Smartphone as navigation device and durability

I have 48k miles on my iphone 6 with a ram 6" handlebar mount. It slung out of the mount twice on some really bone jammer hits. Luckily the charging cord held it. I use a Lifeproof case. They rock.

I have 3200 miles (about 1200 off-road) on an iPhone 6s in a lifeproof case mounted to my handlebar with a Ram mount. No issues. I'm using it to do the MABDR and TAT this summer.

Read the Kyocera phone thread and several others on this topic and beyond.

I'm tempted to run my iPhone 6 as a non-cellular, stand-alone GPS. That would preserve my iPhone X and save me from having to shell out nearly $500 for a Garmin Montana 680t.

Definitely doable. Scenic and OSMand are good apps. Screen brightness may be an issue in direct sunlight though.

--mark

Valid point. I've come to use both Gaia GPS for following tracks and recording tracks. I use Avenza some, as well.

I swore I'd not got through another season without a dedicated GPS but lots of people here think a smartphone is the better way to go. The issue for me is rain. My Samsung S5 is water resistant but when the port detects moisture it stops charging and drains in a matter of hours even with the screen turned off. It's a constant struggle and source of anxiety to keep it charged when touring. Any suggestions?

Round magnetic USB cable . Silicone the adaptor on the fone side

buy extra batteries. no drama, no cords, easy peas

Just got back from a 1,000 mile trip using the Kyocera Duraforce Pro. Mounted on my handlebar in a SlipGrip cradle on a RAM ball/arm. Ran Guru Pro and TomTom Go apps. Everything worked perfect, even in the rain. One day, there were a few minutes that the screen was a little hard to read due to the sun, so just held my hand over it or leaned body over it for a couple seconds, no big deal. Starting with a full charge at the beginning of each day, the battery wouldn't get down to 20% for a good 5-6 hours. The el cheapo Bikemaster USB charger port had no trouble getting it up to nearly full charge, never needed to plug it into my main USB port.

i made a nice cordless charger mount with an xgrip and a qi charging puck glued on, and i think i may not bother with my zumo anymore. the thing i like about the gps is i could leave it on without a route and see the next corner or two whenever i looked down. is there an app that works that way? in other words, displays your position, rotates to direction of travel, and can be zoomed in and out, all without a route loaded? it would be a plus if it panned like a gps, not just a map view, but that's not a dealbreaker.

^ Every nav app out there should show your position and the road you are on, in real time, wether you have a route loaded it not

thanks @scootertrog. i guess i had a blonde moment. only nav app i use (other than google maps) is osmand and i now remember how to make it will rotate to direction of travel, just have to find the setting.

Thanks for the tip. I've just bought one plus a battery pack at Amazon.

Just to be clear, do you mean dielectric grease or silicone caulking, which would make the adapter permanent. I understand the concept but the two options are quite different.

Because the cord description indicated you can't do data transfer through a magnetic connection (only for charging), so I don't think the permanent install is desirable.

if you have qi charging then my solution is a good one
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C33V3T8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
glued to ram xgrip, silicone in the charger cord to charger to be safe
you can even use a waterproof sleeve for your pohone in a monsoon

No wireless charging on my phone, a Samsung S5.

I use RTV Liquid gasket . I just transfer by WiFi . You can still pull it out in a pinch with your finger nail . Just a little around the base of the plug . If the connector is on the bottom of the phone you may not even need it

Thanks for this. I ended up picking up a Kyocera Duraforce Pro on eBay for $50 and will use that as a dedicated GPS device, so I don't mind gluing the adapter in, especially if it solves my main problem.

Nothing you can't do with WiFi in my experience anyway.