As noted at the beginning of this discussion, last month I bought a TomTom Rider 550 GPS for my European ST. I’ve been a Garmin user since 2000, and only bought the TomTom because TomTom offers much better mapping of Tunisia than Garmin (I’m in Tunisia now, and plan to spend a few weeks here).
It’s been a very difficult transition from using Garmin equipment & applications to using the TomTom. The two companies have very different ‘ecosystems’ for planning routes and storing data. Now that I have used the device for a few days riding in Italy & Tunisia, I’ll try to give you an overview of the differences between how the two companies handle data, and the pros and cons of their navigation devices.
THE DEVICE ECOSYSTEM
Garmin GPS users use a laptop computer application called BaseCamp (or perhaps MapSource) to store waypoints, create routes, and store tracks. Data is exchanged between the device and the laptop using a USB cable.
TomTom is entirely web-based, they have no application for use on a laptop. You create a “cloud” account on their website, and you then create your waypoints and construct your routes on the website, using a browser such as Chrome or Safari. The Rider 550 also connects to the internet via Wi-Fi, and when you make a change on the website (add a waypoint, or create a route), it immediately synchronizes with the device, provided the device has an active Wi-Fi connection.
There is a huge conceptual difference between the two companies – adapting from one system to another, for me, has been like switching from using Windows to using Mac OS or Linux. In fact, I’d say the difference is like transitioning from flying a fixed-wing aircraft to flying a helicopter – there’s a few peripheral concepts that carry over, but other than that, it’s a whole new world.
THE RIDER 550 ITSELF
Although the physical size of the Rider 550 is similar to the physical size of current Garmin navigators, the screen resolution is much lower. The Rider 550 screen resolution is 480 x 272 pixels, compared to 800 x 480 pixels on a Garmin 595 or 1280 x 720 pixels for the new Zumo XT.
Nevertheless, TomTom does a very good job of constructing the screen image, and when a route is active, the device provides excellent guidance with rapid screen updates. It is very quick and responsive.
Voice instructions are clear and carefully thought out, for example, first the navigation instruction (“in 200 feet, turn right”), followed by the name of the road read out loud.
All things considered, the device does an excellent job of providing route guidance. I have never yet missed a turn.
If you pair your device with your cell phone (via the “mobile hotspot” feature of your phone), you get amazingly accurate traffic & road construction information. But, there’s a catch to this: TomTom sources traffic and construction information “from the crowd of TomTom users”, much the same way that Waze does. If you are in Europe, where TomTom has a very large market share, you get superb real-time condition reports. But, if you were in West Texas and were the only TomTom user within 200 miles, you would get nothing at all.
At present, telephony only works on the Rider 550 for Android phone users. Since Apple released iOS 13 in November 2019, you can’t use your iPhone for speech or SMS with a TomTom Rider 550 – TomTom’s phone application no longer works. There have been a lot of complaints about this on TomTom’s website, and the outlook for the future isn’t encouraging. If you use an iPhone and want telephone support via your GPS, don’t buy a TomTom product. Period.
ROUTE AND WAYPOINT CREATION
TomTom’s strategy of using a web-based interface for route and waypoint creation, then transmitting your data to the device when your device has a Wi-Fi connection, is interesting, but has considerable disadvantages. Unless you have an internet connection for both your computer and your device, you can’t do any route & waypoint work unless you do it directly on the small screen of the device itself.
The Rider does not create tracks of where you have travelled unless you explicitly tell it to create a track, and you have to tell it to create a track every time you turn it on (it won’t remember your preference across a power cycle).
You can’t easily download your waypoints & routes to your computer. There are workarounds and patch jobs available to let you do this if you are a computer geek and at ease manipulating files in third-party programs, but no one simple way to do it using TomTom provided software.
OTHER COMMENTS
Unlike Garmin motorcycle navigators, the device has no light-sensor built in, which means that when you ride into a tunnel or underground garage, it stays illuminated at full brightness. That’s annoying.
The touchscreen sensitivity when wearing normal gloves is not at all as good as the Garmin products. TomTom uses a different technology for their touchscreen – probably to let them keep the price down – and it is inferior.
The Rider 550 cannot display altitude – probably because it was designed by the Dutch, who are not aware that there is any elevation point on the earth higher than sea level.
SUMMARY & OVERALL OPINION
As a standalone navigator (A to B), it’s very good, easy to read, and easy to understand & follow the directions.
If you want to plan custom routes ahead of time and send them to the device, it’s not a good choice. You might think BaseCamp or MapSource were difficult to master – believe me, they are child’s play compared to figuring out TomTom’s MyDrive application. On top of that, unless you have Wi-Fi with an internet connection (try finding that at a picnic table in a national park), you can’t transfer data from your computer to your device.
If you need telephone support – the ability to make and receive calls on your GPS – this is not the device to get. It doesn’t upload your phone book, instead, it relies on you using Siri or Alexa to tell it who you want to call.
On the positive side, you get free worldwide maps & map updates, and the map coverage of out of the way countries such as Tunisia, Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, etc. is excellent.
But, if you are not planning to ride in Tunisia, Vietnam, or Papua New Guinea, I can't recommend this device, especially because Garmin has just released their new Zumo XT at a price similar to the Rider 550. You would be far better off sticking with Garmin, especially if you are already familiar with how Garmin devices work.
Michael
A Screenshot
