I've been on the lookout for a new GPS device for 2019 R 1250RT for a little while now. I have the Garmin Navigator VI that came with the bike, and while the GPS device itself is still working very well, the user experience with the trip planner Basecamp is poor. Basecamp has good features and I rather like its trip planner, but the application runs so poorly on my Mac that I have on multiple occasions screamed into my computer while the mapping interface stutters along, unable find basic addresses, or just outright crashes.
Earlier this year my entire Basecamp library became corrupted and I lost all of my ride data that I had saved into the software. Worse still, the backups I had somehow also became corrupted. Thankfully, most of my data was saved externally as .kml files, but I did lose about six months of rides and the elevation data that comes along with those .GPX files.
I really began to look hard at some alternative GPS solutions entirely because Basecamp is terrible to use. I was hoping that BMW themselves would pull through with their recently announced BMW ConnectedRide Navigator. Unfortunately, the dimensions do not fit in the nav prep on the K1600 or R1250RT bikes.
I've given some serious consideration to the Garmin Zumo XT, which is very well regarded and does not utilize the Basecamp. I was just about to pull the trigger on it when a newcomer emerged with a CarPlay/Android Auto device called the AIO from Chigee.
They just released a BMW focused version that fits in the existing Nav prep cradle. I received my AIO-5 this past Friday and put a little over one hundred miles on it today, so here are my first impressions.
Chigee AIO-5 for BMW
First up, I think it is worth clarifying what this device is and what it is not. It is not a stand alone GPS device. It requires a smartphone connection and consequently a GPS or driving app on the phone. There are at least half a dozen motorcycle focused apps for iPhone, but I am going to focus on Apple Maps and Rever.co on my first impressions here.
The AIO-5 has no internal battery, so it can only be powered on when connected to the bike. I was able to get it to read all of the data like engine temperature, tire pressure, etc. but I was unable to get the AIO-5 to respond to the BMW Wonderwheel. Looking at the Facebook Group it appears that my 2019 model RT may require an additional dongle. That's disappointing, but not a deal breaker.
The Chigee interface essentially has two main screens. The first one shows basic speeds, RPM and other data and mimics the dashboard of the new LCD model BMWs. The other shows the screen in a more grid view. Both screens are fine, but the biggest issue that jumped out at me is there is no "light" mode for the background. Everything is dark, which honestly can be hard to quickly read on a full sun day.
I also noticed that the screen brightness on my device was a bit wonky, dimming randomly at times. It is also super responsive to switching to night mode. Driving through an underpass had the interface in the maps switch to dark mode. This may just be a firmware issue that could just get updated in the future.
The only other thing that really jumped out at me is that there are way to many touches to jump between the Chigee dashboard and back to a map app running in CarPlay. I think there was probably 3-4 button presses, which makes it difficult to switch if you are driving.
CarPlay Interface
If you are at all familiar with CarPlay, the interface here is just CarPlay. It's good, but if I am being honest, I don't really like it on a motorcycle. There is just too much going on most of the time and you can tell that the interface is not optimized for a screen this small, with the rider ~3' away. On a motorcycle, I just want to be living in the map interface 99% of the time. The Split View with the music, while cool, is just a distraction on a bike. CarPlay also has a persistent menu on the left hand side of the screen that prevents any app from filling 100%. I wish that could be tweaked.
Also, CarPlay does not allow you to remove the phone or Messages icons. If I could I would prefer to turn both of those off entirely. I do not want those distractions while on the bike.
My experience with Apple Maps was fine. I know a lot of motorcyclists online say stuff like "why don't you just use Apple or Google Maps" for your routing, and for running errands or going to work, that is 100% fine. Any sort of multi-point route planning or multi-day trip planning though is not ideal for those apps. For that, I am going to explore other apps.
The other big observation with Apple Maps is that the text on the screen is just not big enough. This is probably because it is built for a car with a larger screen, but it is what it is.
Rever.co
I also had a chance to test out Rever.co today, thankfully it did pickup a lot of the slack that Apple Maps left behind. I am going with Rever right now in part because I think it most closely matches the features that I liked on my Garmin. Having both weather data and traffic data on the map to re-route is incredibly valuable for long road trip planning.
The Rever app looks pretty good, but their CarPlay capabilities are kinda weak. It looks like it is more or less a screen mirroring device, and I was not quite sure how to trigger a ride recording on the CarPlay screen vs the iPhone app. It also was a bit unclear how to request a "twisty roads" ride from the CarPlay screen.
The iconography though was much better and easier to read than Apple Maps. The Pro version also has some nice features like notifying people when you get home safe and you can set a privacy buffer for your home or any other address.
Rever also is most attractive to me for the sharing features of maps, etc.
Overall I want to develop some multi-day and multi-point routing in Rever in the coming weeks and really put it through its paces. I'll test out some other routing apps before the end of the year as well.