What GPS?

[Ray Young]

Reading the WRT posts it seems a lot of people use or are interested in using a GPS system. Being totally ignorant of these devices can you tell me what is out there, who is using what, mini reviews, best buys etc.

[Taylor]

Garmin Oregon 450
Works well, bought over the Dakota which had a smaller screen and the Edge which has a internal battery which limits charging options in the field. Oregon takes AA's, available from a Spar in Wales.
1:50k base maps on a micro SD.(These are optional but it works out significantly cheaper if you buy the bundle) Very handy to see the map in miniature so you can see junctions coming up. I still take a back up map though which only came out once during the whole of last years WRT.
£400 inc mapping bundle.
Does everything I want it too with some options that I have no interest in. Seen me through the previous two WRT's and will be coming with me next month.

[gairym]

I too was supremely ignorant of all things GPS related until recently and, after significant research and reading of reviews, advice and general crap, I went for Garmin 'eTrex Legend HcX'.

I got mine for £60 off eBay and it was in almost new condition.

It's (relatively) simple, takes AA batteries, has decent (but not outstanding) mapping, is cheap (especially 2nd hand as people are replacing them with newer models) and does everything you should need.

It's taken me a while to figure the damn thing out (as none of them seem to be particularly user-friendly) but I'm now pretty happy using it to record my rides and to outline a track for me to follow.

I'd be happy to give you all the links and knowledge I've gathered since getting mine (as there's so much information out there and so little of it makes sense until you already know what you're talking about).

[chris n]

One advantage to using the etrex range (old or new style) is that there's a fair bit of info out there (try here: http://www.aukadia.net/gps/ to begin with) on setup and use of the GPS for cycling. They also seem to be fairly robust and Garmin's customer service is good too. The etrex screen might be a bit small for OS maps though - I think the Dakota and Oregon have larger screens.

[Dan_K]

GPS is a bit of a minefield. It depends on what you want to use it for.
On the road, my Etrex HCX with Garmin City Navigator is perfect. It runs on AAs, is cheap and gives turn by turn beeps with a basic map overview.
City Navigator is useless off road so a cheap option (free) is to get OSM mapping and swap the micro SD card but then you have the hindrance that for remote areas it's not as detailed as Ordnance Survey mapping so i'm now in the situation where I have to run the Viewranger app on my phone to have OS mapping as I can't justify buying another new unit.
Depends on your budget really but Flatsish has the perfect solution if money is no object.

Some people just don't get on with GPS though and some prefer to use a map and literally use the GPS to pinpoint their location in bad weather or if they get lost and use the reference to refer to a paper map.
I would say that if you're unsure which camp you fall into and don't want to risk spending until you're sure then you can do a lot worse than try it on a smart phone first to get an idea as there are several free apps out there.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Has anyone got any experience / opinions of the Memory Map Adventurer 2800?

[griffdowg]

Has anyone got any experience / opinions of the Memory Map Adventurer 2800?

Yes lots :D

Depends on what price you can find it at compared to others that use OS mapping.

I all ready used MM software prior to getting this so that wasn't a problem.

Good points: price, reasonable screen, OS mapping, Simple, easy to use, bike mount made by RAM, robust, water resistant, can scroll between 1:25, 1:50 and 1:250 maps with ease.

bad points: Battery life, build in battery, cannot scroll screen with gloves or when screen is wet(for some reason!), usual MM difficulties transferring routes etc, did I mention the crap battery?

Any questions?

[numplumz]

I have an old colour Etrex, and the limitation of the low number of points you can use per saved route (500) are a limitation, so be wary of that if buying secondhand for really old ones.
Question for those with he new Etrek 20's and 30's are they seen as a drive when you plug them into your PC so you can access the files. or do you still need software to interrogate them.

[Anthony]

Yup, that's how I use mine - plug in, open gpx folder and just drag the file straight in or out.

New Etrex 30.

I really rate it BTW, although can't compare it to anything as its the only one I have used. Full UK OS mapping at 50k is ace.

[Chew]

I have a Garmin Dakota 200. Very similar to to Flatfishy's one. It has a smaller screen, but the bateries last longer (replaceable AA), so it depends on what you're looking for.

The bar mount from Garmin is terrible, but with a bit of old inner tube you can make it work better.

Batteries will last a few days if you use high power ones, and you can also use it as a satnav for the road as well.

[royAB]

Fiddling with an Etrex 20 now.

Device itself seems to work quite well, pretty straightforward to use with PC & memory cards - plug & drag maps, routes etc.

But

<rant>

Caveat emptor!

The Garmin site & BaseCamp app are terrible - tried to download BirdsEye select maps with the 'free' voucher that came with it & so far have ended up 'buying' the same stuff twice because of the labyrinthine navigation ...actually I'm not even sure I've 'bought' anything yet - online invoice has been 'awaiting processing' for the last 12 hours (by some bod with a goose quill pen and foolscap ledger who's only in 'working hours' perhaps?) and (I assume because of that) BaseMap stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that I own anything yet... despite me having spent half the night navigating (npi) an assault course of online hoops - 'created a personal' (hah!) account', 'registered my device', logged in, logged out, reinstalled, rebooted, logged in, logged out, reinstalled, rebooted, yada yada...

I can see Monday being spent on the phone (''support' only open weekdays of course...)

God how I hate web 'solutions' from mega-corps :evil:

</rant>

[Anthony]

Te he....mine was a present from my wife, I said to her 'Please can you set it up for me so I can use it on my birthday'

Pressed the on button and it was good to go!!

I feel ur pain, I hate technology that isn't plug and play.

[rufus748]

I've got a Dakota 20 with AA batteries. Seems to eat them, even the lithium ones. Bar mounts ok, but interested in the above inner tube mod. How does that work?

[Chew]

Bar mounts ok, but interested in the above inner tube mod. How does that work?

I find the GPS locks fine into the holder, as long as you do it right (had it bounce off down the road once when i hadn't done it properly)

The issue i always had was fixing the mount to my bike. Just using the cable ties on there own doesnt give enough grip to hold the mount in place, and on bumpy ground i found that the mount would rotate around the bars due to the vibrations. You can try placing it on your stem but mines to short to do that.

All i've done is take an old tube and cut out a piece that will go around the bars, and is wider than the cable ties. The piece of tube sits on the bars, and then the mount is cable tied to that. Works perfect for me. No more rotation whatever i ride.

[rufus748]

Thanks, I'll give it a try.

[pedalhead]

Dakota 20 and Edge 800 here. Battery life on both is dependant on what it's doing in my experience. With the map on display the batteries run out well before they do if it's just on a stats page.

oh and I've found the Garmin mount for the Dakota to be variable. First one I had was rubbish and regularly ejected the GPS. 2nd one has been faultless, on a rigid bike. Don't be tempted by the RAM mount for the Dakota, the EZ-on one, I've broken two of them. Garmin's 800 mount is genius.

[thomthumb]

i use an ancient garmin geko.

it has no mapping functions (from gps's i've seen with os map functions they're not ideal).

so after plotting a route on memory map and uploading it you have 2 navigation screen options;

there is a compass type screen which shows direction & distance to the next waypoint/ turn. this option is fine to use 90% of the time and uses less battery power than...

the track screen, which show the intended route and taken route. this can be useful in featureless ground (think mid wales foggy bog) and really highlights where you are deviating off route.

there is a info screen which has 4 changeable fields. i normally have distance travelled, time of day, and grid reference displayed.

It uses aaa batteries so is easily topped up en route- batteries normally last 8-16 hours. bar mount is fine but a stem mount would be nicer. it's best feature has to be it's size - it's a lot smaller than lots of other options.

[griffdowg]

it's best feature has to be it's size - it's a lot smaller than lots of other options.

and weight. Its super light. Only downside is the serial connector :( booo.

I use it as my back-up device just for reading co-ords if needed. Its too light NOT to take.

G

[royAB]

Further warning to 'Caveat emptor' earlier - if you want to buy maps using Garmin's 'Birds Eye Select' service on a weekend......'ya can't' apparently.


But then of course why would you want to? Who needs GPS maps on a weekend after all....