Mobile Device or Sat Nav Holder

So having done a little trip using a old school GPS, namely my route on a bit of paper placed in back pocket, I decided it was time to invest in a proper cellphone holder. Being a self-confessed skinflint, I looked at making my own then one day this week whilst shopping at a German supermarket chain whose name rhymes with lid, I found a cellphone pouch for less that £6. It’s intended for a bicycle, claims to be waterproof and has a screen which allows control of the inserted device. Furthermore, the actual pouch is quickly detachable from the handlebar mount.

For the sake of six quid I had to try it.

I fitted it and rode around Peterborough for an hour finding the bumpiest roads. I even tied a bit of string just in case it detached. All good. It didn’t shift or move.

I now have a cellphone holder which will allow the use of my sat nav program of choice to be used when on a run.

If you’re using your phone on a motorbike be aware the vibrations break the camera.

I use a quadlock mount with vibration dampener.

thanks for that i’ll check it out.

vibration damage is a hard fact, but particularly so when the phone is ‘hard’ attached to bars (eg) and vibrations transmitted directly to delicate device. loose(ish) in your pouch, not so much. i have a similar set up, for years, no drama.

alternatively: you need to spend £x on the latest magnetic/wireless charging/anti vibrational/beer pre-ordering/lo cal gizmo (o;

A bit of foam or bubble wrap in the pouch might be a nice low tech alternative anti vibration mat :smiley:

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that’ll do it!

Also check if your phone has a touch screen sensitivity setting (mine is in “settings” >“display”) if it doesn’t respond properly through the pouch, you can up the sensitivity.

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you could always invest in one of those Beelin sat nav thingies, uses an App on your phone, and has a simple easy to read display

I looked at several options and finally settled on the UltimateAddons phone mount and the XXL Universal case which is rated ‘water-resistant’. The complete setup, including the case came to around £60 odd quid and works really well. It comes with a silicon inset in the phone case which fully cradles it and damps out vibration and the case itself is quickly detachable but mounts rock solid to a wide variety of mounting options.

I pair it with a cheap USB extension with a waterproof cover at one end and a Superseal connector at the other end. That enables you to plug straight into Guzzi’s supplied power socket under the seat in the V7 850. That is a switched live circuit, so it only comes on when the ignition is on.

Other options are available like Quadlock but they are considerably more expensive.

£60 is nearly half the price of a new Beeline. The smallest/ neatest solution for a motorcycle. Keep your phone in your waterproof bike jacket. We’ll worth looking into.

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I like the Casio ‘clock’, those are a classic

I do keep my phone in my jacket, the V85TT navigation is better than a beeline, more info on screen and only 1 thing to keep charged :slight_smile:

Yeah i agree with you there, I didn’t bother with a vibration damper on my 1st quadlock and the vibrations killed my camera :cry: lesson learnt :rofl:

So far mine has survived some fairly bumpy roads using the dampening mount, I mostly only use the mount for long trips where I have to keep the phone charged. The reflections from the screen on a sunny day are a bit annoying.

I have also just installed a Quad Lock mount, with the vibration damper on my V12 Sport. Not the cheapest option, but seems really good quality. General consensus seems to be that high vibration bikes such as Guzzis can damage the phone camera - particularly iPhones (apparently). So far, so good! :crossed_fingers:

I have also just installed the ‘Scenic’ App onto my phone, which seems to be a popular sat nav app specifically designed for biking. Haven’t have chance to use it in anger so far, but looks like a decent (free) app.

Hopefully, you get something sorted. :+1:

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The Tomtom Go Ride app (beta) is really good too.

This is true, though the Beeline is only really an extremely basic repeater for the navigation app which has to be running on your phone anyway, so personally I didn’t see the point :woman_shrugging:.

Personally I like to see a map alongside the directions as well as all the additional info. You can also run your own choice of navigation app such as the bike specific Calimoto and Detect ones. With Beeline your stuck with theirs as far as I’m aware?

There have also been numerous reports on the V7 Facebook groups of the Beeline mount failing with resulting in lost or damaged devices. The UltimateAddons mount has been rock solid and there’s a small lanyard to loop over the mount from the phone case which acts as a failsafe too.

However, each to their own, it’d be a very boring world if we all bought the same stuff, we’d probably all be riding Hondas :astonished:

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Hey I ride a Honda! The Guzzi is in the garage still under resto. At least my instrument panel is still clear. There is hardly any distraction when using a beeline.

I use a ram mount for the beeline, sits alongside the dash quite nicely.

The mount is attached to a ball which is mounted in place of one of the m6 support plate mounting screws on the instrument cluster.

Replaces 3 in this

I run real rider app for crash support, that needs to be on the body so the beeline is ideal for my personal use case. I’ll happily attach a booster pack to my phone on longer rides or charge at the tea stops.