OT: GPs

MSeries said:

What equipment do I need that I can take with me and will record my
journey so I can later have it marked up on a digital map ?

I think taking your doctor with you is rather pushing the definition of
a First Aid Kit.

Oh, /G.P.S./.

I'd hop over to www.tracklogs.co.uk. They will sell you everything and
having looked I'd define /everything/ as:

1. GPS unit; etrex legend looks good to me.
2. Handlebar mount.
3. Digital map on PC; tracklogs looks OK to me.
4. PC<->GPS cable.

Not Responding said:

MSeries said:

What equipment do I need that I can take with me and will record my
journey so I can later have it marked up on a digital map ?

I think taking your doctor with you is rather pushing the definition of
a First Aid Kit.

Oh, /G.P.S./.

I'd hop over to www.tracklogs.co.uk. They will sell you everything and
having looked I'd define /everything/ as:

1. GPS unit; etrex legend looks good to me.

I find magellans better than garmins, in general. So does the SAS.

Quoted message said:

2. Handlebar mount.

If it's just black-box-recording, you don't need it on the handlebars,
it just needs to be able to electrically see teh sky. Mine normally
lives in an outside pannier pocket.

Quoted message said:

3. Digital map on PC; tracklogs looks OK to me.

There are many and various. If you want to overlay on an OS map, teh
biggest distinguishing feature seems to be whether your cycling area
happens to fall near the middle of one of their packaged coverage
areas.

regards, Ian SMith
--
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Ian Smith said:

Not Responding said:

MSeries said:

What equipment do I need that I can take with me and will record my
journey so I can later have it marked up on a digital map ?

I think taking your doctor with you is rather pushing the definition of
a First Aid Kit.

Oh, /G.P.S./.

I'd hop over to www.tracklogs.co.uk. They will sell you everything and
having looked I'd define /everything/ as:

1. GPS unit; etrex legend looks good to me.

I find magellans better than garmins, in general. So does the SAS.

Any particular reason why? I think most Magellans are a bit big for use
on a bike (apart from the explorists, but the basic models of these lack
any PC connection).
Personally I'd recommend a Geko 201. Small, lightweight, has plenty
memory for tracks etc.
The etrex Legend is also a good choice if you want mapping, though it's
bigger and more expensive.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Handlebar mount.

If it's just black-box-recording, you don't need it on the handlebars,
it just needs to be able to electrically see teh sky. Mine normally
lives in an outside pannier pocket.

That's true, but if you have a GPS you might as well have it on the
handlebars to display speed/distance/elevation etc, plus it lets you
check that it is still switched on, and has a signal etc.
And you might even find it's useful for navigation...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3. Digital map on PC; tracklogs looks OK to me.

There are many and various. If you want to overlay on an OS map, teh
biggest distinguishing feature seems to be whether your cycling area
happens to fall near the middle of one of their packaged coverage
areas.

True, though a few of them sell site centred mapping. Tracklogs provide
a custom 1:50K 40km square free with GPS units bought from them.
Alternatively you could use something like OziExplorer with scanned maps
(or maps ripped from streetmap.co.uk)

--
Craig Wallace
http://craig.neogeo.org.uk
http://www.neogeo.org.uk

Craig Wallace said:

Ian Smith said:

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 06:33:36 +0000, Not Responding <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

MSeries wrote:

> What equipment do I need that I can take with me and will record my
> journey so I can later have it marked up on a digital map ?

I think taking your doctor with you is rather pushing the definition
of a First Aid Kit.

Oh, /G.P.S./.

I'd hop over to www.tracklogs.co.uk. They will sell you everything
and having looked I'd define /everything/ as:

1. GPS unit; etrex legend looks good to me.

I find magellans better than garmins, in general. So does the SAS.

Any particular reason why? I think most Magellans are a bit big for use
on a bike (apart from the explorists, but the basic models of these lack
any PC connection).
Personally I'd recommend a Geko 201. Small, lightweight, has plenty
memory for tracks etc.
The etrex Legend is also a good choice if you want mapping, though it's
bigger and more expensive.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Handlebar mount.

If it's just black-box-recording, you don't need it on the handlebars,
it just needs to be able to electrically see teh sky. Mine normally
lives in an outside pannier pocket.

That's true, but if you have a GPS you might as well have it on the
handlebars to display speed/distance/elevation etc, plus it lets you
check that it is still switched on, and has a signal etc.
And you might even find it's useful for navigation...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3. Digital map on PC; tracklogs looks OK to me.

There are many and various. If you want to overlay on an OS map, teh
biggest distinguishing feature seems to be whether your cycling area
happens to fall near the middle of one of their packaged coverage areas.

True, though a few of them sell site centred mapping. Tracklogs provide
a custom 1:50K 40km square free with GPS units bought from them.
Alternatively you could use something like OziExplorer with scanned maps
(or maps ripped from streetmap.co.uk)

So is recording and overlying a route on a map a pretty standard
feature of these units and software packages ?

Craig Wallace said:

Ian Smith said:

On Fri, 28 Jan 2005 06:33:36 +0000, Not Responding <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

MSeries wrote:

> What equipment do I need that I can take with me and will record my
> journey so I can later have it marked up on a digital map ?

I think taking your doctor with you is rather pushing the definition
of a First Aid Kit.

Oh, /G.P.S./.

I'd hop over to www.tracklogs.co.uk. They will sell you everything
and having looked I'd define /everything/ as:

1. GPS unit; etrex legend looks good to me.

I find magellans better than garmins, in general. So does the SAS.

Any particular reason why? I think most Magellans are a bit big for use
on a bike (apart from the explorists, but the basic models of these lack
any PC connection).
Personally I'd recommend a Geko 201. Small, lightweight, has plenty
memory for tracks etc.
The etrex Legend is also a good choice if you want mapping, though it's
bigger and more expensive.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

2. Handlebar mount.

If it's just black-box-recording, you don't need it on the handlebars,
it just needs to be able to electrically see teh sky. Mine normally
lives in an outside pannier pocket.

That's true, but if you have a GPS you might as well have it on the
handlebars to display speed/distance/elevation etc, plus it lets you
check that it is still switched on, and has a signal etc.
And you might even find it's useful for navigation...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

3. Digital map on PC; tracklogs looks OK to me.

There are many and various. If you want to overlay on an OS map, teh
biggest distinguishing feature seems to be whether your cycling area
happens to fall near the middle of one of their packaged coverage areas.

True, though a few of them sell site centred mapping. Tracklogs provide
a custom 1:50K 40km square free with GPS units bought from them.
Alternatively you could use something like OziExplorer with scanned maps
(or maps ripped from streetmap.co.uk)

So is recording and overlying a route on a map a pretty standard
feature of these units and software packages ?

MSeries said:

So is recording and overlying a route on a map a pretty standard
feature of these units and software packages ?

Simple answer is yes, as long as the unit has a PC connection.
AFAIK the only current units _without_ a PC connection are the Garmin
Geko 101 and the Magellan eXplorist 100/200/300.

As for software, there's a wide variety - the packages with OS maps
(Tracklogs, Memory Map, Anquet, Fugawi) will all display your track over
a map.
If you want to use your own map images (scanned etc), there's many to
choose from eg OziExplorer, GPS Utility, GarTrip etc.

--
Craig Wallace
http://craig.neogeo.org.uk
http://www.neogeo.org.uk

Craig Wallace _SPAM said:

Ian Smith said:

I find magellans better than garmins, in general. So does the SAS.

Any particular reason why? I think most Magellans are a bit big for use
on a bike (apart from the explorists, but the basic models of these lack
any PC connection).

In my experience, they cope better with partial sky coverage. I've
compared similar price garmins & magellans (not exhaustively,
admittedly, just one of each) and the garmin lost signal under tree
cover where the magellan was entirely happy.

regards, Ian SMith
--
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