I do not think you get the point. We understand the phone does not need 3G or any data for that matter to locate. BUT, the data is needed to RENDER the map on the screen as you are traveling. No signal= No data=No map. I speak from experience on this one.

Today's smartphones are not really all that great at anything. More like a Jack of all trades, but Master of none.

To OP, both Tom Tom and Garmin have what they call a trip planner program. I have not used the Garmin, but the Tom Tom version does not allow you to customize the route to your liking without going through a huge PITA workaround using multiple waypoints. I am sure there has to be a way to build a route and have a gps guide us on that route. Seems simple........

 

Just get yourself a cheap Garmin with at least a 4.3 screen and a RAM mount and a Ziploc bag to cover it up...How much are you really gonna use it is what i ask myself now...I have had a $400 Garmin 760 for 5 years now and i rarely take it out of the toor pak...When i really need it is when i am in a big city and take it out for that ...i still look at maps...Also, if you have a plan on where you are going... use a Grease pencil and write your roads or Hwy # on the windshield... I find it's good to have the GPS ut looking at signs is easier and safer...
Garmin has a trip planner...i have used it 1 time but never again...i tend to stray from the planned path too much....

 

I was in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan last weekend with my Galaxy S III. Cell coverage there is spotty at best. We were in the woods and I was trying to create a waypoint for my location. The GPS was able to find me, BUT since I had no cell service, it was unable to load the map to show me where I was. I've also had the same thing happen when driving in rural Northern Illinois when cell service is spotty.

I went with the Garmin Nuvi 40 mounted to my bars and use my phone for playing mp3s or Pandora and Spotify when I have good data coverage. Got a Bluetooth dongle off Amazon for the stereo so I can connect my phone with no wires. It works great.

 

I do not. I understand why you would ask. When I set up my account I did have my first Android phone and I was in love with it.

I am a US Army Officer serving in South Korea.

I use an I-phone 4 with an application called Go-Go3D https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gogo3d/id338207462?mt=8 and it is incredible. I never run out of map location and I have never been let down by the phone or the speed in which it gets the data. The calculated speed for the GPS seems to be a bit slow but nothing more than maybe 2-3 MPH on a lag.

My I-phone has a true GPS and does not depend on 3G or data to render maps as they are all downloaded into the phone. The entire Korean peninsula is inside the phone. So all I have to rely on is on the CPU Speed and the view of the sky.



For android Phones

https://play.google.com/stor/apps/de...NzZW50aWFscyJd

 

The Garmin app I use has the map data on the phone, I've used it both on my iPhone, and ipad no issue service or not.

JJ

 

I'm interested in this thread because my Zumo 450 is going to have to be replaced sooner rather than later, and that leads to my biggest complaint of Garmin units. Garmin simply won't support them after about three years.

Last spring the Zumo began to exhibit odd problems with the touch-screen, which is a common malady. The cure is to send the unit into Garmin for a blanket $175 replacement (refurb) or spend $15 and buy a digitizer from China (Ebay) and effect a DIY replacement. Garmin wouldn't refurb mine because it was a discontinued item, even though it was only three years old at the time, so the Chinese digitizer was my only option. I did that and the touch-screen now works fine.

Next, the rubber buttons started to fall out. Garmin won't even talk to me about getting parts for the unit, even though most parts for it are common to the Zumo 550 that is still available for service. I can't find replacements for these buttons, so I plugged one with a piece of rubber, thereby disabling that function, and on the second I tried RTV to glue it back in, hoping it will hold. Super glue might've been a better solution.

As for functionality I don't have any major complaints about the Zumo. I use Mapsource, a PC-based routing app, and although very arcane and not user-friendly it is powerful once you learn to use it. When you export the routes and waypoints to the Zumo the unit will use viapoints (waypoints tied to intersections, etc.) to re-create the route, so you may end up with something other than what you had in the computer. To help with this problem I use lots of viapoints for the Zumo to use, and this usually works okay but it still isn't assured that you'll get the same routing as you wanted.

The bottom line is that I have a love-hate relationship with Garmin and the Zumo. I'm struggling along with an ailing 450 that still works but is getting "long in the tooth" and I think will need to be replaced in the short term. I don't like buying another expensive unit that Garmin will obsolete after a few years, essentially making these expensive throwaway units. OTOH if I bought another brand I would probably incur the same problem.

I do have an Android phone that has a decent GPS, but it isn't very visible in daylight and I don't think is useful for mounting on a MC. I also question whether less-expensive Garmins can be seen well in daylight, and I would like to hear recommendations from folks who use these units like this.

 

Which dongle did you get? That sounds like it would work great!

 

@iclick

If I was you..I would definitely give the phone a chance first. Find a free APP for it and give it a whirl. You can always fabricate some kind of "phone Visor" for when you have it mounted to the handlebar to deal with the contrast. Check the brightness on the phone itself. It may be just reducing it because it was set up that way. I use turn by turn nav so I barely have to look at the unit. I just follow the instructions when it comes over the radio.

If you like the free app the you can look for another one that you are willing to pay for which may have more features.

As for me...I will say, I would never purchase a GPS for my bike or my car. My I-phone does everything and via bluetooth I get all directions sent right to my radio. I do not need anything else. My GPS app cost $59 for Korea and it costs $59 for the USA too.

 

I have a garmin zumo 550 it does all of that and you can also touch the screen and move the route where you want the only thing mine doesn't do that I would like is be connected into the radio without having to use the 3.5 mm head phone cable it came with. The garmin zumo 660 can be hooked up into the radio so the volume automatically adjust when the garmin is talking. The 550 can't

 

I agree with you I have never been able to get my phone to work in everyplace that my garmin does