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GPS systems
I've been wondering if I should get a GPS system for use on my more or
less annual long rides. I'm mostly interested in finding motels, restaurants and other facilities and Catholic Churches. Directions are less of an issue. What kind does anybody use and what are the pros and cons of them as you see it. |
GPS systems
On Mar 26, 11:02 pm, Ron Wallenfang wrote:
I've been wondering if I should get a GPS system for use on my more or less annual long rides. I'm mostly interested in finding motels, restaurants and other facilities and Catholic Churches. Directions are less of an issue. What kind does anybody use and what are the pros and cons of them as you see it. I have a Garmin Etrex vista CX with City Navigator NT North America and a 2 GB SD card. I love it. It has a handlebar clip that is secure and easy to take the unit on and off. It knows every street, hotel, restaurant, etc. including phone number in the US. It will give turn by turn instructions how to get there, with consideration of types of roads (cycling, driving, walking, etc.) What I like best with mine is that a cycling log is simple: I ride with it, (while it tells more than my cycling computer), and when I return home I plug it into my computer and it will draw a map of where I have been and it has recorded my route, distance, speed, elevation gain, max speed, time moving and stopped, etc. (I also use Sport tracks from zonefivesoftware.com, free). It uses AA NIMH batteries that will last all day without difficulty. Beside the price the only drawback is if you make a route to follow it cannot have more than 100 reference points. Mine did begin to spontaneously turn off after about 10 months and when I called Garmin they said to send it back and in no time they mailed me a new unit. It works great in my car. I even downloaded a free map of Aruba and used it there. It even acts as an alarm clock and calculator. This sounds like an advertisement, but I really love it. Ted. |
GPS systems
Ron Wallenfang wrote:
I've been wondering if I should get a GPS system for use on my more or less annual long rides. I've been using a Garmin eMap for almost 10 years now on both day rides (in lieu of a cyclometer) and tours. It's been discontinued for quite a few years now, but there are plenty of good units available. When touring it's been very useful in locating grocery stores, libraries (good for finding local information), and motels. The maps have been much less useful for campgrounds (the public, NFS-type that I favor are usually not listed, and instead many unsuitable places are listed - sports 'camps', bible-study 'camps', etc.). The Garmin maps include phone numbers, so if you carry a cellphone you can call ahead to motels/etc. and verify availability and confirm that they're open. Of course the map and business data does get dated sometimes, but I haven't found it to be much of a problem, especially in the smaller towns frequently visited while bike touring. Main drawback compared to a regular cyclometer is battery life. Mine runs on AA cells and when touring I can usually get 2-3 days of use per pair of rechargeable NiMH cells. So for touring I carry enough to last a week and beyond that carry a small charger to use in motels or even while eating a meal in a restaurant (get a fairly fast charger to make this feasible). |
GPS systems
"peter" wrote in message
... I've been using a Garmin eMap for almost 10 years now on both day rides (in lieu of a cyclometer) and tours. Me also. The handlebar mount for the eMap is reported to be flimsy (mine hasn't been a problem, although the attachment screw needs to be tightened periodically). People recommend that you attach another tether in case the mount fails. I haven't done this yet, but plan to. As for functionality, I love the eMap. Particuarly since it uses the same map data as my (auto dashboard) original StreetPilot (no model number -- the original). - Skip |
GPS systems
On Wed, 26 Mar 2008 20:02:03 -0700 (PDT), Ron Wallenfang
wrote: I've been wondering if I should get a GPS system for use on my more or less annual long rides. I'm mostly interested in finding motels, restaurants and other facilities and Catholic Churches. Directions are less of an issue. What kind does anybody use and what are the pros and cons of them as you see it. I haven't bought one, although I've thought about it a few times. Aside from being too cheap to want to buy all those batteries, the question I have is about maps and information. How much of a fixed cost do you have to update maps periodically? Where would you get the information on motels, etc.? and how much does that cost, and how often do you need to refresh that? Outfits like Adventure Cycling and Appalachian Trail Conference usually publish annual updates; you'd hate to find out the only motel in 60 miles closed up last year at dusk, if that's what you were counting on. Pat Email address works as is. |
GPS systems
Kristian M Zoerhoff wrote:
On 2008-03-27, Ted wrote: On Mar 26, 11:02 pm, Ron Wallenfang wrote: I've been wondering if I should get a GPS system for use on my more or less annual long rides. I'm mostly interested in finding motels, restaurants and other facilities and Catholic Churches. Directions are less of an issue. What kind does anybody use and what are the pros and cons of them as you see it. I have a Garmin Etrex vista CX with City Navigator NT North America and a 2 GB SD card. Ditto here, except that I have the Legend Cx. I also use a 2 GB card with City Navigator NA (not the NT version), though my CN version is getting a bit long in the tooth now (2006 vintage). I just used two weekends ago to play tourist while walking around Springfield, IL, and had no problems finding museums, historical sites, and my hotel again. The only cons are batteries, but as Ted points out, it takes AAs (NiMH or alkaline). Getting at least a 2 GB SD card will let you dump *all* of North America (or Europe) onto the unit at once, so you don't have to swap maps every time you travel (the way I do with my StreetPilot in the car, as it has only 128 MB of CompactFlash right now). Oh, and the maps cost $$$ of course, especially when you upgrade. It's a fun toy to have, though, and comes in handy on vacation when you're in an unfamiliar place. I have a few that I use... I have a Garmin Etrex Vista Cx with a region 10 topo sd card (preloaded with all topo maps for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and a few other states). I also have a Garmin Forerunner 305. I thought the forerunner was better than the edge (made just for cycling) because as a watch I can wear it for either, wereas, with an edge, I'd have to carry it walking. The 305 has no maps, but saves your track and I can upload them into my pc and view the map and other stats on garmins own software or sportracks. I also have a pair of Magellian 200's that I bought because they were inexpensive (these are what I let my kids use) In the car I have a Garmin Nuvi (650 or 660 I think, the one with construction updates but not the one that shows gas prices nearby; my son has the one that tells you nearby gas prices and such). I like the ETA feature of it best... -- John Nelson ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chicago Area Paddling/Fishing Page http://www.chicagopaddling.org http://www.chicagofishing.org (A Non-Commercial Web Site: No Sponsors, No Paid Ads and Nothing to Sell) |
GPS systems
On Mar 27, 5:15 pm, Patrick Lamb wrote:
I haven't bought one, although I've thought about it a few times. Aside from being too cheap to want to buy all those batteries, I probably wouldn't use my GPS much if it weren't for good rechargeable NiMH AA cells. They can be recharged at least 500 times which is enough for a few years worth of usage even if I'm riding every day. the question I have is about maps and information. How much of a fixed cost do you have to update maps periodically? Where would you get the information on motels, etc.? and how much does that cost, and how often do you need to refresh that? My GPS is from Garmin and they update their maps (which come from NavTeq) annually at a cost of about $70. But I usually skip a few updates since there generally aren't that many changes from one year to the next. So figure about $2/year for batteries and about $20/year for maps. Outfits like Adventure Cycling and Appalachian Trail Conference usually publish annual updates; you'd hate to find out the only motel in 60 miles closed up last year at dusk, if that's what you were counting on. The Garmin maps include telephone numbers for the business and other locations in their map database. So if I'm counting on a particular motel being open I'd call ahead anyway to make a reservation. If the number's been disconnected I'll make alternate plans. And although businesses change hands fairly frequently, it's less common for them to disappear completely. |
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