MrZappo
Can we please go riding now ?
I just returned early this week from a 2000+ mile trip from Chicago up north around Lake Michigan and Lake Superior ...
I had purchased the new TomTom Rider 5 a month before and spent some time getting acclimated to it etc etc etc. I had read reviews both ways and since I was not about to spend $800 on a Garmin I was determined to figure this thing out ...
I don't have experience with the Garmins other than the nuvi's so I cant really comment which is better but I will share my experiences. It seems on this forum and others that some people have had good experiences and other have been terrible so I was wondering how this can be ...
I read a lot through these forums and the tomtom company forums for some insight into problems that might be being reported ...
I used the Tyre https://www.tyretotravel.com software to chart my entire route and spent a bit of time refining my routes. I also made a route that was local to my home for a test run. Additionally, (as everyone must do, I updated the GPS to the latest code and maps)
My test run was pretty bad with the GPS sending me all manner of different directions so I got back home and attempted to figure out why. It cant be possible that it is this bad ... It was all over the place and telling me to make U turns etc etc ...
I found 2 CRITICAL things that I was doing wrong that are not necessarily apparent nor are they really documented in any one place.
Firstly, the Tyre software leverages Google maps for its images and when it calculates routes, it is really showing you the route that Google maps would choose. The Tyre software does not do its own routing, nor is the algorithm identical to the TomTom algorithm.
Second, on Google maps, there are some roads that show lanes in both directions (IF YOU ZOOM IN) but, other roads do not show this. Some roads (many) don't show any specific traffic direction or lanes in both directions when you zoom in.
After learning both of these things, I was able to get the routes to work perfectly. I built 2000 miles of routes and the GPS routed me on the EXACT route that I wanted with no mistakes and it did so perfectly for 5 solid days straight. It was dead on accurate ...
Also, what I determined that a lot of people are doing wrong (at least on this GPS) is that they are setting their destinations (along the way) as waypoints. For instance, they might start at home and then set a restaurant along the desired route as a second waypoint and than maybe a town they want to drive through etc etc until their final destination. This DOES NOT WORK if you desire to follow the EXACT route that you saw on your PC at home because the GPS will attempt to calculate the best route using its own algorithm (which may or may not be different from Google).
What I learned to do is as follows.
1) Use the roads themselves (specifically points along the roads) at your waypoints and let the Tyre software show you the route that it calculates. Then zoom down into the points you have laid out and make sure that they are on the (Correct side of the road). Sometimes when zoomed all the way out, your waypoint may look perfect but will be on the other side of the road. The TomTom will try to follow the proper traffic flow and this will result in it telling you to (make a legal U turn) when you get to these waypoints because it is doing what it is supposed to do and get you to your waypoint (On the opposite side of the road). Make sure that your waypoints follow proper traffic flow for the roads that show traffic in both directions. (Not all roads are like this for some reason)
Also, you must add waypoints along the route that you see on the PC to force the GPS along your desired route otherwise it will try to optimize the route, and might not agree with what you want. Most of the time when touring, our routes contradict what a GPS is designed to do. We want to take a slightly longer route to see something along the way. The GPS is designed to calculate the shortest or fastest route. In order to defeat the GPS's desire to get you there as fast as possible, you need to add waypoints along the route that it MUST navigate to which will force it to take you the way you desire.
I got pretty good at determining the best places to place these extra waypoints and it did take me a bit of time to learn what works best but in general, I found that a waypoint just before and just after each desired turn worked well. Once I got better at this, I learned what worked best and was able to use less waypoints and still get my desired route.
The Tyre software also has a feature that will do this for you and place the maximum number of waypoints (100) on your route automatically. Although this seems like a good thing, I found it to be cumbersome as it is not easy to edit the routes once they are in the GPS and if you desire to alter your route (AT ALL) along the way, it is hard. The GPS has an option to (Skip to next waypoint) which I used several times on my trip. If I want to skip something, I would use this option and the GPS would then route me to my next waypoint and then follow my route again ... This would have been cumbersome if there were 25 extra unnecessary waypoints to deal with.
2) Always verify 100% that every waypoint is on the correct side of the road. It can look like the proper road/direction from the screen until you zoom in and then it will be obvious that you need to drag it to the opposite side of the road.
Doing these things resulted in a good trip that followed the exact route that I had designed on my PC at home. Bluetooth directions were accurate and everything worked nearly perfectly.
Aside from a few minor map errors along the way that did not result in anything unexpected as far as routing or functionality goes I was good.
The spoken directions through my Sena SMH-10 Worked well but do sound overdriven at times and I have not tracked down why this is as it did not seem to relate to how loud the volume was set. It was not something I wanted to play with while in motion so Ill check it out another day. It seems to be a commonly reported thing on the forums so maybe a software patch will address it.
I do wish that it would speak the street names as opposed to just saying (turn in 500 yards) but this is not a show stopper.
I wish it had XM radio built in but again for $300, I'm not complaining.
The "Sunlight Readable Screen" Is actually pretty readable in most conditions. It gets a little washed out at those specific times when the sun hits it "just right" but it is readable 99% of the time. It was never a problem for me over the course of 5 sunny days.
A few things I don't like much are as follows:
1) The menus are a bit cumbersome at times. They do have a programmable "quick list" where you can put your most used things but this is always at least one click away. I would love ONE button I could place on the main screen that I could tap while riding. For me this would be the "skip to next waypoint" button.
2) There is a compass on the main screen that shows which way north is that is actually pretty useful but is is really small. I would like to have a choice to make it larger so I could see it without straining. I avoided using it as much as I would have liked to because it could be unsafe to take your eyes off the road long enough to find it and read it.
Other advice I would give someone:
If you are making a long route (My day one route was 400+miles), there are obviously stopping points (sight seeing/lunch etc). Once your route is complete in Tyre, there will be a list of waypoints on the left side of the screen. There are little icons next to them. Most of these will be the icon for "waypoint" and the last one will have a different icon that denotes "destination".
You can click on each of these and change them to either "waypoint" or "destination". (You can also do this easily once the route is uploaded to the GPS).
If you set (places you intend to stop) to "destination", than the GPS will always show you the mileage to your next stopping point. Which is nice.
Once you get there and stop, when you power the GPS back on, you simply select "continue itinerary" and it will pick up where it left off and count down mileage to your next stop.
Otherwise, it will just show the mileage remaining to your ultimate destination which will also work but I found it nice to know the mileage until "lunch" etc etc ...
So, the GPS worked well, and as long as you take the time to learn how to make it do what you want it to do, it is a nice unit. I would recommend it to others and I would buy it again myself ... Perfect for the no frills crowd or for those of us that simply can't justify $800 ...
I had purchased the new TomTom Rider 5 a month before and spent some time getting acclimated to it etc etc etc. I had read reviews both ways and since I was not about to spend $800 on a Garmin I was determined to figure this thing out ...
I don't have experience with the Garmins other than the nuvi's so I cant really comment which is better but I will share my experiences. It seems on this forum and others that some people have had good experiences and other have been terrible so I was wondering how this can be ...
I read a lot through these forums and the tomtom company forums for some insight into problems that might be being reported ...
I used the Tyre https://www.tyretotravel.com software to chart my entire route and spent a bit of time refining my routes. I also made a route that was local to my home for a test run. Additionally, (as everyone must do, I updated the GPS to the latest code and maps)
My test run was pretty bad with the GPS sending me all manner of different directions so I got back home and attempted to figure out why. It cant be possible that it is this bad ... It was all over the place and telling me to make U turns etc etc ...
I found 2 CRITICAL things that I was doing wrong that are not necessarily apparent nor are they really documented in any one place.
Firstly, the Tyre software leverages Google maps for its images and when it calculates routes, it is really showing you the route that Google maps would choose. The Tyre software does not do its own routing, nor is the algorithm identical to the TomTom algorithm.
Second, on Google maps, there are some roads that show lanes in both directions (IF YOU ZOOM IN) but, other roads do not show this. Some roads (many) don't show any specific traffic direction or lanes in both directions when you zoom in.
After learning both of these things, I was able to get the routes to work perfectly. I built 2000 miles of routes and the GPS routed me on the EXACT route that I wanted with no mistakes and it did so perfectly for 5 solid days straight. It was dead on accurate ...
Also, what I determined that a lot of people are doing wrong (at least on this GPS) is that they are setting their destinations (along the way) as waypoints. For instance, they might start at home and then set a restaurant along the desired route as a second waypoint and than maybe a town they want to drive through etc etc until their final destination. This DOES NOT WORK if you desire to follow the EXACT route that you saw on your PC at home because the GPS will attempt to calculate the best route using its own algorithm (which may or may not be different from Google).
What I learned to do is as follows.
1) Use the roads themselves (specifically points along the roads) at your waypoints and let the Tyre software show you the route that it calculates. Then zoom down into the points you have laid out and make sure that they are on the (Correct side of the road). Sometimes when zoomed all the way out, your waypoint may look perfect but will be on the other side of the road. The TomTom will try to follow the proper traffic flow and this will result in it telling you to (make a legal U turn) when you get to these waypoints because it is doing what it is supposed to do and get you to your waypoint (On the opposite side of the road). Make sure that your waypoints follow proper traffic flow for the roads that show traffic in both directions. (Not all roads are like this for some reason)
Also, you must add waypoints along the route that you see on the PC to force the GPS along your desired route otherwise it will try to optimize the route, and might not agree with what you want. Most of the time when touring, our routes contradict what a GPS is designed to do. We want to take a slightly longer route to see something along the way. The GPS is designed to calculate the shortest or fastest route. In order to defeat the GPS's desire to get you there as fast as possible, you need to add waypoints along the route that it MUST navigate to which will force it to take you the way you desire.
I got pretty good at determining the best places to place these extra waypoints and it did take me a bit of time to learn what works best but in general, I found that a waypoint just before and just after each desired turn worked well. Once I got better at this, I learned what worked best and was able to use less waypoints and still get my desired route.
The Tyre software also has a feature that will do this for you and place the maximum number of waypoints (100) on your route automatically. Although this seems like a good thing, I found it to be cumbersome as it is not easy to edit the routes once they are in the GPS and if you desire to alter your route (AT ALL) along the way, it is hard. The GPS has an option to (Skip to next waypoint) which I used several times on my trip. If I want to skip something, I would use this option and the GPS would then route me to my next waypoint and then follow my route again ... This would have been cumbersome if there were 25 extra unnecessary waypoints to deal with.
2) Always verify 100% that every waypoint is on the correct side of the road. It can look like the proper road/direction from the screen until you zoom in and then it will be obvious that you need to drag it to the opposite side of the road.
Doing these things resulted in a good trip that followed the exact route that I had designed on my PC at home. Bluetooth directions were accurate and everything worked nearly perfectly.
Aside from a few minor map errors along the way that did not result in anything unexpected as far as routing or functionality goes I was good.
The spoken directions through my Sena SMH-10 Worked well but do sound overdriven at times and I have not tracked down why this is as it did not seem to relate to how loud the volume was set. It was not something I wanted to play with while in motion so Ill check it out another day. It seems to be a commonly reported thing on the forums so maybe a software patch will address it.
I do wish that it would speak the street names as opposed to just saying (turn in 500 yards) but this is not a show stopper.
I wish it had XM radio built in but again for $300, I'm not complaining.
The "Sunlight Readable Screen" Is actually pretty readable in most conditions. It gets a little washed out at those specific times when the sun hits it "just right" but it is readable 99% of the time. It was never a problem for me over the course of 5 sunny days.
A few things I don't like much are as follows:
1) The menus are a bit cumbersome at times. They do have a programmable "quick list" where you can put your most used things but this is always at least one click away. I would love ONE button I could place on the main screen that I could tap while riding. For me this would be the "skip to next waypoint" button.
2) There is a compass on the main screen that shows which way north is that is actually pretty useful but is is really small. I would like to have a choice to make it larger so I could see it without straining. I avoided using it as much as I would have liked to because it could be unsafe to take your eyes off the road long enough to find it and read it.
Other advice I would give someone:
If you are making a long route (My day one route was 400+miles), there are obviously stopping points (sight seeing/lunch etc). Once your route is complete in Tyre, there will be a list of waypoints on the left side of the screen. There are little icons next to them. Most of these will be the icon for "waypoint" and the last one will have a different icon that denotes "destination".
You can click on each of these and change them to either "waypoint" or "destination". (You can also do this easily once the route is uploaded to the GPS).
If you set (places you intend to stop) to "destination", than the GPS will always show you the mileage to your next stopping point. Which is nice.
Once you get there and stop, when you power the GPS back on, you simply select "continue itinerary" and it will pick up where it left off and count down mileage to your next stop.
Otherwise, it will just show the mileage remaining to your ultimate destination which will also work but I found it nice to know the mileage until "lunch" etc etc ...
So, the GPS worked well, and as long as you take the time to learn how to make it do what you want it to do, it is a nice unit. I would recommend it to others and I would buy it again myself ... Perfect for the no frills crowd or for those of us that simply can't justify $800 ...
Thanks
