Garmin Zuumo Vs. Tomtom Rider
Garmin zūumo vs. TomTom Rider
CW EVALUATION
Shootout at the GPS corral
BEING LOST MAKES FOR AN ENTERtaining TV series, but it’s no fun when it happens to you. Between poorly marked roads, unexpected detours and inane directions from locals (“Go past Joe Wilson’s place and turn left where the old schoolhouse used to be”), it’s easy to lose your way, even if you’re an experienced traveler.
But not if your bike is equipped with a Garmin zümo or a TomTom Rider-the two leading aftermarket GPS receivers intended for motorcycle use. With one of these navigation wonders on board, you
Garmin zūmo
TomTom Rider
are all but guaranteed to avoid entering the land of the lost.
Both of these receivers are very similar in size, including their 3 /4-inch screens, and provide the same type of trip information. They offer both 3-dimensional (like looking forward in a low-flying aircraft) and 2-D (straight-down) map views. And they provide turn-by-turn guidance, in both text and voice forms, to destinations you choose either by typing an address on a touch-screen keypad or by selecting from a long list of “Points of
Interesf’-restaurants, gas stations, hotels, ATMs, banks, campgrounds, movie theaters, police stations, shopping centers, tourist attractions and a whole lot more.
Strangely enough, though, neither of these receivers contains the locations of any bike dealerships or repair shops, even though they claim to be motorcycle-specific. Evidently, both companies just loaded their receivers with the same Points of Interest data used in their automotive units. And while both come with mounting hardware, none of the included brackets work on cast handlebars. For our installation on a Honda VFR750F, we used a $70 steeringstem mount from Techmount (www.techmounts.com).
Despite their similarities, these two are quite different in many other ways. Both are Bluetooth-enabled, so they can link with your cell phone (including its Phonebook) for wireless hands-free calling and for hearing the spoken driving directions. But only the TomTom comes with a Bluetooth headset; the zümo requires you to supply your own Bluetooth earpiece/microphone or helmet. The TomTom accepts incoming calls when moving but blocks outgoing calls; the zümo permits both.
But the zümo has capabilities the Rider can’t match: It’s an MP3 player and a JPEG viewer; it allows you to export and review your travels in Google Earth; it has a gas gauge the rider presets for his bike’s mileage range, and the receiver then identifies the nearest gas stations if the tank
DETAILS
Garmin International Inc.
1200 East 151st St.
Olathe, KS 66062
913/397-8200
www.garmin.com
$1076
Ups
Has touch-screen and conventional buttons
Is waterproof
Lots of additiona' features
Downs
No Bluetooth headset included
More expensive
DETAILS
TomTom Inc.
150 Baker Ave. Ext.
Concord, MA 01742
866/486.6866
www.tomtom.com
$900
A Hooded for glare suppression A Comes with Bluetoooth headset
bowns
Sometimes plots roundabout route
Ls only water-resistant
v Carcar kitkit notnot inctuded
runs low. The zümo’s verbal and text directions are more detailed and explicit than the Rider’s, and its screen displays of other driving information (vehicle speed, estimated arrival time, remaining distance to destination, etc.) are larger and easier to read. Plus, only the zümo allows you to input your own points of interest, such as the locations of stoplight cameras, radar zones, poorly paved roads, congested areas or what have you. It also supports XM radio, and it comes with a cigarette-lighter plug and a mount/speaker so you can use it-and hear it-in your car.
These are two excellent GPS receivers that will unfailingly guide you right to locations of your choice. Purely in terms of cost, the TomTom wields the upper hand with street/internet pricing about $150 below that of the Garmin. But on the basis of performance, measured by its ability to provide clearer, more user-friendly data along with a variety of other useful features, the Garmin emerges the killer GPS of the two. Both will get you there, but the zümo does so more easily, elegantly and intuitively-with a little entertainment tossed in as a bonus. □
