Interesting new GPS

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RickH
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Joined: 5 Mar 2012, 6:39pm
Location: Horwich, Lancs.

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by RickH »

I don't think the rechargeable battery is really much of an issue

There's always the official Garmin external power pack (a little pricey - may be cheaper elsewhere - but does include solar & international mains charging options) or another battery (I have a Veho Pebble with a capacity of 5000mAh which you can pick up for about £20 if you shop around). The official 2200mAh claims to add an extra 20 hours run time & by that score my Pebble could probably do 45 hours extra. Plus I don't think Garmin unit run times are "you may get this if you're very lucky", my old 605 will still do over 14 hours straight after over 5 years of use without even setting off its low battery warning.

For touring the Pebble will keep both my 605 & smart phone charged for at least 2-3 days without access to mains power, possibly longer and it depends more on how much I use the phone than anything else.

Rick.
Former member of the Cult of the Polystyrene Head Carbuncle.
mrjemm
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011, 4:33pm

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by mrjemm »

Referring to the Bryton models, folk talk about needing to use their website to access tracks, which sounds to me like a big fail, particularly for touring. Just looking at Bryton's site about the new Rider 60-

http://corp.brytonsport.com/products/rider60?lang=eng

I notice in the bit about 'Bryton Bridge', this-

"Bryton Bridge 2TM
Bryton Bridge 2TM application allows you to upload/download tracks or workouts to/from brytonsport.com for analysis. When there is no internet connection, you can use My Device Manager function to save tracks in your local computer. "


'Save tracks' being the operative phrase here... Is that an improvement, or was it always a case of being able to save them, yet unable to do anything with them?

It does take OSM I notice. Looks pretty hefty though, but at least on their website the screens look better (and is a little bigger) than the tour ones.
hexhome
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Joined: 1 Oct 2010, 10:33am
Location: Hexham, Northumberland

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by hexhome »

In the case of the Bryton, no you don't have to use their website at all, you can save the tracks to a PC via the Bryton Bridge and then use whichever website/application you favour. This doesn't seem to include Basecamp however, which for some reason has failed to read tracks from my Bryton. If you choose to use the Bryton website to process data, then it is as comprehensive as any application of it's type. It is also possible to upload to other websites directly from the Bryton website though currently there is an issue uploading to Strava by this method.
freeflow
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Joined: 29 Aug 2011, 1:54pm

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by freeflow »

The big issue I have with my Bryton 50 is that you must use the Bryton web site to upload routes. The problem is that the site can be slow or just unavailable as well as unfriendly to browsers that aren't chrome. Hence my investigating ipbike (which at £4.99 won't break the bank).
peterbayliss
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Joined: 8 Apr 2008, 12:47pm

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by peterbayliss »

I have a Bryton Rider 35, which I really like, I don't use it to navigate but to record where I have been and how fast etc. From this model you can save data from the device directly to your computer in BDX, GPX, PWX or TCX file formats. They frequently update the Bryton sport website and although it can be slow sometimes I think the recent updates have improved it a lot.

With mine I think I can upload tracks from my computer as long as they are in one of the formats mentioned above so you should be able to plot the tracks using another website e.g. http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/.
hexhome
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Joined: 1 Oct 2010, 10:33am
Location: Hexham, Northumberland

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by hexhome »

freeflow wrote:The big issue I have with my Bryton 50 is that you must use the Bryton web site to upload routes. The problem is that the site can be slow or just unavailable as well as unfriendly to browsers that aren't chrome. Hence my investigating ipbike (which at £4.99 won't break the bank).


Why not just save the tracks from the Bryton Bridge?
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Sweep
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Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by Sweep »

I'm afraid I can see little benefit in this new model and several disadvantages.

I would encourage anyone thinking of buying a GPS for touring to take "onyouright's" comments on the Etrex 20 with a heavy dose of salt or lithium.

I find the battery life very good and I'm one of those non-techy nuts who uses a bettery-frying fast charger which I know I shouldn't.

When the batteries run out of juice I, er, slot in another set of pre-charged AAs. If the worst came to the worst I could put some normal AAs in for a bit until I stop at a campsite/caff/pub.

Yes, now and again it freezes up. In sort this by, er, taking the batteries out (actually just pop one single battery slight out of the contact) and replacing.

I was afraid that the screen might prove too small but even with my ageing eyes, though I wouldn't want it any smaller, I find it fine.

I have used it in London's tight streets/alleys, in the country and in the wilds of Sardinia with free OSM maps and variants.

Sometimes it does take a rather long time. especially if working with an openfietsmap I have, to figure out a detailed route but since I usually know which way to set off at my fairly leisurely pace this isn't a mega problem. And expecting it to work out a 100km route or anything near it is I think a bit unreasonable. In most cases I think you would know places en route to that magic 100 which you planned to hit - why not just ask it to route to somewhere a bit closer along the route, then stop for a breather and then ask it, nicely, to route to the next place?

Pedal, smell the hedgerwows/animal dung or whatever,don't get too hung up on computers and specs is my advice.
Sweep
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philg
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Location: Porlock, Somerset

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by philg »

OnYourRight wrote:For a start, AA cells weigh somewhere in the region of 3 × more than Li-ion batteries for a given energy capacity. They also take up much more volume per unit of energy stored, and packaging flexibility is further limited by the fixed shape of AA cells.

You can buy Lithium AA cells which are very light

OnYourRight wrote:No AA cells work well in the cold,

Lithium ones do IME

OnYourRight wrote:Good NiMH cells only remain good if they’re charged in a conditioning charger like the PowerEX Maha MH-C9000, which costs 50 quid. Mismatched cells, from simple chargers or careless cell management, invite problems like reversal of polarity. When the device doesn’t work the user sometimes blames the manufacturer.

There are cheaper ones, and we all have NiMH chargers anyway so what is your point?

OnYourRight wrote:
There is no way for the device to display an accurate power meter with AA cells, even if the user has told it the type of cells being used (eg. NiMH or alkaline).

The batteries go flat, the unit turns off, you replace the battery - it really isn't that difficult

OnYourRight wrote:AA cells are also susceptible to dirt and corrosion of the contacts, and even momentary power loss caused by a physical shock that knocks the cell away from the contact for a split second.

That certainly applied to the Legend series and it's siblings, it does not apply to the Oregon in the 3 years I've had one - old news.
The weekend comes, my cycle hums
mattsccm
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Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by mattsccm »

I would suggest that the odd rattling battery is a minor thing. I have used both a normal Etrex and a Garmin GPS 72 on my trail bike. Both did thousands of miles green laning , covered in all sorts of muck and they survived all sorts of crashes etc. The battery connections were fine. When they do get older, the Etrex is a Y2K model you stretch the springs a bit.
I reckon Garmin call them a touring model to broaden the target market a bit. It was a relatively quick and easy new model .
To many people touring is a days ride somewhere new. The fixed battery is great for that but it would have been a pain for my week + in the Hebrides. The mates with their 800's and fancy phones spent the week looking for power points.
mrjemm
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Joined: 20 Nov 2011, 4:33pm

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by mrjemm »

That an etrex is a walking GPS is not a disadvantage. Walking can be enjoyable too, maybe worth a try sometime. :wink:
hexhome
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Joined: 1 Oct 2010, 10:33am
Location: Hexham, Northumberland

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by hexhome »

I have owned 2 of the earlier Etrex models and currently use an Etrex 20. The battery terminal issue is not applicable to the 10/20/30.

It seems to me pointless to discuss whether model A is better or worse than model B without familiarity with both models. Most buyers have made a careful choice and will be evangelical about that choice. Navigation is important to me because I regularly find myself having to cycle to hotels and premises in unknown areas. In this environment, a map is next to useless. Entering an address or POI is just so easy and convenient, leaving me to concentrate on my safe passage.

I'm tempted by the new Edge Touring simply because it looks easier to use and will transfer to my Brompton better than the Etrex. Battery life is not really an issue as I tend to use Hostels and B and Bs when touring. Forgetting to charge it might be an issue! We also have a Bryton in our household and whilst it does a good job for the cost, it is not quite as slick to use as the Garmins and more importantly, I cannot choose my own map.
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Cunobelin
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Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by Cunobelin »

fossala wrote:Most of my non-commuting riding is "adventure riding", I would love the feature for it to find routes for me. Would stop me having to use strava/biketoaster/ridewithgps.



Most do..... simply type in a destination and select "GO!"
OnYourRight
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Joined: 30 Jun 2013, 8:53pm

Re: Interesting new GPS

Post by OnYourRight »

philg wrote:
OnYourRight wrote:Good NiMH cells only remain good if they’re charged in a conditioning charger like the PowerEX Maha MH-C9000, which costs 50 quid. Mismatched cells, from simple chargers or careless cell management, invite problems like reversal of polarity. When the device doesn’t work the user sometimes blames the manufacturer.

There are cheaper ones, and we all have NiMH chargers anyway so what is your point?

Many people have a NiMH charger lying around the house, but it’s typically a cheap thing that can’t sort cells into matched pairs. If a pair of cells is imbalanced one of the cells gets deeply discharged and can reverse its polarity – causing the powered device to malfunction. My point is that most people know nothing about this and might blame Garmin for the malfunction, which is a good reason for Garmin to side-step the problem by taking the battery out of the customer’s hands altogether, as in the Edge models.

Cunobelin wrote:Most do..... simply type in a destination and select "GO!"

Ha! With an eTrex 20 the simple typing you mention involves using a tiny joystick to select each character in the address from a virtual keyboard smaller than a postage stamp. Then the device will typically take several minutes to calculate a route for you (at least near big cities). If you’ve got one of the myriad routing options wrong, which is easy to do since they’re far from intuitive, you’ll have to recalculate the route – which takes the same time again, etc.

It does work, but not in the fashion people accustomed to modern technology – such as iPhones and Google Maps and even in-car sat-nav systems – would expect.
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