Originally Posted by
thebulls
How well does that do in heavy downpours? How do you power it (I see something about a 12v rechargeable -- can you give more details)
I have a TomTom unit in my car similar to the one in the video... and I can't imagine mounting it to my bicycle. It's designed for use in a nice controlled environment inside of an automobile... using it for cycling would have all the disadvantages that you can imagine:
- The unit's rechargeable battery only lasts about 2 or 3 hours under ideal conditions. Useless for rando.
- The unit runs off of 12VDC power. Easy to find in a car... hard to generate on a bike. Useless for rando.
- The units are huge, with large heavy touch screens. Great for use in a car. Useless for rando.
- The units are not waterproof in the least. They even have large speakers on the rear of the unit covered by only an open grille cover. Forget heavy downpours... that unit will quit the first time you sweat on it. Useless for rando.
- The autorouting is optimized for vehicles that are moving at freeway speeds, so it tends to look far ahead to warn you of upcoming turns. Great for automobiles... irritating if you're on a bicycle.
And those units are only a little bit cheaper than a good unit that is rugged and meant for use by outdoor sportsmen.