TOMTOM Rider 550 Review

TOMTOM Rider 550 – review by Laramoto.

Why bother buying a dedicated sat nav like the TomTom Rider 550 when your smart phone will do? It’s exactly the question I asked myself before my 10 day tour around the Pyrenees. When we got stuck in the mountains and my mates smartphone had failed to find signal and cooked itself, I knew I’d made the right choice.

You’ll want the Rider 550 because its the latest dedicated motorcycle sat nav that TomTom has to offer and it includes worldwide mapping and pre-loaded motorcycle Points of Interests (POIs). Like any sat nav, you’ll need to consider how to mount it on your bike – look no further than the premium pack. It will remain on and charged and docks/undocks with a single click. You can fit the anti-theft system but I find it easier to take with me. The unit is totally weatherproof and has sufficient touch sensitivity, even through gloves.

The best bit about the TomTom 550 is the ‘Plan A Thrill’ feature. Select a destination and then adjust how wiggly or how hilly the route should be. The Rider 550 gets creative and takes you down anything but a motorway or dull A roads. I have found superb routes across the country that only a local would know exist, just add some common sense when you’re about to go green laning on your S1000RR.

It has regular speed camera updates and you can get your phone to talk to it through a dedicated TomTom app called MyDrive, but only via WIFI. The Rider550 syncs with a bluetooth headset too, but this is sometimes hampered by bluetooth connection issues. In summary – hassle free navigation wherever you are in the world. Reliable, weatherproof and with succinct instruction, you’ll find superb biking roads when you fit a TomTom 550.