Why do you use a dedicated sat-nav

[jfheath]

Great description Russ.

We have pretty good phone coverage in the Uk. Except in the places that I like to ride - in the Pennines, the Northern English hills and the Highlands of Scotland.

[colirv]

There's no way I'd subject my phone to vibrations and rain by mounting it on the bike, no matter how wonderful the mount is alleged to be. And trying to play with the screen wearing winter gloves strikes me as a singularly fruitless pastime!

[chris7444]

I use a dedicated sat-nav because

1- I keep forgetting the sat-nav on the bike and the same would happen to the phone if I were to use Google Maps or Waze. I have my whole life on the phone. Don't want to lose it.

2- I could not find a good looking phone mount for my good looking bike (yes this was priority # 2 )

3- The Zümo XT has a large, bright screen, is robust, waterproof. My phone has no such characteristic and I don'' t want to buy a phone for this reason.

4- I need offline. Roaming costs can be high if you travel abroad (outside of UE, switzerland is outside of UE and 30kms away from home). There are many places where there is no good data coverage especially in the mountains. I also have noticed that data connection breaks when you need it the most (Murphy's law)

[lkraus]

I used a cell phone for navigating routes on a bike for about a year before giving up. USB charging is unreliable and has twice destroyed the port on my phone. Wireless charging seldom works unless I remove the case, but when I do remove the case it charges until it overheats and stops charging. With either method, I needed full screen brightness to see it in the sun, which meant I often had little or no charge left at the end of the ride. The phone screens may not respond well when wearing gloves. I've used several different Android navigation apps and was only happy with CoPilot, but then they "updated" it and took away easy drag &drop routing and then they went to a subscription model and I said goodbye. Several of the other apps cannot distinguish the difference between a turn at an intersection and a curve in the road, so they are constantly warning about "turns" that don't exist. The Zumo 590/595 and XT just work a lot better on the bike then any phone solution I've found.

I prefer to keep the phone in a pocket rather than on the bike. If I manage to get separated from the bike I might be able to call for help.

Google Maps is fine for our navigation needs in a car, but I still prefer to use the Zumo for long trips.

[Protonhound]

I use a dedicated sat nav as my phones camera is now screwed from mounting it on the bike

That's something I never thought of but it makes sense how the vibrations will damage sensitive camera components. I just upgraded to the Galaxy S23 Ultra and certainly will not risk destroying that expensive phone.

[Grabcon]

I am a Sat Nav guy on the MC and a cellular guy in the car and RV.

The car and RV typically will have an environment that is more suitable for cellular devices. They are dry, have a conditioned space and have power to the devices all the time. Additional when in the car or RV I have cellular coverage where I drive. Typically a non backroad route. But with the jeep we have been known to go where there may not have coverage but not very often.

On the MC the cell phone is my lifeline/communication device that resides on my person at all times when riding. The sat nav is my primary choice for navigation all routes typically get planned using Basecamp for the route but google maps for support and route investigation. Clarifying road surfaces, gas availability, lodging/camping, food, etc. But at the end of the day the route ends up in my Zumo XT. Because I am an apple guy I move all of my routes to iCloud and use Garmin Drive to move routes to the XT.

Sat Nav vs cellular coverage is also a major factor. The Sat Nav only looses communication with the satellites when there is a blockage of signal, tunnels and tree canopy are the two big offenders. Cellular coverage can be spotty at times regardless of carrier. When RVing throughout the US my wife and I had Verizon, ATT and T-mobile just so we could be guaranteed coverage. And even with that there was no guarantee. A couple of days ago my wife and I were on a Moto-camping trip for a couple of days. Not backcountry, this was an established National Monument campground on paved roads and there was zip for cell coverage. The only thing I had was the SOS via satellite on my iPhone.So We did have emergency communication if needed. The Sat Nav worked fine.

I think regardless of what you use for navigation it is up to you to do your homework and have diligence when route planning. For me all routes that I build I have a 95% plus confidence that it will get me where I am wanting to go without surprises. I also test all of my routes in the sta nav to make sure there is no differences between basecamp and the sat nav.