waterproof phone for Sat Nav?
 

I had originally started to look for a dedicated Satellite navigation unit, but have also started to research phones (despite never feeling the need to own a smart phone).

I now see a number of phones on the market that are waterproof. This would seem advantageous , by not having to have a separate enclosure. But what happens to a waterproof phone when it heavily rains? Does the rain not activate the touch screen and cause weird behavior? Is there an option to lock the touch screen when running the Sat Nav app, and still be able to see the map / get directions? I think an ideal system would involve being able to manually lock the screen when the sat nav app runs, and only unlock the screen again using some specific swipe. Does anything like this exist? Or am I just dreaming about something that does not exist?

I've never experienced that - maybe because the phone is somewhat protected from the weather by the bike screen, but more likely because the phone displays are activated by a capacitance of electrickery between the users digit and the phone screen itself (I even sewed some capacitance/conductive thread into the end of my lightweight, summer gloves to assist this physics).

See the sticky thread in this area of the HUBB for stacks of discussion about smart phones used for navigation: there are loads of water resistant, rugged phones in the market nowadays.

The reason I say this is I have seen a couple of youtube videos where they spray water onto waterproof phones (to mimic heavy rain) and the water hitting the screen often causes the touch screen to activate.

I have used two different Cat Phones (an S60, and S50) and a rugged Kyocera. The Cat S60 worked great in the rain as a sat nav or phone. I never used it on my motorcycle, mostly because I was afraid I would lose it. The Kyocera worked reasonably well and was cheap from Verizon (around $70 US)

Hope that helps some.

The Cat S60 looks useful. It seem to be just the thing I need. It even says you can use it in the wet and with wet hands. Will also have a look at the other Cat models, as they may offer other features without the thermal imaging?

I went with the S60 for the thermal imaging specifically. The fact that it is waterproof to 5m for 30 min was just icing on the cake. I had the S50 at the same time as it was the only one that worked with Verizon at the time and I usually carry two phones for work. The S50 was nowhere near as good a phone, but was sufficient if all you needed was a basic smartphone.


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Out of interest why did you want thermal capabilities?

I am just looking at the CAT S41 which looks quite decent:

CAT S41
5,000 mAh battery (38 hours talk time and 44 day standby time)
GLONASS, GPS, aGPS, Beidou
Waterproof Up to 2m for 60 mins
microSD (up to 2TB)

It supports "power share" but seems strange you need a proprietary cable for this. With the advent of USB power delivery spec, you should not need proprietary cables.

Also I wonder how waterproof these CAT phones are when charging via usb? I wonder if there is potential of water ingress though the USB port?

I used to wonder about such questions then I simply bought one and got on with doing it (as the Nike advert used to say).

I also used to stick a bit of blu tack around the USB connection into my old garmin unit when using it on the bike - it was meant to keep out any moisture and stop the usb cable plug from vibrating out of the socket - the latter was reasonably successful.
There again, I also had a home made sun shield around that old garmin and I have never found the need for that with my phone.

Incidentally, if it were to really, really piddle down with rain, I disconnect the charge cable (the phone is always in a fully charged state when connected to the bike), close off the water resistant usb socket cover and reconnect when the heavy rain stops.
The phone runs GPS for about 3 hours continuous (from memory), depending on various variables.

The USB port is NOT waterproof on these phones. Like Walkabout said, just unplug it when the rain starts and plug it back up when it stops.


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But that's a problem if it rains all day! I remember one camping trip once where it practically rained for a week non stop!

I have had those trips too, and agree that is definitely an issue with the phone being the only GPS. That is one of the reasons I have decided that I need to get a proper motorcycle GPS. My phone ran GPS non stop for longer than 3 hrs, but certainly not bong enough for more than a day of rain.


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Problem is a lot of the dedicated units charge via USB, so would this not cause the same problems charging in the wet? I guess you could hardwire the unit in and plaster it with sealant / dry box, but I would imaging someone must make a GPS with a totally waterproof connector.

I wonder how those Qi wireless charging phones would fair, or one of the phones that uses a magnetic charger. Wonder if that is any more water resistant?

As I understand it, most of the GPS cradles that get hardwired handle the rain just fine. I had considered the inductive charging as well, but haven’t had an opportunity to try it in the rain.


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I have seen these and they do appear to work well. But I can only find them for dedicated GPS devices (not phones) The only thing for phones is completely waterproof cases. But that's not as convenient. At least with the dedicated GPS mounts it appears very convenient to remove the GPS when you park up.

This is ultimately why I decided that I was going to have to shell out for a dedicated GPS. I like my CAT phone, but unfortunately it will never replace all of the other devices that I carry every day.