Blrfl
Natural Rider Enhancement
(I've posted this in GPS instead of Reviews in case there's questions or discussion.)
Introduction
On one of this spring's early rides, the touch screen in my trusty Lowrance iWay 500c gave up the ghost. I could have another on eBay for about $50, but the maps are out of date and the software has some minor deficiencies that Lowrance never fixed before getting out of the business. So it was time to think about something new.
My list of requirements is pretty short:
What's Out There
Garmin. As this was being written, the zūmo 590 was between announcement and first shipment. It looks like a really great unit if they can cure some of the ills that plagued the 600 series. The $800 price tag is a sure indicator that Garmin has the motorcycle GPS market by what the Australians call "the short curlies" and they know it. I'm not averse to shelling out a lot of money for something if it's worth the price, but I know what it takes to build a device like that, and a 400% premium over a one you'd put in your car is excessive even when you take the economies of scale into account.
Android. This is where I want to end up eventually, but I'm in need of a replacement unit now and this is a bit of a project. There's a whole load of excellent navigation software out there that doesn't require mobile data and works well. While I was shopping at Chinavasion, I bought an inexpensive tablet that will do most of the job. I've made some good progress with the software and I'll report on that project when it's done with.
Almost Everything Else. Honestly, there's not much else out there that meets my needs. TomTom is still selling the Rider, but nobody else is making a large-screen GPS for motorcycles.
Chinavasion Rage. Then there's this thing. At $139, it's not chump change but it is inexpensive enough and checks enough of the boxes to be worth the gamble. Heartened by Uncle Phil's review of the previous-generation Peaklife and positive initial comments on the Rage, I ordered one and a few days later it arrived.
The Hardware
What's in the Box. Packaging is pretty typical for made-in-China stuff; it's a cardboard box with a cardboard insert to hold the unit and separate it from the accessories. It got here from China in one piece, so it does the job. Inside is the following:
Build. For what it is, the build quality isn't bad. Everything's plastic. The unit itself is mostly rubberized, and the ports on the side (3.5mm audio out, MicroSD slot and USB Mini-B) all seal up quite nicely. The dock has a small amount of flex to it, which I don't consider a bad thing in a high-stress application.
Connectivity and Buttons. Not a lot, but enough: Behind two waterproof plugs are a USB Mini-B port, a slot for a MicroSD card (up to 16 GB) and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the back of the unit are five contacts that interface with the power contacts on the dock. There is no connector for an external antenna. The power button is on the left side of the top of the unit. Looking at the the back of the unit, there's a very unobtrusive little square molded into the lower-right corner. That's the reset button.
USB. This port can be used for charging or to mount the internal storage (4 GB) and whatever you have in the MicroSD slot as a disk drive on your computer. One thing to note about the USB port on the Rage is that you need a USB Mini-B connector with a long shell (the metal part that actually plugs into the socket). The USB spec sets 6.8mm as the minimum length, and while some cables meet that, others, including the one supplied (and Garmin's Mini-B cables), have an 8mm shell. The shorter connectors will plug in but won't connect; you need the full 8mm for it to make a connection.
MicroSD. Because of the plugs that keep the connectors waterproof, the MicroSD card sits very deep in the unit. You can get it pushed in with a fingernail, but I needed tweezers to release it and pull it out of the slot.
Software
One thing you need to know about the Rage before buying one is that it comes only with Windows CE 6.0 installed. There is no navigation software on it. There are reports that some shipped with software, but that's apparently in the past. In some ways this is a plus because you can still get the hardware and still have a few choices about what to run on it. I took an immediate dislike to the boot screen (picture of a car, and not even a very good one) and found out that it's easy to install your own.
I chose iGo 8, which you've probably never heard of but will have used if you have a GPS built into your car. iGo is the leading software for OEM applications and a large number of aftermarket products. I won't go into great detail on this other than to say that it does pretty much everything you'd expect out of a modern GPS and runs just fine on the Rage. The software is skinnable, and NNG (the developer) guarantees each OEM that they won't distribute the same skin to other OEMs in the same market, which is why the nav units in everyone's cars look different. The skin format is XML, so it should be open to doing motorcycle-specific customizations if you want them. (I will be looking to do at least one customization, which is putting a bigger speedometer on the map screen.)
Installation
Dock Mounting. The package includes a suction cup and arm which attaches to a plastic ball on the back of the dock. The ball is about 9/16" in diameter, which would make it compatible with A-size RAM components. Being plastic, it doesn't seem like it would stand up to the stress of use on a motorcycle, and being A-sized it doesn't match the B-size balls most of us have. (Coop, don't go there.) Fortunately, the supplied ball is on a plate that's attached with four cap screws that come off with a 3mm hex wrench. The screws are treated with a medium-duty thread locker and take some oomph to remove. Removing the plate reveals an AMPS hole pattern that's compatible with pretty much every mounting system out there. A RAM-B-238 diamond plate with a B-ball screwed on perfectly.
Docking. The GPS snaps into the dock and stays there securely. I noticed on mine that it was a lot easier to get the unit out with the original mounting plate attached than it is with the RAM plate. In this application, tighter is better.
Security. On the back of the dock is a knurled screw that threads into the back of the GPS. It's a slight deterrent and that's about it. I haven't been able to get mine to catch properly yet. I'd thought about replacing it with a tamper-proof screw, but it's held captive by something in the dock and I haven't put forth the effort to figure out how to remove it. I'm just out to prevent easy thefts of opportunity, so for that it should do just fine. I suppose one could fabricate something to cover the screw that bolts on between the dock and the mounting plate for better security.
Power. The dock has a pigtail with a small male coax connector that plugs into a corresponding female connector on either of the supplied power adapters. Both ends have a molded, threaded housing so the two can be mated in a waterproof way that won't come apart. The female connectors on the power cables thoughtfully include a tethered cap to keep the ends weatherproofed if the dock is removed from the bike. There's a ferrite bead in the middle of the dock end of the cable which will have to be tucked away somewhere. For now, I have a temporary installation using the supplied hard-wire adapter with the wire tucked away along the outside of the bike. I plan to do something more permanent by cannibalizing the cable from the cigarette lighter adapter and attaching that to something longer that will connect to a 5-volt supply in the back of the bike. I may also consider chopping off the supplied coax connector and replacing it with something that I can get more of if I need them.
The GPS has a red LED built into the upper-left corner that glows anytime external power is applied. It's actually inside the housing and shows through the plastic, so it's well-diffused, not very bright and won't cause problems in the dark. Additionally, the display remains on and shows charging status, so you'll want to wire it up to a switched power source.
Real-World Use
Powering Up. The power switch is a very small button that you get to through a hole in the dock, which isn't a big deal with fingers but is extremely fiddly if not impossible while wearing gloves. Fortunately, WinCE has a couple of features that make it very nice for use use on the bike. First is Auto Start (under the second Settings page), which boots the unit when power is applied. As a bonus, it will also shut it down five seconds after power is removed. During those five seconds, you get a screen with buttons that give you the option of continuing to run, putting the unit to sleep or powering off immediately. There's also a setting that launches the navigation software immediately after boot, which gives you appliance-like operation. This is the switch on the top half of the screen in step 4 of Uncle Phil's setup guide.
Boot Time. Booting the OS takes about 15 seconds and starting iGo takes about 30 more, for a total of about 45 seconds from zero to ready.
GPS Performance. My initial tests around the house and in the car were a little disappointing, but to be fair, it's been awhile since I've used a GPS that didn't have a current almanac and didn't have AGPS available to speed up the process of acquiring one. After some time on the bike, it's a lot better. I can now get a decent fix in under a half-minute on the upper floor of my house, which is what I use for the acid test for GPS. Out and about in suburban Washington, it does just fine.
The Display. If there's an Achilles' heel in the entire product, it's the top layer of the screen. It's very, very glossy. Even with the Glare Stomper I had on my iWay installed on the dock, the screen's incredibly hard to read. Most of what I saw was reflections from my helmet and suit. (As a side note, my Glare Stomper is a model 324, which is a bit big for it, does add a lot of extra shade. The model 322 is probably a more appropriate size.) It also is very susceptible to fingerprints, which aggravate the readability and glare problems. I'll be adding some matte-finish anti-glare sheet to the screen to see if it helps. (My iWay had it built in and it made a huge difference.)
I also noticed that with the sun at some angles, light pours in through the holes in the dock where the retaining clip is. Not incredibly annoying, but worth noting. I'll probably adjust the position of my Glare Stomper to cover that. This will also let me put a chunk of something in the well where the power button is so I can operate it from the outside with gloves on.
I took note of rpete's comments about the top layer of the screen warping in the heat, and can certainly see this happening. It may be that the unit is too well-sealed for its own good and expansion of the air inside is what causes this. I'll update this over the summer if mine does the same thing.
The news isn't all bad, tough. The display is a resistive touch screen, which means it works just fine with gloves on. In fact, I was surprised to find that it works better with my Held Steves than it does with a finger. Precision is decent, and getting at the smaller buttons in iGo was surprisingly easy. So on that front, I'm very happy.
Update 2014-05-03: Took it out for another ride this afternoon, this time with a custom-cut piece of anti-glare sheet applied. The glare is pretty much out of the picture. Unfortunately, that brings the real problem to the fore: the backlight doesn't have enough grunt to make the display readable outside.
Update 2014-06-07: Took it on a trip last weekend and exposed the screen to a wide variety of daylight from a wide variety of angles. I can see the upper corners of the display reasonably well, which might be an indication that what I need is a longer hood than the Glare Stomper offers. A little of it ha to do with the fact that this screen is 16:9 where my Lowrance was 4:3. I'm going to experiment with larger hoods.
Battery Life. The built-in battery lasts only about 45 minutes with the nav software running but idle and the backlight full on. I've repeated this test a few times with the same results, so it looks like hard-wiring is a must for any kind of decent-length ride.
Bluetooth. Windows CE takes care of the Bluetooth connectivity. I paired the unit with a headset and found that there's always an audio stream being pumped through it, even when there's no audio. You can just barely hear it in a quiet room, but if you're using a battery-powered BT headset, you may find the battery not lasting as long. I've also paired it with a Belkin F8Z492 Bluetooth receiver (to be installed on the bike) and it works fine.
Summary
Bottom line: It's a good unit, especially for the price. I still need to work on keeping the sun off the screen, and if I can improve that, it's a keeper.
[-]Chinavasion Rage GPS[/-] Second-Generation Version
US$139 from Chinavasion plus $15-$30 shipping (I ordered multiple items, so your shipping may be less.)
--Mark
Introduction
On one of this spring's early rides, the touch screen in my trusty Lowrance iWay 500c gave up the ghost. I could have another on eBay for about $50, but the maps are out of date and the software has some minor deficiencies that Lowrance never fixed before getting out of the business. So it was time to think about something new.
My list of requirements is pretty short:
- Must be weatherproof or easily weatherproofed with something other than a Ziploc bag. (Don't get me wrong; those bags have done yeoman's service protecting my satellite radio, but I don't want one on the GPS.)
- Large screen. My Lowrance filled the area between the bars nicely, and its replacement should, too.
- Must be securable against quick grab-and-go thefts. I accomplished this on my iWay using bolt-on RAM parts and the locking knob on the arm. I'm not going to try and prevent determined adversaries; that's why I have insurance.
- Must run on bike power. An internal battery is optional, as is booting up and shutting down when the bike does.
- Must be able to feed audio into my Autocom system. Hard-wired is ideal, but I'm warming up to Bluetooth.
- Must be usable with gloves on. A resistive screen that can register touches directly is ideal; a stylus for a capacitive screen is tolerable.
What's Out There
Garmin. As this was being written, the zūmo 590 was between announcement and first shipment. It looks like a really great unit if they can cure some of the ills that plagued the 600 series. The $800 price tag is a sure indicator that Garmin has the motorcycle GPS market by what the Australians call "the short curlies" and they know it. I'm not averse to shelling out a lot of money for something if it's worth the price, but I know what it takes to build a device like that, and a 400% premium over a one you'd put in your car is excessive even when you take the economies of scale into account.
Android. This is where I want to end up eventually, but I'm in need of a replacement unit now and this is a bit of a project. There's a whole load of excellent navigation software out there that doesn't require mobile data and works well. While I was shopping at Chinavasion, I bought an inexpensive tablet that will do most of the job. I've made some good progress with the software and I'll report on that project when it's done with.
Almost Everything Else. Honestly, there's not much else out there that meets my needs. TomTom is still selling the Rider, but nobody else is making a large-screen GPS for motorcycles.
Chinavasion Rage. Then there's this thing. At $139, it's not chump change but it is inexpensive enough and checks enough of the boxes to be worth the gamble. Heartened by Uncle Phil's review of the previous-generation Peaklife and positive initial comments on the Rage, I ordered one and a few days later it arrived.
The Hardware
What's in the Box. Packaging is pretty typical for made-in-China stuff; it's a cardboard box with a cardboard insert to hold the unit and separate it from the accessories. It got here from China in one piece, so it does the job. Inside is the following:
- The GPS unit
- Dock with built-in hood
- Suction mount (interfaces with ball on dock)
- Handlebar mount (interfaces with ball on dock)
- Cigarette lighter adapter
- 12V bare-wire power adapter
- USB Cable
- User manual
Build. For what it is, the build quality isn't bad. Everything's plastic. The unit itself is mostly rubberized, and the ports on the side (3.5mm audio out, MicroSD slot and USB Mini-B) all seal up quite nicely. The dock has a small amount of flex to it, which I don't consider a bad thing in a high-stress application.
Connectivity and Buttons. Not a lot, but enough: Behind two waterproof plugs are a USB Mini-B port, a slot for a MicroSD card (up to 16 GB) and a 3.5mm audio jack. On the back of the unit are five contacts that interface with the power contacts on the dock. There is no connector for an external antenna. The power button is on the left side of the top of the unit. Looking at the the back of the unit, there's a very unobtrusive little square molded into the lower-right corner. That's the reset button.
USB. This port can be used for charging or to mount the internal storage (4 GB) and whatever you have in the MicroSD slot as a disk drive on your computer. One thing to note about the USB port on the Rage is that you need a USB Mini-B connector with a long shell (the metal part that actually plugs into the socket). The USB spec sets 6.8mm as the minimum length, and while some cables meet that, others, including the one supplied (and Garmin's Mini-B cables), have an 8mm shell. The shorter connectors will plug in but won't connect; you need the full 8mm for it to make a connection.
MicroSD. Because of the plugs that keep the connectors waterproof, the MicroSD card sits very deep in the unit. You can get it pushed in with a fingernail, but I needed tweezers to release it and pull it out of the slot.
Software
One thing you need to know about the Rage before buying one is that it comes only with Windows CE 6.0 installed. There is no navigation software on it. There are reports that some shipped with software, but that's apparently in the past. In some ways this is a plus because you can still get the hardware and still have a few choices about what to run on it. I took an immediate dislike to the boot screen (picture of a car, and not even a very good one) and found out that it's easy to install your own.
I chose iGo 8, which you've probably never heard of but will have used if you have a GPS built into your car. iGo is the leading software for OEM applications and a large number of aftermarket products. I won't go into great detail on this other than to say that it does pretty much everything you'd expect out of a modern GPS and runs just fine on the Rage. The software is skinnable, and NNG (the developer) guarantees each OEM that they won't distribute the same skin to other OEMs in the same market, which is why the nav units in everyone's cars look different. The skin format is XML, so it should be open to doing motorcycle-specific customizations if you want them. (I will be looking to do at least one customization, which is putting a bigger speedometer on the map screen.)
Installation
Dock Mounting. The package includes a suction cup and arm which attaches to a plastic ball on the back of the dock. The ball is about 9/16" in diameter, which would make it compatible with A-size RAM components. Being plastic, it doesn't seem like it would stand up to the stress of use on a motorcycle, and being A-sized it doesn't match the B-size balls most of us have. (Coop, don't go there.) Fortunately, the supplied ball is on a plate that's attached with four cap screws that come off with a 3mm hex wrench. The screws are treated with a medium-duty thread locker and take some oomph to remove. Removing the plate reveals an AMPS hole pattern that's compatible with pretty much every mounting system out there. A RAM-B-238 diamond plate with a B-ball screwed on perfectly.
Docking. The GPS snaps into the dock and stays there securely. I noticed on mine that it was a lot easier to get the unit out with the original mounting plate attached than it is with the RAM plate. In this application, tighter is better.
Security. On the back of the dock is a knurled screw that threads into the back of the GPS. It's a slight deterrent and that's about it. I haven't been able to get mine to catch properly yet. I'd thought about replacing it with a tamper-proof screw, but it's held captive by something in the dock and I haven't put forth the effort to figure out how to remove it. I'm just out to prevent easy thefts of opportunity, so for that it should do just fine. I suppose one could fabricate something to cover the screw that bolts on between the dock and the mounting plate for better security.
Power. The dock has a pigtail with a small male coax connector that plugs into a corresponding female connector on either of the supplied power adapters. Both ends have a molded, threaded housing so the two can be mated in a waterproof way that won't come apart. The female connectors on the power cables thoughtfully include a tethered cap to keep the ends weatherproofed if the dock is removed from the bike. There's a ferrite bead in the middle of the dock end of the cable which will have to be tucked away somewhere. For now, I have a temporary installation using the supplied hard-wire adapter with the wire tucked away along the outside of the bike. I plan to do something more permanent by cannibalizing the cable from the cigarette lighter adapter and attaching that to something longer that will connect to a 5-volt supply in the back of the bike. I may also consider chopping off the supplied coax connector and replacing it with something that I can get more of if I need them.
The GPS has a red LED built into the upper-left corner that glows anytime external power is applied. It's actually inside the housing and shows through the plastic, so it's well-diffused, not very bright and won't cause problems in the dark. Additionally, the display remains on and shows charging status, so you'll want to wire it up to a switched power source.
Real-World Use
Powering Up. The power switch is a very small button that you get to through a hole in the dock, which isn't a big deal with fingers but is extremely fiddly if not impossible while wearing gloves. Fortunately, WinCE has a couple of features that make it very nice for use use on the bike. First is Auto Start (under the second Settings page), which boots the unit when power is applied. As a bonus, it will also shut it down five seconds after power is removed. During those five seconds, you get a screen with buttons that give you the option of continuing to run, putting the unit to sleep or powering off immediately. There's also a setting that launches the navigation software immediately after boot, which gives you appliance-like operation. This is the switch on the top half of the screen in step 4 of Uncle Phil's setup guide.
Boot Time. Booting the OS takes about 15 seconds and starting iGo takes about 30 more, for a total of about 45 seconds from zero to ready.
GPS Performance. My initial tests around the house and in the car were a little disappointing, but to be fair, it's been awhile since I've used a GPS that didn't have a current almanac and didn't have AGPS available to speed up the process of acquiring one. After some time on the bike, it's a lot better. I can now get a decent fix in under a half-minute on the upper floor of my house, which is what I use for the acid test for GPS. Out and about in suburban Washington, it does just fine.
The Display. If there's an Achilles' heel in the entire product, it's the top layer of the screen. It's very, very glossy. Even with the Glare Stomper I had on my iWay installed on the dock, the screen's incredibly hard to read. Most of what I saw was reflections from my helmet and suit. (As a side note, my Glare Stomper is a model 324, which is a bit big for it, does add a lot of extra shade. The model 322 is probably a more appropriate size.) It also is very susceptible to fingerprints, which aggravate the readability and glare problems. I'll be adding some matte-finish anti-glare sheet to the screen to see if it helps. (My iWay had it built in and it made a huge difference.)
I also noticed that with the sun at some angles, light pours in through the holes in the dock where the retaining clip is. Not incredibly annoying, but worth noting. I'll probably adjust the position of my Glare Stomper to cover that. This will also let me put a chunk of something in the well where the power button is so I can operate it from the outside with gloves on.
I took note of rpete's comments about the top layer of the screen warping in the heat, and can certainly see this happening. It may be that the unit is too well-sealed for its own good and expansion of the air inside is what causes this. I'll update this over the summer if mine does the same thing.
The news isn't all bad, tough. The display is a resistive touch screen, which means it works just fine with gloves on. In fact, I was surprised to find that it works better with my Held Steves than it does with a finger. Precision is decent, and getting at the smaller buttons in iGo was surprisingly easy. So on that front, I'm very happy.
Update 2014-05-03: Took it out for another ride this afternoon, this time with a custom-cut piece of anti-glare sheet applied. The glare is pretty much out of the picture. Unfortunately, that brings the real problem to the fore: the backlight doesn't have enough grunt to make the display readable outside.
Update 2014-06-07: Took it on a trip last weekend and exposed the screen to a wide variety of daylight from a wide variety of angles. I can see the upper corners of the display reasonably well, which might be an indication that what I need is a longer hood than the Glare Stomper offers. A little of it ha to do with the fact that this screen is 16:9 where my Lowrance was 4:3. I'm going to experiment with larger hoods.
Battery Life. The built-in battery lasts only about 45 minutes with the nav software running but idle and the backlight full on. I've repeated this test a few times with the same results, so it looks like hard-wiring is a must for any kind of decent-length ride.
Bluetooth. Windows CE takes care of the Bluetooth connectivity. I paired the unit with a headset and found that there's always an audio stream being pumped through it, even when there's no audio. You can just barely hear it in a quiet room, but if you're using a battery-powered BT headset, you may find the battery not lasting as long. I've also paired it with a Belkin F8Z492 Bluetooth receiver (to be installed on the bike) and it works fine.
Summary
Bottom line: It's a good unit, especially for the price. I still need to work on keeping the sun off the screen, and if I can improve that, it's a keeper.
[-]Chinavasion Rage GPS[/-] Second-Generation Version
US$139 from Chinavasion plus $15-$30 shipping (I ordered multiple items, so your shipping may be less.)
--Mark
). Backlighting on my units is only an issue when the sun comes in directly behind me and I'm not blocking it, sort of like how the portion of the ST1300 digital dash washes out for me in the same way.
