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How come tomtom rider is the same price everywhere?


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It certainly is price fixing and daylight robbery too. How come the bike sat navs are three times as much as the car equivalents ?.


Yeah I know they have to be made waterproof over and above the car versions for obvious reasons, but there just isn’t the extra material or manufacturing in them to justify that sort of hike on the prices.

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you can pay £389 on Amazon if you like.. or you can buy direct from tomtom for £399. or £499 for the version with 'extras'.


"Price fixing" is when the independents cannot beat or are prevented in some way from undercutting the RRP from the manufacturer.. so if you are finding it for £305, thats quite a nice saving. and not price fixing.

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It certainly is price fixing and daylight robbery too. How come the bike sat navs are three times as much as the car equivalents ?.


Yeah I know they have to be made waterproof over and above the car versions for obvious reasons, but there just isn’t the extra material or manufacturing in them to justify that sort of hike on the prices.

 

My guess is it's a smaller market and most motorcyclists are funding a lifestyle choice rather than a work necessity and people will always spend more on toys than tools. (And where tools are toys there's a ready market to relieve the unwise of their cash.)

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Mine is definitely a tool. I use just one function, the screen.. Sound is turned off. In fact everything is turned off or simply not used except the screen.. So route following is purely visual with no distractions. And although it's always on, for my usual pleasure rides it has no route loaded. I generally pay little attention to it until I either turn for home or need something.


It really comes in useful for the yearly European trip. And that was my primary reason for getting it in the first place.


I was watching a video which compared my model Zumo, from 2009 with the latest top of the range and was amused by the guys attitude towards what was important. For him it seemed to be all about "The Toys" all the clever things the new unit can do, the vast majority of which have nothing to do with its primary function. He seemed to think upgrading was a bit of a no-brainer. As the new unit will cost about £200 once my old one is sold. It was interesting to see that my 11yr old unit is worth over £200, that's quite remarkable. But is the new one worth spending £200 on, plus the rewire. Not for me it isn't.


You can watch his video and marvel at all the amazing functions I'm not even remotely interested in. :up:


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you can pay £389 on Amazon if you like.. or you can buy direct from tomtom for £399. or £499 for the version with 'extras'.


"Price fixing" is when the independents cannot beat or are prevented in some way from undercutting the RRP from the manufacturer.. so if you are finding it for £305, thats quite a nice saving. and not price fixing.

Yes granted, but absolutely no one seems to be selling it for any less than £305, and a few are selling at exactly that. Seems a rather artificial price floor to me. I can't but help think that someone by now would be selling it for 295 say, less margin but expect a higher turnover.

And yes definitely over priced at anything over 200 I would have thought, they are hardly revolutionary tech objects

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And yes definitely over priced at anything over 200 I would have thought, they are hardly revolutionary tech objects

 

£230 is about as low a price you can find for a Brand new Motorcycle GPS. with western European mapping as standard.

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do people still buy sat navs these days? I thought everyone used their phone with googlemaps or waze.

 

Yep , my thoughts exactly . There must be advantages but I'm afraid I have failed to see them .

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do people still buy sat navs these days? I thought everyone used their phone with googlemaps or waze.

 

I dont know anyone who relies on a mobile phone for navigation, although I see it talked about all the time on some forums including this one. Nobody that I have ever toured with uses their phone. Nobody. of course they all have phones as well.


so.. i think it all depends on which bubble you live in.


Surely a better question is to ask why would someone with a modern smart phone use a separate dedicated GPS device, like a tomTom or Garmin. start with the forum owner. [mention]Stu[/mention]


I'm not best placed to answer as i do not own a phone thats capable of navigation.

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I have a SatNav and a smart phone.

Don’t use google for nav because don’t have unlimited data. Also been in many areas, mainly Scottish highland where there is no phone signal. (Also have an old small Garmin unit used for hill walking in the lakes and Scotland. Number of times had no phone signal but the Garmin GPS has always had a signal for route guidance).

SatNav always has a satellite signal so can always find a route.

Does link to phone so can receive traffic updates and does not use much data for this. Mounted on the bars so in line of sight.

Can change options on the go without stopping and taking gloves off.


I’m old school so I use a camera to take pictures, a SatNav to find my way and the phone to make calls.

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I have a SatNav and a smart phone.

Don’t use google for nav because don’t have unlimited data. Also been in many areas, mainly Scottish highland where there is no phone signal. (Also have an old small Garmin unit used for hill walking in the lakes and Scotland. Number of times had no phone signal but the Garmin GPS has always had a signal for route guidance).

SatNav always has a satellite signal so can always find a route.

Does link to phone so can receive traffic updates and does not use much data for this. Mounted on the bars so in line of sight.

Can change options on the go without stopping and taking gloves off.


I’m old school so I use a camera to take pictures, a SatNav to find my way and the phone to make calls.

 

I have 50 Gig so I can afford splash it around a bit . Interesting comments about the Scottish Highlands . A few short years ago I would have agreed with you but just recently I have seen massive improvements . In fact I can't recall anywhere at all where there has been no data and I've done most of the NW500 .Same in the more remote parts of Wales .

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do people still buy sat navs these days? I thought everyone used their phone with googlemaps or waze.

 

I dont know anyone who relies on a mobile phone for navigation, although I see it talked about all the time on some forums including this one. Nobody that I have ever toured with uses their phone. Nobody. of course they all have phones as well.


so.. i think it all depends on which bubble you live in.


Surely a better question is to ask why would someone with a modern smart phone use a separate dedicated GPS device, like a tomTom or Garmin. start with the forum owner. @Stu


I'm not best placed to answer as i do not own a phone thats capable of navigation.

 

I also know people with phones and sat navs I also know people who have used a phone as a sat nav then bought a dedicated sat nav and wondered why they never did it before!


What I fail to understand is why people complain about the price of a sat nav yet use a smart phone worth upto £1200 as a sat nav thats more delicate and not always 100% waterproof!


While phone sat navs are OK for A to B a bike one is so much more! route planning for a European trip and customising the route is a must (google maps has limitations) storing routes and trips and favourites can be a godsend.


As [mention]JRH[/mention] has said unlimited data should be a must and not everywhere can get you a signal.


Also why keep all your eggs in the same basket? phone falls off and smashes yup you're lost with no phone, sat nav, internet or even a camera to take the lost pics or check in to facebonk!


Bike sat navs are so rugged you can bounce them down the road and they still work! I also get free map updates usually two a year.


Should I want to make calls I can through the sat nav paired to the phone.


I have used my phone for sat nav and it was no where near as good as a dedicated sat nav


Line [mention]Gerontious[/mention] I have sounds off and a quick glance is all that is needed I can easily skip waypoints/shaping points on the fly change the route add in a via point find a POI on a route and add it in and listen to music from the phone if I really wanted to or from the sd card

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do people still buy sat navs these days? I thought everyone used their phone with googlemaps or waze.

 

Yep , my thoughts exactly . There must be advantages but I'm afraid I have failed to see them .

 

You won't see them if you have never used one :mrgreen:

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do people still buy sat navs these days? I thought everyone used their phone with googlemaps or waze.

 

Yep , my thoughts exactly . There must be advantages but I'm afraid I have failed to see them .

 

You won't see them if you have never used one :mrgreen:

 

And what are they please ?

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I have 50 Gig so I can afford splash it around a bit . Interesting comments about the Scottish Highlands . A few short years ago I would have agreed with you but just recently I have seen massive improvements . In fact I can't recall anywhere at all where there has been no data and I've done most of the NW500 .Same in the more remote parts of Wales .

 

Come visit our house. Free coffee. Free bacon butty. No mobile signal at all.

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I have just tried to create this route in google maps on my phone and failed!!


Google maps only allows 10 points on a route! totally inadequate for shaping a route to where you want to go!

 

basecamp.jpg

 

This route only has a handful of shaping points I think the limit on my sat nav is around 300!

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Yep , my thoughts exactly . There must be advantages but I'm afraid I have failed to see them .

 

You won't see them if you have never used one :mrgreen:

 

And what are they please ?

 

See my post with the map for one massively good reason along :)

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It is useless to try to explain advantages of the satnav to people who never used them or who don’t travel.

To travel I meant at least across the Europe.

Yes we did it before by using paper road maps (I still have them somewhere), and paper and pen to create the road book.

And we did I’d found our way around.

If you are going just few hundred of miles around your house than phone is ok, but to plan your trip across the Eu or further than you need satnav or paper maps + road book.

Simple as that

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