Navigation Apps

[sclayto2]

Hello all,

So many years ago I used a Garmin Nav II unit. Off the bike I would plug it into a PC and could upload a GPX route to it. This then formed the basis of many tours around Europe.

Time has now moved on quite a bit. So much that I don't see the point of buying a seperate GPS unit as my phone has all the power, both computationally and electrically, needed and is waterproof to a metre-ish under for 20 minutes.

But... having just tried Waze and Google Maps on the way to and from Barmouth, they're great at getting you to and from a place. But I'm not aware of the ability to upload a GPX route.

Does anyone have any suggestions for decent Apps for on the bike?
ta
SJC

[Pebbles167]

I don't know any apps specifically for GPX, but you can plot your own route using way points in Google maps really easily. Probably why I haven't looked any further.

[Biker9090]

Lots of people recommend calimoto but I never liked it.

I use Tom Tom Go. It's roughly £14.99 for the year (much cheaper than calimoto!). Has the best rated speed camera detection and does everything route wise that calimoto can do plus you can use GPX files on it.

[vonhosen]

I create GPX tracks in myrouteapp & then load them to my iPhone navigating in TomTom GO app on iPhone.
The track in TomTom GO keeps me exactly on the roads I chose when planning it in myrouteapp.

[CoolHands]

I quite liked my garmin bike specific unit though; easy to clip on and off etc plus waterproof, it seemed better than having the phone on and all that. I think the screen was bit better in sunlight too.

[RockBurner]

Bear in mind that using the GPS antenna on your phone will use a lot of battery power.

Also bear in mind that some apps (eg Google nav) will use the 4G signal quite a lot while in use. You can mitigate this somewhat in Google Maps by downloading the tiles for a given area before your journey.

But Google Nav will always try to put you onto the fastest route to the next waypoint, (you can't turn this off), so you have to be clever in selecting your intermediate waypoints.

Edited the stupid autocorrects

Edited by RockBurner on Monday 13th June 13:02

[snagzie]

As mentioned above, I've been using Calimoto and it's really not very good. Uses some really cheap maps that really don't work very well. The app itself is ok but the speed of the tracking is terrible. Shame really.

There's Detecht which is similar to Calimoto but the key selling point is "crash detection" which drains the battery badly. Haven't really tried it yet but that's what I read about it. I'd wager that it would be the same maps as Calimoto so wouldn't expect too much.

(both are Android apps btw, assume they'd be on IOS too)

[Birky_41]

I found calimoto rubbish

Detecht is brilliant. Always gives me good routes

[SBDJ]

RockBurner said:

Best in mind that using the GPS antenna on your phone will use a lot of battery power.

Wireless charging quadlock is a perfect solution for this

[boyse7en]

RockBurner said:

But Google Nav will always try to put you onto the fastest route to the next waypoint, (you can't turn this off), so you have to be clever in selecting your intermediate waypoints.

This ^^

If you make any sort of mistake (like taking the wrong exit off a roundabout, for instance) then Maps will recalculate your route to the fastest one, potentially ignoring the lovely ride through the mountains and forest you had planned and instead just chucking you on the nearest dual carriageway

[RockBurner]

SBDJ said:

Wireless charging quadlock is a perfect solution for this

Assuming the phone has wireless charging.

[vonhosen]

SBDJ said:

RockBurner said:

Best in mind that using the GPS antenna on your phone will use a lot of battery power.

Wireless charging quadlock is a perfect solution for this

With anti vibration damper.

[handbraketurn]

Thanks for replies.

I didn't word my thread very well. Monday morning haze.

Not so much apps, but what to actually fix too the bar securely. I've got a fairly big iPhone, could see that coming off and smashing to tiny bits.

Wasn't sure if better to get a bike sat nav or something to fix the phone too.

Cheers,

[Freakuk]

I've tried Google Maps but by default it just wants to plot the fastest route and for waypoints you need to press the screen to go to the next (on an iPhone at least).

I've since moved to Calimoto and I find it odd the negativety so far on this thread, it has it's quirks and its being updated weekly, but it's very good once you get the hang of it. You can adjust the twistiness of each section of road between waypoints, so you can cover ground on the boring bits very quickly and then enjoy the twisty bits. I find it tracks really well and the maps are OK, the main bug bear with it for me is that the distance to the next turn can be random at times, not sure if this is a GPS/line of sight issue or maybe a UK mapping issue but I still use it, another small one is creating a route on your computer is far easier, but it will re-order waypoints for some reason, it's a case of drag/drop to correct.

As for mounting to the bike, Quadlock, vibration damper and run power to where it's mounted, luckily the Superduke has a USB socket on the side of the dash/clocks and I use a short 20cm USB lead from the clocks to my phone.

[vonhosen]

handbraketurn said:

Thanks for replies.

I didn't word my thread very well. Monday morning haze.

Not so much apps, but what to actually fix too the bar securely. I've got a fairly big iPhone, could see that coming off and smashing to tiny bits.

Wasn't sure if better to get a bike sat nav or something to fix the phone too.

Cheers,

Powered quad lock with anti vibration damper.

https://www.quadlockcase.co.uk/collections/shop-mo...

Edited by vonhosen on Monday 13th June 15:35

[CoolHands]

Used £200. But if you’re going to spend £68 on a phone holder I’d consider it.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175306480902?hash=item2...