TomTom Rider

My trusted Garmin Nuvi 550 SatNav is apparently at the end of its rope. It's a dated unit that I purchased as a refurbished model many years ago. It was a rugged little bugger and totally waterproof. It saw me through many of the lower US States, four Canadian Provinces and even Alaska. Unfortunately, the Garmin maps for North America are too big and will no longer load on the Nuvi. Bummer.

I could continue to run the Nav with the old maps and hope for the best, but I decided to buy a new model. After searching around, I landed on the TomTom Rider.

The TomTom Rider is built specifically for motorcycles. It's waterproof and comes with a Ram Mount. It has a few interesting features, such as the "Winding Roads" function. Otherwise, the functionality and operation seems fairly standard and straight forward. Best of all, it has a decent price for a ruggedized model ... $399.95, at Revzilla. The norm for this type of SatNav is usually $600-$800!

I got a lot of good reviews from active forum-friend users. I also got some heads up on a few need-ta-know points. However, like all highly featured electronic devices, it takes some serious hands-on use to get acclimated. That's what I'll be working on over the next two weeks getting ready for my week long trip up to the Carolinas and Tennessee. So stay tuned for more specific feedback.

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Update:

As of October 2015, the TomTom Rider is priced for $299.95 at Revzilla. This reduction in price is likely due to TomTom's introduction of the TomTom Rider 400 in the US, which is $499.95 at Revzilla. I could have expected the reduction, but couldn't wait around. However, for those in the market, it appears to me that the Rider that I have is a much better value than the new Rider 400. I base than on reviews of the 400 that suggest limited upgrades in features over the base model.