Pinched from the scooter forum:
Last week Aldi had a whole heap of motocycle gear on sale including a Go Cruise motorcycle GPS for $200. Well I bought one and thought there may be a few people interested in what it's like.
Is it as good as a Rider? Can't tell you as I've never used one but I do use a TomTom One V3 in my car so I'll compare the operation to that. However, you must remember this is a motobike specific GPS - that is waterproof, rugged and trasmits instructions via FM frequency and at a quarter of the price of a Rider it must be worthy of some consideration.
Out of the box and it looks the business - very Rider-like with a 'shade' at the top to keep road glare in check and a sturdy bracket to mount it to handlebars. Most scooters (except retro types perhaps) don't have exposed bars so some creative mounting solutions need to be adopted and as yet I haven't come up with one I'm happy with yet but I don't think it will be too difficult. The unit is also designed to be 'hard-wired' to the battery but as I have a 12V DC socket on the Daelim a visit to a motor accessory shop to get a plug shoud sort that out as well. The unit is supposed to run for 3-4 hours on it's internal battery alone so maybe for short trips you could get by without even wiring it up. I imagine this is the same with a Rider.
The user interface is certainly no TomTom - not very intuitive but once you have spent a bit of time navigating the menus you can get the business done. The mapping software is by Sensis and has the TomTom 'look and feel' and it seems to calculate similar routes for as my TomTom. However it is not as 'inteligent' as the TomTom at recalculating if you take a wrong turn and you might find yourself going in circles to get back on track - a bit frustrating, but if you get it right it's not a problem. There are plenty of options available for preparing routes (like multiple waypoints), fastest, shortest etc.
The display is clear enough but gloved fingers make it a bit clumsy to use - but you shouldn't be using in the move should you! Standard settings have the route shown in a bright yellow that is easy to see and turn/navigation display in green. As I said the audio instructions are transmitted via an FM signal to a supplied headset. This, in my opinion, is absolutly useless - way too much static and if you have it loud enough to hear the instructions the static will send you deaf. Bin it I reckon! What I did was changed the units transmission frequency (easy to do) to something the radio in my mobile phone could pick up and used the phone headset. It works a treat - clear, crisp and once you know where you're going you can change it to a proper radio frequency through the phone and enjoy some music (and even take a call perhaps). I temporarliy mounted the unit to my mirror stalk and the display was easy enough to see in daylight and the route easy to follow. However today I used it 'blind' - that is I just stuck the unit in my pocket and went by the audio instructions only. This worked pretty good also - in fact it is somewhat less distracting this way.
The supplied software (Route 66) for use on a computer is also very frustrating. So much so I ended up uninstalling it. Not sure if the maps are updatable but I guess anything is better than trying to use an out-of-date Gregory's on a scooter.
So is it worth the money? Compared to the cost of a Rider, I would say yes at 25% of the cost. Just don't make a wrong turn or not follow the given directions - the insessant 'turn around when possible' will drive you nuts! Also, I have found it's best NOT to use a GPS if you have any idea of where you are going - if you know where to go why use it. These things come into their own when you have no idea where you are going and don't know any different, as you will get to your destination in the end - a lesson I learnt using my TomTom in Italy last year. It was an absolute life saver.
Rating - Overall 7/10
Finish 8/10 Function 6/10 Storage - SD Card to 8Gb 9/10 Ease of Use 4/10 Styling 8/10 Waterproofing ?/10 Reliability ?/10 Warranty 6/10
Cheers
New version with Bluetooth is now on sale from today. Same price. http://www.aldi.com.au/au/html/offers/2827_14631.htm
Not that I use a GPS. Still prefer a map particularly on long country trips. have used the built in GPS in mobile phone. Works for me.
