531colin wrote:Re. mapping, yes, for off-road large-scale maps are essential, I currently use 2 1/2 inch paper maps in the Dales, and there are still tracks I can see on Google earth that I can't find on the ground....GPS will help me find them, I'm sure.
Being used to paper maps, I find it frustrating to look at maps on the PC screen, for example on OS get a map, so the bigger the screen the better, I think. (Its a bit like Road Atlases.....I find them dreadfully awkward, forever looking for the next page.....perhaps nobody uses them any more)
I do have a bar bag, so maybe its a tablet and phone for me?.....I doubt I would have come up with that myself....a couple of people have suggested having a play on the PC with downloading maps, I will try that when bed-time is not approaching.
Hi Colin,
I have always done a fair amount of hiking. I have been a Garmin user for a long period of time and a user of paper maps for much longer. More recently I have started doing off road cycling and using my Garmin for that purpose too.I can't comment on the suitability of phones or tablets because I have never gone down that route. When I first bough a GPS I bought a Garmin because that was what I'd heard others used rather than any detailed research on my part, so I'll stick to making some points about Garmins and OS maps.
Firstly, if going for a Garmin I think Mick is right to point you in the direction of those bigger screened models. I don't yet require reading glasses or have trouble with maps on computer screens but I struggle with reading detail of OS maps on the bike on my small screened Etrex model. Off road a small screen at a sufficient level of zoom can mean that you are only seeing a very small section of map.
I also think he is right to suggest the bigger general purpose GPSs rather than cycling-specific units. The benefits of a more rugged unit and AA batteries outweigh extra performance cycling features. The durability of the units has to be the main advantage over a phone. They are fully waterproof and will take quite a hammering. My main concern about using a phone would be the potential for water ingress or, if using a handlebar mount, the effects of all the vibrations and larger potential for damage if it came loose from the mount. The hill walker in me also thinks that if you are going to have two devices for an emergency you are best if they are not contained in one unit in case of failure. It is better to be lost in the fog with a gps or a phone than neither.
OS Maps on Garmins are expensive. The normal advice is to buy a GPS with OS maps bundled in as they are usually heavily discounted when purchased together. Unfortunately these tend to be the 1:50000 scale (1 1/4 inch) Landranger maps rather than the 1:25000 (2 1/2 inch) maps you really want off road. If your riding is entirely within the Dales national park then you can buy the 1:25000 maps for the whole area
https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/maps/on ... 33280.html . Outside of National Parks it is expensive to buy bits of 1:25000 mapping.
If you are anything like me a GPS (be it a garmin or phone) will be an addition to paper maps rather than a replacement. When deciding which track to take, a glance at a map is more convenient than scrolling and re-zooming a screen. They are great for showing your exact position but less good for showing the bigger picture. OS maps are not like maps originally designed for viewing on a screen. You have a choice of whether you keep North to the top or whether you allow the map to turn with you as it would on a car sat nav. If you are one of the people who can accept the former that is fine but if you must have the map rotate you will end up with all the writing on the map upside down, diagonal or sideways - most disconcerting! Obviously maps are drawn to a scale and intended to be viewed at that scale, you can enlarge or reduce it a bit but you cannot zoom far in or out whilst maintaining legibility as you could with a vector map like Google Maps or the Openstreetmap (OSM) variants.
Whilst on the topic of OSM, it is a really good idea to have a set of these (free) maps loaded on your device so that you can switch to them in urban areas. In time they may be good enough for the countryside tracks but its coverage is not consistent enough yet. However, road coverage is almost complete. Good enough that I would now not buy any extra maps for on-road cycling. In built up area where OS maps get far too cluttered these maps are in their element, showing all street names and zoomable as close in as you like.
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