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Re: [St] st Ear plugs, GPS, music and convergence



Well for me, the whole thing came together and CONVERGED last year when they
finally got GPS in to PDAs (Windows Mobile mobiles!).

The real revolution in safety for mc navigation is having spoken
instructions (via an ear piece), hence you never have to take your eyes off
the road when navigating to look at a tank bag map and/or GPS. So here is
what I use:

HTC Touch Cruise PDA running standard Windows Mobile 6
(http://www.htc.com/www/product.aspx?id=794)  Basically a computer (and of
course tri-band mobile, camera video etc etc) in your pocket with a bulit in
GPS. I have a 8gig micro  disk in it (the size of your little finger nail)
which holds everything and then more.

This runs simultaneously:

- TomTom Navigator 6 with Western Europe Maps (just 1 gig)
I use British Home counties voice 'Jane' as even when I am riding fast she
soothes me! I tried using John Cleese but found the laughing in my helmet
too distracting!
- Integrated Speed Camera alerts for all Europe (via TomTom). Switzerland
(from where I write) is excluded because of a ban here, but that is fixed in
10 seconds via a Google and a download :)
- Windows Media Player for music (although I choose to use the better
Coreplayer)
- a very small app called TxttoSpeech (or something similar) that speeks my
SMS messages. (Sounds a bit like Stephne Hawkings, but it gets your
attention!). I let calls go through to message bank. Can't answer them on
the bike anyway (without compromising saftey), so why try to?
- tracking software if I want to record where I have been (I use the
excellent Run.GPS by eSymetric (http://www.rungps.net/Wiki.jsp?page=HomeEN)
This will even broadcast a live track if you want the misses to know where
you are!!!

Basically (and if I want) I listen to softish music most of the time. Slows
me down. TomTom (and speeed camera alerts) comes in over the top when
needed. The tracking software has voice over for lots of things too if you
want. The TxttoSpeech software cuts everything out while it speaks.

Battery life running all this lot (and sometimes more), plus stopping and
taking photos/videos, internet etc etc (yes, all with the same device) is
about 5-7 hours. So I carry a spare battery which is about the size of your
thumb. There really is no need for wires etc, and after 12 hours its time to
get off the bike!

For planning routes beforehand I use another excellent application called
TYRE which is the fastest Google API out there and downloads TomTom
itineries straight to TomTom Home and/or direct to PDA.
http://www.janboersma.nl/gett/index.php

All this is done with ONE small gizmo in the pocket.

For earphones I tried loads which were noisy, gave me ear ache etc until I
discovered the only real ones that do the trick, i.e. noise
blocking/sealing, noise cancelling, comfortable, small enough to get under
the helmet and good music quality: http://www.etymotic.com/ephp/er6i.aspx I
can wear these all day every day at very high speeds without a problem. The
noise blocking is good enough that I use them just as plugs on track days.

I'd recommend this to almost everyone. The only thing you really miss
sometimes is a visual display, but you shouldn't be looking at that really
anyway should you? As a compromise, I sometimes stick the PDA in my tank
bank map holder (when touring I usually carry a 1:400 000 map for
on-the-road route planning) and have TomTom set to 'Safety' mode, i.e.
minimal visual display so as not to distract you. The earphone lead easily
threads up in to my jacket

I don't use bluetooth because I don't need it and because it sucks power
(wait for BT2)

Folks, convergence has arrived. The horror days of having 5 gizmos with
power lead rat's nest hell, really are gone. Hooray :) 

Barry
2006 Sprint ST 1050 Sapphire Blue (with no leads hanging from it :)


 
> Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 18:22:01 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Todd J <me_shucker@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [St] Ear plugs, noise reduction and music
> To: Sprint List <ST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Message-ID: <149450.50592.qm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
> 
> All this chatter about bluetooth, Tomtoms, Garmins, iphones, 
> etc makes me wonder more about ear plugs and their ability to 
> reduce the road noise and still produce quality sound. 
> ?
> So, tell me folks, do you find that the ear plugs work for 
> both noise reduction and work well enough to produce decent 
> sound quality? 
> ?
> I ride with just ear plugs to reduce road noise, helmet roar, 
> etc. I have considered using my mp3 player while riding but 
> wonder if I am defeating the purpose of the ear plugs 
> (protect my ears from sustained loud noise) by playing my 
> music loud enough to be heard?over the background noise. 
> ?
> Is there a perfect match? Noise cancelling AND sound quality 
> w/o sacrificing your hearing?
> ?
> Personally I really like the sound of the 955 at 8K rpm and 
> dont want to miss it. I also like that when riding I am away 
> from all those things that distract me all day. And finally, 
> I like it when I take my plugs out after a long day my ears 
> arent ringing and I can hear my kid. 
> ?
> Todd


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