GPS's that work well with Route Planner

[Michael Green]

I am in the process of purchasing a new GPS. I have a 2017 BMW R1200RT which will take the New BMW Connect ride navigator but, I am not so sure that is what I want. I love my route app for planning and have run tomtom 550 for a number of years but I am sure there are better GPS units out there.

My current thinking is to get a Chigee unit that is designed for the BMW as that will do everything from my phone which is far preferable than trying to use the phone.

I do alot of distance rides (Iron Butt Association) so multiday multi way points/check points are required. Base camp is rubbish and I have no intention of buying anything that requires that system.

I would welcome any advise from users of alternative GPS's that work well with my route app planner for a dedicated GPS unit.

[Brian McG]

@Michael-Green the best GPS to use with MRA planner is obviously MRA navigation
adding another device / interface / piece of software is always going to introduce a whole other level of complexity

You only need to take a look at the MRA forums to see how much pain people have using Garmin's & Android Auto or Car Play devices to see how true the above statement is

IMO the best way to navigate with an MRA planned routes is with a dedicated android mobile phone as a gps navigation device running MRA navigation

There are big benefits to using MRA navigation on a native android device, the route you see on the navigation device has all the detail you planned in MRA, coloured waypoints, waypoint icons for fuel, hotel, food etc
If you add the complexity of another gps device / interface then a lot of this detail is striped out

[Marinus van Deudekom]

@Michael-Green hi @Michael-Green I’ve writen a blog that discribes my search for a replacement of my Garmin XT. Alon the way I found out that for ME all the solutions involving CP and AA devices could not deliver what I was searching for. A Rugged phone or tablet lets you use all Off the wonderful possibilities of MRA. I’d go for something like that

[paul69]

hi @Michael-Green

i too concur with the above. I have both, one for day to day use and one for tours and multi day trips.

1. a carpuride w702b, which i use as my media centre and for using google maps/waze/music etc etc. I do not use this for any navigation that has waypoints for the reasons stated above. Although i tried on a tour for experimental reasons, it kind of worked, it does have problems which are a PITA to sort, i.e. have to stop bike take off gloves, play with the phone and then restart

2. I use a rugged tablet, Oukitel RT3, 8 inch, this serves all the requirements, all planning you have done will be visible as you are using the next app, which perfectly and seamlessly synchronises with the planner, and you are able to use all the features of the next app, some of which are not available on AA and CP, i will not get into this, there are other threads relating to this.

[Guzzist]

same from my side: as Garmin became unsatisfactory, I tried a lot. For long journeys, usage of AA or CP let me run into new issues.
Therefore I searched for an Android based device, which can run MyRoute-App directly. I became happy, as I used T865-X from DMD, because its rock solid, offers 2 different power supplies, and a big screen, which is perfect for older riders, wearing glasses.
An most handy us, to use the device with remote controller on handle bar. Now I can't imagine any longer to drive with other solutions!
Ok, Garmin has also an Android based device in Tread models. But it's more expensive and Garmi had disqualified by itself...