Plug and drive: no installation or activation necessary; just feel the freedom! Designed for 2 wheels: TomTom RIDER isn’t just rugged and weatherproof, it also gives you a perfect view of the screen thanks to anti-glare screen technology and an integrated sun-visor. Easy to use: drive mode tailored for simple touch-screen operation, even with gloves.

User Reviews about TomTom Rider 3.5-Inch Portable GPS Motorcycle Navigator

I bought this item for my son's Xmas present, And the unit worked fine, I also have a TOM TOM GPS for my motorhome and it is exellent. The problem we had with this unit, was thee was no mounting hardware that came with it, we contacted the vendor who was more than helpful, and would refund our money. So we sent it back and waiting for the refund. -- Very good GPS System

I've read a lot of the reviews on this page. I just recently completed a 3,000 mile round-trip ride from Orlando, FL taking part in a 9-11 Memorial Ride that went from Somerset, PA to NYC, visiting the 3 sites involved in that day's attacks. I was looking for a GPS before leaving on this trip as I'm not familiar with PA, Maryland, Virginia, Deleware, NJ and NY roads at all. In my car I have a Garmin Nuvi that I like a lot. I think I paid like $700.00 for it two years ago. I looked at the HD (Garmin unit) Road Tech, the Garmin Zumi, and the TomTom GPS. I've never used a TomTom unit, but working in Europe it's the big dog for these things over there so I figured it's got to be the equivalent of the Garmin. Being on a budget, as most of us are, I had given up on getting one for my trip as Everthing I saw was North of $700.00 for one of these things. I was checking prices one more time and happened to spot an Amazon seller that had 5 new Rider 1s in the box for $250.00 each. That was more like it so I quickly got one on order. The transaction was perfect and three days later I had my unit.

It only took about an hour to install the unit on my 2007 HD Ultra Classic. I wired it into the bike's cigarette lighter by removing the Bat-wing fairing, tied the wiring off to the bars and installed the mount to my left hand control pod. The kit came with a large selection of mounting hardware and options. I can't imagine it being too hard to get it mounted on almost any platform. After installation I fired up the unit. Cold start-up took only a few minutes. I put a test address in the unit and took it for a test spin and it worked fine. I din't use the Bluetooth receiver that came with the kit as I had a Motorola H270 from my AT&T phone that was smaller, had volume controls, it's own recharger and would run for about 6-hours on a single charge. I didn't like the claptrap looking one that came with the unit. It's still in the original packaging in my spare electronics bin.

After riding with it for 3,000 miles I've come to the following conclusions:
Overall, the unit is nicely styled, and visibility of the unit is good unless the sun is shining directly over your shoulder in which case the unit is practically unreadable.
The algorithms for routing and the GPS database are reasonably accurate and efficient. I've never seen one of these that didn't have a few errors or omissions in them. It had a few quirks like even though the avoid highways and no toll roads options were selected, it sent me onto the PA Turnpike to get me to Somerset. Maybe it's the only way there I don't know. It has some differences to the Garmin's but nothing worth complaining about except, my Nuvi will navigate me right to the address. The TomTom often would tell me I'd reached my destination when I turned on to the address'road and never told me it was another 350 yards down the road. The voice prompts, especially on the highway were pretty few and far between with the TomTom compared to Garmin. The Garmin will tell me continue x miles on the highway or something ever so often, the TomTom was quiet. Again, not a fatal flaw just different. Also, it's not real goood at letting you know exactly where the turn is sometimes. It'll just say in 500 yds turn right, then just before the turn, turn now. If you have multiple paths and you can't study the screen it's hard to determine which turn you are making. The Garmnin gives a little audible tone at the turn.
It's pretty quick in recomputing a recovery route if you do miss a turn, but often the reroute is u-turn and go back to the highway or some such.
The touch screen is good and wearing rain gloves or my regular gloves I could operate the unit with no issues. The GPS also cuts out some features in the menus when your using the unit in the cradle, again it caused no degradation of function when I was riding. I noticed the same complaint another reviewer had that the TomTom would let me change display scale, but then it would return to a preset level after a predetermined time. That was a little annoing when I was really trying to see some detail on the screen.
It never missed a beat or locked-up on me even in driving rain. He unit seems to be well sealed. However, that power button is a bitch!
Volume using the Motorola BT is good. I had no problem hearing it at 75 -80 MPH rain or shine.
The mount seems to hold my unit securely (I use the leash too) but I noticed a couple of mounting bolts that mount the cradle to the RAM mount loosened some and I had to retorque them. That was probably an installation error though. When I got home I applied locktite to them. So that should no longer be an issue.

For $250 I'm very pleased with my purchase and it served me well on my ride. I think a motorcycle GPS is a useful tool letting you see the road ahead and of course navigating you to your intended destination. Although the traffic warning and other "extras" are nice to haves, I could live without them as I could the XM radio option of the newer unit. My bike has CD/CB/AM/FM/WB and iPod interface on it anyway, so you know I was listening to the iPod the whole way.

I'd recommend as an entry level unit to anyone. Just depends on your budget and needs. I think I prefer the Garmin's operating system, but just slightly, and it sure isn't worth another $600.

-- Good enough for the price I paid