14 DAY TRIAL // For most people, the idea of riding a motorcycle can hardly be associated with the image of a GPS-enabled personal navigation device. However, bikers often need GPS devices for guidance as well, and that's the reason why the German company Becker has just announced at the IFA 2008 show from Berlin the "Crocodile," a special PND that features a very tough and rugged external casing, while at the same time being equipped with a user-interface everyone (including people riding motorcycles) will probably consider to be quite interesting and easy to use.
First of all, let's see where this device (officially known as Traffic Assist 100) gets its rather unusual name from. As you can see from the photos, this thing sports a stylized reptile-skin finish, the outer casing being manufactured from a water-resistant material and displaying an organic, tapered design.
Although this rubber-coated, water resistant PND can also be easily used in a car, it is ideally suited for motorbikes. And that's because the 4.3-inch widescreen color display with day and night view features a special graphic guidance system that makes it easier for bikers to read the display in low visibility conditions with a closed visor. Furthermore, this GPS navigator is also quite easy to operate, since a light tap on the display switches from map to full-screen, high-contrast arrow navigation.
And speaking of navigation, it's quite important to mention the fact that the PND offers users a huge array of choices from this point of view as well. First of all, drivers are offered no less than four different functioning modes (car, lorry, pedestrian or motorbike), each with its particular route options. Then, the navigation software includes loads of attractive features, as for example the Terrain View display, which opens up to the horizon and is especially helpful when driving over hilly terrain or on winding roads, or the possibility to view buildings in 3-D mode (plus more than 1,000 photorealistic 3-D images of European landmarks).
The navigation software also offers users an integrated route planner, which comes in handy for longer journeys, allowing users to schedule complete routes by entering intermediate destinations from the extensive selection of POIs (points of interest), by adding destinations already visited, or by entering addresses directly. All of the aforementioned features are possible due to the built-in Navteq navigation maps.
The Becker Crocodile comes standard with a universal suction cup mounting system, a power cable for the cigarette lighter, a TMC dipole antenna and a USB cable to connect to a PC, while a mounting system specially designed for it is available for bikes. And all of these just for the affordable price point of 300 Euros, official from the moment this device will arrive in stores, at some point in October.
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