Use of SatNav in map section of a tank bag

[bogbody]

Just come back from 1500 miles around the very nice roads of Scotland. Excellent weather ('cept for John O'Groats!), the N20 worked fine.
The battery would last at least 4 hours with the screen brightness turned off, can't see it anyway. The spoken instrctions via the 3.5mm jacksocket and autocom were all I needed to navigate by.
I do have some audio interferance problems to solve while the unit is charging. The high frequency noise from the bike altenator breaks through.
Time for some suppression capacitors I think.
All in all I would find it difficult yo justify the extra £300 for a zumo/rider after the last week in Scotland. The N20 worked just fine in the clear pocket of the tank bag. By the way, Navman have just released the updated (2007!) European maps for £70.
Dave

[FazerUK]

I tried this once, putting a TT Go 700 in my tankbag, and looking down all the time, was very risky, I got to were I wanted to go but did miss a couple of turns now and again. I would never risk doing it again.
_________________
TomTom Go 700,
with External Antenna, External Mike
App v7.160, OS:2324, GPS v1.21, Boot 5.4201
Western_Europe-Map v650.1127

[bogbody]

At this point I must point out that I rarely looked at the screen of the N20. It was unreadable in bright sunlight anyway so I'd turned the screen brightness down to minimum to preserve the battery and extend it's life.
I used an autocom (see www.autocom.co.uk) to LISTEN to the instructions as the N20 has an earphone socket. They were spot on 99% of the time with no need to look at the screen. This also meant that I could follow the road signs etc (and look out for dozy car drivers!). Speed camera warnings were also handy - a quick tone in the earphones to remind me about cameras. Very handy indeed. Not that the Deauville can go that fast anyway.

[Scotty-uk]

Further to my original post, I've been using my TT910 inside the tank bag very sucessfully.

On my last trip I had a pair on waterproof gloves over the TT910 and then above all of that was my laptop.

I've no idea how it gets a signal through that lot and the bag etc but it works perfectly anyway.

I'm glad I spent the money on a decent tank bag and AutoCom instead of wasting it getting a rip off priced motorbike satnav unit.

[1ka]

Having used my TT720 in the tank bag for a month of commutes, the line-out socket became detached from the circuit board. At first I thought it was just that the solder had broken, but it wasn't. It had literally pulled itself off the board, can't fix it as it's taken the connections with it.

I've not been heavy handed but I guess there must have been some regular stresses on the socket, probably as I take the bag on and off the tank.

Ho-hum, back to the FM output...

[jhumph]

[pennyandchris]

The Road Angel Adventurer / Navigator 7000 is supposedly 'water resistant', and available with a handlebar mount. Got one in the car, and it's ok with the new Tele Atlas software. Runs Memory Map (A-Z and OS mapping) as well.

[Rastech]

Thanks to the insights here, in anticipation of my trip to Spain (probably October) I've acquired a Garmin nuvi 350 (love the size and capabilities) which I have now done the updates for (it came with the latest European maps installed, from PentagonGPS via Amazon, £115. Such a bargain, I may pick up another one to put away, while they are still available), and sorted access to French speed camera POI's.

It will be going into the tankbag (inside a ziplock inside a towel/other soft protective wrapping, inside a waterproof bag) when I am on the bike (shirt/jacket pocket when off the bike - did I say I love the size?), and I'll be relying on sound only, as I don't take my eyes off the road when I am on my bikes.

To drive it/use it on my Hornet 900, I picked up:

An extension 12v accessory socket with about a 1mtr coiled lead, to cut the plug off, and wire the socket end in to a handy space under the seat (cost 99p - Amazon) - I'll probably wrap the socket in a double ziplock or something. I'll get an inline fuse to wire in and tap it straight to the battery. If I cut the lead about halfway between the plug and socket, I'll also have a plug end useful for something at some time I suppose;

A 12v charger lead to plug into the socket and feed the Garmin with power (it will also charge my phone as it is the same fitting - a HTC TyTN - cost £2.99 Amazon);

Creative EP-630 ear bud headphones (handy length 1.2mtr lead) which will/should seal out most extraneous noises and which are pretty comfortable (£6.73 Amazon);

An 8gb standard SD card cheap to try off Ebay (£6 inc delivery - gotta love sniping auctions, hehe) - if it doesn't work it goes in the camera and I get a couple of 2gb ones for MP3's, French/Spanish safety camera data, Spanish language course MP3's - free good one http://fsi-language-courses.com/Spanish.aspx etc., etc (though I do believe Spain doesn't have many cameras as yet, I watched tv coverage of the first one installed when I was there in March/April this year).

For waterproofing/protecting cable through points in ziplocks, etc., I plan on using self amagamating tape (yacht chandlers). Brilliant stuff to have around.

I won't be plugging the unit into the power source until the engine is started and running, then I'll do the 'switch on and plug the power lead in during the boot screen' trick.

Aiming to go down to southern Spain from Calais, avoiding toll roads, and if I can find some wifi hotspots on the route should be able to send some POI's we come across on the journey or something (if I can get the hang of it before I go).

To do the routing, I plan on picking waypoints along the way, and saving them to favourites as Point 1, Point 2, etc. Then as we reach Point 1, select Point 2 for the next stage, etc. The points will probably be refuelling points.

Any hints and tips would always be appreciated, and I'll definitely give some feedback on how it all shaped up.

eta: cut the extension socket cable for a provisional measure up, and found the power cables very small diameter, so skipped the fuse (I don't want to be increasing resistances with cable that small), wired it to the battery, and tested the 12v cable to the Garmin, and everything is working fine. All done in 10 mins between showers.

We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?.
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!