onesea Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Google maps is good but poor reception or flat battery and its gone can any on recommend a pocket size atlas for biking?What got me thinking this is 3 days in and my good lady thinks I should visit her, New Forest to Just north of Oxford on a 125cc. My thinking is treat it as a full day out avoid the A34 till at least north of the M4 and probably till near oxford. What I think I need is a map that I can use to plan and take with me. I know how to get there by various routes but they all tend to end up on the M4 or A34 neither are good on a 125 with an L plate.Now being a 4 wheel type person for years I very early on adopted a SatNav and its been joked I cannot find my way of the drive without it. I used to do miles without one but I have got Lazy.... All advice Appreciated... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 buy a waterproof mount for the satnav or for the phone and wire in a charger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 There used to be a waterproof road atlas for bikes......but I don't know if it's still available.....or get a small tankbag with a map window...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zipster Posted November 2, 2014 Share Posted November 2, 2014 Google maps downloads the data to the phone. Use an app like Copilot which stores the map on the phone and is a lot faster than Google Maps. That and a wired in charger and you'll be set to navigate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onesea Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 There used to be a waterproof road atlas for bikes......but I don't know if it's still available.....or get a small tankbag with a map window...... Sadly your atlas seems to be last printed 15 years ago I have Googled tank bag some home work required there, my YBR has the plastic bits sticking of the tank. With a glove compartment and handy atlas it should do the job.I have no objection to buying another map if its been used...Electronically I guess I am trying to avoid, its very good at telling you the quickest route but is that the best route?Given the route in hand Google is right. Romsey Winchester A34 all the way, on a 125 that's no fun, that's the route a car is for.By bike my guess is Romsey, the Wallops, Tidworth, Hungerford, Wantage, A34 to finish off.Not certain how co Pilot works but with the route planners I have used its no use when it keeps saying recalculating turn right to A34. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Posted November 3, 2014 Share Posted November 3, 2014 With CoPilot you can select alternative routes.....you can also set waypoints or drag the route to where you want to go.... I use CoPilot with a waterproof mount and charger on the bike..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 With CoPilot you can select alternative routes.....you can also set waypoints or drag the route to where you want to go.... I use CoPilot with a waterproof mount and charger on the bike..... Bob, just downloading now but won't have a chance to try for a little while. Do you know if you set way points or effectively, design your route, and take a wrong turn, will co-pilot get you back on your set route or recalculate the fastest route and bypass your way points? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Get a 12V cigarette lighter socket from ebay, wire it into your battery and power the sat nav off that. Stick the sat nav in a tank bag with a clear window. Here's a 12V socket, but I think you can get cheaperhttp://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MOTORCYCLE-12 ... 231364da0bAlternative to using the car sat nav - do the same but with your phone and Google Maps. You can now download an area of the map to your phone before you leave home so don't need to worry about data use or bad reception on the way. You will need a USB plug to go into the 12V socket though for your phone cable. If you're still not keen on Google Maps, CoPilot is indeed a good one, and there's also Waze which is free, includes traffic alerts and is also very good. https://www.waze.com/Take a map / A to Z with you just in case something goes wrong with the phone / sat nav, and write down the directions (or print them out from Google Maps on your computer) as well if you prefer to follow written directions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 With CoPilot you can select alternative routes.....you can also set waypoints or drag the route to where you want to go.... I use CoPilot with a waterproof mount and charger on the bike..... Bob, just downloading now but won't have a chance to try for a little while. Do you know if you set way points or effectively, design your route, and take a wrong turn, will co-pilot get you back on your set route or recalculate the fastest route and bypass your way points?Unfortunately, if you take a wrong turn it will still try to get you to the next way point.......but, I guess you set way points because you want to go to them......but you can delete them whilst en route.....but that requires stopping and playing with the phone. I think most Sat Navs work this way anyway...... Route settings (fastest or shortest) are set in one of the settings screens.......be careful with the Shortest route setting.....I was heading to a site on the Wirral once and the sat nav took me off the M53 and through Chester and back out to the M53 because it was shorter..... But, apart from that, CoPilot has worked well for me for the past 4-5 years..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 With CoPilot you can select alternative routes.....you can also set waypoints or drag the route to where you want to go.... I use CoPilot with a waterproof mount and charger on the bike..... Bob, just downloading now but won't have a chance to try for a little while. Do you know if you set way points or effectively, design your route, and take a wrong turn, will co-pilot get you back on your set route or recalculate the fastest route and bypass your way points?Unfortunately, if you take a wrong turn it will still try to get you to the next way point.......but, I guess you set way points because you want to go to them......but you can delete them whilst en route.....but that requires stopping and playing with the phone. I think most Sat Navs work this way anyway...... Route settings (fastest or shortest) are set in one of the settings screens.......be careful with the Shortest route setting.....I was heading to a site on the Wirral once and the sat nav took me off the M53 and through Chester and back out to the M53 because it was shorter..... But, apart from that, CoPilot has worked well for me for the past 4-5 years..... Reason I ask is for my planned ride outs. I never added any waypoints to my GPS which meant it would re-route the entire route if I took a wrong turn... then I have to stop the ride, turn it off and go to maps using my gps signal to track my location to the highlighted route. I don't mind if it's just me, I can just stop and take the time to switch but this week I have 10 others, next week I have 20 following me. A bit annoying to say the least! Using the map is fine but when I'm blasting the B roads, I don't really want to be looking down all the time to see where my turning is. However... you may have just changed my life as I know it - I just found out I can right click in google maps and add destinations, which open up in the app too when using the URL address... going to test it tonight by deliberately going off route and see it google re-routes me to my way points Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onesea Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have been using copilot having down loaded it on recommendation of this thread.It will take you to your waypoints if you deviate. Unfortunately if you do not go to the actual waypoint it will not skip to next. It is handy for planing rides but to be honest I prefare Google for making journeys.Although being 125 bound at the moment there is no motorways and copilot is better at keeping you of them. Just watch it sometimes it will decide it knows best and wants you on one.I also find the menus are not the most intuative but I am learning them... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fq-craigus Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I just use google maps set it to navigate and pop the headphones in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Google maps didn't work work the set way points. That sucks. Oh well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Google navigate is OK as long as you're happy with the route it suggests, but this is where CoPilot comes into its own with the facility to edit the route......which is exactly what I did to get to the rally this year. I think I only set 2 waypoints in order for it to plot the route I wanted...... I agree that the menus are not the friendliest......but once you've used it for a bit they get easier to navigate..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 One benefit of using a dedicated sat nav.. in my case a zumo 660. is I can create routes with no waypoints at all.. this means I can wander off route as much as I want.. and so long as I set the thing to avoid U turns.. it simply recalculates to get me back on track. ignore it.. and it recalculates again and so on and on. if it comes to a point where it says do a U turn.. then basically - obey, or suffer a huge detour. this is really useful for touring when I see an interesting sign and decide to go and investigate.. rather than make me double back afterwards.. it will, wherever possible recalculate the route so I rejoin my original route further on. very handy. mostly I don't bother with creating routes.. I just make a note of places I want to visit and let the sat nav sort out the routing... these can be hugely entertaining. bit of a magical mystery tour... which suits me. And for the return.. just click on home... and follow the route... or change it as I go. knowing that the gadget will constantly recalculate so that regardless of how roundabout a route I take.. with umpteen diversions... it will always get me back on track and constantly update the actual distance from my own front door. or hotel. or campsite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stu Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 One benefit of using a dedicated sat nav.. in my case a zumo 660. is I can create routes with no waypoints at all.. this means I can wander off route as much as I want.. and so long as I set the thing to avoid U turns.. it simply recalculates to get me back on track. ignore it.. and it recalculates again and so on and on. if it comes to a point where it says do a U turn.. then basically - obey, or suffer a huge detour. this is really useful for touring when I see an interesting sign and decide to go and investigate.. rather than make me double back afterwards.. it will, wherever possible recalculate the route so I rejoin my original route further on. very handy. mostly I don't bother with creating routes.. I just make a note of places I want to visit and let the sat nav sort out the routing... these can be hugely entertaining. bit of a magical mystery tour... which suits me. And for the return.. just click on home... and follow the route... or change it as I go. knowing that the gadget will constantly recalculate so that regardless of how roundabout a route I take.. with umpteen diversions... it will always get me back on track and constantly update the actual distance from my own front door. or hotel. or campsite. That is great with the no waypoints! The problem I find with my tomtom rider is that it will always take you to the waypoint but you can skip it if you really want to If I ever use my sat nav to go anywhere I use TYRE to plot the route and follow it but for the return I always set it to home and avoid motorways and just ride where I want to! I have ended up in some very interesting places with grass growing in the middle of the "road" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissb6 Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Where co pilot scores heavily against google maps is that co-pilot is a downloaded software and all that's required is a satellite fix on the unit for the unit to operate, where as google maps is being refreshed by data transfer from your server all the time using up your data allowance. All unit that use satellite or heavy data transfer will consume a lot of battery power from the unit, a alternative power source from the bike is really the only way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 Last night I paid for the premium version of co-pilot which gives turn by turn voice directions etc. I also made one of my ride out routes with way points, and did the same on the way to work. On the way to work it re-routed me to all my way points, even if it was more direct to continue as I was going - great news for me and the people riding with me.Great app, love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 On the way to work it re-routed me to all my way points, even if it was more direct to continue as I was going - great news for me and the people riding with me. I don't like that idea.. because it will make you double back if you go off route. obviously this is good if the way point is a 'must', but for me they hardly ever are. On my tours my way points are few and far between. thats if i use them at all. back in may.. from the Vosges all the way down to the east end of the Gorges Du Verdon I had only 1 waypoint. at Castellane. So i could wander off my route at will, when finding a campsite... or following an interesting looking sign... maybe for a belvedere. but know that I would be guided back onto it and so reach the start of the Gorges road.you see.. if i had fixed way points with a route heading south.. and followed a road (off route) for 15 miles heading south east. thats one hell of a diversion if the sat nav then wants me to track back because the next waypoint is only 2 miles south of where I turned off. does that make sense?maybe i don't view 'fixed routes' as important.. and rely on road signs and intuition as much as the sat nav itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 On the way to work it re-routed me to all my way points, even if it was more direct to continue as I was going - great news for me and the people riding with me. I don't like that idea.. because it will make you double back if you go off routeThat's why you strategically mark your waypoints so that if the satnav does have to recalculate, it doesn't make you do a U-turn or go back on what you've already done etc.For me, I have specific roads I want to ride so having waypoints is an absolute must otherwise it will just route me through towns... and R1's and towns don't mix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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