r1200gs tft display review factory

A: You really didn"t read the manual did you? Fine. From the home screen on the TFT, hold up on the menu button. You"ll see an icon in the top left corner of the display light up that says "Nav". That means you"re currently controlling the Nav device in the cradle. Press down once on the menu button, and you should see the icon flip back to "TFT".

There is a worrying trend thieves are now targeting TFT display screens which can be easily removed from unattended motorcycles. Mainly affecting certain BMW models, and costing upwards of £500 to replace, Nippy Normans have produced an anti-theft brace to protect valuable screens from opportunist thieves.

Made from stainless steel, the Anti-Theft Brace fits neatly around the TFT and bolts to stop it from being removed. It attaches to existing mounting points — no fiddly fitting kits or drilling required. It is powder-coated in black to blend in with the machine’s styling and protect against corrosion.

As you would expect, it’s precision cut and shaped so as not to obscure any of the information displayed on the TFT. It also features a built-in sun visor to help make the screen easier to read in bright light — often a problem with shiny, reflective TFTs.

TFT Screen Anti-Theft Brace is available for BMWs F850 Adventure, F900 R/XR, S1000 XR (2020-on), R1200GS LC/Adv and R1250GS/Adv. Included are required fixings. Prices start at just £49 (incl. VAT) and available from www.nippynormans.com

By now, if you had any interest in the NAV5, you probably know the specs but for those who don"t know, it has a bright 5" TFT resistive touchscreen color display with a resolution of 800x480 pixels and supports 65K colors. The display supports either Landscape or Portrait orientation but only when the NAV5 is not in the Four Button Mount or the GPS Preparation Mount. The display certainly isn"t high-res by current smartphone display standards but it is more than adequate for GPS receivers that need to be seen well in direct sunlight. I"ve found the on-screen text, graphics and color contrasts to be very good if your eyesight is "growing older" like mine. There is a slot for a customer supplied micro-SD Card that supports a capacity of up to 64GB and must be formated as FAT32: most come this way. It"s not easy to get to the micro-SD Card as it"s slot is underneath the Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery pack which is behind a screwed down cover. Garmin supplies a nice little screwdriver with the NAV5: don"t forget to take it with you. The NAV5 comes with City Navigator North America or City Navigator Europe maps preinstalled and includes Lifetime Map Updates.

If you"re going to use a NAV5 on a 2013+ BMW R1200GS, K1600GT/GTL or a 2014 R1200GS Adventure, you will want to purchase the device without the Four Button Mount. But, you will need to make sure the bike is configured with BMW"s GPS [Navigation] Preparation Mount which is a Dealer/Factory installed option. The GPS Prep Mount doesn"t have any buttons, it has an extra cable that links the NAV5 to the bikes LIN bus and the new multi-controller switch on the left hand-grip as seen below.

As a friend pointed out to me recently, the multi-controller switch turns the new BMW"s into a "remote control" for the NAV5 and clearly a safety feature that everyone should have for their GPS: at least that"s what he told his wife after he purchased the NAV5 (he now owns a 2014 R1200GS Adventure).

If you don"t own a 2013+ BMW GS, K1600GT/GTL or a 2014 R1200GS Adventure don"t despair, you can buy the NAV5 with BMW"s Four-button Mount. And, for an additional $18 you can also purchase an adapter pigtail for the Power Plug (BMW p/n 83 30 0 413 586) which will make it easy to adapt the NAV5 to any bikes 12vdc system. You won"t have the added benefit of linking to the bikes Trip Computer and LIN Bus like the bikes listed above but you will have buttons. Those of you who have been waiting for a new unit to replace your GPSMAP 276/376/379/478/479 take notice.

NOTE: The NAV5 screenshots I include in this review contain a lot of Portrait Mode views. This is for publishing purposes. Most users will be using the NAV5 in a BMW Mount which forces Landscape Mode. All screenshots have been scaled down to 400x240 pixels.

Over the past year I"ve been fortunate to be able to put a lot of miles on my bikes with various GPS receivers. Before the Apps and the large displays it"s really about how well the GPS receiver records your position. The GPS software must also record a good representation of your travels in the Trip Log. The NAV5 GPS is certainly not as "good" as my Garmin Monterra with it"s GNSS (GPS & GNONASS) receiver but it marks a location within the devices claimed specs of 10ft (3m) reliably. The Trip Log does exhibit quite a bit of noise when stationary like most of Garmin"s On The Road devices so you will usually need to do some editing to clean up your Trip Log Tracks when you"re home at the computer if you reuse or share them.

The bikes Instrument Cluster also has a number of sensors that can provide some interesting information as well as control of the NAV5 itself. For example, if you enable the Garmin Lock feature on the NAV5 with a four digit PIN code and location, when the NAV5 is mounted it links the bikes VIN number as a security code. Mount the NAV5 on the bike, turn on the key and the NAV5 will startup and unlock: no need for the Garmin Lock PIN code. If the NAV5 is removed from the mount the Garmin Lock PIN Code is required (unless you"re at your Security Location). BMW says you can link up to FIVE bike VIN numbers to one NAV5: cool, more bikes! On a less bright side, the NAV5 screen backlight brightness can be controlled by the Photo Sensor in the bikes Instrument Cluster. To enable this feature, on the NAV5 go to Settings->Display->Backlight and check the "Automatic" box. This Settings option is only available if the NAV5 is mounted to the bike and the key is ON.

Status - The Status & Warning Alerts use the same map button location and Alert pages as the Weather Alerts discussed previously and only shows on the Map page when the NAV5 receives one of the alerts noted below. When you do receive an Alert(s) you will hear the two-tone "alert" sound in your Headset and there will be a "banner message" momentarily displayed at the top of the map.

These are the same alerts that you will see on the Instrument Cluster display but with verbose information messages and/or the ability to generate helpful navigation information. The alert button on the map page will indicate how many items there are on the Map Notifications page. Pressing the alerts button on the Map Notification page will bring up it"s message or, in the case of Fuel Reserve Warning, generate a Where To? search for Gas Stations near your current location.

While I was waiting for my 2014 R1200GS Adventure to arrive Mr. Bob MacFarland(Emoto) provided me with the My Motorcycle Apps screenshots above using a NAV5 mounted on his 2013 R1200GS. Thanks Bob!

All of this is displayed on a bright and easy-to-use 5.7-inch TFT display on the RT that returns unchanged for 2019, but the GS and GSA get new tablet-sized 6.5-inch TFTs with Navigation, Media and Smartphone app Bluetooth connectivity and enough menu options and information to launch the space shuttle. Once you figure it all out, zipping through all of the selections is quick and easy with the Multi-Controller wheel on the left bar.

Forgetting about all of the bells and whistles, though, just how well do the new 2019 R 1250 GS, GSA and RT work? I started out in Palm Springs on a GSA, and was immediately pleased to find a new low adjustment position for its rider’s seat, letting me at least get the balls of my feet on the ground now, and I have a 29-inch inseam. Once I got the “dongle” installed under the seat that enables all of the “Pro” functions of the ride modes, I fiddled with the larger new display for a while but decided it could wait until lunch and kept my eye on the traffic and our group leader, who was in a serious hurry to get to the dirt section. The increased power, acceleration, smoother power delivery and throaty exhaust bark of the new engine is quite welcome, and on the road the Dynamic ESA works really well with the longer-travel suspension of the GSA to provide a soft but well-controlled ride.