Most often, writing comes easy, like engaging the clutch on your bike. Seldom do I find myself having to concentrate on the act of riding? Today is not one of those days. My winter of discontent has arrived. The temperature isn’t particularly cold for where I live, but with a special weather statement in effect and snow falling continuously, it feels like spring is far away.
So, rather than curl up and ignore the obvious outside the window, I find it is mentally beneficial to either research or read an article that allows my mind to find the place where I am best suited. As I thought about the day this morning I decided to watch “Ryan Kluftinger or Ryan F9” as he is better known to speak on the subject of “Best Riding Apps for the Motorcycler”. I had watched this episode of Fortnine before, but I had not contrasted and compared the apps that I presently use, as I had found them adequate, and cheap.
On this occasion, I decided to open my existing applications and a direct comparison to those Ryan recommended, and see if they stood up to scrutiny. In short, they didn’t. It came to me, that usually, I find Ryan’s comments to be both accurate and timely, particularly when it comes to product comparisons and the utility of the product in question. His videos are usually succinct and enable me to have a clearer appreciation for the product or products in question. On this occasion, two products that I had been using led me to apply further scrutiny.
I was using REVER, a motorcycle trip planner, and ride tracker. I have been using the product for a year, and found it to be adequate, but somewhat annoying in that the interface did not seem to have the fluid ease I wanted when arranging waypoints and being a solo rider for the most part, did not find the social aspects of the app, all that important.
So today, I spent some time trying the product that I think I’ll replace it with, Scenic. Scenic still allows me to plan, ride, track, and share my rides but allows me turn-by-turn navigation, both on screen and by voice command, round trip generation, route import and export of GPX coordinates, as well as altitude profiles. Rever does have LiveRIDE which enables you to list several contacts who will automatically be informed by phone if you have an accident. This is accomplished through the accelerometer of your phone. You can also use Butler Maps and download your planned ride for use when out of connectivity. It enables weather overlays, and shows satellite maps, wind speed, and storm alerts.
Scenic, in turn, being built specifically for motorcyclists, will enable you to find and plan the straightest, curviest, paved, or dirt route you wish to take. Where Scenic shines, however, is in the planning of your trips. It has a much more intuitive and easy route planner. There is, however, one big catch. It will only run on IOS or Apple Mac, not on a PC. Fortunately, for me, that is not an issue, but for those who want to use either a PC or Windows laptop, you simply can’t. I’ve linked Ryan F9’s video to this blog, so that you can appreciate why he chose to use Scenic versus any of the others, as there are many, navigation and ride-planning apps. Also, to gain all the features of Scenic, you need to purchase the Pro plan, which is $23 per year.
Have a look at Scenic, but first, watch the Fortnine video. You may find that following Fortnine for up-to-date videos on a variety of motorcycling subjects to be worth your time. Note that the app has been updated since the making of the video. There are new features which didn’t exist at the time of the making of the video. Also, the price has gone up from the $10 he was complaining about.
Personally, I find it’s worth the price, and the new features outweigh the price increases.
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