Hi,
My normal system of follow someone who has the route is not going to cut it on my next trip as I’ll be on my own.
Can someone recommend a navigation system I can use that’s relatively inexpensive that’s good for things like coast to coast, Wales end to end type rides. I have a very old iPhone and whatever it is needs to be really simple to use and that doesn’t need charging every five minutes. I use Strava on my phone to record rides but that’s as technical as I get.
My alternative/ existing method is to write the names of the places I need to go through and ask locals for directions but I may be open to something a bit more IT based….

Anything from Garmin or Wahoo will get the job done without too much fuss.

I bought one of these: Garmin Edge Explore Touchscreen Touring Bike Computer with Connected Features, White (Renewed) https://amzn.eu/d/0ff7oHhH

The device was absolutely like brand new and has been faultless over the last couple of years.

I just bought another second hand for my missus and only paid £70 so a wanted ad for a garmin and some patience could pay dividends!

For the rides you describe, have you considered a compass? I've been rejecting modern tech recently. With a compass I enjoyed the balance of knowing where I needed to go, but not knowing where I am.

All the routes you described consistently go in approximately the same bearing, it certainly meets your techno spec, and it is cheap if you do not already own one.

Oddly I used to do that when motorbiking. It did the job getting to the Peloponnes. I did consider it again but I thought I might try technology

Someone suggested Kamoot on my phone. A numpty question. If I did this are routes downloaded so I can switch off data and still use it (like Google maps) as my phone battery won’t cope with Strava and live maps (sorry if that’s a bit technical )

benconnolli wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 5:13 pm For the rides you describe, have you considered a compass? I've been rejecting modern tech recently. With a compass I enjoyed the balance of knowing where I needed to go, but not knowing where I am.

All the routes you described consistently go in approximately the same bearing, it certainly meets your techno spec, and it is cheap if you do not already own one.

Good idea Ben.

Even more lightweight, cheap and non-tech would be to have no physical aids at all. Large lumps of the planet were navigated and mapped simply using celestial bodies, so you'd probably be ok crossing a single country .

Have a look at the Beeline navigation puck things.
I use mine on my motorbike and my bicycle.

Kind of like a more GPS compass

I did look at that but a mate who has it said it had glicks and he’s had a few issues, it pointing to roads that don’t exist and that it gets a bit weird on roundabouts.

I have the motorbike one, it's got a faster processor. Alway seemed to work fine for me, and can be used in bicycle mode too.
I've never really had problems with mine.

They have released a second generation one which is supposedly betterer

flash wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 5:50 pm Someone suggested Kamoot on my phone. A numpty question. If I did this are routes downloaded so I can switch off data and still use it (like Google maps) as my phone battery won’t cope with Strava and live maps (sorry if that’s a bit technical )

Yes

flash wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:04 pm I did look at that but a mate who has it said it had glicks and he’s had a few issues, it pointing to roads that don’t exist and that it gets a bit weird on roundabouts.

I reviewed it for the CTC mag. Avoid if you’re ever going to head off road

I haven’t tried it for actually navigating whilst riding but for road and possibly ‘broken roads’, the cycle.travel app could work (and it’s free, so worth trying)

https://apps.apple.com/app/id1619632879


I use Komoot to plan a route, then send it to the garmin out to finally upload it to my Edge 530. It’s reasonably straight forward to do if you’re ok with modern phones

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:32 pm

flash wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:04 pm I did look at that but a mate who has it said it had glicks and he’s had a few issues, it pointing to roads that don’t exist and that it gets a bit weird on roundabouts.

I reviewed it for the CTC mag. Avoid if you’re ever going to head off road

What issues have you had with it?

As I've found mine to work really well off-road (as long as you load in a GPX from somewhere else :) )

yourguitarhero wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 8:29 pm

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:32 pm

flash wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:04 pm I did look at that but a mate who has it said it had glicks and he’s had a few issues, it pointing to roads that don’t exist and that it gets a bit weird on roundabouts.

I reviewed it for the CTC mag. Avoid if you’re ever going to head off road

What issues have you had with it?

As I've found mine to work really well off-road (as long as you load in a GPX from somewhere else :) )

I found the prompts terrible and often late. I guess it depends on where you are riding

If you are a techno numpty then I can't think of any GPS that won't make you want to launch it over the back hedge at some point. Maps are the way if you don't have to carry too many. If you do decide to go down the GPS route then a garmin etrex is probably the best bet, with OS or OSM mapping on it. Edges are pricy and have a lot of very un-intuitive features guaranteed to get the swear-ometer into the red zone.

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 9:32 pm

yourguitarhero wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 8:29 pm

Dave Barter wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:32 pm

flash wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 6:04 pm I did look at that but a mate who has it said it had glicks and he’s had a few issues, it pointing to roads that don’t exist and that it gets a bit weird on roundabouts.

I reviewed it for the CTC mag. Avoid if you’re ever going to head off road

What issues have you had with it?

As I've found mine to work really well off-road (as long as you load in a GPX from somewhere else :) )

I found the prompts terrible and often late. I guess it depends on where you are riding

My pal bought the bicycle one (to use on his motorbike) and it was the same, I think the processor was too slow.
If you get hold of the Beeline Moto version then you shouldn't get that problem.

Thanks everyone who suggested something. I’ve bought the World from Kamoot. The plan is to download the map I want, keep it keep the phone in my pocket and look at it if I get lost or one of my natural stops, early coffee, breakfast, coffee and cake, dinner, afternoon coffee, ice cream, etc…

I'm a GPS numpty, as i've yet to follow a GPS track properly...but I just use a phone with OS maps on viewranger, so I know where I am and it can all be downloaded offline if I plan a route, then I have enough map tiles...I just don't often stick to the route, and use it like a digital paper map mostly, with the added advantage of pressing a button to see where I am if I need to. Will even pop it on a phone mount on the handlebar if i'm somewhere new, and lots of secure phone mounts available.

I've got a Wahoo Roam which had been fjne for me-although I've heard a lot of people absolutely loath them?
I think the various ETrex models are also a good shout as they're pretty simple, robust, and use replaceable batteries.

As Phil notes, they all have their foibles and "WTF does it do that?" type moments.

It ends up being a mixture of what you are used to and whether your mind works in roughly the same way as the unit's designers. I'm developing a system at the moment and beta user responses have varied from "completly intuitive" to "nothing worked the way I expected". It's just the difference in how our minds perceive things.

I've the Garmin Edge 530 and the Garmin Oregon 500. The 530 is actually pretty good except for browsing the map since it's button operated and you have to select one of up/down, left/right or zoom then use the buttons to move, change what the buttons do, move, change what the buttons do, move, etc. Things like "turn by turn" can be hit and miss. Not the fault of the unit, it's more how the roads, tracks and trails have been added to the map so you can't just blindly follow the instructions. There's enough memory on the 530 to have several countries' maps installed but you can only associate one map with each activity type: when we went over to Ireland last year I had to create an "Ireland" activity just for that trip. Mildly annoying but not a deal breaker.