Triumphrat

TonUpHotRod

With the recent release of the TomTom application for the iPhone and the new iPhone's support of stereo bluetooth, I thought that it was time to see how these might be used on my motorcycle. I recently purchased the Altec Lansing BackBeat Bluetooth Headphones and the TomTom iPhone application, and earlier today I put them to the test together on a one hour motorcycle ride. My opinions on both of these products follows.

Altec Lansing BackBeat Bluetooth Headphones
I bought my first iPod years ago, and I have been through numerous headphones over the years while flying all over of the country for business. A month or two ago I bought the Altec Lansing BackBeat bluetooth headphones. I am rather particular on sound quality, and I have to say that these headphones are very good for music. The sound is very bright and balanced with surprisingly good bass. I am not a huge fan of the fit, as the earbuds do not actually go inside your ear canal like earplugs (the style which I prefer even over noise-cancelling headphones.) As such, they do not block much ambient noise, or as I discovered on the motorcycle, wind and road noise. You can also make phone calls with these headphones, and I was pleased with how they worked for this purpose. People on the other end even commented that they sounded better than when I talk to them on my Jawbone headset.

It is also difficult to pull on your helmet over these headphones without disturbing with how they fit, but I found that wearing a head-sweat over the top of my ears and therefore over the top of the headphones, keeps everything nicely in place while putting on my helmet.

For several weeks, I have been riding to work using these headphones while listening to both music from my iPhone and Sirius radio through the Sirius iPhone app, and they have worked very well. The voice directions from the TomTom app also worked well with these headphones.

PROS: Good sound quality for both music and calls. Bluetooth works flawlessly.
CONS: Fit does not block out ambient noise. A bit uncomfortable in the helmet.

TomTom iPhone App
I first used the TomTom app in my car. I plugged my iPhone into the car charger and sent the audio through my car stereo. Entering destinations seemed a little cumbersome but still intuitive enough. I was disappointed that the preloaded maps are already dated. I tried to find the Best Buy in my hometown using the Point of Interest feature. Although this Best Buy has been open for nearly a year, it was not listed, so I had to find the address in Google Maps and type it into the destination. It would be nice to be able to pass a destination from the very good Google Maps app on the iPhone to the TomTom app, but perhaps they can do that in later releases.

Although the iPhone sat on the passenger's seat beside me on my trip, it worked flawlessly. It never lost the signal, always gave clear instructions and even responded quickly to detours when I intentionally disregarded the directions. The only thing that I did not like was how abruptly the music gets interrupted by the GPS voice. The music just stops. The voice speaks to you, and then the music starts again. It is not as smooth as the fade-out, fade-in of an incoming phone call, but this is a minor complaint.

We later tried it in my wife's car, and the GPS was worthless. I am not sure if it was due to the extra metal of her mini-SUV or the fact that we did not have the iPhone on the charger, but the GPS signal kept dropping making it almost useless. TomTom is supposed to release a car kit with a power cable, an external speaker and a more sensitive GPS chip, so this will undoubtedly help.

It was time to try it on the motorcycle. I chose the local airport as my destination. It is about 10 miles from my house, and I told the TomTom to avoid highways so that I would have to make a few more turns along the way. I chose a long playlist (the setlist from the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club concert at the Dallas House of Blues last year) and set off on my trip. I had to make several turns to get out of my neighborhood, and the TomTom worked admirably. I intentionally missed a turn, and it quickly told me to turn around when I got a chance. I took another turn, and it recalculated a new route on the fly that got me back on track. From this point on, however, it failed miserably.

Since the iPhone was in my pocket, I could not watch what was happening on the screen, but I have to assume that it lost its GPS signal. I am not sure why since I was on wide open streets without a cage around me, but perhaps it has to do with not having a charger attached. Whatever it was, it stopped giving me any instructions. I knew the way very well, so I just kept riding. Just as I was about to stop to see what had happened, it said, "In 400 yards turn right," which were the correct instructions. So I kept going, but it only got weirder from there. After making the right turn, it said, "Left turn ahead." Not only did I know that this was not necessary, it never did tell me when to turn left. About 6 miles later, after sitting at a stoplight for more than a minute, it told me to turn right, although I knew that my destination was straight ahead of me.

I continued to my destination, and it finally said, "Continue 400 yards to your destination." "Thanks, you were no help at all," I thought.

I knew that there are some great riding roads east of the airport, so I made my way over there and stopped on the side of the road to choose a route home again. It did recognize and even warned me that the route included a gravel road. It showed that it was a short stretch, so I accepted the instructions and headed out. Well, the stretch of gravel was much longer than indicated. I pushed on carefully through the loose gravel corners finally getting back to pavement. TomTom was still silent. I gave up at this point and just started to blast my way around the sweepers and tight corners of these excellent Texas Farm-to-Market roads that I know so well. I had a fantastic time.

A few miles later, TomTom tells me to turn left and then turn right, but I was not even close to an intersection. A mile or two later, it tells me to turn left again, but again, there is no intersection in sight. I ride for another 15 minutes without a single instruction from the TomTom, but finally after passing my house to get to the entrance of alley, TomTom tells me, "Your destination is 50 yards ahead." "Really? I can see it in my side mirror," I thought.

Needless to say, I was very disappointed. Maybe I will wire up a 12-volt socket so that I can try plugging in the iPhone to see if that helps. Also, I may be able to rig up the car kit once it becomes available. For now, I would have to say that the TomTom app is completely worthless on the motorcycle.

PROS: Worked well while plugged into car. Routes seemed logical.
CONS: GPS signal dropped frequently. Gave absurd directions (due to weak signal?) Drained 75% of the battery in one hour.

Steve2005BB

I have spent several hours over the last few days researching buying a GPS I can use on my Bonneville. I'm trying to avoid the expensive Garmin Zuma units but don't like the idea of not being able to hear the instructions via a bluetooth headset using the less expensive Nuvi units. The iPhone app seems like a great solution if its works since you can apparently hear the instructions with the bluetooth headset even if the iPhones screen may be more difficult to read because of its smaller size. By the way Ram makes a handlebar mount for the iPhone. If you don't want to direct wire the iPhone to the power supply, new Bonneville sells a cigarette lighter type plug that connects using a battery tender standard plug. http://www.newbonneville.com/html/accessory_port.html
I would be interested to know if you've tried connecting the iPhone to your motorcycle battery since your last post. If you decide to pursue it further please post any additional "test" information. If you can get it to work as well as it does in your car I think a lot of us with iPhones would be interested in it. Thanks again.

TonUpHotRod

Thanks, Steve. I will check out the Ram mount soon. I have not had a chance to try it out again on the bike again yet. We have had non-stop rain for more than a week, and I have been traveling on business. As soon as I get a chance, I will try it and let you know.

I have been using it in the car, and it has worked well most of the time while on the charger. The next time I try it on the motorcycle, I am going to just use wired, in the ear canal headphones and get power from the battery. I will keep you posted.

Steve2005BB

Check this thread out, it looks like the iphone gps has worked well for some other members. May just be because it was in your pocket or not connected to the battery. The one post suggested having to reset it every now and then which seems like a pain.

http://www.triumphrat.net/twins-talk...ne-as-gps.html

IMDMAN

I don't understand for sure how your headset works. I use big ear custom ear plugs with speakers built in that are just like normal plug in ear phones. So can you get a blue tooth module that you can plug in a set of ear speakers and then use a phone or other bluetooth products with? I like to listen to music when riding and won't give up my earplugs either.

TonUpHotRod

Thanks for the other link, Steve.

I purchased and installed a 12-volt power outlet so that I could power my iPhone while using the GPS, and I set out on the exact same ride as before.

To test the iPhone TomTom app itself, unburdened by the bluetooth link, I used wired headphones to hear the turn by turn directions.

With the phone on the power source, the GPS worked so much better. I do not think that it ever lost its signal, and it quickly recalculated when I intentionally ignored directions. The iPhone TomTom app did a great job getting me to my destination, although there were a few times it gave me confusing directions. The only strange thing is that it never told me that I was approaching my destination even as I arrived. Again, since I could not see the screen, I could not tell if it had lost its signal, but I consider the test a success since it got me where I was going.

Conclusion:
The TomTom iPhone application seems to work well when the iPhone is hooked to an external power source. I am looking forward to trying it with a mount as described in the other thread.

TonUpHotRod

IMDMAN, there may be products which do what you ask, but the bluetooth headphones that I used are all one piece.

BirdoPrey

Hi guys,

I have a Tom Tom Rider2 that I bought about a year and a half ago. It has been a huge disappointment. It was cheaper than a Zumo 550 but only because it included the Scala wireless headset while the Zumo had a corded head set.

As Tonup indicated, the mapping is incomplete. It’s not that it’s out of date; it just doesn’t have all the streets and roads. I found numerous intersections in my local area that have been there for 40 years but it doesn’t know they exist. I had it take me down a road about a month ago that turned out to be a dead end. I don’t know why it thought that road went somewhere but it didn’t. Luckily I knew where I was going and had no trouble back tracking but what if I had been in an unfamiliar area and needed it?

It also doesn’t know many streets by their common names. When trying to set an itinerary you will input a street/road by a name that is on the map or that you know but it will not recognize it by that name. You will have to guess at all the other possible names it could be called until you find one that it does recognize. If you are not familiar with that area you are unable to set your itinerary.

Several of the advertised features don’t work properly. One of them that I really would like to be able to use is the ability to plan an itinerary on the computer and then download it to the Rider. This feature has never worked, they knew it didn’t work when they put it in the stores and they will never fix it, convinced that buyers will just buy a new version at some point in the future. A business model like that defies logic.

I have a friend who has a Zumo. I have ridden with him and found that his unit is many times easier to use than mine. I cannot afford to toss the Rider but I would never make this mistake again and if I had it to do over again would buy the Garmin instead. . The way this company has failed to deliver for me, as well as others according to some of the forums I have followed, I don’t see them delivering the goods to other customers such as your selves. I hope I’m wrong for your sake.

Good luck,
Art.

KevyKev

I'm thinking of going the new Garmin Nuvifone route (from AT&T). I'm thinking it may be a good option versus buying a stand-alone GPS. Basically a Garmin GPS with cell-phone ability. It's being criticized for lack of apps, but I wouldn't be using them anyways. Still too new for any good reviews yet though. It too has the Bluetooth capibility BTW.

PommyTom

I've just wired up the iphone to my triumph street triple with :
- RAM mount (waterproof, but drilled a small hole to let the power cable in)
- Powerlet 46" battery harness (with SAE connector)
- Custom powerlet lead, for SAE --> Iphone charging cable with step-down power regulator.


Works a treat! About to try it out in Tasmania on monday, for a full week of riding with no 3G, so will soon see how good the offline map viewing is