GPS and cycling

John said:

Does anyone on here use a GPS for touring or following routes on-road or
off-road. Any information greatly received.

I have a Silva Multi-Navigator. Which is good, but doesn't actually
have maps in the unit itself - I took the view that the ones with maps
(or PDAs with gps receivers) are likely to improve a lot in the next
year or two. I also have Fugawi UK - software with full OS 1:50000
data for the UK - so can download/upload routes/tracks/waypoint sets
from the GPS to see on the maps and print out maps for the area I
expect to cover on a trip. There are other systems, some of which have
1:25000 data - but Fugawi seems to be the cheapest way of getting the
data, and is fine for me.

The main choice ATM is whether you want maps in your gps or not - if
you do then your looking at something like the Garmin 60cs, if not
then something like Garmin 201 (or 301).

John said:

Does anyone on here use a GPS for touring or following routes on-road or
off-road. Any information greatly received.

I use a Garmin Etrex Legend for cycling and walking. Its no substitute for
map and compass, and doesn't have the fancy routing stuff some the the PDAs
have, but its very robust and has much better battery life than said PDAs.

Most useful feature is the trip computer, which can be switched to 4
selectable large bits of info, or lots of smaller ones. If you do a good
enough job at route programming, it works quite well, and it does have
reasonably good address and point of interest searching. The points of
interest aren't complete, but could get you out of a problem if you need
food out or something.

I got mine from http://www.globalpositioningsystems.co.uk/ (watch out for
narsty domain squatters if you mispell it or get the wrong ending. Almost
as bad as spammers - well, maybe someway short of being as bad as spammers)

- Richard

--
_/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ Richard dot Corfield at ntlworld dot com
_/ _/ _/ _/
_/_/ _/ _/ Time is a one way street,
_/ _/ _/_/ _/_/_/ Except in the Twilight Zone.

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Does anyone on here use a GPS for touring or following routes on-road or
off-road. Any information greatly received.

I have a Garmin eTrex with a nifty little handle bar clamp which allows you
to have the GPS on you front bar, a bit like a trip computer.

Haven't got into routes and waypoints yet, but find it useful when offroad
for working out if I am going towards home or away, and also for giving some
idea of how far I am away from known point 'as the crow flies'.

Loads of potential yet to be exploited :-)

Cheers
Dave R

I have a Garmin Foretrex, which you can wear on your wrist (which I do when
running) or mount on the bars. I tend to put a route in even if I know
where I'm going - if you set it to 'follow' it counts down the distance to
your next waypoint (which you can name, eg 'home'😉 which is interesting, and
it also gives a full function trip computer.

If you don't know the route that well it will bleep and tell you which way
to turn at each junction (assuming you mark each one as a waypoint).

As someone else said - not a substitute for a map and compass (well,
actually it is if it all works ok - but batteries don't last for ever), but
a damn fine toy!

I also like downloading where I've been back onto PC - especially if I've
been on the fells - it's amazing to compare where you've actually been with
where you think you have.

And I'd recommend Memory Map software - you can get 1:25000 of the national
parks, and this includes aerial photos too - and the 3d flythrough feature's
amazing!

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone on here use a GPS for touring or following routes on-road or
off-road. Any information greatly received.

John

andrew wiggans [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

And I'd recommend Memory Map software - you can get 1:25000 of the national
parks, and this includes aerial photos too - and the 3d flythrough feature's
amazing!

I'm currently using Memory Map, but having played with Anquet's software
I find their route planning system better (Build paths, link into
routes) than Memory Map's (Build routes each time which may involve
repeating bits of route that you've used before).

I'm sure that this came up a while ago, but who uses what (In terms of
digital mapping, paper don't count! ;-))?

Jon

In message <[email hidden]>, Jon Senior
<jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk@?.?.invalid> writes

Quoted message said:

andrew wiggans [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

And I'd recommend Memory Map software - you can get 1:25000 of the national
parks, and this includes aerial photos too - and the 3d flythrough feature's
amazing!

I'm currently using Memory Map, but having played with Anquet's software
I find their route planning system better (Build paths, link into
routes) than Memory Map's (Build routes each time which may involve
repeating bits of route that you've used before).

I'm sure that this came up a while ago, but who uses what (In terms of
digital mapping, paper don't count! ;-))?

I use Memory Map as well and can recommend it.

I plan my routes in Memory Map and then upload them to a Garmin Gecko
201. I use rechargeable AAA batteries and find I get about 6 - 8 hours
use before I need to recharge. I have the Gecko mounted on my handlebars
and find it fantastic for routes where I have not been before.

Also good at night as the display lights up when a waypoint approaches.

When the batteries are fully charged it can interfere with my Shimano
flightdeck until the charge drops slightly, but it works fine with my
Polar s720i.

I have the 1:50000 maps which are fine for planning cycling routes.
--
David

John said:

The reason I was asking is that I'm planning a trip around Pembrokeshire,
cycle camping, for a few days and was wondering if it's possible to fit a
tour onto a GPS and just use this and not carry any maps.

Possible depending on the GPS memory, I'd guess, though the really nice
thing about having the maps is you have a lot more scope for planning
alternatives on the fly. How useful this is depends how rigidly you
like to stick to planned routes, I suppose.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The reason I was asking is that I'm planning a trip around Pembrokeshire,
cycle camping, for a few days and was wondering if it's possible to fit a
tour onto a GPS and just use this and not carry any maps.

Even if I did have all the maps on the GPS, I think it's probably worth
taking a large scale map (sheets out of a road atlas can be very cheap and
light) as a backup.

cheers,
clive

"Jon Senior" <jon_AT_restlesslemon_DOTco_DOT_uk> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

andrew wiggans [email hidden] opined the following...

Quoted message said:

And I'd recommend Memory Map software - you can get 1:25000 of the

national

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

parks, and this includes aerial photos too - and the 3d flythrough

feature's

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

amazing!

I'm currently using Memory Map, but having played with Anquet's software
I find their route planning system better (Build paths, link into
routes) than Memory Map's (Build routes each time which may involve
repeating bits of route that you've used before).

I'm sure that this came up a while ago, but who uses what (In terms of
digital mapping, paper don't count! ;-))?

Jon

The reason I was asking is that I'm planning a trip around Pembrokeshire,
cycle camping, for a few days and was wondering if it's possible to fit a
tour onto a GPS and just use this and not carry any maps.

Thanks John

"Chris Malcolm" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

John said:

The reason I was asking is that I'm planning a trip around Pembrokeshire,
cycle camping, for a few days and was wondering if it's possible to fit a
tour onto a GPS and just use this and not carry any maps.

Snip

If you're going to Pembrokeshire the sustrans routemap is well worth buying.
Oh and don't even think about cycling there without a dog dazer

Cliff

Quoted message said:

"John" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Does anyone on here use a GPS for touring or following routes on-road or
off-road. Any information greatly received.

John

I have a Garmin 60C GPSMAP with Europe SelectV6 mounted on my mountain
bike handlebars. Excellent on road and off. The routing (which I no
longer use anyhow) is not so good, but it gives you a strange sense of
freedom about just turning off a track or country road and seeing
where it will take you. You can obviously do this without GPS, but
having an electronic reference is quite relaxing really.

I think the key though is to consider how often you will be away from
known paths. They are expensive and the novelty wears off pretty
quick.

I use mine for cycling in the Black Forest. For that application, its
amazing. Hansel and Gretel would have killed for one of these.

So in summary, does exactly what it says on the tin, but for me the
nebulous benefit is that it frees you up from worrying about heading
in the right general direction, so you can concentrate on "routes of
opportunity" and admiring the scenery.

Oh, and it looks cool too.

Hope this helps
Dave