Cycling UK Forum

Just wondering what others do when touring for backup for their GPS if it fails. Another GPS or maps? I carry two identical GPS's and software to download tracks from Gpsies if needed. But that's all extra weight and still liable to fail. Maps dont fail but enough for a long tour would be cumbersome. Do you just take just the one and chance it? A GPS failure in the middle of nowhere would be a serious problem.

When you say nowhere i take it you mean the Steppes or the Sahara Desert .... otherwise look at road sign ....

landsurfer wrote:When you say nowhere i take it you mean the Steppes or the Sahara Desert .... otherwise look at road sign ....

If you can find and read them. Going a long way without a map by road signs in a foreign country wouldnt be easy.

i would be interested in where you are going and how remote it is!...two gps incase one fails. seems way Ott.I have always just taken a map?compass and ask directions.

I take paper maps and use a GPS as back-up. When it gets complex I rely on the GPS a little more. Before setting out, perhaps over breakfast, I familiarise myself with the route. Occasionally I stop and glance at the map. The GPS will be on but stuck in a bag. It comes out when I'm not certain. It runs on AA batteries because I know I'm not reliant on charging.

durhambiker wrote:i would be interested in where you are going and how remote it is!...two gps incase one fails. seems way Ott.I have always just taken a map?compass and ask directions.

Holland, Denmark, Germany & France. About 1800m. I'd need a big map and I dont speak any foreign language.

pwa wrote:I take paper maps and use a GPS as back-up. When it gets complex I rely on the GPS a little more. Before setting out, perhaps over breakfast, I familiarise myself with the route. Occasionally I stop and glance at the map. The GPS will be on but stuck in a bag. It comes out when I'm not certain. It runs on AA batteries because I know I'm not reliant on charging.

Interesting. What sort of maps?

ukdodger wrote:

pwa wrote:I take paper maps and use a GPS as back-up. When it gets complex I rely on the GPS a little more. Before setting out, perhaps over breakfast, I familiarise myself with the route. Occasionally I stop and glance at the map. The GPS will be on but stuck in a bag. It comes out when I'm not certain. It runs on AA batteries because I know I'm not reliant on charging.

Interesting. What sort of maps?

It depends. Sometimes just pages torn from a cheap road atlas. You need enough detail to know that a turn on a minor road is coming up in the next mile, but not so detailed that the map is like a bedsheet. In places like France you will also find useful road signs to help you confirm that the lane is the one you are looking for. GPS comes out if I am in doubt and the decision matters. Over the course of a six hour ride in a mountainous area the GPS might come out half a dozen times. They don't use much battery if you use them that way.

I only use my pda with gps for its gps should I get lost or I an navigating a complicating set of country lanes. Other wise use a paper print of the map

I'll sometimes take a simple typed list of the villages I'm planning on passing through - enough to get me from one place to the next with the aid of signs, and in extremis you can ask a local.

ukdodger wrote:

durhambiker wrote:i would be interested in where you are going and how remote it is!...two gps incase one fails. seems way Ott.I have always just taken a map?compass and ask directions.

Holland, Denmark, Germany & France. About 1800m. I'd need a big map and I dont speak any foreign language.

You could try several smaller maps - the concept of having a spare GPS in case one fails I find "difficult" - and "cumbersome" is a somewhat clumsy expression to use about a resource that has been centuries in the making

psmiffy wrote:

ukdodger wrote:

durhambiker wrote:i would be interested in where you are going and how remote it is!...two gps incase one fails. seems way Ott.I have always just taken a map?compass and ask directions.

Holland, Denmark, Germany & France. About 1800m. I'd need a big map and I dont speak any foreign language.

You could try several smaller maps - the concept of having a spare GPS in case one fails I find "difficult" - and "cumbersome" is a somewhat clumsy expression to use about a resource that has been centuries in the making

I've never had a GPS fail but I've been on a tour when someone else's did. It's a sensitive device getting a rough ride without shock absorbers. Backing it up doesnt seem unreasonable to me considering it's importence and all the other spares we carry.

Richard Fairhurst wrote:I'll sometimes take a simple typed list of the villages I'm planning on passing through - enough to get me from one place to the next with the aid of signs, and in extremis you can ask a local.

That's not a bad idea. Have you ever been forced into using it?

Back in the olden days, I rode a JOGLE.
No internet, no mobile phone, no satnav.

I drew herringbone maps of the route.
I studied the road atlas and drew a straight line for each day with diagonal and straight roads off left and right pointed at destinations and mileage between each junction. I drew it upside down so I didn't get too confused with north/south.
I had one sheet per day in A5 in a plastic sleeve, tucked into a back pocket. The rest were in my panniers.

I still have them somewhere ............. probably in the loft with the rest of the stuff.

ukdodger wrote:
It's a sensitive device getting a rough ride without shock absorbers. Backing it up doesnt seem unreasonable to me considering it's importence and all the other spares we carry.

GPS devices are ridiculously robust - I often use them when im working and they have survived being buried and dug up using a mechanical excavator - my last etrex survived being run over by a decent size bulldozer and half a dozen 67T dumptrucks

Having spare batteries or a means of powering the GPS would seem to be sensible - in the case of a complete failure - more likely that the GPS gets "misplaced" or stolen - a backup of the route you are following to install on a new GPS would seem prudent