Tried my Droid X car dock

[not2shabby]

And it works pretty well.

Anyone who doesn't have a gps but owns a Droid X could get by using the car dock on the bike. I took a short video when I had the suction cup up on the speedo face and it worked, but it shook too much for my liking. But if you have a BT headset, you can use the gps, make calls, listen to tunes, etc.

 

[JET]

Interesting... I have a Droid and I was thinking of using it for my tunes and nav via BT. The only problem is that I can't reach the controls on my BT headset (Motorola SD9) and I'm a little leery of having the main guts of the headset between the nape of my neck and my helmet. It could cause a nasty complication in the event of a rear impact to the helmet so I'm not going to use them. I didn't really want to try my car mount on my tank or windscreen, so I'm probably going to try a Ram Aqua box since there is already a ball mounted to my clutch resevoir.

To power the unit I was thinking of a "pigtail" that would connect to my battery tender connector and have a usb port on the other end. Then I could connect/charge any device that is charged via USB off this pigtail.

 

[not2shabby]

I'm not familiar with your headset, mine is a Blueant that attaches to the side of helmet with 3M tape. It would be a good idea to use an Aquabox though, since the Droid's aren't waterproof. The only downside is you wouldn't be able to use the touchscreen and the screen is hard to see in direct sun. I saw a post somewhere (not sure where) about 'silvertip' glove thingies, they slip over your gloves index finger and allow use of the bare touch screen. I'd probably want to tether the phone someway too, in case the suction cup failed.

You'd definately want it plugged in too, gps or tunes would kill your battery pretty quick.

 

[not2shabby]

Here's the video I took with the suction cup on the speedo face. It won't work mounted on the tank, I couldn't adjust it high enough to see over the gauges.



I had to resize it so the resolution sucks, but in 720p, it's pretty clear but too bouncy from being on the instrument cluster.

 

[JET]

The bt headset is by Motorola, also called the Motorokr. It's not a comm system, just a bt stereo headset, but it sounds great.

Driving videos are cool! But I have a GoPro HD setup that I use on my RC planes that I can use on the bike so I have that covered. ALthough your video was not bad at all. Just make sure you don't also record your speedo lol....

I'm working on a small pigtail now or something similar. Not sure if I'm gonna use a 9V batt to power it (might fit in the aquabox) or punch a hole in the box and use the battery tender connection. I'd like to get it small enough to use the 9V batt or even a small lipo, that would be real cool. I've got $12 worth of parts from Radio Shack so it's a fairly cheap experiment.

 

[russperry]

I'm not familiar with your headset, mine is a Blueant that attaches to the side of helmet with 3M tape. It would be a good idea to use an Aquabox though, since the Droid's aren't waterproof. The only downside is you wouldn't be able to use the touchscreen and the screen is hard to see in direct sun. I saw a post somewhere (not sure where) about 'silvertip' glove thingies, they slip over your gloves index finger and allow use of the bare touch screen. I'd probably want to tether the phone someway too, in case the suction cup failed.

You'd definately want it plugged in too, gps or tunes would kill your battery pretty quick.

I use the Dual XGPS251 dock with my iPod Touch and it works great. I've jury-rigged a mount on top of the brake reservoir but it shakes too much to be easily read, and I'm worried about the reliability of the dock with that much vibration.

Regarding waterproofing, I would not recommend you put any kind of smartphone running nav software inside a box. I've seen stories about them overheating very quickly if there's no ventilation. I think with a smartphone approach you just have to eat it and assume you'll have to take it down in the rain. I've heard of another guy who has wrapped a baggie over his iPhone and rubber-banded it shut, but I think that will overheat pretty quickly too.

 

[08FJR4ME]

Just curious,

Have you done the trooper mod. Sounds a little louder than stock exhaust.

Dave

 

[JET]

Ahhhh, good point concerning heat. Mine does get hot in the car. Maybe the other style mount by Ram would b better

 

[not2shabby]

Just curious,

Have you done the trooper mod. Sounds a little louder than stock exhaust.

Dave

Actually, I have a full Holeshot system.

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=138383&pid=865780&st=0entry865780

 

[not2shabby]

Ahhhh, good point concerning heat. Mine does get hot in the car. Maybe the other style mount by Ram would b better

Yeah, I forgot about the heat issue. I used the Droid in the car yesterday for navigation and that sucker was hot when I pulled it out of the dock. I had it charging too, which probably adds to the heating.

 

[SigepKat]

I'm running my EVO as GPS and a music player (Pandora, FM radio, MP3s.) The phone is on one of the ram mount phone holders (can't remember what they call it) on the left side w/a usb cable and a headset extension running down the bars. The usb cable plugs into a waterproof usb port for charging, the headset cable runs down the bars, under the tank and exits between the seats where I plug it into a headset. Works like a champ, used it all day in the TX heat a couple of weeks ago with no problems. It started to get hot, so I just lowered my windshield until air was flowing over it and it cooled off enough...The real test will be riding to SD next week...

Chris

 

[not2shabby]

Glad it works for ya, just don't let it get wet!

 

[JET]

The phone is on one of the ram mount phone holders (can't remember what they call it)

Chris

Is it the mount that has the 3 finger grips on each side? I was thinking of using that one to keep the heat down.

 

[SigepKat]

Yep, this one (I think)

https://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/FingerGripMount/tabid/1872/Default.aspx

It works like a champ, the phone is completely stable even at triple digits...I had to remove the top bracket so that I could get to the headphone jack, but that had no effect on it. Plus, then you can slide the phone up and shoot crappy video of twisty roads (almost made my pregnant wife sick, oops!)

Chris

 

[JET]

Yep, this one (I think)

https://www.ram-mount.com/NewProducts/FingerGripMount/tabid/1872/Default.aspx

It works like a champ, the phone is completely stable even at triple digits...I had to remove the top bracket so that I could get to the headphone jack, but that had no effect on it. Plus, then you can slide the phone up and shoot crappy video of twisty roads (almost made my pregnant wife sick, oops!)

Chris

hahaha, the dizzy video channel, I'm familiar with it. Try flying an rc plane just using a video feedback, it's kinda fun.

I've got one on order, and a sena unit for tunes and nav.