TomTom Rider 550 Motorcycle GPS Navigation Device, 4.3 Inch, with World Maps, Motorcycle Specific Winding and Hilly Roads, Updates via WiFi, Traffic and Speed Cams, Compatible with Siri and Google Now

I purchased my TomTom Rider 550 September 2020 (3 years ago). When I bought it, it was already 2-year-old tech. As of this writing, it’s 5-year-old tech. Does that make it a bad thing, not necessarily, but you need to know what you’re getting and see if it’s right for you. I have over 60,000 miles on mine. It has it’s quirks and you need to understand them and work around them. I’ll get into that…Why did I buy it? I HATED Garmin basecamp with a passion and that’s what you had to use with Garmin back in 2020. I believe that they have a web based set-up now, but have not tried it. TomTom’s web based route planner is easy to use, takes a little time to learn, but simple compared to other methods. I plan my routes at home, tell it to sync to GPS and it USUALLY does it when I power on the unit. I’ve had to manually tell it to sync a few times, but most of the time it does what it should.Tomtom is Europe based, Amsterdam Netherlands. As it’s European based, it SEEMS that its primary focus is on that side of the globe. I am in the US and it SEEMS they’re slower to update maps and POI’s on this side of the big pond. It has VERY frequent updates to “Safety Cameras” and “Charging Stations”, sometimes multiple times a week. It bugs the hell out of you to update, so I ALWAYS check for updates before I leave the house or you will get annoying pop ups at the bottom of the screen while you are riding. If they are updates to US or Europe, I have no idea, but I do know that I have reported “Safety Cameras” several times, and they have never been added. It does know all of the red light cameras in my area, just not the speed ones. On the topic of these cameras, it DEFINATELY gets your attention when you come across one the GPS knows about. There is an attention getter tone and it shows it’s distance on the side of the map. The charging station updates can not be turned off, and it had been requested several times on their forums. It also has some locations in “your places” that can not be deleted and are taking up space. They are in Europe, and I suspect they paid TOMTOM to put them there.My experiences with the GPS these last 3 years has mostly been positive. I like the little thing most of the time. It has it’s quirks. As many have mentioned, it WILL send you on a dirt road sometimes even though you tell it not to. Expect it if you ride in the country. Bypass the road and take the next paved one. Yesterday it tried to send me on a what can only be classified as a trail. I bypassed it and took the next road and it rerouted me.On the topic of rerouting, it sometimes takes a crap when you don’t do what she wants. Yesterday, riding in rural Lancaster County PA I came across several closed roads and covered bridges and she had an absolute FIT rerouting me. She actually took me in a 2 mile circle and brought me back to the exact same spot before having me turn right instead of left. It was annoying, but funny at the same time. I actually had to stop the route and restart it and chose “go to nearest point” to get the route going again at another reroute. Sometimes she’s like driving with my wife on the handlebars…stubborn as hell to get you to go where she WANTS you to go instead of where the road conditions allow it. It seems to be especially stubborn when it’s a checkpoint that YOU PUT IN. She WANTS to take you there come hell or high water and doesn’t seem to get the hint to bypass it. One of her quirks. This quirk seems to me and my riding buddies who have the same model to have gotten worse with recent updates. I’d say until the last 6 months or so that she was 98% on point doing what I wanted… lately though, she seems to have issues with recalculating, especially when one of the things is a waypoint that you put in…AKA, a covered bridge that you wanted to go to, but was closed…. She had a temper tantrum and I had to stop the route and restart it and tell her to take me to the nearest point. Again, this seems like a recent issue after updates.What’s to like? The “plan a thrill” function can be fun, however it WILL route you through a housing development or a shady part of town in a heartbeat. It doesn’t know what’s what, it’s just looking for curvy or hilly roads. The route planning web based is easy to learn and use. It can be frustrating doing it on the fly using your phone from a stop, but you learn to overcome it. It may take a few minutes using your phone to sync it to the GPS as it’s got to go to their servers, and back down to the GPS that it using your phone for it’s wifi internet. I’ve learned to wait a few, then enter the settings menu on the GPS and manually have it sync. It’s doesn’t constantly sync to the servers while in use as that would put a serious hit on your phones data. You have to do it manually in those roadside cases. The GPS charging mount is somewhat cumbersome, but I like it. It’s beefy and has worked great for a crapload of off and ons. The wiring is EXTREMELY thin and I had very low expectations for it, but it’s still working. I have mine bound to a SENA 20s EVO. I get turn by turn in my ears instead of looking down at the GPS. FANTASTIC feature and allows me to keep my eyes focused on the road. #1 reason to get a Bluetooth headset for your helmet, whether you use a GPS or your phone for directions. Keep your eyes forward instead of down. Buddy of mine ran wide on a sharp turn and went down a few weeks ago looking at his dang phone screen instead of on the road… he lived and learned. It’s brighter than a standard phone in the sunlight, but not as bright as Garmins offerings. It’s a small screen compared to others, but while riding, you should be looking up instead of down anyway. I glance at it to check the upcoming curves, but that’s about it. I listen to it instead of look. I added a cheap sunshade from amazon and it helps. It’s cheaper than Garmins offerings, though it has gone up in recent times. It was $220 when I bought mine. I use mine connected to wifi through hotspot and the traffic works pretty well. When it’s tried to redirect me off my set route for unknown reasons and I ignored her, I usually paid for it sitting in a traffic jam. I’ve learned to listen. It’s pretty rugged. I’ve dropped it on the pavement countless times and it’s still in one piece. It has never failed to have a GPS signal on the road. This is the number 1 reason to have a hardware GPS verses using a phone. When you ride out into the sticks and your phone loses signal, you lose your map as well. No phone signal = a blank screen.What’s not to like? #1 and biggest… it’s old tech and TOMTOM is not making any improvements to it. They have pretty much abandoned it except for map updates, etc. It still gets updates, but nothing to the interface. People have requested “reverse route” be added to the GPS for years and it has not been added. In my opinion, TOMTOM is pushing their phone based GO app heavily and the hardware stuff has fallen to the wayside. Makes sense from a business model…less employees, no factory making hardware GPS’s, etc. So what that means, is what you have when you open the box is what you’re going to have. No feature updates. As mentioned before, she can be stubborn with rerouting and continually try to get you where you can’t go. I have NEVER gotten the full phone interface to work properly. I have tried with an android phone and an Apple. It’s supposed to pop up text messages and things on the screen, but it’s buggy as hell, and they have never fixed it. It would work one ride, then the next time it wouldn’t. I tried several times, and finally just gave up.Overall, I’ve enjoyed my TOMTOM Rider 550. I am frustrated with TOMTOM for their failure to update features that could easily be done, like reverse route. There’re on top of the speed camera and charging station updates (I don’t need or want) and I get a new map about every 6 months or so. It’s been tough and handled drops, rock and bug strikes, and it’s still chugging along.Would I buy one if I needed one NOW in 2023? Not 100% sure. If you’re a technology person and want to integrate to your phone, want a crapload of bells and whistles, you can pass on it, but you’ll be paying 2-300 more for that tech. For a point A to point B, C , D, E, F, etc, GPS, it’s worked well for me. I am seriously concerned about complete abandonment by TOMTOM in the near future though. Just know what you’re getting into, what’s in the box and on the screen is ALL that you’re ever going to get. If you find a used one for cheap, hey, go for it and save the money. [...]