niggle wrote:Seems daft, and expensive, to buy something additional to the smart phone when it has the ability to do this sort of stuff, and I am taking it with me anyhow. Even the diminutive Wildfire S has a better screen than any bicycle GPS I have looked at and if I found a way of overcoming the need to constantly or frequently touch/scroll the screen the other problems are relatively easy to overcome I think. Google Navigation has verbal directions, add headphones and I can put the phone safely in a waterproof place.
Well maybe. A dedicated gps has advantages, like being able to use with AA batteries, which for me make it worth the extra money but if, say, I were touring for less than a month a year I'd find it hard to justify shelling out £120 (or potentially a lot more) for a dedicated gps. I think they are likely eventually to become a bit of a niche product - either that or manufacturers are going to have to price them a lot more competitively than they currently do.
IrishBill76 wrote:I recently did a very unscientific test with my Garmin eTrex 20. My sister and I took my kids to a visitors farm (one of them places where you get to have your fingers chewed off by the lamas) and we both plotted the route, my sister using her cars built in Sat Nav and I using my little GPS. Both devices took the exact same route. Hers voiced the way to go and mine just bleeped at turns, good enough. So, in my opinion, the difference between using a Sat Nav and a GPS is pointless to argue over.
I agree - they are different words for the same thing.
The problem over screen size is also a stupid debate IMO because as far as I know, most of these Sat Nav/GPS units have the ability to zoom in or out on the mapping. Some, such as mine (although I don't use it) can even zoom in on junctions as you approach them. TBH, a small screen is better IMO as bar space on a bike is somewhat limited and the bigger the screen, the easier it is to break.
They do have the ability to zoom in and out which is great if you need extra detail, but if you are travelling across country on minor roads it can be very easy to become disoriented as you scroll - which is why I find it useful to carry a map as well as it is much easier to get an overview. I also have an eTrex 20 and yes I'd rather have that than a battery-draining larger screen, but scrolling and zooming are a pain in the @rse compared with my iPod touch.