Garmin zūmo® XT2 | The advantages of using a purpose-built motorcycle sat nav

Paid partnership with Garmin

When it comes to navigating on a motorcycle, there are loads of options to choose from these days. And a purpose-built standalone sat nav represents a significant investment for the rider so it can be tempting to have your head turned by free smartphone apps (or old-school paper maps).

But there are plenty of reasons that a proper, dedicated sat nav is still the way to go. Options like the latest Garmin zūmo® XT2 are about so much more than simply getting you to your destination these days, they can enrich the riding experience, break you out of the monotony of your usual routes, make it easier to ride in a group and much more besides.

Keep your phone stowed safely away

Your smartphone is likely to be one of the most valuable things you carry with you on a ride. Aside from its monetary value (the latest top-spec iPhone costs almost £1500!), it’s your link to the outside world through calls, messages, apps and internet access. It’s the difference between having a hotel room or campsite booking and trapsing from place to place to ask for price and availability. More seriously, it could be the difference between having an ambulance on the way or not…

So, with all of that in mind, you probably want to keep your phone stowed away in the safest place possible – and that’s not clicked into a bracket on your handlebars. Aside from the vulnerability to impact, things clamped to handlebars can be prone to vibration and there are historical examples of smartphone components failing thanks to this. Smartphone mounts often come with vibration dampers to counteract the problem (sometimes an added extra) but the most effective solution is to keep your phone somewhere else.

The Garmin zūmo® XT2 is purpose built and designed to withstand any amount of vibration your bike can throw at it. You can also still control your phone through it, so you don’t lose any of your communication or entertainment functionality, either.

Take the guesswork out of routes with smart mapping

We’ve all been there – you want to take a scenic route home from work or break out of the routine of A- and B-roads you’ve ridden countless times before but you don’t know where to start.

Sure, you can scour Google Maps (or a paper map) and find some wiggly-looking B-roads to head for, but that takes time many of us simply don’t have. There are plenty of smartphone apps that can find you curvier roads and extend your route to find them but you can end up stuck in a 20mph limit average speed check area because it looked like an epic twisty in the map.

The Garmin zūmo® XT2 will remove all the guesswork and risk of exploring new places and you can set your route in seconds so your free time is spent riding rather than planning.

With Garmin Adventurous Routing, you use a simple slider to set how adventurous you are feeling and the unit will connect curvy or hilly roads together for you. But beyond that, the Popular Rides map layer shows you where most riders have been before – a pretty reliable indication that it’s a route worth trying – and Michelin Scenic Routes will find you scenic roads rather than just those with more corners.

And finally, Garmin’s off-road guidance will take adventure bike riders to dirt or gravel routes and the new trail surface details function means you won’t get any nasty (or boggy) surprises when you get there.

Kick out the [traffic] jams

We bikers don’t have to worry as much about traffic as cars or other vehicles because we can often filter through or around it*. But picking your way through a tailback isn’t what most of us want to do on a sunny Sunday ride-out. Luckily, the Garmin zūmo® XT2’s planning software takes this into account and will divert you around the worst of the jams to keep your ride flowing and fun.

You can also use it to avoid nasty weather so your waterproofs can stay packed away in your luggage for as long as possible.

*Garmin encourages safe driving practices and recommends that you abide by local laws.

- Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this page, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us.