Thinking of leaving the Stone Age!

[Phmode]

I currenlty have a Garmin Streetpilot 2820 'brick' coupled to an Autocom system and a Kenwood bike-to-bike radio.

This is all vintage stuff dating from about 8-10 years ago and I feel the time is fast approaching to change up to some more modern stuff. The Garmin is creaking at the seams with the ever bigger map updates every few months and is also starting to play up; constantly requiring sreen calibration over and over while attempting to navigate the traffic on the Cote d'Azur last summer and attempting to make me go back to the start of a navitgated route when it disagreed with the 'leader' whose sat nav is always correct, even if it is wrong.

Apart from this it has been faultless and does not suffer from the modern Garmin Achille's heel of re-drawing the map just as you come to a T junction or stop at the bottom of a motorway slip road.

Also, the Autocom system is showing its age with sporadic volume adjustments etc. It may just need a new set of cables but I am loathe to throw money at stuff that may not fix the problem. In the 'good old days' I would simply have taken a drive to Warwick and the gnomes at Autocom would have had it like new in a couple of shakes of a lamb's wotsit but since they got reverse taken over their service has slipped, particularly for legacy products like mine.

The range on the radio is not what it used to be on my GS due to the location limitations on the K and the mess of wiring when you throw in a PTT switch on the bars has to be seen to be believed.

So, here's my conundrum. Do I ditch it all and start over? Do I just ditch the Autocom and radio and go all Bluetooth with a Sena or a Scala?

I 'never' take a pillion so don't need sophisticated prioritising. I 'never' listen to music (there have been exceptions but very rarely) so don't need that.

Riding solo, I do rely on the sat nav almost exclusively for routhing and directions but always have maps with me when abroad.

What have you got?
Has anyone paired a modern bluetooth helmet mounted system with an old bluetooth enabled sat nav?
Is bike-to-bike radio old hat now that the Sena 20S has an open-country range of 2 km?
I have an iPhone 4S.

Brian (who wonders how we ever managed back in the day)

[Paul C]

I use the Sena SMH10. Mainly with a Garmin 660 and with Pam when she is riding pillion. I have the phone linked through the Garmin but I only connect when doing BloodBike work just in case I get a call while on the road. Had it about a year. No problems. Prior to that it was a stone age Autocom, on its 2nd set of cables one started to fail again so I decided to go Bluetooth.

[Phmode]

...and that is how I find myself here. It is probably more than one cable that is on the way out and I don't have enough spares to swap them all out one at a time.

Brian (who says 'thanks for the input')

[raesewell]

Brian I have the Scala G4 and the Tomtom V5 and it all works as it should. Pair the phone with Tomtom then Tomtom to Scala

[brian63]

Hi Brian
I run autocom logic powered from the bike hard wired to my old Garmin 550
The logic is mounted under the right rear pod.
My radio is a pmr 446 but hopped to 4w not the .5w as standard
The antenna(half wave) is remount ley mounted in the vertical plane so to give good and clear
Communication.the Radio is from Intaride they will supply
Radio
Psu for radio
Remote antenna
Auto com lead
Yes I do know it doesn't comply to pmr as is a to powerful
And the antenna is remotely mounted.
I have used the wire free types but found it too problematic.
I have experience with radio kit in my working life as a fire system engineer so
favour the hard wired solution.
Anyway if you have any questions just ask
Regards
Brian

[Steve F]

Brian, like Rae I use the TT Rider V5 with a Scala Q3 multi-set. Great bit of kit.

[richtea]

> I currenlty have a Garmin Streetpilot 2820 'brick' coupled to an Autocom system and a Kenwood bike-to-bike radio.

I dislike the passivity of GPS.

I run paper - an MCN mini Atlas (from the turn of the century, if I remember rightly), and Google Maps printouts.
The first tells me where the big towns are. The second does the last few miles or so.

Quite a luddite considering I'm a full-on techie in the rest of my life. 

[chriscanning]

> I currenlty have a Garmin Streetpilot 2820 'brick' coupled to an Autocom system and a Kenwood bike-to-bike radio.

I dislike the passivity of GPS.

I run paper - an MCN mini Atlas (from the turn of the century, if I remember rightly), and Google Maps printouts.
The first tells me where the big towns are. The second does the last few miles or so.

Quite a luddite considering I'm a full-on techie in the rest of my life. 

Despite having two GPS's in my sprinter when earning a living(well kind of)when travelling Europe  then it's a map.

[K12RMK]

Brian, Given you have an iPhone you could take a look at the new TomTom app. Gotta be cheaper than buying a new GPS.

Best regards,
                     Bob....

[Phmode]

Nice idea Bob, but I would still have to buy a new mount and some sort of weatherproof cover thingy.

Brian (who thinks there must be some sort of data cost involved with using one's phone as a sat nav)

[Teztec]

My kit consist of Sena headset and Garmin 660
Sena probably the best purchase I've made in while
It's about 3 years old ,never given me any problems
I swap between two lids ,so purchased a second mount and just swap the unit between them.
You update the software via your PC ,which was one of the main reasons for buying the Senna ,the other was the jog wheel it's so intuitive to use and no fumbling trying to find buttons.

The Garmin ,can never describe these as good value for money
But when the old oracle site was in its prime most people had them ,and ride outs were posted in this format ,which was a great idea down load route turn up ride yer own pace without feeling pressured you had to keep up,but I digress,not had or used the 660 enough to recommend . Oh I still have the 550 kicking around somewhere

[Teztec]

Iphone mounts try these http://www.ultimateaddons.co.uk/Vehicle_Accessories/Motorcycle_Accessories
I have my iPhone mounted using their  kit ,with the phone charger,
Battery on my phone never seems to last a day
And if yer using the phone for sat nav duties it will eat the battery
No data used as long as you deselect in settings ,if you start using such things as traffic information then yes data will be consumed

[midlife crisis]

I have kept to the wired version as I have bike to bike radio through kenwood T3201! which has been set up so we have a very good distance for communicating with fellow bikers, 500m is not good for us. I have had to replace one wire from the autocom to sat nav as had interference oddly no problem until moved wiring to new(ish) bike. Also oddly when I got the zumo 590 I now have to turn down the volume.

Though I think if there was a way for the current distance being offered through a wireless system for bike to bike I would consider it. Until then happy with wired autocom

Graham

[Phmode]

The best range I have ever had from my 3201 is about 1km. It is standard of course, not hopped-up.

The days when we had four or five of us with radios doing regular trips have long gone. These days most folks I know have wire-free and if the 20S does the 2km they claim, then that is more than adequate for me. Beyond that and it the phone with just the push of a couple of Sat Nav buttons.

Brian (and so the conundrum continues)

[Steve F]

Iphone mounts try these http://www.ultimateaddons.co.uk/Vehicle_Accessories/Motorcycle_Accessories
I have my iPhone mounted using their  kit ,with the phone charger,
Battery on my phone never seems to last a day
And if yer using the phone for sat nav duties it will eat the battery
No data used as long as you deselect in settings ,if you start using such things as traffic information then yes data will be consumed

Yes, I'd agree with that aspect about data consumption, but wouldn't you get clobbered if you used that set up abroad, what with mobile roaming costs etc...??