Dedicated Motorcycle GPS Units

First, let’s acknowledge up front that all motorcycle-specific GPS units are both obsolete technologically and horribly overpriced. For years, I had a Garmin Zumo 650. The screen was dull and slow to respond to touch. The processor was very slow to process that input or to recalculate routes. The Bluetooth audio pairing was always flaky, particularly for phone integration. The software was antiquated even compared to cheap Garmin car units. Online trip planning integration tools were primitive. Exporting routes from Google Maps required a hack to GPX waypoints that never routed the same way in the Garmin. The included audio app is near useless. Sadly, new units like the Zumo 595 retail for $900–more than high-end smartphones. BMW rebadges an even older Garmin GPS unit with cradle for a similar price.

About the only good features of motorcycle-specific GPS units are:

• weather/dust protection,
• screen response to touch through motorcycle gloves, and
• motorcycle data+power integration.

Clearly, there had to be a better approach based on a smart phone. I saw online that other riders were using their primary smart phone and literally covering it with a bag to make it weather resistant. As an iPhone user, that is a non-starter for me–aesthetically, usability-wise, and from the potential of loss or theft.

Smartphone Prototype

For our first prototype, I selected the Kyocera Hydro Air phone. This is a prepaid, no contract Android smart phone that was available for less than $50. It has a 5 inch display and is waterproof for 30 minutes and dustproof (IP57). It also is durable (810G). The operating system is Android 5.1 (Lollipop). While internal storage is relatively small (8GB), the Micro SD slot supports up to 32GB of external storage.

My old Garmin used a proprietary bracket, RAM mount, and power supply. BMW has a power output for navigation hidden under the battery cover but it uses a proprietary adapter. On my old K1200S, we used Positaps to connect the Garmin cable to the BMW navigation cable. The Garmin mount fit on a handlebar, offset on the left side, making it awkward to look down at while riding.

For my K1300S, I started from scratch. We built a sleek, custom mount that replaced the BMW mondial in the center of the handlebars. That centered the smart phone just in front of the gauges. If you don’t have access to a CNC machine and don’t mind the bulk of a RAM mount and cradle, you can buy a Verholen RAM mount and then couple it with the proper cradle. Expect to pay about $150 extra for all the necessary parts.

For power, I needed to drop the 12V feed from the BMW navigation output to a 5V USB cable for the smart phone. Nippy Normans, in the UK, sells a BMW harness to female USB socket (imported from South Africa). I then extended this cable with a common USB to left-angle micro-USB cable, which attached to the smart phone.

Connectivity

For the prototype, I tethered the Kyocera Hydro via WiFi to my iPhone, which was in WiFi hotspot mode. A key advantage of this was that it saved me adding an extra device on my mobile data plan. Truthfully, this was an awkward solution that I later addressed by switching mobile carriers, which permitted me to add an unlimited data plan to my motorcycle smart phone for $20/month.

Smartphone Apps

I tested a number of smart phone apps to determine what best enhanced the riding experience.

Navigation Apps

Google Maps

As a starting point, Google Maps seems an obvious choice. It has a clean user interface, using the Material Design UX. It loads quickly and adjusts rapidly to rerouting. It has the most advanced POI database.

Its three drawbacks are:

1. While it supports downloadable maps, the geographic area of those maps is relatively small (not country-wide). Additionally, Google Maps only supports downloading to internal memory, not an external SD card (this is an issue for Lollipop, but less so Marshmallow due to adoptable storage). It also requires an unnecessarily short, manual license renewal process.
2. While you can create custom routes on Google Maps’ web site, there is no way to import them into the Google Maps Android app. You can use Google’s My Maps, but, beyond being an awkward tool to use, it only imports the waypoints, not the specific route. Moreover, the Google Maps Android app only routes to an individual waypoint that is manually set by the rider at the start of the ride.
3. There is no way to drag an existing route to reroute the Google Maps Android app like you can with Google Maps web site.

Here Maps

Here Wego, the former Nokia mapping app, excels at downloading maps for offline use. But it is incredibly slow to load. Its graphics are primitive, not just in terms of UI but also detail in a geographic area as compared to Google Maps. POI information is very limited. Syncing of online routes to the Android map app is limited to only 5 routes. Although Here is free, I found that Google Maps is a better solution for riders.

Others

We tried Copilot GPS but could not get it to work as intuitively at basic routing as either Google Maps or Here. Copilot offers some intriguing options for rerouting but these seem to be extra cost options.

Because I am using an Android smart phone, Apple Maps is not an option.

One interesting app that Google recently released is Google Trips. Although this isn’t a navigation app per se, it does offer interesting POI options and directly integrates with Google Maps for navigation to those POIs.

Finally, Android Auto only works with compatible car headend units as of this writing. But, Google announced that it will work on a standalone basis at the 2016 Google I/O. When it does, I will discuss it in greater detail here.

Entertainment Apps

I wear a full face helmet, the Shoei RF-1100. For audio, I use the SHO-1 by Cardo Systems, based in Pittsburgh. This is a great headset intercom and wireless Bluetooth system that is custom-made for Shoei helmets. For reasons I don’t know, it is only available in Europe. So I bought it from a Spanish reseller and shipped it back home to Pennsylvania.

The SHO1 and smart phone together let me to listen to audio entertainment via Bluetooth while I ride. My music apps include: Google Play Music, Apple Music, Pandora, NPR One, and Pocket Casts.

Other Apps

I use the Cardo SmartSet app to control the SHO1.

One tradeoff in using a smart phone and not the BMW version of the Garmin GPS is that there is no app providing vehicle data. I am currently exploring how to access this data and then present it as a plugin to Android Auto.

Updated Smartphone

After using the Kyocera Hydro Air for about six months, I found a better smart phone in the Moto G4. This is offered online for as little as $150, unlocked and contract-free. It has a larger, brighter screen, a much faster CPU, and runs Android Nougat. It also supports up to 128GB in Micro SD storage, which can be adopted as internal storage. The Moto G4 screen is easier to read with polarized sunglasses. And the G4 is more responsive to touch by motorcycle gloves than the Kyocera Hydro was. The one advantage the Kyocera still has over the Moto G4 is its waterproof and dustproof rating. However, the Moto is still water-resistant and I don’t expect to be in a rain storm that requires a phone with a IP57 rating.

There are a number of rubber protective cases available for the Moto G4. We permanently adhered the case to the mount that we made. This permits a very easy removal of the Moto G4 from the rubber enclosure when you stop for a gas or food break.

Android Auto and Unmet Needs

There are still a number of features that I wish my motorcycle navigation system had. I address these in my article about Android Auto v2.0.

Updated on March 14th, 2019