TomTom Rider v4

[Winddancer]

Hi all
I haven't seent this mentioned yet and I am about ready to pull the trigger and pre order one..
I have gone thru a few cheap GPS's mainly due to rain or vibration, and the one thing about car GPS's I dont like is the screen washes out in bright sunlight, hopefully this will solve all of these problems..
My Girlfriend has a Zumo 550 that came on her bike from previous owner, does solve all those problems, but i prefer a 4.3 screen and the zumo's are way to pricey for this self proclamimed cheap skate.. :)
They have it listed as MSRP $299.00 here in the US..which is less then the cost of the 3 GPS's I have killed..
Amazon has a pre order of 389.00 but Mac Mall and PC Superstore and eCost have it for 285.00 not sure why but they all have the same Model # 1GD0.052.00
anyway..the one thing I find really cool is the
Winding Roads feature, which as tomtom puts it.
"Windings Roads feature allows bikers to select routes with the most bends for a more exciting ride".
so I just thought I would throw this out there since I think it cool and cheap considering, and when I get one, I will post what it is like..
here is some links and info..

http://www.slashgear.com/tomtom-rider-r ... -14269424/
http://www.tomtom.com/en_us/products/cu ... tom-rider/

Cheers!!

**** update***
Just pre ordered from Mac Mall, $285 with free shipping..
No info as to when it will be delivered yet, but I will keep and eye out and report back about the unit when I recieve it.

[David (N. Alabama)]

That winding roads sounds interesting. I would like to read some reviews of that feature.

[Winddancer]

Yes that feature is the one that pushed me over, and made me want to try it..
if it works, it will be awesome...

[jn1200]

Hope it works ok, The Garmin Zumo is a nice unit, but Waaaay over priced

[joyrider]

I don't think they are coming to the US. I had two orders canceled one from Amazon and one from Macmall. UNAVAILABLE.

[jn1200]

I can't find any info about it. Looks like the Zumo is still King for bikers

[joyrider]

As of yesterday Amazon had 13 left.in stock. When I ordered they had 15.

[jn1200]

nothing on amazon I can see that says it's the Rider 4 Might be a older model

[joyrider]

The new model is about 40.00 less than the rider 2. If you look at the GPS picture you will notice winding route only the 2013 model has this option. Search amazon for tomtom 2013 and see what comes up.

[joyrider]

Well my TT 2013 came today. The 2013 or v4 is the only TT that has a 4.3 screen all rider 1 and 2 are 3.5 inch screen. The hardware package is TT rider premium pack which will allow almost any type of mounting. It even comes with a AC adapter for charging. It raining right now so a report will follow. It connected to my Sena head set no problem.

[David (N. Alabama)]

Well my TT 2013 came today. The 2013 or v4 is the only TT that has a 4.3 screen all rider 1 and 2 are 3.5 inch screen. The hardware package is TT rider premium pack which will allow almost any type of mounting. It even comes with a AC adapter for charging. It raining right now so a report will follow. It connected to my Sena head set no problem.

My nuvi 765T keeps on ticking for over two years and a lot of abuse, but I am eagerly awaiting a review. Expecially the curvy road option. Also being able to see the screen in the sun would be nice also.

[joyrider]

Weather is not very good for a guilty review. Cloudy and rainy is the outcast for the next three days. I did plan a route to see what the fastest route compared to windind road would be. I did a route from Cleveland Oh to Lacrosse. WI. and winding route added over 200 miles. There was a brief period.of sunshine and I did set the bike out side to see if I could read the GPS and yes I could still read the display. The sun did have a mild effect on it but it was not wash out. I put my sun shield on the GPS and it did make a difference. The Ram mounting hardware is a big plus.

[joyrider]

Pretty much still getting some rain every day but able to get some riding in. What I have notice is that you can still read the display in bright daylight but it is greatly dependent on what color shirt I have on. A white tee shirt can really make it tough to read the display due to the reflection off the white tee shirt. With a dark colored tee shirt [Black blue anything dark] display is very readable. Routing is comparable to my TT 2535 which I find far superior to any garmin I have had. The winding road is very nice. I took a trip to Blossom music center which is in a very wooded remote area with the Cuyahoga river running behind it and a road called riverview rd. A very scenic road. I programmed which by default choose fastest route which takes a three lane freeway. I then choose winding road which take all back roads twisting through a few small town roads. A very scenic route all the way.

[biggersm]

As some of you know we will be riding into Logan OH on a 2008 Goldwing Airbag with the on board GPS. The maps for the 2008 Goldwing GPS were current as of 2005 (it says so on the screen during startup). In 2009 there was an update but...oh well (awesome deal on the 2008 that we couldn't turn down).

We find great satisfaction in Googling (or you could say Binging) a route. The GPS, no matter how old or new the maps are in the memory are only one route of several. We were on our way back from Arkansas in 2010 (for a Green/Blue/Red Knights event) and took a route that the GPS didn't know about...that darn voice bothered us so much we turned the darn thing off.

I feel that whether you Google a route, or trust your GPS to find it, or whatever you choose you are limiting yourself. We very thoroughly enjoy searching our paths using Google Earth. The Street View is very awesume BTW.

[David (N. Alabama)]

True Mike, but sometimes it is good to put in a destination and then ignore the GPS because a road looks interesting. Then let it recalculate the route and it still gets you to where you wanted.