The TomTom Rider was nothing short of a revolution: A navigation system for motorcyclists built. This meant Weatherproof, in the bright sunlight readable, to be operated with gloves and a Bluetooth interface for wireless transmission of the bids in the helmet. As the revolutions in most cases is so, even this was not without collateral damage from: The software lubricated from time to time, the motorcycle mount was a bad design - many devices are made independently at full speed - and the introductory price of 800 € was only for die-hards.
Most of these problems were part of the introduction of the TomTom Rider 2 in 2008, the past: The software has been updated, the holder as well - and the price dropped gradually to less than half. Finally, the TomTom Rider 2 was included bracket and DACH-card sells for significantly less than 300 €. Who I adopted the "European" version, got the Navi for 350 €, the large map of Europe with 43 countries, a RAM mount and mount the Bluetooth Headset Cardo Scala.
Since mid-2010 the Rider2 is out of print, the successor to Urban Rider is on the market. Again, there is the basic version for 249 € and the Pro version with a headset and a great card for a hundred more.
I now had the opportunity to try the Urban Rider - and those are the differences:
The hardware
At first glance, the case of both units the same, which applies to the dimensions and weight as well. The Rider2 housing is painted silver, which is not necessarily an advantage can scrape off is required, because the color. The Urban housing is made of sturdy, black hard plastic and therefore less sensitive. The Rider2 has a built-in SD card slot and a charging socket for a plug-in charger. The Urban Rider of the cards memory is fixed, is charged only on the mini-USB connector, this is the only Rider2 for data transfer.
The two screens are in practice about the same brightness, then think of the difference in brightness in the photo. Internally, the Urban Rider to get a bit more memory, which means that the software is not on the Urban Rider2 running. In addition, the battery has increased slightly, so that should the Urban run up to 8 hours on one battery charge. when there are only five Rider2.
The delivery
The astonishingly low price of the Urban Rider is purchased by some lean supply. It is for the Rider2 a practical carrying bag made of neoprene, which is absent in the Urban Rider. The main drawback is the included bike mount: When Rider2 a so-called Active Dock is, therefore, a holder with electricity, where you can charge the rider while riding. The Urban Rider is supplied as standard with a passive holder, charging the bike is not provided. It is reported that there were problems with the active support, many bikers were not able to connect the power supply correctly. TomTom countered with the passive support and greater Battery. However, the Active Dock will cost 65 Euro proud as an accessory, which forces the price of the Urban Rider already have the 300 € mark. This is the software of the "small" version abundant than in the "small" Rider2: Instead ROOF is the whole of Central Europe on it.
The software
reveals the main difference between the two devices when they are switched: The user interface of the Urban Rider has been completely revised. This is not really desirable to send a particular configuration menus often in a giant loop, from which one does not comes out. For some configuration options have been more sensitive. That still applies especially for the "winding road", here you can choose how curvy you want it. Standing in front of the decision between the two devices, this option can only be decisive. Those who simply go from A to B, while having fun with your motorcycle, let him choose "winding road" and gets delivered by the Navi surprisingly creative suggestions. Even otherwise, the software was improved in many places: There are a motorcycle quick menu that leads you with two tap Eaters to the nearest gas station, also it is now possible to enter in addition to a QWERTY keyboard and a T9 keyboard select extra large buttons, with The deal, however I did not come. New additions are also a tracking feature and lane assist.
route planning and driving
also dispensed with the Urban Rider TomTom as the Rider2 to settle a reasonable tool for route planning. Here is TomTom not compete with Garmin, where the planning software is included with MapSource. However, you can help with other tools, such as the bike tour planners, the program TYRE or online tool from Point resin. It should be noted only that a route may have on the TomTom up to 48 waypoints. In programming there, enter destination and routing between Rider2 and Urban Rider little difference, once you of the really successful option winding road "apart. Still dominate both Navis no "text to speech", meaning that street names and directions are not announced. Also missing both the ability to say just "follow the road." Bent one way road to the right, is announced a turn to the right - but sometimes not. The Lane of Urban Rider is a matter of taste: On the bottom of the screen will display the tracks, and should use the one blinks. At motorway junctions even replaced an almost photo-realistic graphics of the road situation, the normal map view. This is not unpleasant - it is really necessary actually not.
The operation in the car
Since the rider has no built-in speaker, there are - for the handsome 80 euros - a car mount, complete with a built-in speaker and a charging plug for the cigarette lighter. On my Rider2 I have for some time in the car mount no sound anymore, I do not know why. When I put the Urban Rider in the bracket, there was another sound. This is sub-optimal.
Conclusion
The Urban Rider is on balance a successful upgrade of the Rider2, although it was stingy with the delivery. For those looking for a cheap GPS, anyway not so long tours and travels may already have a Bluetooth headset in his helmet, but the Urban Rider in the standard equipment a hot offer for a really reasonable price. If you already have the Rider2 must not look enviously at the Urban Rider: Basically, both devices are still very similar.
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