Cycling UK Forum

I'm thinking of getting a gps computer for my bike but I don't know much about them. I've looked at the obvious brands - Garmin, Memory Map and Satmap etc. Does any particular make and model stand out? Any advice would be appreciated as I don't want to make an expensive mistake. Are any easier to use than others?

It depends a lot on what you need it for. In your post you say you are looking for a bike computer GPS. This would definitely make me lean towards recommending one of the Garmins. However, if you also need it for navigation, and ride mostly on road, then any of the makes you mention would do the job, although I would still lean towards a Garmin. If on the otherhand, your riding is off road, then you might want to use OS mapping, and that might make you favour the MM unit or Satmap. You colud of course wait and get a Garmin Edge 800, which are shortly to be launched, since these seem as if they are going to do the lot - including making a large hole in your bank balance!

Let us know what you require of the unit, and it will probably be easier to give more specific recommendations,

Rick

Thanks. I go touring by road in the UK - never off road and I want it for navigation mainly.

OK. I have both Satmap, and a Garmin Edge 705. Although I used to use the Satmap for road tours, I hardly ever do so now. Partly because, despite what Satmap say, it isn't fully waterproof, and whilst there are work-arounds, it is never-the-less and irritation. Also, the screen isn't that easy to read in bright sun. And it has no routing capability. It is a great unit for walking, and that's where I use it. I use the Edge 705 for all my road riding, and once you get to grips with it, I can't fault it. You do need to buy the road mapping for it though - the built in base map is poor. Depending whether you want cadence and heart rate data, you could also look at the Edge 605, which is cheaper. There are cheaper Garmin options, but for a navigation, cycling specific unit, the Edge is hard to beat. A downside to the Edge series is that they use built in batteries, so for multiday rides, you need suitable facilities for recharging.

Rick

As Rick says, one factor that may be important is whether the batteries can be swapped when needed, or need recharging. Battery life may be important.

If you need reading glasses, this may also be a factor. I couldn't read a paper OS 50k map while cycling, so I doubt I could read one reproduced on the screen of a GPS.

It depends as others mentioned. I for example use my tomtom on a PDA (Fujitsu) that lasts 10 hours. I have waterproofed the device and it works well for road touring. I can use google maps and transfer my route onto my PDA. The device also works as music player on the go, web browser and for many other sort of purposes. It is a computer you can install wide variety of programs on it. It is much cheaper than purpose built bike gadgets as well. I can't justify getting a bike specific device at the moment but it's just me.

I use an Edge 705 and do sometimes have trouble reading the screen. I normally wear varifocals, but my cycling glasses are single vision. However, if you're following a route on the Garmin, the direction arrows at junctions are pretty easy to see, as is the pink "route". You can run the Garmin in a number of different modes, with the map showing or with a compass which shows you which way to turn at a junction.

You can pre-plan a route or get the Garmin to route you to the next village or town. I used this facility on some recent day rides in Norfolk and it worked well. It is a bit quirky. It will beep on a straight broad to make sure that you don't take that grass track that goes off to the left, then you'll come to a junction or crossroads and it won't show anything except the map. No direction arrows, just a zoomed out pink track.

Garmin Etrex Legend HCx or the Vista HCx. They both have the navigation features of the Edge 605/705, but run on AA batteries. One set of 2900mAh rechargeables last me >15 hours. There's a proper bike mount available for them and they're considerably cheaper than the 605/705 as well.

I would highly recommend a Garmin eTrex H which you can get for about £60-70 plus about £10 for the bike mount. I use it with Memory Map 1:50000 digital maps on my PC, which you can get for about £40-50 including the bundle of maps ("Southern Scotland" in my case).

I have been using this GPS for several months now for navigation on Sunday rdes around the country lanes where I live. I plot a "route" on Memory Map, convert it to a "track", then import the "tracklog" into the Garmin and just follow the tracklog. It is cheap and basic but I am very happy with it. You cannot import maps onto the GPS, so you don't see an actual map on screen - just a "breadcrumb trail" which you have to follow - but it is very effective and not too distracting. Haven't got lost yet and have discovered a few new roads (previously I would have thought they were dead-end farm roads).

I agree with Tony's post above: You need to know where you are, where you're going and where you're planned to go. A basic version of the Garmin Etrex does all that. Get a data cable, load your tracks from bikehike.co.uk (no need to buy software)and you're sorted. More expensive GPS's are a waste of money IMHO. It's like the argument 'what does a Bentley do that a Mondeo doesn't do?'.

Maps are better than no maps. If you've used a Garmin with maps you'd probably agree. Only an extra £50 or so for an HCx (if you use OSM maps which are free) over the 'H'. I don't agree with the car analogy - maps offer something very real over no maps - the ability to navigate without having a pre-planned route. That can be useful if the route you planned doesn't turn out as you expected.

(Apologies for slightly hijacking your question; however I hope any response will be useful to you as well)

I was considering getting the "Garmin eTrex Legend HCx" linked to above by amaferanga, and load Open Street Map maps on to it. (The base map that comes with it is, from what I've read, a big pile of pants)

However I'm slightly confused by this page : http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Garmin - which has among the "bad points" listed that there is "no access to waypoints or tracks from SD card ". Now this reads to me that if you load a map on an SD card (e.g. Open Street Maps map), you can't follow a pre-programmed route.

Does anyone know if this is true, or if I'm misinterpreting?

Mostly what I want to do is plan out a route beforehand, load it up on to the Garmin, and be able to follow my route. Mainly because I have an abysmal memory for directions and at the moment on rides I have to stop every 10 mins or so for a map check - I'd like something on my bars I can glance down at frequently. I don't want it to "auto-route" for me.

Invisiblemonsters
I don't know any more than you because I don't actually own a Garmin device, but it might help to realise that the openstreetmap people tend to be more concerned with collecting GPS traces with which to construct their maps rather than using them to navigate by.

this OSM link about the eTrex Legend HCx , fifth paragraph reads

Track logs are easily transferred by setting the GPS to act as an USB mass storage device, however waypoints are not included in the GPX file. Separate multi-platform software such as http://www.gpsbabel.org/ is needed to transfer these. Waypoints can not be stored on the SD card, giving a system-wide maximum of 1000. Entering waypoint text is difficult in the field (you have to use a joystick to select up to 14 characters) so try different Mapping techniques such as a notebook or Photo mapping. Note that the mass storage mode is rather slow -- not a problem for transferring tracks, but it's better to use microSD reader for uploading maps.

So I think it will do what you want but it might not be flexible as the openstreetmap people would like for their needs.

But I don't really know and am only guessing.

I have a Nokia 5230 which has free GPS and mapping. I can plan and save routes and get voice direction for my journeys. The maps are OVI and upgrades are free of charge. You get all countries of the world, but you have to load them onto the phone which is a bit time consuming. If you are going cycling in a foreign country then all you do is load the maps

The battery can run down quickly when using the GPS but I have an emergency phone charger which tops the battery up if it does start to run out of power. It's all I need. Also great for driving and gives information such as location of shops, cafes, hotels, museums as well.

I was going to buy a Garmin but have no need to now I have the Nokia. It doesn't have OS maps but I use my OS maps for walking anyway.

I'd go for the Satmap every time - on-road / off-road / walking, cycling, driving, flying - I've used it for all of them! To have OS 1:25,000 or 1:50,000, 1:250,000 maps with all the UK's elevation data on a tough (near indestructable) gadget is brilliant. I'd ignore the previous comment about it not being waterproof - it has replaceable screen covers - (as life is full of bangs and scratches) - and sometimes rain can get behind it, but a few bits of electrical tape solve that. My Satmap was the only navigation I took on my 2000km LEJOG+ last year. My blog http://www.dontstoptillorkney.blogspot.com has maps, photos and my diary and the www.SATMAP.com website has an article (not taking real maps?) and the .gpx route files. I'm now in New Zealand and those guys at Satmap have just produced the same quality maps for down here - can't wait to cycle end to end over here. Richard