Scenic Motorcycle Navigation Reviews

by Aloha Rider

I read the reviews and thought this was a great solution. We started on a motorcycle trip from Wyoming to the BMW Ralley in Tennessee. ScenicMotorcycleNavigation took us zigzagging through downtowns and residential areas (some of these were a lil sketchy to say the least!) When it should have sent us to the truck route. Although we requested no interstate it tried routing us to the interstate. We stopped and had lunch and had it paused after we were done and requested it to restart route, it tried to send us back to where we started that morning so we made the route from that point as a new beginning. We went in a compete circle...we followed when it had us driving on top of the "levy road" that turned into a two track gravel road. By following this apps route we have added no less than 5 hours into our trip. We would be ready to give up and it then seem to follow the paper map that we were using and we would think YES ITS WORKING! only to be fooled again! You have heard the saying "Fool me once shame on you,Fool me twice shame on me,Fool me thrice...THIS RELATIONSHIP IS OVER... DELETE!!! I will be stopping and getting paper maps for the trip home.

by Ruppbike

I have had ScenicMotorcycleNavigation for about 3 months and, with the assistance of the developer, have come to depend on it for both functions listed in the title.

Planning. Using IPad, the screen is large enough to create routes, which allows you to use the most unique feature supplied: the curvy setting. Once you get the curvy route drawn, use waypoints to lock them in, then edit the route allowing highways and/or efficient routing, and you can plan a day’s travel to meet your needs. The tip from Guido, the developer, that made this more possible is to look at saved trips in the edit mode, which allows for full screen viewing. Syncing your ride from the IPad and then on your phone allows you to take the route to the bike.

Riding. Once you have a trip route saved, or if you import and edit a publicly posted ride, you can then navigate it. The in-route map and turn-by-turn directions blue toothed into my helmet make following the route very easy. I like the features that show you where the next turn will be, speed limit and current speed and the map details.

Certainly download and use ScenicMotorcycleNavigation with the credits supplied, but take the time to learn how to use it. Once you do, if you like to plan out routes and then ride them, the price of subscription and credits needed for off-line maps, can be justified by the features described above, in my opinion.

by Scottcline69

I really want to love ScenicMotorcycleNavigation. Every time I use it, I find lots of great roads that I didn’t know about. Also every time that I use it, ScenicMotorcycleNavigation will route me in circles or tell me to go in a certain direction and then want me to make a u-turn. I always wear gloves when I ride so I can’t make corrections when ScenicMotorcycleNavigation crashes on me. I have to pull over, take off my gloves and try to fix the issue. I even upgraded to the premium version hoping that this would help. It didn’t.

So I have to change my review from 2 stars to 4. As I said, I loved ScenicMotorcycleNavigation but had issues with it sometimes routing me in circles. I reached out to the developer and received a response with in an hour. He told me how to work around the bugs until he releases the next update in a few months. At least, he does stand behind his product.

by Vandyraw

I was an early adopter of Scenic when it first launched and I was a big fan of it back then even though the developers were still working out some bugs. With the new update last year, I’ve really gotten to get to ScenicMotorcycleNavigation and realize at just how great it is for motorcyclists. I like that I can download maps that work for me with my subscription And I can always get more if I need them. I like how things on the screen are meant to be glove friendly with large buttons and very simple app navigation features. I love that I can now create a simple Nav route and it gives me various filters to use to customize the route. Long and slow. No problem. Most direct route, no problem. Also being able to create a custom turn by turn route using the route builder on the phone, during ride, is unheard of by the apps that I’ve seen. I’d like to see a few route organization with features like click these 10 routes and put them in this folder.

by Bryson Kiser

We use the program for our Porsche club activities. I have not been able to get the program to reliably route voice instructions to my 2020 Ford Edge. The phone is connected to the car using bluetooth and anyone calling the phone is answered by the car but Scenic doesn’t work correctly to announce the instructions to the car. We set the phone to use the internal speaker. We look forward to CarPlay being added with the new version. It is easy to create the routes in lots of different ways and the program works great no matter where the route was created. It is easy to create a route totally within the program. We look forward to the updates and will probably update to the lifetime version.

by Nursemommy78

After downloading a couple different apps only to find they required a purchased upgrade to add more than a handful of waypoints, I found Scenic. I plotted an entire 3-hour (suburban Fort Worth) ride with around 30 waypoints. It was great. It’s easy to use and has great options besides planning trips.

I haven’t used it for a few weeks as I don’t need it when commuting, but I opened ScenicMotorcycleNavigation today so I could see about paying for an even better version. And I’d be happy to pay for the version I already have.

I’m do not know the people or person that make ScenicMotorcycleNavigation and I submit this review without being compensated in any way by anyone. ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is that good. Just keep your eyes up.

by GeePete

I have used ScenicMotorcycleNavigation for 5 or 6 trips 99% off road. I really like ScenicMotorcycleNavigation. I tried it out for a while before upgrading to the forever version. I have a few issues with it that I have worked around one way or another, that is why I gave it 4 out of 5. Here are the issues I have had (keep in mind ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is mainly for riding pavement).
1. While planning my own off road routes ScenicMotorcycleNavigation often wants to take you out to a main road and re-route you on pavement instead of continuing on the dirt road/ seasonal you have been plotting points on. I wish there was a follow dirt option.
2. Because this follows Scout (a road map) seasonal roads often do not show up or simply end. On other maps and in real life the seasonal road/2 track continues on and ScenicMotorcycleNavigation tries to re-route you miles out of the way.
3. Be carful to check your entire route when you are using create your route because you can end up going down a road and it turns you back around the way you came. This is easily fixed while planning just be aware that it can happen.

Other than the items that I listed above, ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is top notch. I have other GPS units and I leave them in a drawer collecting dust. This is all I need.

by Dannysongs

Scenic is as good or better than a dedicated GPS unit. It turns your mobile device into an intuitive GPS with capabilities of creating your own routes . Yes , I know that most navigation apps have that feature but with Scenic it’a easier to import any of your favorites routes. . Personally I don’t like having a lot of farkle on my bike so just having only my mobile device keeps things simple.
And since most think mobile navigational apps are susceptible to lack of data coverage ( cell coverage ) with Scenic you just download the offline maps you need . They give a certain amount of credits so that you can download a good amount of maps but if you need more just purchase more credits and your good to go. Again just be sure that your mobile device has the room for extra data.
The reason I gave it 4 of 5 stars was due to the voice prompts. Just don’t like they way it sounds. Besides that it’s the go to motorcycle navigation app for me , go ahead give it a try.

by Tram57

this is an awesome program. It’s the first one I found that can legitimately replace a dedicated GPS device. It actually works better than a Garmin because of the ease of creating, editing, importing, and exporting custom routes. It will also generate curvy round trips in seconds. Just select the route distance and the general outbound direction of the trip and you can generate a curvy road route in seconds. It has become a simple one step process to import routes from Google Mymaps, or better yet, with this software, just create your own custom routes or convert tracks (called rides) you have done into navigable routes. It’s easy to share routes with other people. kudos to the developer! An unmet need has been met!

by SteweyB69

I have been riding street bikes for 30 years. I have lived in many of the most scenic areas in the USA. I seem to be the one organizing and leading rides with my group. For many years I have struggled with spending hours mapping out the best and most curvy rides and fumbling with maps on my tank to make sure I didn’t miss a turn. Typically a lot of u-turns.
This is the product I have been searching for!! Just plug in the # of miles I want to ride for the round trip, pick the general direction, select the amount of curvyness and click start! That simple and keeps me on track the entire time. Been living in Florida for 8 years now and this application is taking me to curvy roads I didn’t even know exist! This application has been great. I love it and highly recommend it.

by Tech In The Car

Update: I really appreciate that I can update an existing route with new vias and stops! And the user forum is a great source of information on how to do specific tasks, and specifically how features work.

I drive a Mazda Miata. I use Scenic to plan round-trip road trips including stops. I especially like its flexibility. There are configurable "detour" options to control the desired behavior if you miss a Via or a Stop accidentally or on purpose. That was a problem with other apps. I also like that I can import routes from Google via the Web App. I can create, copy, and edit routes on my iPad (for its larger screen) and then drive them on my iPhone. I have 50 routes saved and organized into folders for different types of trips, ready when I want to use them.

by EmanonPrez

First off, I’m not a tech nerd. This is not paid.
I’m just an average guy who can easily figure out how a new app works.

So, I’ve tried all the popular ones and right now Scenic is the easiest for me. It has more features than I’ll probably use but they don’t get in the way.

I especially like being able to choose a curvy route!

Now for the improvement part. ScenicMotorcycleNavigation has a habit on secondary roads of nagging. It says NOW TURN RIGHT ONTO (road) but it’s just a curve. On a road with dozens of curves this gets annoying pretty quick.
Also, it took us all the way the down a road to a highway then had us make a U turn, go back down the same road almost all the way to then make a turn to get back on track.
So I began testing this out. Scenic is very reluctant to simply modify the route if you miss a turn. It insists - and nags - you about U turns at every intersection until you either do it or get so close to being back on track anyway.
This needs fixing in my opinion. If you miss a turn, it should tell you, yes. It should tell you to make a U turn. But after a couple it should recalculate.

All in all though, I like it and it’s still probably the one I’ll keep using.

by Michael.Gaddis

I serve as a Road Captain with a large ride group, 300+ strong. My fellow road captains and I have been putting Scenic through its paces and trying very hard to break it. It refuses to yield even when we have put loops into our routes. ScenicMotorcycleNavigation flawlessly routes you through a prescribed route no matter what. Unlike inRoute or the Harley GPS, which failed our tests, Scenic is smart about routing you back to a route if you deviate. You don’t get endless requests for u-turns to go back to a missed waypoint. Also, because it only routes off downloaded maps you don’t need cellular data, which, for motorcycles hitting the countryside is an absolute requirement. InRoute was lost as soon as we got into the twisties. Great App, definite buy. The newest version is a whole new level of great. Five ++ stars.

by Rdenfam4

The night before a big ride I decided I need to up my trip planning and route guidance tools. I was still using routes designed in Google Maps that I printed and stuffed into my tank map pocket. I would run Waze as a way to always know where on the map I was. I was not willing to shell out the money for a dedicated GPS as I knew someone would eventually come up with an app for us bikers...hello Scenic. I less tag an hour I designed the route using Google My Maps, downloaded the KMZ file, dropped it into the Scenic Desktop App. Open ScenicMotorcycleNavigation on your iPhone, complete the download and go ride. Everything went flawless until my phone died on hour 6 the day of the ride (didn’t know my charger cord came unplugged under my seat). Given that, my ONLY comment would be to have the battery status be visible while using ScenicMotorcycleNavigation - oh, current time of day as well. Thx Guido!

by Bweisnee

I’ve live in middle TN area for many years and know a lot of fun roads to ride but when planning a ride typical mapping apps just get you there the fastest and don’t send you on the winding fun roads to ride.
I had taken a ride to Chattanooga last weekend on major roads so on the way back I wanted a challenge. It took me about 5 minutes once I dropped my start pin on the map to come up with a beautiful ride home up and down mountains on very challenging roads. I chose to pick my own roads, but if you don’t want to take the time do that simply put in your start and stop location and ScenicMotorcycleNavigation will give you an typical mapping route until you hit the winding road button and viola it reroutes you onto a scenic route you will enjoy. This feature will be nice when I’m somewhere I’m not so familiar with!
ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is very easy to use! Job well done!
After getting home from that first experience I actually paid for ScenicMotorcycleNavigation . For me that’s saying a lot about an app because I never pay for apps, but this one is worth it!!!!

Last night i sat down and planned out today’s adventure! I can see many fun rides in my future that take me to places that I’ve never ridden before because I didn’t have a way to plan my route the way I wanted to go, but now I can.

ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is amazing!

by ATahmission

I’ve looked at a lot of different options for navigation while motorcycling, and while there are a number of apps / devices that do some things well, Scenic is the only one that puts a check in the box next to all of my must-haves:

- has to have downloadable maps: Scenic gives you a set amount of credits for downloading maps of desired states, with the ability to purchase more. I live in New England, so I ride a lot of different states, but the allotted amount of credits has been enough to cover all the states I ride in (7 so far). There’s no pulling you in with 1 state and then dinging you for the rest. Also, when maps need updating, that doesn’t go against your credits. Scenic doesn’t have those hidden costs so prevalent today.

- has to accept custom maps from other sites: I use Kurviger to really detail my maps, and I love the fact that I can import this directly and simply. Scenic supports a number of formats from a number of different providers.

- has to have good, clean interface when riding. The interface is very simple and clean. It’s easy to glance down under way and not get distracted.

All in all a lot of great features and good value for the money. The only alternative I can see is a $700 Zumo, which, while nice, is hard to justify when Scenic exists.

by Marks454

I have been a Road Captain for a touring motorcycle riding club for several years. I’ve been using Garmin Basecamp for years to map out our rides. Basecamp is not user friendly, difficult to use, and takes way too much time to create a route. The Garmin motorcycle specific GPS’s are expensive and seem to get outdated quickly. I found the Scenic app by accident and decided to give it a try. It’s easy to see ScenicMotorcycleNavigation was designed by a motorcyclist for motorcycle riders. It is very intuitive, fast and gives you just the right amount of riding options without making it difficult to use. The yearly fee to be able to sync your planned routes between devices is very reasonable and well worth it. I can create my routes on my iPad and they sync to my iPhones automatically. Scenic has made my job much easier and I actually enjoy creating my club routes now. I highly recommend Scenic!

by PineappleStore

Sure there are better options out there for routing and navigating your rides but they’ll cost you $500+.

ScenicMotorcycleNavigation combined with a phone mount and power source is just as useful. Route sharing is easy and uses standard GpX files that are fairly universal no matter what system your friends are using.

Creating a route within ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is easy and can be done without struggle while eating lunch and shared with everyone immediately.

One of my favorite features is to search for already popular rides and edit them to cater to your needs along the route. This is like having a tour guide everywhere you go as many local riders share good routes for you to enjoy when you’re in a new area and for the most part I’ve found them to be some amazing rides I never would’ve found otherwise.

I’d recommend anyone give ScenicMotorcycleNavigation a try. Spend an hour or two playing around with it and I’m sure you’ll start to understand how it works and find new rides around your area you probably never knew of.

One downside is when your routing preference is set to “extra curvy” it will send you down a lot of dead end roads and it’s especially good at seeking out roundabouts. Not a major issue, just pay attention when letting it plan your route for you and you can fix it in less than 5 minutes using waypoints.

by ConcoursKirby

No, just kidding…I’ll always keep the paper map with me. But, the last trip I took was planned with Scenic exclusively. My brother and I took a 12 day trip from Pittsburgh to Nova Scotia. The paper map was only used for a broad overview. Not only was the planning nearly flawless with Scenic, the ability to save all of your trip info….route, breaks, time, distance, top speed, average speed, pictures, etc. is priceless. More things to refer to to remember your trips! A couple tips…check the route you plan before you go, on your other map app…..Scenic does not see road closures (to my knowledge). Also, know that in remote areas, the route could be gravel. It happened once on our trip. The road was still passable on my sport tourer….just not fun. ScenicMotorcycleNavigation is fantastic….get the premium and download the maps you need. I’ve tried others but this one blows them away. It’s well worth it!! JPK, Pittsburgh

by Waccou

Let’s face bikers spend lots of money on gear without question - but we get so annoying when we have to pay a few dollars for an app- we think everything should be free- well I am embarking on a 2000+ mile journey from New Orleans to Montreal and ScenicMotorcycleNavigation has proven to be absolutely amazing - I gave up trying to plan it out on the Garmin desktop app - ScenicMotorcycleNavigation was designed for bikers and it shows. It’s easy, intuitive, it crosses platforms so I can route plan on my iPad and pick it up on my iPhone while riding. Is it worth the $ to get the premium version with lifetime updates and offline maps - you bet it is - if we don’t patronize developers like this - top notch apps just wont exist. So for the price of a few tanks of fuel and a couple of burgers this is WELL worth it. Kudos to the developer here. Thanks and please keep it up.

by Alan.preston

I’ve been enjoying Scenic for a few weeks now, taking and creating many short and long trips to places I’ve never been. For the most part it has worked very well. I recommend it highly for finding curvy roads.

There are a couple things I’d suggest for improvements:

1) keep current on bridge closures and other detours and offer a way to “re-route” quickly. Being asked to make a u-turn over and over is frustrating when you definitely need a different route, you should be able to easily say “find another way!”

2) the pause and back arrows are jammed up against the edge of the screen making them harder to tap with gloves on.

3) so far it’s very rare if the speed limit is shown on the screen, even though that option has been selected

4) it would be nice to easily be able to trim a route of extraneous turns. Sometimes the person who recorded the public route accidentally made a wrong turn and just needs to get back on track. Since that’s recorded, like lemmings we all also miss the turn and go around in a circle.

I’m recommending Scenic to all my friends friends on bikes!

by LeighTower

The developer of SMT seems to have all his (or her) ducks in order. Not only is ScenicMotorcycleNavigation well-thought and well-built, the explanation for its need to use in-app purchases strikes a balanced cord that lets the user feel good about supporting ScenicMotorcycleNavigation ’s continued evolution. I won’t go into detail about its functions because I don’t have enough real experience using it on the road, but the simplicity of route planning (building your route step by step from start to finish using the Via button) stands out as a well-executed feature that speaks volumes for the rest of ScenicMotorcycleNavigation. I’m looking forward to the next biking season (I live in New England!) and plan to move up to a premium version if I like what I see, as I think I will.

by Jvg Vag

I used to use CoPilot along with Furkot to make custom motorcycle routes, that is, until friggin Apple locked out the ability to access root directories to be able to drop in TRP files.
I've just started to use it but so far it's fantastic with no major flaws. As it uses Open Street Maps, it remains to be seen how accurate it is vs Google Maps, but so far, so good.
The major bennie is the ability to quickly and easily import a previously made route in Furkot (which I use but it also does Google and others) right on the phone: no need to plug the iPhone into your computer to download maps. Love it. The developer, Guido, is highly responsive to questions - great guy.
Highly recommended!

by GKA2015

I’ve tried a number of phone apps over the last year and Scenic is the best to actually use for your trips. Best sound of turn-by -turn directions, clearest screen layout for viewing while riding and clearly visible road information. You may want others in addition such as Google Maps and REVER depending on others you ride with and what they have but when it comes to your ride, do it in Scenic. Other reviewers have said “take the time to learn ScenicMotorcycleNavigation ”. I totally agree and you should view and bookmark all the Scenic tutorials and feel free to contact the developer as you go through your learning process. Worth the money AND your effort to learn the features!

by Mike Calvey

Had been testing out ScenicMotorcycleNavigation as an alternative to a dedicated GPS for my retired iPhone 6 using just the credits. So far it’s been a very good trial run. The few issues I’ve had I sent to the developer and have had quick responses. It’s obvious they take ScenicMotorcycleNavigation seriously and I’m excited to see how this program evolves.

Some notable features worth mentioning if you haven’t already tried ScenicMotorcycleNavigation : Turn by turn directions on imported GPX routes. Yes, imported GPX routes! Offline maps. Easy to use driver / rider friendly UI. Credits give you a good opportunity to try before you buy.

I feel like it’s an essential app for anyone wanting to get off the beaten path while off the grid.