Why are Motorcycles not given Traffic updates without a phone data subscription?
My bike a BMW has the Garmin mount as standard but I don't want to have to carry a netbook on my tours to transfer planned routes to the device so I am considering a Rider 550 which will allow me to use atablet and MyDrive.
The issue I am having - unless I am missing something - is that on my car unit a TomTon Go 6100 the live traffic is always active.
Having looked at the info for the Rider 550 it seems that to get Live Traffic I have to link my phone to my GPS - which I do not want to do, and use a data subscription to receive the data.
My question for TomTom is - why, when the motorcycle units are considerably more expensive than the car based units, is this service not included without having to use a data package at additional cost, especially when roaming?
It seems to me that the motorcyclists are being penalised and being palmed off with an inferior product.
Comments
A sale lost there TomTom!
Using a X-Grip you can mount your (waterproof)phone on the bike. I also start the Go App on my phone. When you use the same MyDrive account on the Rider and the Go app lading a track on the rider also loads the track in Go. Don’t hit drive on the Go App and the track doesn’t change there when the route is recalculated because of a detour. (so you always can find the original track back without having to reload it)
You can use a zoomed 2D road type setting to accurately see the next corner and use a less zoomed view on the Go App to know where you are and quickly find alternatives for roadblocks.
Tip. Using a Wifi hotspot on a Rider 5x0 is more stable than Bluetooth.
I do not want the distraction of having my phone paired to my GPS device, and I certainly do not want to use roaming data to give me live traffic.
Personally I think there is room for a premium TomTom Rider with 6" screen and build in sim. But it will certainly cost more than 500,- euro's. (still less than a premium Garmin)
TomTom has to pay for the extra hardware and Vodafone bill.
I got the answer that TomTom thinks the marked for a Rider with SIM is to small on a TomTom booth on a trade show.