Why are Motorcycles not given Traffic updates without a phone data subscription?

Mike New

I am both a car and motorcycle driver/rider.

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.

[Gelöschter Benutzer]

https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/rider-51/why-no-rider-with-built-in-sim-1039256

[Gelöschter Benutzer]

https://en.discussions.tomtom.com/rider-51/why-no-rider-with-built-in-sim-1039256

Mike New

OK then as my bike has a decent mounting area behind a good screen then my solution is to fabricate a mount from the spare one I have for my GO 6000 series and use that on the bike - problem solved - I don't mind taking my gloves off to operate it and I don't (often) need to mess about with the GPS while riding.

A sale lost there TomTom!

RoadRider

I found out that needing my Phone one the bike is also a good thing.

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.

Mike New

All well and good - I could leave my Garmin Zumo to do that. But it does not address the point that on a car based unit the Live Traffic is active and free but on the Rider devices, that cost almost double the car based units, we are expected to use a data package on a linked smartphone to receive the same service - not a free service at all.

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.

RoadRider

I understand you. But a sim in the device will make the device 100 euros more expensive. TomTom thinks this will be to much money. The Rider is already more expensive than the other devices because of it needs to be waterproof and needs a Ram-mount.

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)

MrM

How do you know? All speculations.

RoadRider

Not really. The car models with SIM cost 100 euros more than the same model without sim (520->5200 and 620->6200)
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.

MrM

That's the commercial price ....