We review the newest motorcycle GPS from Strike, the Genius BT.

Strike Genius BT Motorcycle GPS Review

If you are in the market for a motorcycle GPS, one of the first you should check out is Strike’s new Genius BT.
A while back we looked at the original Genius GPS – the new BT model improves on an already good product.

While navigating on a motorcycle is fine if you know where you are going, any trip that involves more than a few turns in an unfamiliar environment can result in frequent stops and that curse of motorcycling – taking your gloves on and off. You DO wear gloves don’t you?

The Strike Genius BT has a touch screen which allows for setting of the GPS with gloves on. With it connected to the supplied ear piece or paired to a suitable Bluetooth headset – for example one of Strike’s brilliant Scala Rider products – you get both on-screen directions, and the voice-in-the-ear prompts.

The unit features two modes, advanced, and simple. They work in a similar manner, with the simple mode showing less options regarding setup and functions. For most users the simple mode would be the better option.

The GPS unit also has a SD memory card slot, on which you could put music, video and eBooks according to the manual, but although handy, we would suggest that music would be better played through twin (stereo) earpieces rather than the single ear unit supplied with the Strike.

As the unit is made for motorcycle usage, it is both weatherproof and dustproof. It comes with motorcycle specific mounts, we used the tank sucker style mount when we trialled the original GPS, as the bike had fat bars which precluded the use of the bar mount.

This time we went for the handlebar mount on the V-Strom, as it runs standard size bars, however in the case of thicker bars, a larger diameter mount is now available (optional). Various power connections are included – we hooked it into the battery – but a cigarette lighter style plug is included if you have one of those on your bike. The GPS unit itself can be easily unclipped from its mount for security reasons if need be.

Using the device is reasonably simple, but we would recommend a read of the manual first, there are enough functions to confuse you if you aren’t careful. We used the device mainly to set a simple “A to B” type route, i.e. from current location to a town 100kms away. You can have either a standard overhead type map view, or an angled 3D view, which shows hills and elevation change.

The Strike BT adds some spice to this however, including showing points of interest along the way, for example, show all hotels along a route.

It also has a handy speed alert, particularly good on double demerit points weekends, and works better than a mother-in-law in the back seat. It also has an auto brightness adjuster, for best visibility in the day, and a little dimmer for night use.

The screen was easy to use, but despite the anti-glare screen, if you are riding with the sun over your shoulder shining directly onto the screen; it was a little hard to see. This meant the voice prompts were even more helpful.

While we didn’t use it off-road yet – we intend to – Strike says the unit’s maps include 4WD tracks. How extensive these are we can’t say, but are provided by Hema. The road mapping is from Navtec. For those that like to reminisce or show others where they have been, the unit can record the route, and then upload the route to Google Earth for onscreen – and online – viewing.

There is also no reason why you couldn’t see this unit do double duty in a car, and with the off-road maps, in a 4WD if you own one. Like most complex electronic devices, the GPS has far too many functions and settings to adequately cover in a review such as this.

If you want to get a better grasp of the unit’s functionality, do what we like to do, have a read through the instruction manual first. You can download an electronic copy from Strike’s website HERE.

The unit has a RRP of $499, but shopping around for a sale might save you a few dollars.

For anyone going on a lengthy trip, or traversing the suburbs daily to different destinations, the GPS is a must have!

You can view Strike’s website HERE

The Strike Genius BT GPS comes with the following

Motorcycle Mount
Earphone Headset and AC Charger
USB Cable – Car Cigarette Lighter Adaptor
DC Charger for direct connection to bike ignition or battery
Windscreen Mount
U-bolt bracket.
Free map updates for the first year.