Beeline Moto II

[Cabernet]

The Beeline Moto II landed on my doorstep on Friday. Just been out on a familiar run and the Moto II is far more intuitive. The original Moto was a fine little gadget for assisting with navigation, just to confirm our decisions for a route we’d already researched. However the Moto II is a real leap forward. It shows deviations in the road layout, and has impending turn alerts in blue LED.

[p6x]

On 6/9/2024 at 10:01 AM, Cabernet said:

The Beeline Moto II landed on my doorstep on Friday. Just been out on a familiar run and the Moto II is far more intuitive. The original Moto was a fine little gadget for assisting with navigation, just to confirm our decisions for a route we’d already researched. However the Moto II is a real leap forward. It shows deviations in the road layout, and has impending turn alerts in blue LED.

I considered the Beeline 1, and chose a different route.

Phone's application are usually more reliable since they are getting updated in real time. I am aware that Beeline 2 is coupled to your phone via Bluetooth.

My issue with any navigation display, is that they usually require longer than just a glance to take stock of what it is you need to do.

When it comes to driving, and motorcycle riding, I want to keep my eyes on the road at all times, and minimize distractions to the strict minimum. I acknowledge that you have turn alerts, but they may still require that you take your eyes from scanning all those hazards around you.

This is why I exclusively use audio navigation. I do not have to look at any display for more than just the fraction of the second, because all the instructions are spoken to me. Obviously, it is not perfect. The application I use has some bugs. I am getting wrong instructions, but it does not matter. If I take the wrong turn, then I am being told anyway. I only lose time.

I have my in ears audio, I have the double usage of getting wind noise filtered out, and intelligible audio. It took some getting used to perfectly understand the instructions, which may be confusing at times.

I set my destination, and switch off the screen, put my phone in my pocket. That also helps in saving the battery.

This is what works for me. I keep my eyes on the road at all times. I scan the dashboard too, but no longer than a quick check.

If you do not have perfect audio, voice guidance is useless as soon as you are at speed. Speakers in your helmet are fine in the city, but if you wear earplugs to avoid tinnitus on long rides, you can't ear anything.

 

 

[LowRyter]

I got an upgraded Beeline (metal case) after the first one failed.  It's worked OK.  Hopefully it won't fail too.  I used their web trip planner recently and it worked quite well.  Recommend it.  I think the Bee2 has a little more sophisticated graphics than the original?

I like the simplicity and layout of it.  I used to write notes down with highway numbers and turns  and put it in tank bag map pocket.  This is essentially the same with the advantage of getting a real time distance countdown to the next turn.

[Lucky Phil]

2 hours ago, p6x said:

I considered the Beeline 1, and chose a different route.

Phone's application are usually more reliable since they are getting updated in real time. I am aware that Beeline 2 is coupled to your phone via Bluetooth.

My issue with any navigation display, is that they usually require longer than just a glance to take stock of what it is you need to do.

When it comes to driving, and motorcycle riding, I want to keep my eyes on the road at all times, and minimize distractions to the strict minimum. I acknowledge that you have turn alerts, but they may still require that you take your eyes from scanning all those hazards around you.

This is why I exclusively use audio navigation. I do not have to look at any display for more than just the fraction of the second, because all the instructions are spoken to me. Obviously, it is not perfect. The application I use has some bugs. I am getting wrong instructions, but it does not matter. If I take the wrong turn, then I am being told anyway. I only lose time.

I have my in ears audio, I have the double usage of getting wind noise filtered out, and intelligible audio. It took some getting used to perfectly understand the instructions, which may be confusing at times.

I set my destination, and switch off the screen, put my phone in my pocket. That also helps in saving the battery.

This is what works for me. I keep my eyes on the road at all times. I scan the dashboard too, but no longer than a quick check.

If you do not have perfect audio, voice guidance is useless as soon as you are at speed. Speakers in your helmet are fine in the city, but if you wear earplugs to avoid tinnitus on long rides, you can't ear anything.

 

 

I don't really need nav on the bikes but I often wondered if this would work.

I spent a 42 year career in aviation and cared for my hearing immaculately after seeing a lot of the old guys I started working with deaf as posts. Always wore ear plugs on the bike and never went to loud music concerts or such things. Didn't stop me from getting Tinnitus though  

[audiomick]

3 hours ago, p6x said:

This is why I exclusively use audio navigation.

Different strokes, and all that. I have the audio on my navigation device switched off all the time, in the car and on the bike. I absorb information much better visually than aurally, and having to try and figure out what the machine is telling me is far more distracting that a quick glance at the screen.

48 minutes ago, Lucky Phil said:

 Didn't stop me from getting Tinnitus though  

Unfortunately, tinnitus is not only caused by exposure to loud noise. Mine is most likely to an extent due to noise exposure, but probably not entirely.

As far as I know, it is not really understood what all the causes could be, but I believe stress could be a factor, as well as who knows what else.

Fortunately I mostly don't notice mine unless I actively think about it, but when I do, it is really loud.

[Lucky Phil]

4 hours ago, audiomick said:

Different strokes, and all that. I have the audio on my navigation device switched off all the time, in the car and on the bike. I absorb information much better visually than aurally, and having to try and figure out what the machine is telling me is far more distracting that a quick glance at the screen.

Unfortunately, tinnitus is not only caused by exposure to loud noise. Mine is most likely to an extent due to noise exposure, but probably not entirely.

As far as I know, it is not really understood what all the causes could be, but I believe stress could be a factor, as well as who knows what else.

Fortunately I mostly don't notice mine unless I actively think about it, but when I do, it is really loud.

Yes same. 

Phil

[KINDOY2]

Quality hearing aids help with tinitus, After many years of working for Wide World of Sports as a camerman on the starting line at top fuel drag races, etc, listening to loud music, racing dirt bikes, riding street bikes,as well as hours sailing in the wind on the open Ocean all without ear protection in my younger years ,I used to have tinitus it was driving me batty, I then sought out a good audiologist who mostly works with concert musicians and other professionals. After thorough testing the hearing aids I got some very good hearing aids and they kind of changed my life..I could listen to music in my car and be amazed to hear words and instruments in my favorite music I had never heard, not have to ask people what they said repeatedly, and feel a part of conversations at the dinner table where I had begun just to tune people out. But most of all I mostly forgot about the tinitus unless someone mentioned it..It helps bring all those little external sounds and frequencies that you forgot you could not hear back into your hearing so you don't think so much about the noise in your head ..well worth the money to me..now of course I NEVER ride, not even around the block without good hearing protection.

[Pressureangle]

Tinnitis has always been a fascinating topic to me- I've always had it, since my earliest memories. It doesn't bother me at all, in fact in a very quiet environment I find myself playing with it rather like a musical instrument. I can ignore it to the point of 'absence' or I can make it amazingly loud. I suspect these are artifacts of perception more than a physical condition. In no way does it ever affect my hearing. 
I struggle to imagine what it would be like without it, and also what it must be like to acquire it after a life without it; Lastly, if there isn't some way to replace the annoyance with accommodation such as I must have. 
Separate thread?

[KINDOY2]

Yeah a separate thread seems appropriate..I started one on the subject a couple of years ago but didn't seem to generate much interest at the time.

 

[Scud]

I looked at the previous version, but passed. This looks better. It reminds me of using roll-charts, which show each upcoming decision, but can't give you the full context. I can see where this would be really useful in single-point city navigation, which I don't do much of.

I have a Cardo PacTalk for some of my helmets, which allows me to use voice commands to my phone and ask Siri for directions while I am riding. The ability to change destinations while riding seems like it would be a limitation of the BeeLine device.

I'm using the speakers in the helmet, I can still make out the directions with earplugs if I have the volume up high enough.

[docc]

2 hours ago, KINDOY2 said:

Yeah a separate thread seems appropriate..I started one on the subject a couple of years ago but didn't seem to generate much interest at the time.

 

This one?

 

[Cabernet]

Me, unfortunately not on my V11, but my CB300R. 

 

 

[p6x]

On 6/11/2024 at 7:14 PM, audiomick said:

Different strokes, and all that. I have the audio on my navigation device switched off all the time, in the car and on the bike. I absorb information much better visually than aurally, and having to try and figure out what the machine is telling me is far more distracting that a quick glance at the screen.

Absolutely, each one its own.

It is true that our brains are better wired for visual information; now keeping your eyes on the road at all times, scanning for hazards, is what I prefer to do. While the aural information dispensed by navigation apps is certainly perfectible.

In the USA, these apps provide additional voiced information, such as traffic, speed traps, possible hazards such as road flooding.

There is a learning curve to properly decrypt the voiced turn indications, and once you get it down, it is fairly easy to never miss a turn.

Mainly, driving in Houston is a much more challenging environment that requires keeping your eyes on the road at all times. Unlike Europe, drivers text and drive, hold their phones in hand. The roads are filled with debris of all kinds, including pieces of regrooved tires, lost equipment, you name it.

[audiomick]

6 minutes ago, p6x said:

 Unlike Europe, drivers text and drive, hold their phones in hand.

Not any more. They do that here too...

 

 

@Cabernet it's amazing how many lanes a road can have, isn't it.

[p6x]

18 hours ago, audiomick said:

Not any more. They do that here too...

oh! shocking.... I would have never thought the German people would transgress the law.

In France, the only time you can use a phone, is with a hands' free system integrated with your vehicle. It used to be that you could install one if your card did not have one, but they modified the law to prevent people to simply connect their phones to earbuds via Bluetooth. Phone integration needs to happen through the cars' audio system.

All the modern cars have that anyway.