Sat/Navs programmed specifically for cycles.

Marion55 · Post by **Marion55** » 23 Jan 2007, 9:25pm

Hi all,
Does anyone know if there is a Sat/Nav which is specially designed for cycles? ie back routes like cycles.net (Online) where you put your address or poscode in and destination and it comes up with a route. It's great only trouble is when your out and about cycling you have to keep stopping to change pages and if it's raining it's virtually impossible. I love the Sat/Navs out on the market but they're designed for main routes not river paths or back streets. Mel London.

andrew_s · Post by **andrew_s** » 24 Jan 2007, 1:12am

I don't think there are any that will route on anything other than normal roads or a few of the larger tracks. That's mainly because surveying is an expensive business, so they all use what's basically the same map data, licenced off each other, from Navteq, or derived from the same sources.

My Garmin (60Csx) has a "bike" mode, but all that seems to do is keep you off roads you aren't allowed on, such as motorways. It does work OK as a satnav, with turn-by-turn directions. It works best on "shortest" rather than "quickest" routes, but I usually have to put in an intermediate waypoint or two to get it to go the way I want. It is fairly straightforwards to enter addresses to go to (but not postcodes) on the unit, but it's easier to do it via the laptop if I'm at home.

David · Post by **David** » 24 Jan 2007, 8:04am

Mrs D bought me the Northern England memory map from the OS website. Basically it is all the 1:50000 Landranger series for Northern England. This is a DVD which you can use to print and display maps. You can also download to your GPS enabled PocketPC.

You can see further details at http://www.memory-map.co.uk/maps_uk_onland.htm, infact, the memory map homepage http://www.memory-map.co.uk/ is a good place to look too :-)

I haven't actually used the software yet so can't comment on its useability - my life equation goes something like :-

sleep + work > 24h :-(

You do need a PocketPC enabled GPS, I use a Mitac Mio P550.

Forgot to mention - the OS website is a good starting place too.

thirdcrank · Post by **thirdcrank** » 24 Jan 2007, 8:25am

m55

I think the answer at present is 'no'. It is one of my hobbyhorses that when satnav based road charging comes in, what you are looking for will become all-the-rage for drivers avoiding the roads with the highest charge. Unfortunately, the quiet routes you want will be clogged by those drivers.

Marion55 · Post by **Marion55** » 24 Jan 2007, 11:32am

Hi guys, thanks for the swift responses. So it seems this is not yet in the offing. Cycling in London is improving somewhat, there are many more cyclists on the roads now. Sadly a lot of which are race boy idiots who make things bad for all of us. I don't have a racing bike nor desire to . I have quite happy pootling along by the river taking in the views when on cycle paths, on the road it's a different game, watching out for race crazy cyclists and inconsiderate motorists. Don't bicycles have bells anymore? I never seem to get warning when one of my fellow cyclists is overtaking? The just whizz by, amazingly I don't get hit. If Quil Forbes comes up with a Sat/Nav that does all, I'll keep you posted, have a good day... Mel London.

Will · Post by **Will** » 26 Jan 2007, 8:08pm

I've just bought a Mio P550 for on the bike navigation. The intention is to use it to check my location when touring rather than have it mounted on the handlebars, but it could be used that way.

I've also bought a program called Navio that you can use as the GPS program on the PDA. This program allows you to upload your own digital maps (downloaded or scanned). All you have to do to use a map is set the co-ordinates of three reference points. You can therefore use it with cycling route maps, satellite photographs etc.

The Mio also comes with Wifi, and with all those people with Wifi who do not have a clue on how to secure it, you also have internet access on the bike

TimC · Post by **TimC** » 22 Feb 2007, 1:24pm

I have, for the last two years, used a Mio 168 GPS-equipped PDA with the Memory Map mapping programme to give me a constant display of where I am (and where I've been) on the familiar OS 1:50K map. It's not too good in very bright sunlight, but then I don't need to look at it all the time. From fully charged, it'll last about 5 hours before it turns itself off. I can plan routes on my computer and download them to the PDA, which will give me 'follow the big arrow' route directions if I so choose.

All in all, it does the job very well. And it runs Tom Tom Navigator when in the car, too!