Meet Chigee! Wait, What??

April 24, 2025

Meet Chigee! Wait, What??

Time Marches On

When Heraclitus opined that "the only constant is change," I'm certain he was talking about technology. Aren't you?

Phones, laptops, televisions, stereos, washing machines, refrigerators, cars, hell, even doorbells. All "evolve." Change or die.

Back in February 2019, I "changed" from a Garmin satnav to a TomTom Rider 550. It was clear to me at the time that to plan and navigate the complex tertiary road routes I like to plan for Europe (and elsewhere) Garmin and their planning software was not going to work for me. The Rider 550 was a godsend at the time; easy to plan routes that were followed faithfully by the device (no "recalculating"). It was one of the things that made moto travel in Europe easy.

Mounted on Mia just before she left for the Fatherland:

Here we are, six years later. Although the Rider's performance has been generally stellar, toward the end of last year's trip, it developed an annoying problem: it would show the "lost power" screen and shut down, even though it was in the mount and getting power. Toggling the mount restored it, you know the universal fix...turn it off and turn it back on.

Annoying, and somewhat dangerous as you're riding along...

Contacting TomTom revealed a few things. They are no longer making the Rider 550, and are phasing out of all hardware. They now offer a phone navigation app called TomTom GO for $29/year as a subscription, with a free trial. Importantly, the GO app syncs with the MyDrive (now called Plan) route planner so all my saved routes can be accessed and new routes planned easily. I tried it out; it works as expected.

Then we bought Otto. Although the Porsche navigation system looks pretty, it is, like most, "point-to-point" and makes complicated route planning nearly impossible. But Otto is Apple CarPlay and Android Auto wireless compatible...and so is the TomTom GO app. Tried that out, works perfectly.

And I just changed over to an Apple iPhone 16, as did Krisanne.

Time to upgrade the bikes and put the Rider 550 on the shelf next to the iPod. Six years, it was a good run.

Enter Chigee.

Over the past few years, several companies have started offering Apple CarPlay and Android Auto "mirroring" devices for motorcycles. The Chigee is, in my opinion, the best of them. Nicely made, robust anti-vibration mount, waterproof, bright glove-compatible screen, good reviews from the early adopters.

Mounts up in the same place as the Rider...unit is similar size but the screen itself is a bit bigger. Wiring is the exact same: positive, negative and a trigger. Piece of cake. Ginger was the test mule.

Works just like CarPlay in your car. First, sync your phone to the Chigee using CarPlay. To get the turn-by-turn directions into my ear, I use a bluetooth dongle and in-ear isolating S-plug earphones, the exact same setup I've used for years with the Rider 550.

Just like CarPlay in Otto or any car, you can access the apps on the Chigee. In the shots above, I've got the TT GO app and Apple Music split screen...the bottom shot has the GO app full screen. The GO app has that wonderful "route bar" on the right, a rolling 30-40 miles of what's coming up on the route, like gas stations. Extraordinarily helpful, especially in Europe.

To make this all work in areas without a cell signal, the GO app allows you to download the maps for the areas you'll be traveling in. Easy and quick, you just have to remember to do it before you travel to the area. TomTom updates their maps regularly and you get a notice in the app that a map update should be done. Again, easy. You do need to be sure that your phone has sufficient memory.

A side benefit: any app that works with CarPlay will also work with the Chigee, like Google Maps and Apple Maps. Can be helpful if one map program can't seem to find what you're looking for. Easy to switch, just touch the icon.

And that's perhaps the biggest benefit to me: it all works the same now; car and motorcycle. I like easy.