On the Road Again!

Since driving the Elddis aka "The Van with No Name" or simply The Van, we have been trialling an app on the phone called CoPilot. It worked once after a few hiccups but otherwise has locked up on me several times and to navigate we have used Google Maps on the other phone!  It helpful in a larger higher vehicle. So I had a look online and have risked buying a £70 satnav/GPS called an Ohrex. It's programmable for the size of the Van and is supposed to assist us in avoiding shitty little narrow lanes and even worse, low bridges.  It's a 7" screen and looks okay. The route planning isn't as easy as Google Maps or the TomTom program and apps. In the end I have set home as a favourite and the next three campsites. Only one of them could be set using the address lookup. The other two I needed to use the map lookup with Google maps open on the laptop. Only time will tell if it is any good. 

Dumbbell? , originally uploaded by InvictaMoto . Is there really a double-b as the spell checker thinks? Anyway. The solution to the hand guard to TomTom interface has finally been sorted, I hope. Not as I had thought by using the new handlebar clamp ball, but by buying the RAM Mount dumbbell and using it to connect the two RAM arms together, thus allowing the changing of the angle as well as the distance from the original mounting place. With the shorter TomTom supplied arm at the bottom and the longer one, from the old Garmin kit, at the top, I can get the TomTom above the bike's instruments and still have it behind the screen. The cable will need to be cut longer than anticipated, but that shouldn't be a problem. I didn't get a chance to test it this weekend but once I have had a ride out I can see if this works or not. If all is good, then I'll cut the wire down and re-fit the Hella plug. This setup will allow me to remove the ...

I bought a new satnav to replace the still working but out of date Garmin Quest. The Quest has been perfectly good since I bought it in late 2004. But since 2009 there have been no map updates as Garmin decided that they would no longer supply maps and support the device. I looked at another Garmin but they were so expensive that I had a look around on Google and then the TomTom website and found the outlet store. The one I bought came in three days from Holland, is refurbished but there is no sign that it's not new. The Ram mount is unmarked as it all of it. The decision to go to TomTom was motivated not just by the fact that it was half price as a refurb, but also that I was not happy with Garmin's attitude to selling the map upgrades for the Quest.