Customer Reviews
Doe what it needs to do 
2008-07-01
The TomTom Rider 2 is too expensive, but essentially a good product.
- Screen is visible in sunshine
- Menus are easily accessible, you don't need to study the manual to work the box
- Navigation quality is good
- RAM mount works fine (Ducati 1098 - mount on steering damper)
The only negative is the price. In terms of value for money, this is not the product you'd be looking for. Yes, RAM mount works fine on all bikes, but there is nothing magic about it. Yes, the navigation quality is good, and the screen is well visible. But again, is that worth 500 bucks?
I suppose it's a niche market and that makes it worth it.
TomTom Rider - Read this before you buy ! 
2008-06-11
1. I have owned a Rider for more than 18 months.
2. The first one I had, the dock broke in Texas while I was riding Route 66.
3. I called TomTom from Texas (I live in Calif) and asked them to FedEx a new one.
They said no can do.
4. Once home, TomTom sent me a new Dock, but... it took them 1 month to get it to me.
5. After a while I started to notice that the Rider was not charging while in the dock and on my bike.
6. They asked me to send them my Rider back with all the accessories.
7. Then after 4 weeks, they sent me a new Rider, with no charger and no accessories.
8. The asked me to send it back.
8. After another 4 weeks, they sent me another.... new Rider... with all the accessories.
9. The dock didn't charge.
10. After another week, they sent me a new dock. It works.
There are known issues with the docks and charging, but TomTom won't admit it.
It's manufacturering issue. I'll let you guess where they are made.
The Tom Tom rider is good, easy to use. But if anything goes wrong, you'll be waiting many weeks for a replacement.
Ad of course the wait time on the phone, plan on an hour with each call.
I probably would NOT buy another one.
no hassell great service. 
2008-04-06
we did have a problem with our product. but when we called the 1800# we got very courtious answers and no problems they came to our home and picked up our idem with no charge to us and we had a replacement in three days. its great .........
Very good if you can find it on sale and are technically inclined. 2008-03-21
So I got the TomTom Rider 2 on special for a really good price and have been playing around with it for a week on the bike and in the car. I had some problems with it at first, thought I'd managed to brick it within the first day installing the latest software updates, but after some research and playing around I got it sorted out. (Hints: there's a paper clip reset hole on the bottom, and at least on a Mac you want the newer version of the desktop software, *not* the one they say is for the Rider, which probably actually means the 1st gen Rider.)
Once I got all that sorted out and got the updates installed (thank Dog I backed the whole thing up before trying the update or I would have been screwed) it's been great! It comes with a Cardo-Scala Bluetooth headset, integrates with your phone (you can receive calls anytime and make calls when stopped), and will use the data connection on your phone to pull down weather and traffic info, and also locate other people you know with TomTom Rider units. It has no problem getting a GPS signal, even inside my house, it reroutes automatically, and includes RAM mounting hardware.
Really my only complaint is that there's no built-in speaker so if you want to use it in a car you pretty much need to spring for their car adapter kit. (I tried hooking it up to another Bluetooth headset but it didn't work very well.)
I think this will be a nice unit, especially for the price, and considering it comes with a helmet headset. It's got basically the same feature set as the Zumo 550, which is much more expensive and IIRC doesn't come with a headset.
A decent unit, but with major flaws, at a ripoff price!! 2008-03-19
I bought the Rider 2 GPS last summer, to tour the south of France, from Paris. I'd travelled before with maps, sometimes missing offramps out of confusion (freeway signs here are only really good if you're a local, in which case you don't need them in the first place!!). After having used a TomTom GPS in a rental car to go to Italy, I decided to get one for my Speed Triple, for the pleasure of being guided from "above". The decision was made a week before my departure, so I didn't really have time to investigate the market. I discovered only Garmin & TomTom have bike-specific models, and that both were incredibly expensive compared to car units. Being used to, and pleased with the TomTom interface, I decided to buy TT. The first Rider 2 I bought would not connect to my Motorola Razr V3i, despite the help from the sales reps, and would refuse to turn on, even fully charged. After 3 (THREE!!) trade-ins, I had to leave for my 1 1/2 month vacation with my current unit, picked up the same morning.
My first beef was to find that not only would it start trying connecting to my V3i, then fail, but I'd also have to use the cellular connection to obtain the updates, and 1 month trial of various options I'D PAID FOR!! This is totally stupid. If you're going to have to use a PC to save your SD card, let the PC handle further downloads and updates!!! It doesn't take being a racket science wiz to understand a DSL connection is more reliable than a cellular. Also, the fact you have to pay for updates, and options that should be standard, is preposterous.
My second problem, is the fact that as long as you're moving, you cannot access/change routing information. That's totally stupid too. Even at walking speeds, the unit will accept no change of route, or any other modification. When you're on the freeway, or on city streets with no place to stop, this is really aggravating. I know it's supposedly for security reasons, but changing your destination to a favorite isn't going to put you in danger in most cases, stopping and starting on a road close to heavy traffic will. In any case, you can tap all you want on a car unit, so security obviously isn't a valid reason. In any case, I hate when an appliance is set to restrain my use of it, and not let me decide for myself when/if what I do is safe.
3rd beef: sometimes, maps are obsolete from the start. When driving through Italy, I was directed to turn right on a freeway, in the middle of... fields!!! There was an offramp on my screen, miles from any actual offramps. Only corn fields, which had obviously been there for years, and weren't going to disappear in favor of a new road overnight. Really scary when you're on a schedule..
Maybe I should have listed first the On/Off button. I have very strong arms & fingers, but the time & pressure (and numerous attempts) it takes to turn it on hurts my fingers each time. Needless to even think of asking my girlfriend to do it...
The last unnicety I can think of right now, is the fact, if you're typing an address, the streets that pop up aren't entirely legible on the screen. It appears there's no way to view further past the first letters. This is really a bummer in France, where streets precede their name. Example: if you're looking for an address on Boulevard du General De Gaulle, all that appears on the screen is "Boulevard du Genera", so you have to type each and every letter in the name, or you'll get directed to another general's name, and, as there's no "back" function, you'll have to go through the whole itinerary planning procedure again to try to get it right. Total lack of user-friendliness, for a unit that's supposed to be usable by bikers, with gloves on.
On the upside, missing an exit leads the unit to recalculate another itinerary very quickly, the reason exactly I'd bought a GPS. Arrival times are incredibly accurate, even on long trips. Screen maps are legible. The RAM fixing system is great, and solid, but props there go to RAM, not TomTom. The Scala system works fine, and is reasonably audible, although the choice of a higher pitched female voice, on full volume is a must, if you're going to be riding over 100 mph.
If I'd had more time to choose, I'd have bought the Garmin Zumo instead. The price is too high for a GPS that's so poorly engineered. It does work nicely when it's all set up correctly, but not being able to take phone calls, use paid for updates, or use your PC to download data is unacceptable.
Not enough features for the price class 
2008-02-21
The TomTom RIDER 2nd Edition is the new navigator developed by bikers, for bikers. The RIDER 2nd Edition is rugged and waterproof with RAM mounting hardware that fits almost any bike. A Cardo scala-rider wireless headset gives high quality voice instructions inside your helmet. RIDER 2nd Edition automatically switches from glove-friendly to in-car mode with more screen options and the ability to make calls on the move. Crystal clear - realistic and intuitive visual instructions, smooth-scrolling map display, and a choice between 3D bird's-eye view and traditional 2D map-format graphics Biker-friendly Touchscreen - designed to be easy to use, even when wearing gloves Waterproof and rugged - like any true biker, RIDER can handle the toughest weather Easy to mount - comes with robust universal RAM mounting hardware that fits almost any bike High quality in-helmet voice instructions - from Cardo scala-rider wireless Bluetooth headset Superior Li-Ion battery - long-lasting 5H battery, for hours of hassle-free riding On-bike charging - battery cable provided for those longer rides Adapts instantly to car use - just fit the RIDER car mounting kit with speaker on the windscreen of the car, switch on and you're away Predictive address entry - just like your mobile, as you type in the first letters, up comes the street/city name you're looking for Precise and accurate - turn-by-turn spoken instructions given in plenty of time Fast route calculation and fast re-adjustment Multi-lingual - RIDER voice instructions come in 36 languages and 50 different voices Anti-glare screen and sun visor for an optimal view at all times Dimension - 4.46 x 3.79 x 2.08 Weight - 11 ounces
Tom Tom Rider 2 2008-02-17
This is our first GPS and as much as it cost you would think it would have more on it. You pay a lot just for the water-proof case! I would think they could include some of the options that you find on non-water proof GPS for the about the same price. We got it about 2 months ago and since we live in Ohio we haven't tried it on the bike yet. We haven't gone out of town yet so we have been using it around home to get use to it. It works well in the car but we have been using a styles to type and select the options, that will be a problem on the bike. Also when you look up a point of intrest it doesn't give you the address so if you're going to a chain store for example, it gives you the closest one and out from there but if that's not the one you want you don't know where the next one is without selecting it and looking at the directions. It would be nice to have the address or at least the street name so you can select the one you want. We were very tempted to return it and get a non-water-proof one and take or chances. Either way is a lot of money to spend and not have what you want.
Beware of Tom Tom 
2008-02-06
I am writting this review forty four days after receiving my TomTom Rider II for Christmas. Unfortunately I am unable to review the device because I have not yet been able to see it actually work. Currently I have been on hold for 58 minutes and thirty eight seconds with Tom Tom support trying to determine when the device will be returned to me. I have spent over six hours on the phone with their support team in an effort to get the GPS device repaired. I shipped it to the support center as requested, at my own expense, and a month later I am still waiting for it to be returned to me. Once the device is returned, if it is ever returned, I plan to send it back to Amazon and request a full refund. This is totally unacceptable. The people I have talked with in the support center have been friendly but have not provided much help. Buyer beware, Tom Tom support is the worst.
TomTom Rider 2 2008-01-13
Awesome product; the perfect GPS tool for motorcycle enthusiasts that enjoy touring but hate getting lost. Easy to use, mounted easily; simple enough for anyone to install.
Good GPS, OK interface, horrible tech support... 2008-01-07
my unit arrived with a defective memory card. from my computer i was able to access the data on the card and copy it to a new one which worked fine... i feel sorry for the more computer illiterate who wouldn't have figured that out. the Backup and Restore feature of the TomTom software doesn't do what it is supposed to... unless it's supposed to crash the application, then it's pure gold.
a call to tomtom customer support had me on hold for 2 hours before i was told that they wouldn't replace the defective card. i was told reformat it and see if that worked, if not, i would have to buy a new SD card at my own expense and download the data files from their website. a nice work around, but why should i have to pony up the additional cost due to their negligence on a brand new product? turns out the reformat did the trick.
over the next two days i spent an additional 5 hours on the phone between hold and actual tech support trying to figure out why the car mount speaker wasn't working. turns out it was defective, and the level of bureaucracy in getting the unit replaced was excrutiating. i ended up sending it back to the retailer since the recommended and proper channels were painfully inefficient.
i have to say if you DO have to deal with tech support, all 3 people i spoke with were very helpful and friendly, even if they weren't immediately knowledgeable with their products ("oh, the car mount has a speaker built in? are you sure?")
yes, the power button is a pain, you have no idea whether you've actually triggered something or not. it feels like magic when the unit actually pops on because by that point you just aren't expecting the effort is doing any good.
the Rider 2 does have a trip meter and a speedometer... not sure what other reviewers are talking about.
the only thing missing for me is an altimeter. not necessary, but for geeky fun, i wanted to know just how far below sea level i was in death valley... seems like with all the other unnecessary (to me) frills, the addition of this would have been a no-brainer.
navigating the menus is kind of clumsy without a "back" button. for example, when choosing a destination i had several options come up that began "Joshua Tree National Park" and the rest of the information ran off the page so i couldn't immediately tell which one was North entrance, West Entrance, South Entrance until selecting it (i have since discovered by holding the selection for a few seconds, it would show the entire name) but if i selected North Entrance and realized once i saw it on the map that it wasn't the one i wanted, there was no option to go back and select one of the others. i had to select Done, which took me back to the main display, and then start over with my search.
was able to sync with my iPhone, though the tomtom recognized it as "localhost". the headset works fine, but the earpiece distorts when loud enough to actually hear while riding.
all in all i'm happy with it, but then it's my first GPS and i have no comparison. my brother bought the Garmin Zumo 550, so once i have a chance to compare the two, i'll return and update my review.
