A question for bicycling gps users

.. My first moving map experience was a Garmin II+ and a Libretto 50CT.
http://www.billcotton.com/tripmate.htm I powered both from a 12 volts 4 amp
hour, four pound gel cell battery With Delorme Street Atlas I plotted a
route from Philadelphia PA to Wellesley MA. One route and thousands of
waypoints. I got about 10 hours of runtime each day from the batteries. The
Libretto ac wall charger would recharge its internal batteries and the gel
cell at the same time.
I was quoted in an article in bicycle magazine in May 1999 about the above
trip; " But for cyclists like Cotton, for whom weight isn't the primary
issue, a GPS has proven a good replacement for paper maps. Last summer,
Cotton rode from Philadelphia to Boston and back (a round-trip of 750
miles), using his sub-two-pound laptop computer, DeLorme Street Atlas 5.0
software and a Garmin GPS II+. "it's a lot less hassle than maps," says
Cotton. "I don't need a bike computer anymore because this shows speed and
distance." GPS technology has been moving so fast that several months after
his trip, it's now possible for cyclists like Cotton to leave the laptop
behind".
Yes I have left the laptop and the gel cell home for short trips on my eMap.
With 64 Megs of memory in the eMap, I can load enough maps to do a loop from
Philly to Long Island, ferry to New London, New Haven and back to Philly. (I
did take the Libretto on that trip twice to upload side trips while camping
at the Bicycle Hostels of Long Island.) And maps for south to Virginia and
west to Lancaster PA. However Routes must be kept to lest that 50 waypoints
or turns to upload from Delorme to the eMap, about 50 miles in open country,
less than 25 miles with preference set to local roads in center Philly. I
find that I can extend this by reversing the route while planning in Delorme
maps, uploading the route and reverse again in eMap. A PDA would be more
like the moving map that I enjoyed in 1999.
AUTOROUTING. Is this the answer? I am hearing that route making is done in
the gps in the case of the Quest, the unit I am considering, I was expecting
that a VI was in the making with more memory than the V and I could continue
to upload routes from Delorme maps with its routable road feature.
The 276c seems has a serial data input and many of the V feature that I
uses. The Quest doesn't have a serial data input and the manual doesn't
mention uploading routes.
About Aurorouting on the 60c, 76c and other gps that has bicycle preference.
How do you get the waypoints of a club ride with a preprinted cue sheet into
your gps.
The screen on the Libretto is too dim for daylight riding now.




www.billcotton.com
N40° 3.744' W75° 6.180'

"Bill Cotton" wrote in message
...
. My first moving map experience was a Garmin II+ and a Libretto 50CT.
http://www.billcotton.com/tripmate.htm I powered both from a 12 volts 4
amp
hour, four pound gel cell battery With Delorme Street Atlas I plotted a
route from Philadelphia PA to Wellesley MA. One route and thousands of
waypoints. I got about 10 hours of runtime each day from the batteries.
The
Libretto ac wall charger would recharge its internal batteries and the gel
cell at the same time.
I was quoted in an article in bicycle magazine in May 1999 about the above
trip; " But for cyclists like Cotton, for whom weight isn't the primary
issue, a GPS has proven a good replacement for paper maps. Last summer,
Cotton rode from Philadelphia to Boston and back (a round-trip of 750
miles), using his sub-two-pound laptop computer, DeLorme Street Atlas 5.0
software and a Garmin GPS II+. "it's a lot less hassle than maps," says
Cotton. "I don't need a bike computer anymore because this shows speed and
distance." GPS technology has been moving so fast that several months
after
his trip, it's now possible for cyclists like Cotton to leave the laptop
behind".
Yes I have left the laptop and the gel cell home for short trips on my
eMap.
With 64 Megs of memory in the eMap, I can load enough maps to do a loop
from
Philly to Long Island, ferry to New London, New Haven and back to Philly.
(I
did take the Libretto on that trip twice to upload side trips while
camping
at the Bicycle Hostels of Long Island.) And maps for south to Virginia and
west to Lancaster PA. However Routes must be kept to lest that 50
waypoints
or turns to upload from Delorme to the eMap, about 50 miles in open
country,
less than 25 miles with preference set to local roads in center Philly. I
find that I can extend this by reversing the route while planning in
Delorme
maps, uploading the route and reverse again in eMap. A PDA would be more
like the moving map that I enjoyed in 1999.
AUTOROUTING. Is this the answer? I am hearing that route making is done in
the gps in the case of the Quest, the unit I am considering, I was
expecting
that a VI was in the making with more memory than the V and I could
continue
to upload routes from Delorme maps with its routable road feature.
The 276c seems has a serial data input and many of the V feature that I
uses. The Quest doesn't have a serial data input and the manual doesn't
mention uploading routes.
About Aurorouting on the 60c, 76c and other gps that has bicycle
preference.
How do you get the waypoints of a club ride with a preprinted cue sheet
into
your gps.
The screen on the Libretto is too dim for daylight riding now.




www.billcotton.com
N40$B!(B 3.744' W75$B!(B 6.180'



I use eTrex Legend C(color) with MetroGuide v4.
I really like it. The color screen is easy to read. It has 24Meg memory
and can keep 1/2 of the state I live. The 30 hours battery life is enough
for most trips. I can always carry extra AA batteries for multi day trip.
It is small, rugged and water proof. Unlike newer version, MetroGuide
v4 has auto-route capability and works very well. You can specify a route
or way points by several methods. The easiest method for me is to move a
marker on the map and click. a button.
I once tried a combination of PDA and GPS mouse, but didn't work well.
The biggest problem was a battery life. Another problem was a SD card.
On a road bike, I experienced frequent read error from vibration. That has
never happened when I use the same configuration in a car..

About Aurorouting on the 60c, 76c and other gps that has bicycle
preference.
How do you get the waypoints of a club ride with a preprinted cue sheet
into
your gps.

Hi Bill:

It is easy to transfer a series of cues to Mapsource (I use City Select, but
Navigator and TOPO are much the same). Simply locate the start and finish
points (usually the same) and then "rubber band" the route to match the cue
sheet. With Mapsource set appropriately (i.e., for "bicycle", shortest
route, avoid highways) this should take less than 5 min for a 100-mile
route, even in an area with many roads, like SE PA. It then takes 15 sec
to transfer the route to the GPS via the USB cable.

BTW, Mapsource generates a cue sheet (i.e., list of turns and distances)
which, in my opinion, is more accurate than the ones generated by DeLorme
programs, so it is easy to go from a Mapsource Route to a printed cue sheet.
The Mapsource directions can be copied and pasted into Excel or Word for
tweaking.

Mike T.

--

www.billcotton.com
N40° 3.744' W75° 6.180'
"Michael Tordoff" wrote in message
erio.net...
About Aurorouting on the 60c, 76c and other gps that has bicycle
preference.
How do you get the waypoints of a club ride with a preprinted cue sheet
into
your gps.

Hi Bill:

It is easy to transfer a series of cues to Mapsource (I use City Select,
but
Navigator and TOPO are much the same). Simply locate the start and finish
points (usually the same) and then "rubber band" the route to match the
cue
sheet. With Mapsource set appropriately (i.e., for "bicycle", shortest
route, avoid highways) this should take less than 5 min for a 100-mile
route, even in an area with many roads, like SE PA. It then takes 15 sec
to transfer the route to the GPS via the USB cable.

BTW, Mapsource generates a cue sheet (i.e., list of turns and distances)
which, in my opinion, is more accurate than the ones generated by DeLorme
programs, so it is easy to go from a Mapsource Route to a printed cue
sheet.
The Mapsource directions can be copied and pasted into Excel or Word for
tweaking.

Mike T.
Thanks Mike, I have decided that I will get a Garmin with Auto route.