you don't want to pay for data or if you will be in patchy signal areas.

I use gpxStudio for creating and exporting .gpx files. https://gpx.studio/app#0/0/0

I save the routes to my dropbox and then import them into OSMand on my mobile.

[Newbie73]

OSMand is popular, especially if doing off-road too. You can download background maps if you don't want to pay for data or if you will be in patchy signal areas.

I use gpxStudio for creating and exporting .gpx files. https://gpx.studio/app#0/0/0

I save the routes to my dropbox and then import them into OSMand on my mobile.

Cheers - That does raise an important point that I have not mentioned. This will be for on road use only

[MrLongbeard]

google pixle7a phone, and a wireless charging mount

I'd be surprised if a wireless charging mount could keep up whilst using sat nav, especially if you're using your phone for music or anything else too, Pixel phones are notoriously rubbish at wireless charging and very limited in the wattage they'll charge at.

[Count Steer]

I've used TomTom and it was OK in the car, but on bikes I've only ever fitted dedicated Garmin units* - planned routes for them etc and found the coverage abroad to be excellent.

Always thought that clamping a phone to a bike was a bit but the clamp/mounts have probably improved a lot.

* Just one at a time but with a cradle wired in on each bike so I just swapped the unit between as needed

[Ditchfinder]

I've found the ultimate add-ons cases very good if you decide to switch to wired charging.

Remember to get a mount with shock absorption or your camera sensors will get wrecked

[Newbie73]

I've found the ultimate add-ons cases very good if you decide to switch to wired charging.

Remember to get a mount with shock absorption or your camera sensors will get wrecked

Yep - Have the shock absorption

[Newbie73]

google pixle7a phone, and a wireless charging mount

I'd be surprised if a wireless charging mount could keep up whilst using sat nav, especially if you're using your phone for music or anything else too, Pixel phones are notoriously rubbish at wireless charging and very limited in the wattage they'll charge at.

I think it will be good enough to maintain or at least slow down the drain

[MrLongbeard]

google pixle7a phone, and a wireless charging mount

I'd be surprised if a wireless charging mount could keep up whilst using sat nav, especially if you're using your phone for music or anything else too, Pixel phones are notoriously rubbish at wireless charging and very limited in the wattage they'll charge at.

I think it will be good enough to maintain or at least slow down the drain

Oh it'll slow the drain alright, but what use is a mobile if you end up at your destination with a flat or close to flat battery

[Rockburner]

google pixle7a phone, and a wireless charging mount

I'd be surprised if a wireless charging mount could keep up whilst using sat nav, especially if you're using your phone for music or anything else too, Pixel phones are notoriously rubbish at wireless charging and very limited in the wattage they'll charge at.

I think it will be good enough to maintain or at least slow down the drain

The drain is a lot more than you'd expect. Even turning off the 4G connection, you still need the GPS ariel active, which uses a reasonable amount of juice, but the main power draw is the screen - that needs to be on permanently, and at a high brightness (so you can see it!) - that's the biggest power drain, and even large capacity tough-phones* will see battery levels down below 50% or lower after only a couple of hours if they're not being recharged at a decent speed.

There's another App that allows pre-planning... CaliMoto (iirc) - I think @Beancounter has used it a fair bit for pre-planning, but I don't know the process it uses for pre-planning a route. I tried it once, because it supposedly provides "better-biking" routes: ie - it would plan routes on smaller roads instead of more direct alternatives.... but I found it wasn't clever enough to "only" do this in the country-side.... so I found that although it worked well out of town... IN town... it was psychotically dragging me around all the tiny housing estate roads, which was no fun at all!




You CAN pre-plan routes using free-software, but it's a somewhat long-winded process:
You can plan a route in the desktop using Google maps - if you set waypoints in specific locations, the routing software can be tricked into using the exact roads that you want (ie instead of "shortest/fastest" route, you can trick it into using specific roads by placing Waypoints on those roads, play with it - you'll see what I mean).
Then you need to save that route to the phone: the information sent to the phone is actually ONLY the waypoints (and start/end), and then the phone will re-plan the route when you open it for use (this is so the current traffic, etc. is taken into account) - you then need to confirm that your specific roads are still being used. I THINK that this would be more reliable if you open the route with 4G turned off (then the software on the phone can't get up-to-date traffic info, and re-route you).
You can then use Google-Navigation (which is as good as anything else for route following) on the phone.


Obviously if you are just going A-B and don't care which specific roads you're on, then whatever works, and Google Maps is as good as anything else.


* my last 3 phones have been that sort of thing, the larger batteries are good, and you don't tend to kill the phone completely, but if the charger on the bike is playing up, then the sat-nav requirements still use a hell of a lot of battery capacity over the course of a day.

[McNab]

I've used TomTom and it was OK in the car, but on bikes I've only ever fitted dedicated Garmin units* - planned routes for them etc and found the coverage abroad to be excellent.

Always thought that clamping a phone to a bike was a bit but the clamp/mounts have probably improved a lot.

* Just one at a time but with a cradle wired in on each bike so I just swapped the unit between as needed

I've got an old Garmin satnav and I'll always stick with a dedicated unit, particularly after that time blatting along the A1 and feeling something hitting my knee. I looked back in the mirror and saw the satnav bouncing down the road. I stopped and found it in the gutter and it was fine. I don't know if a phone case would be as good.

[Newbie73]

Quick update on the chargers, in case anyone is interested

The charger I got was THIS ONE

As pointed out above the Pixel7a is not the best wireless charging, I think it has a max of 7.5w. But this morning I put the phone at 97% into the cradle put the destination into WAZE and went for a ride
- it wasn't the longest ride ~40min
- the screen was on
- screen was set to auto bright / dim

When I got to the destination it was charged to 100%.

I took it off charge, then worked the phone for a bit getting it down to 91% charge. I did the route in reverse but used the kurviger software that I am trailing, when I got back home the charge was upto 97%.

Now I know this is only one test, but in summary I can report the charger is good!

[Trinity765]

I'm coming out of hibernation and have started playing with the Garmin XT2 that I purchased at the end of last year.

As a negative, it doesn't look as robust as previous Garmins. I hope I don't find out the hard way that it's not. I've also put a screen protector on and it's not recognising my "touch" with my gloves on, however, shouldn't be playing with it on the move anyway

As for functionality, I think it's brilliant. I've had most of the Garmins and this is by far the easiest for how I use them. I plan my routes on a pc using MyRouteApp but it doesn't matter what you plan them on so long as you can get the .gpx file on your phone. The Satnav syncs with my phone and I can access all of my routes that way, which is everything that I have stored in MyRouteApp.

I can also charge the unit indoors with USB. Previous to the XT range I had to use the car mount to charge the device indoors.

I'm yet to tour with it but plan on doing that at the end of the month so will know more then.

[Newbie73]

Last update in this so I don't become a "charger bore"

Did another test today using the same charger any Pixel 7a

Phone charge level at start of test 37%
Time on charge 57 mins
Phone charge level at end of test 50%

The screen / GPS / SatNag were all on during this test. So it feels like a good wireless charger

Quick update on the chargers, in case anyone is interested

The charger I got was THIS ONE

As pointed out above the Pixel7a is not the best wireless charging, I think it has a max of 7.5w. But this morning I put the phone at 97% into the cradle put the destination into WAZE and went for a ride
- it wasn't the longest ride ~40min
- the screen was on
- screen was set to auto bright / dim

When I got to the destination it was charged to 100%.

I took it off charge, then worked the phone for a bit getting it down to 91% charge. I did the route in reverse but used the kurviger software that I am trailing, when I got back home the charge was upto 97%.

Now I know this is only one test, but in summary I can report the charger is good!

[Scootabout]

If you aren't insistent to have a map on the phone in front of you, you might like to consider the Beeline. The app is very good, and supports pre-planning. It also makes good choices for 'fun' routes. The device is easy to attach and remove, waterproof and vibration proof. I haven't used my Garmin 396 since I bought it.