I'm hoping Father Christmas will bring me...

[Auntie Helen]

A bike GPS. Thing is, I know nothing about them, and so I need a bit of advice from knowledgeable types on here about what to recommend to Santa to obtain for me.

I ride a recumbent trike and I have a very convenient location for the GPS on the end of the upright part of my boom which holds the gear contraption for my front chainring.

My questions are:

What can I expect from one of these gadgets? I'm assuming that they will have all the usual trip computer things (speed, avg speed, max speed, distance travelled) as well as a little map of where I am and a route I should travel to get to where I want to go, plus the ability to download my route onto a computer so I can see where I went wrong. Plus, of course, the very vital ability to remove the thing instantly when I leave the bike. And am I correct in assuming it will be reasonably possible to mount the gadget on the end of this bit of tube?

So... if anyone has any recommendations they can offer I would be grateful. I would rather Santa spent less than £150 on this contraption, if possible. I would also be very happy if the contraption could replace my current trip computer so I can use its mounting location for another front light!

 

[Lazy-Commuter]

I've been considering asking him for a Garmin Edge 305. It's not a "proper" satnav like you might have in a car in that it won't calculate you a route and doesn't show you a roadmap on screen but you can pre-define a route and load it into it. It then shows a sort of "breadcrumb" trail, showing where you are on the route and advising you to turn left or right or whatever (straight up, presumably). It will also show you if you leave your route.

Plus, you can ride round a favourite route and then save that as a "course" which you can repeat whenever you wish. It will also show you how you are doing compared to a previously saved personal best: I think you get two little bikes on the screen having a race.

Plus, it does bike computer stuff with more bits of data than you could shake a very large stick at .. you can get it with either cadence monitoring or HRM or both, and show up to eight bits of data on each of two (I think) user customisable screens.

You can attach it to your PC (via USB) to download data from your ride, so it can show you your speed, cadence (if fitted), heart rate, etc. etc. at every step of the way. I've heard the software that comes with it is a bit rubbish, but you can hook it up to Google Earth and various other bits of freeware to do stuff.

It seems to be very highly thought of amongst those that have one on the forums here and you should be able to get one at about your price limit.

For me, I wondered if it was a bit OTT and was thinking about a Cateye V2 (not GPS, just does cadence and a bit of average data recording for laps and so on .. but is half the price!) but now I've started thinking about the Edge again I'm wondering if I might ask for one of them instead.

 

[jimboalee]

I got a Garmin eTrex Legend C a long time ago. The rubber bumper band came loose and kept slipping off. Garmin UK replaced the unit and the replacement unit suffered the same fault. I did some DIY repair with industrial double sided tape.
I vowed never to buy another Garmin with the same body/case format.
Garmin eTrex units suffer with vibration, so advice from the AUK man is to mount the unit on a softish cushion ( rubber foam ) and stick some 'Fuzzy felt' between the Unit and the handlebar mount. My Legend has now completely failed. Batteries do not power it but the USB input does. Internal connections open circuit.

I still use the Legend, but it must be off the USB, so its in the car.

I have an Edge 605 now. Different functionality of course and plots a route with Topo GB or City Navigator. NOT Metroguide.
Accepts all my .gdb waypoints and routes.
Needed to download 'all new' Mapsource to comms with it. This came free from Garmin UK, as I am a registered user. To get it completely right, takes a phone call to Garmin UK.

It has 500Mbyte internal, which holds most of Topo England and Wales. It takes a micro SD card. I have a 2Gbyte card, for the simple reason Topo California is 1.03 Gbyte.

 

[Bigtallfatbloke]

I have the Garmin GPSmap60csx..after a pretty serious learning curve it is now something I am very happy to have persisted with. It really came into it's own in France this summer (especially getting me around Lyon)...it does all you want and a lot more..but it's more cash than Santa has...tell him to look on ebay??

 

[ufkacbln]

Depends whet you want from the Unit....

The GPS part is performance wise about the same across the units, it is how this is dealt with.

The Edge is a nice piece of kit, and shows a simple line route which can be followed, simply turn as you reach the change in the line, it is the depth of recording withheart rate, altitude, and others that make it a GPS assisted bicycle computer. The bad news is that it records in unique format which can be a problem with some navigationg software, and require third party conversions.

The ETrex is similar, in its basic form the mapping is similar to the Edge but will beep and indicate turns... With the more advanced there is basic mapping.

The ETrex and most others record in a standard format compatible with most mapping software

The "ultimate" at the moment and the only one which uses Ordnance survey is the SatMap Active 10.

Note that in all cases the mapping is strictly controlled and not transferrable.... so you need to calculate in maapping costs as well.

It is possible to plan on Bikely or other free route planners and download/ display on Google Earth or the free routing However to get the best you will need to get Tracklogs / Anquet / Memory Map to map on the PC.

My advice would be to get into a shop and look / handle these units - see what fits your needs best and then give some strong hints.

Finally - mounting is personal, but all are "handlebar based" and need a handlebar orientated mounting on the bike... I use a SpaceGrip for this- however boom based makes the unit too far away to see the mapping or detail.... try readingthe small print on the frame label and you will see what I mean. YOu also find yourself contorting in awkward positions to operate any controls....

On the Catrike and Street Machine I filed out a rubber bung and fitted the unit to the ridged unit of the Mirrycle (I see you have these fitted!) whch places it in an ideal position to initaially see, but secondly to operate the functions.

 

[jimboalee]

The eTrex Legend HCx retails at down to about £135.
The Edge 605, I bought for £182.
The GPS60csx can be got for £206,
and the Satmap Active 10 are now at Amazon for £271.

Satmap Active 10 is getting rave reviews, because of the OS Pathfinder maps.

 

[Auntie Helen]

The additional cost of the mapping is clearly a bit of an issue with many of these (I gather the Garmin Basemap is virtually useless).

They don't seem all that good value compared to a usual in-car satnav (which might not be waterproof, of course, but is much much cheaper).

 

[jimboalee]

Yup. The basemaps are crap.

Lowest 'semi' useful maps are Metroguide. NO routing. You'll need to adopt the 'Junction stringing' method to pre-build routes. OK for AUK, but hopeless for impromptu stuff.
Next is City Navigator. Does route. No contours, so no seeing the hills before you ride them.
Then Topo. Does routes. Has contours, footpaths, rivers in the correct place etc.

BUT, Garmin routing is pretty crap. There are parts of the road network that Garmin just won't go. I have to force it by creating a waypoint. eg Gyratory at A425 and Europa Way, Leamington Spa. Its on my commute, and Garmin avoids it like the plague.

I haven't seen Satmap Active 10 in use, but it can't be worse than Garmin.

 

[markazz]

I've had a satmap for a month or so, I bought the full OS GB 1:50,000 card. I think it is great. Do not buy it for routing however as it is not that sort of device. Think of it as a moving OS map and use it as such. If you want to plot your own route with waypoints but that is possible but it will not plan a route for you.

regards

 

[jimboalee]

I've had a satmap for a month or so, I bought the full OS GB 1:50,000 card. I think it is great. Do not buy it for routing however as it is not that sort of device. Think of it as a moving OS map and use it as such. If you want to plot your own route with waypoints but that is possible but it will not plan a route for you.

regards

What's the point of a SatNav ( That's Satellite NAVIGATION ) if it won't navigate.

PS BTW, mounting a SatNav GPS on the Crank post on a 'Bent won't be good at all. You won't be able to see a thing on the screen from that distance.

 

[Fiona N]

I'm glad I never bothered:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown

 

[jimboalee]

I'm glad I never bothered:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown

Scaremongering.

 

[jimboalee]

I'm glad I never bothered:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/may/19/gps-close-to-breakdown

Go on to Wikipedia and read up how GPS works.

Each satellite transmits its own code signal. Your reciever is programmed with the codes and positions of the satellites and computes its position.

There are comms' frequencies dedicated to 'tracking' etc. Its these signals I think is whats being talked about.

Can you imagine the BBC stating their transmitters are going to fail because there are too many television sets receiving the signals???


Read and understand the Wikipedia page because I will be asking questions tomorrow

 

[Scoosh]

A bike GPS. Thing is, I know nothing about them, and so I need a bit of advice from knowledgeable types on here about what to recommend to Santa to obtain for me.

My questions are:

What can I expect from one of these gadgets? I'm assuming that they will have all the usual trip computer things (speed, avg speed, max speed, distance travelled) as well as a little map of where I am and a route I should travel to get to where I want to go, plus the ability to download my route onto a computer so I can see where I went wrong. Plus, of course, the very vital ability to remove the thing instantly when I leave the bike. And am I correct in assuming it will be reasonably possible to mount the gadget on the end of this bit of tube?

So... if anyone has any recommendations they can offer I would be grateful. I would rather Santa spent less than £150 on this contraption, if possible. I would also be very happy if the contraption could replace my current trip computer so I can use its mounting location for another front light!

I have a passing (oh that it would pass ) interest in these GPS things too and have some websites to which I refer at intervals.

- go to the Audax UK Handbook site, then to Jo Wood's GPS/Audax FAQ and so on down the list. This will give Santa time to save lots of £££ for the Ultimate GPS you really, really want . My research thus far indicates that there is not a lot for < £150.
- try the end-to-end link too for some touring stuff

- pocketgpsworld has lots of stuff, reviews etc.

The only thing I have yet to find is someone to tell me "That is the one you need (and should want). Go and buy it." Of course, the teknolology is changing fast, so .........

You might have finished reading all this by Christmas !