Beeline Moto Navigation Device

[RsGaz]

Has anyone got one of these and use it on the MTB, they do a Velo version but the Moto is fully dust/waterproof, looks like a neat device that works through a phone app, thought it’d be handy for bike and motorbike.

 

[Beatn1K]

Been looking again at these recently. I was interested when they were still a kickstarter. Then a mate turned up in France with one on his motorcycle a few months back, so I have been looking at them again..
I already have a somewhat cumbersome old skool Defender which runs a full fat OS Explorer 1;25K...I use this when riding green lanes in the UK on a MX er.
Using an iPhone or Smartphone is what alot of people do but commonly used platforms that allow discreet and easy OS mapping in small chunks seem to be getting shut down as"progress" waits for no man and subscription billing becomes "de rigeur"
These Beelines- I havent tried one but they are cheap enough.And they claim that importing .gpx files as a feature...Id be happy using a Moto version on my pushy- I dont see why not. Anything that isnt properly waterproof and robust is not worth a second look for me....
I dont have much joy with GPS. Costs me a fortune and often too clunky and difficut to use " on the fly" before it dies from water ingress or battery life inadequacies; off-roading is a hard life.Having started riding an emtb, I returned to using OS mapping to get about and find my way around again...
Although I havent experience of this, I have uboxed a unit and I was impressed. I see the attraction & Im probably going to buy one, if only because an iPhone on the handlebars has it's limitations for me...

 

[RsGaz]

Yea same here I don’t fancy clipping my phone to the bars, and I like the simplicity of this, and for the price it’s got to be worth a try

 

[Beatn1K]

Have a look online- they sell refurbished units at discount rates and a full warranty...!

 

[RsGaz]

Have a look online- they sell refurbished units at discount rates and a full warranty...!

A mate has bought one for his motorbike, says it’s great for use on the road, but useless for off-road trails, he uses a Garmin Explore for MTB

 

[Beatn1K]

Interesting- it can be used with .gpx files downloaded to the phone. All gps file data uses this format. There is no reason, in theory anyway, why you cant overlay the .gpx data over any mapping software and have it place you correctly. Which makes following "off-road" routes a possibility, I reckon. Of course, you need the file data in the first place to do this, obviously...
I bought one recently too. For the motorcycle. Used on the road only so far. Im not used to its directions yet so made a few navigational errors. Found it hard to get it to "re-route" effectively once following a "planned" ride ( designed by waypoints then) after you go wrong. teething problems I hope.... but I did come across some of the best roads around here in "fun" mode...so its not all bad.
The iPhone gets too hot in Europe to work effectively on the handlebars..plus the screen is mostly useless in daylight most of the time...And I havent found a way to power the smart phone without compromising it's weather resistance. It seems to need a cable which compromises the weather cases...or you run it out of power in a few hours with screen on..pretty useless then, honestly. Riding green lanes can see you needing realtime directions at quick pace..more like a roadbook ! So the Beeline offers a solution to some of these issues. The Velo version just has different buttons to the motorcycle unit I think. No mapping differences then....