Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Specific board for this popular undertaking.
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Jaimie
Posts: 14
Joined: 3 Oct 2011, 12:13am

Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by Jaimie »

Wow, checked on Amazon amongst others and found the Garmins really expensive, I really don't have that amount of cash to throw at one at the moment or in the near future! Is it possible to rent one or does a kind soul have one that I could borrow in May June 2012, I would happily make a donation to the charity of your choice for the loan and it would be really appreciated and returned as soon as the event is over! :)
eileithyia
Posts: 8399
Joined: 31 Jan 2007, 6:46pm
Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by eileithyia »

This chap rents out Power meters it might be possible to talk to him about renting a Garmin, guess it all depends onwhich Garmin you actually want as prices vary from model to model.

Also have you checked your phone, There are a variety of apps available to download to phones with various mapping options.

http://www.cyclepowermeters.com/garmin-42-c.asp
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
delport
Posts: 154
Joined: 1 Jan 2011, 9:16am
Location: hampshire

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by delport »

Yes i guess you are not looking for the £90 garmin the yellow etrex,[which can be bought for £70 or less if you look around] you want the £200 model with viewable maps?
How much can you afford normally?If you can afford close to £100 try looking for second hand models, even on CTC.
I saw a 2nd hand model for under £100 recently in an electronics store, occasionally cash convertors will have stuff like that in too.
I have the etrex, paid £90 for it, it's great for wild camping as i can never get lost,i don't use the device flat out every day while cycling long distance, but i am impressed with the technology that has went into the garmin stuff.
Jaimie
Posts: 14
Joined: 3 Oct 2011, 12:13am

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by Jaimie »

Thanks for the info! I would really be after one of the models that shows which turnings to take etc. They are alot and I don't think that I would be able to justify the outlay to Mrs Taylor!!
I downloaded cyclemeter on to my iphone last night and may try organising a route on bikemap.net and uploading the gpx file to the app, not holdong my breath though as I am no computer wizard!
Will trawl ebay too, whats a good second hand price?! And do they come with the maps preloaded or do you need to download them!?
Thanks for all your help!
Jaimie
Ron
Posts: 1385
Joined: 5 Jan 2007, 9:07pm

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by Ron »

Jaimie wrote:Will trawl ebay too, whats a good second hand price?! And do they come with the maps preloaded or do you need to download them!?
Thanks for all your help!
Jaimie

I wouldn't be inclined to worry too much about a Garmin or any other sort of electronic aid. People managed JOGLE easily without them until just afew years ago and now some see them as essential items. Paper maps are cheap, it's no big deal if you lose one, they have served us well for many moons and still do the job. A pocket compass can help, as will the people you meet along the way. Few people will refuse to assist a lost cyclist, friendships have started in that way!
delport
Posts: 154
Joined: 1 Jan 2011, 9:16am
Location: hampshire

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by delport »

You don't really need a gps for the trip, i bought my gps quite a bit after my JOG-LE trip.
As Ron says a few maps printed out will do the job fine,i did some on my printer, and only used a few roads to go from JOG down to LE .I'd stay on one road for 100 to 200 miles then go on another road for another 100 miles and so on.
So i could clear the whole of Scotland using just a handful of roads,England was the same, i went from the north west of England to southern Wales and only used 2 or 3 roads to get there.

Some people may call this a boring way of doing it, as i miss out cycle paths, but the way i did it i needed to do JOG-LE then do an additional 300 miles on top, so i just did it my own way.I was doing my trip at this exact time last year.
Any time i think of redoing the trip i think, no, may'be not :)
this site does garmin stuff, but if you are selling they don't give much for gps
http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SGPSGARETRLEGCB
eileithyia
Posts: 8399
Joined: 31 Jan 2007, 6:46pm
Location: Horwich Which is Lancs :-)

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by eileithyia »

+1 for maps, i love seeing the features of the map transfer into actual geographical features. They also often show other things of interest, battle sites, burial sites etc that might not be available via gps, Ok i might not visit them but it is nice to know they are there.
As said we survived without such systems until recently.

Do not forget you have plenty of time to save up and there is that all important time approaching; be good and write a letter to Santa......
I stand and rejoice everytime I see a woman ride by on a wheel the picture of free, untrammeled womanhood. HG Wells
Jaimie
Posts: 14
Joined: 3 Oct 2011, 12:13am

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by Jaimie »

You know what, I rather like the romantic idea of doing it solely by map! As an ex-army officer I should be capable but rememeber hearing of the gaffitti in Port Stanley, "THE MOST DANGEROUS THING KNOWN TO MAN, AN OFFICER WITH A MAP!" Hehe! I like the idea of getting all the info from the map too, and getting to see whats about! Are there any preferences to maps OS or a good road map ring bound!?
I shall start witing to Santa immediately, I have been a very good boy, thus far!
Jaimie :)
skicat
Posts: 517
Joined: 21 Jun 2011, 1:09pm
Location: NCN52 / SL8

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by skicat »

Check out www.[url]pocketgpsworld.com[/url], there's a buy/sell forum on the site. You can often find a bargain as many people on that site like to make sure they have the very latest models and so sell on last years items at a good knock down price. I would look out for etrex, oregon, Dakota or Colorado models.
The hurrier I go, the behinder I get
loafer
Posts: 545
Joined: 16 Jan 2007, 12:04pm
Location: newton aycliffe county durham

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by loafer »

hi Jaimie
got mine from here.. http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/35 ... -edge-800- great piece of kit but got the maps from a mate.. :wink: but you can download free but as you say you not a puter wizard try this guy he will do it all for you http://talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm ...and is very reasonable got the OpenStreetMap: from him for when i go off road on the mtb

larry
sloop
Posts: 33
Joined: 13 Jan 2011, 7:36pm

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by sloop »

Garmin Edge 800 with full UK 50,000 GB maps included for £344.99 with discount code at ChainReaction. http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=58077
Expensive though.
WaitForPete
Posts: 17
Joined: 3 Oct 2011, 5:05pm

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by WaitForPete »

Get a Garmin eTrex H and buy the paper maps.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-eTrex-Ha ... 052&sr=8-1
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bikes4two
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Joined: 12 Jan 2010, 10:14pm
Location: SE Hampshire, UK

Re: Can you rent or borrow a garmin?

Post by bikes4two »

It's horses for courses - on my LeJog (tandem with Mrs Bikes4Two) I used a 2nd hand GPSMap 60 from Garmin (£100 ish) on which I'd pre-plotted the whole route. This meant less stopping to check maps at complicated turnings or town centres making the ride much more 'fluid' and enjoyable. I also carried car atlas pages as backup too.

Having said that, we took our tandem 1,000 miles around France with just car atlas pages and a Silva compass.

Either mode works of course, so as I said, it's horses for courses.

Oh yes, ask Mike F for advice on routes through Cornwall - I wish I had 'cos some routes are devilishly hilly. The general rule for the whole route seemed to be that the quieter the roads, the greater tendency there was to it being hilly.
Without my stoker, every trip would only be half a journey
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