Streetpilot 2820 or bite the bullet and go for a Zumo

[Rambler]

Conundrum

Get a much recommended 2720 or 2820 Streetpilot or just bite the bullet and go for a Zumo?

I lean towards the 2820 from the older models, expecting to use the headphones out plugged into my Scala G9.
2820 is not BT compatible with the G9.

Rambler
09AE|Titanium

 

[FJRay]

I have a 450 zumo and it's been great but it's way smarter than I am . It doesn't have blue tooth which is good cause on the bike I'm safe from the world. The mp3 is handy and I have it set up to transfer from the FJR to the Wing .

 

[Bungie]

Get a much recommended 2720 or 2820 Streetpilot or just bite the bullet and go for a Zumo?I lean towards the 2820 from the older models, expecting to use the headphones out plugged into my Scala G9.

2820 is not BT compatible with the G9.

I've run a 2820 for the past 3 or 4 years. Good solid unit if not a little slow.

I've toyed with replacing it as the screen is all but unreadable if the sun is up. Even on heavy overcast days. Extremely dim. I've looked at the Montana, but it has no bluetooth and it's the one feature that I really love about the 2820. Works the treat with my Sena.

Maybe I should look into replacing the screen and just keeping the unit.

 

[ionbeam]

My 2730 was hard to read in the sun, so I always had a shade installed. When I changed the digitizer I could see the old one was yellowing causing it to dim the display a bit.

I ran my 2730 with a wire for voice and it was adequate. When I started using the Zumo to my Scala headset via Bluetooth it was a major improvement.

 

[Geezer]

Although the 27xx and 28xx series units are excellent and actually my favorite Garmin for usability, the hardware is aging and prone to problems with the touch screen. If you buy one make sure the touch screen is functioning properly across the entire screen. Replacement digitizers are available, but you should know what you are buying when you decide how much to pay.

 

[Rambler]

Asides,

I see that TomTom units are quite a bit cheaper than 'equivalent' Zumos. Are these not 'motorcycle' friendly?

 

[tby]

I used the 2820 for a few years. It is slow as can be, transferring map updates takes hours, and eventually the digitizer started going wonky. I replaced it with a Nuvi 765T -- the last non-Zumo I could find that supports BT headsets (has an audio jack as well). It's faster but still slow. Wanted to use it for music but Garmin doesn't handle M4A files. Mostly I end up using Google Maps on my phone and hit the Garmin when I'm beyond cell service or don't want to stop.

 

[majicmaker]

Tom Tom's Rider 2 are extremely motorcycle friendly. They are made for a motorcycle. You can see the screen even when getting hit by direct sunlight. I love mine.

 

[Rambler]

TomTom does seem to be a good unit. I need to take the plunge. More I read, more chaos I'll create.

I've used TomTom Car GPS before and also on the iPhone. Very pleased with both versions.

 

[RiderCoach Lar]

I faced a similar dilemma prior to purchasing my Zumo 550. Ended up biting the proverbial bullet and purchased the Zumo. My buyer's remorse lasted about as long as it took to open the box and plug it in. From day 1, it proved to be worth every penny...and then some. Whatever decision you make will be the right one. All I'm sayin' is, if you decide on the Zumo, there's VERY little chance of regret.

 

[Rambler]

Tom Tom's Rider 2 are extremely motorcycle friendly. They are made for a motorcycle. You can see the screen even when getting hit by direct sunlight. I love mine.

As luck would have it, a friend in NJ just sold his Honda Shadow and has his TomTom Rider 'out of use'.

I can 'look after it and use' till he works out purchase of another bike (what's there to work out, repeat after me. F J R !)

And until he does (it's at least a couple of months out) I can play around with the Rider and see if it works for me.

I'll just have to work out if and how I can use the included TomTom powered mount to work with the SW Motech Tank mounted GPS mount

SW-MOTECH Vibration-Damped Quick Release GPS Holder

Rambler

09E|Titanium

 

[Biquer]

I used a 2620 for years, still have it but it's gone a bit dull. The 2820 is a solid unit.

I've done many thousands of miles with a couple of Zumo 550's, some weird routing but fine!

I now have a Zumo 660 and no matter how it is set up the routing can be even worse than the 550?????

I could yap (and bore) for hours on the list of super-stupid things Zumos have asked me to do.

When they work properly they're fantastic but the 660 will not route any better than a Nuvi, maybe worse!

The 550 and 660 have for me, never had any issues with bluetooth, for phones or head-sets.

 

[TomInPA]

I have a 2820, and it works great with the iPhone. I'm using it with an Autocom, so I get GPS, phone and XM radio through the 2820 which is fed through the autocom. That adds the RD and an auxiliary music channel. Anyway, if you like the 2820, the work around for your BT helmet is to simply plug the audio output into a BT unit that sends the signal to the helmet.

The new Zumo 590LT is about $800 retail, and there is not much openly advertised discounts. If I had that kind of money, I'd get one, but as I said...I'm using the Streetpilot 2820 with 2014.4 maps. I'll load 2015.1 in the next few days as it was just released.

 

[Bungie]

The new Zumo 590LT is about $800 retail, and there is not much openly advertised discounts. If I had that kind of money, I'd get one, but as I said...I'm using the Streetpilot 2820 with 2014.4 maps. I'll load 2015.1 in the next few days as it was just released.

Wait? What?

Last I checked, Garmin dropped map upgrade support of the 2600-2700-2800 line. Time to check again, still running the original maps.

 

[TomInPA]

I have been running City Navigator North America for the last 4 years. Starting with 2013.2 the entire North America map did not fit, and I loaded the lower 48 States, Quebec, Ontario and the southern tier provinces for a mapset of 2.6 GB via Mapsource. Let me know if you need help. Just a note, the 2610 does not use the current NuMaps, but the 27xx and 28xx Streetpilots do.

 

[wfooshee]

I love the 2820, but not as a music player. But I don't listen to music on the bike. It handles the phone incredibly well, showing me caller-ID, phone book, everything except texting. Works flawlessly with the Scala G4 I have. My maps are out of date so when I go somewhere with a new bypass or something I get "off-route" and just tell it no to the recalc prompt. It's not really that hard to figure out that you're still on the highway.....

 

[Allen_C]

Tom Tom's Rider 2 are extremely motorcycle friendly. They are made for a motorcycle. You can see the screen even when getting hit by direct sunlight. I love mine.

As luck would have it, a friend in NJ just sold his Honda Shadow and has his TomTom Rider 'out of use'.

I can 'look after it and use' till he works out purchase of another bike (what's there to work out, repeat after me. F J R !)

And until he does (it's at least a couple of months out) I can play around with the Rider and see if it works for me.

I'll just have to work out if and how I can use the included TomTom powered mount to work with the SW Motech Tank mounted GPS mount

SW-MOTECH Vibration-Damped Quick Release GPS Holder

Rambler

09E|Titanium

The new TomTom Rider v5 is priced well at $330 discounted compared to $600+ for Garmin Zumos, water resistant (good for any exposure short of submersion over 3 ft), curvy road routing, Tyre included to route on a laptop first or for importing gpx files and saving (although I had an issue with this process cutting off the route after the first 80 of 300+ miles) to TomTom compatible itinerary, and relatively fast recalculating. Oh, also included is a firm-hold mount with wires to connect to battery or a fuse block.

 

[Geezer]

The new TomTom Rider v5 is priced well at $330 discounted compared to $600+ for Garmin Zumos, water resistant (good for any exposure short of submersion over 3 ft), curvy road routing, Tyre included to route on a laptop first or for importing gpx files and saving (although I had an issue with this process cutting off the route after the first 80 of 300+ miles) to TomTom compatible itinerary, and relatively fast recalculating. Oh, also included is a firm-hold mount with wires to connect to battery or a fuse block.

That sounds pretty good. I still prefer Garmin, but maybe if Tom Tom can get a larger share of the market it will force Garmin to price more competitively like they do with the NUVI line.

 

[Rambler]

From Road Runner Magazine

New Tomtom Rider-Getting More For Less