I've read the which GPS threads but am still confused!

[soulful dog]

ColinJ thanks for your useful info on the Etrex H. Sounds like it might be useful tool to help me from getting lost on the occasions when I venture a little farther than normal! I don't ride often enough to merit spending a lot, talking of which..... where can you get it for £54, I can't find it much cheaper than the £68 on Amazon? Also, I've a couple of other questions if you don't mind....

Exactly what leads are required to connect to a PC (using USB)? Do you need 2, the Garmin PC connecter and a serial to usb converter (did a search on ebay for etrex to usb but got nothing).

How long is the battery life on it using standard AA batteries, and would you lose your route if the battery ran out mid-ride and had to be replaced?

Have you used it to navigate through towns and does it cope of with that as well as more rural routes?

 

[Rebel Ian]

Colin will wish he'd never posted on this thread - I've been sending him messages asking questions for the last two days!! The cable is not quite as straight forward as you'd think. Not all of the cables fit all Garmin units. This is the one I've ordered today.

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item2a08b1e541

In the FAQs on eBay it specifically says it fits the eTrex H. This is assuming you want a USB connection.

The handlebar mount is on eBay for £9.99. Re the price of the eTrex I couldn't find it as low as £54 either. Mine was £66 delivered to work on a next delivery so is coming tomorrow.

 

[ColinJ]

ColinJ thanks for your useful info on the Etrex H. Sounds like it might be useful tool to help me from getting lost on the occasions when I venture a little farther than normal! I don't ride often enough to merit spending a lot, talking of which..... where can you get it for £54, I can't find it much cheaper than the £68 on Amazon? Also, I've a couple of other questions if you don't mind....

Exactly what leads are required to connect to a PC (using USB)? Do you need 2, the Garmin PC connecter and a serial to usb converter (did a search on ebay for etrex to usb but got nothing).

How long is the battery life on it using standard AA batteries, and would you lose your route if the battery ran out mid-ride and had to be replaced?

Have you used it to navigate through towns and does it cope of with that as well as more rural routes?

I've been having an offline conversation with Ian and he has gone ahead and bought an Etrex H!

Hmm, I checked and discovered that the sneaky £54 company were showing the price excluding VAT so it looks like £65 ish is the going rate!

I bought a Garmin-to-RS232 lead when I first bought my Etrex but later needed it to work with the USB port on my laptop so I bought a converter lead. It's much neater (and probably cheaper) to go straight for Garmin-to-USB with a converter built in. I found  this one on eBay for Ian (different Garmin Etrex models have different connectors so you have to be careful to get the right lead).

The Etrex draws about 100 mA in operation when not using the backlight. You don't need the backlight during the day, and a headtorch is better at night anyway. My NiMH cells are 2800 mAH so I get over a day of use on one charge. Since the longest ride I've ever done is 14 hours, I just make sure that I use freshly charged cells. I don't usually use the GPS for short rides. I can't see the point in using non-rechargeable batteries except perhaps in emergencies but if you want to use Duracells (or the like), look up their capacity and see how long they can supply 100mA for.

According to several reviews I've seen online, data is not lost during battery changes but I've never changed batteries when I'm out so I couldn't swear to that. It shouldn't be necessary as long as you set off with fresh batteries.

As long as you plot the routes accurately and the GPS can pick up enough satellite signals, you should be okay in towns/cities. I haven't had any problems but if you were somewhere with narrow streets and very tall buildings you might have a problem. The Etrex H circuitry is more sensitive than my old hardware so it hangs on to satellite lock better. My old GPS has only lost lock a couple of times, when I was in very steep-sided valleys with restricted views of the sky. Tunnels and thick forest can also block the signal but 99.9% of the time you will be perfectly okay. 
First time you switch the Etrex on, it can take quite a long time to lock on to the satellites but after that, it remembers where it was when you switched it off so it usually only takes a minute or two next time you start it unless you move it hundreds of miles while it is off.


One other thing I mentioned to Ian - I've had a problem with one pair of batteries which were marginally smaller than the ones I normally use. As a result they were able to wobble in the battery compartment and momentarily disconnect, shutting down the GPS. I cured the problem by inserting a piece of paper under the batteries to take up the slack. It's not likely that you would have that problem, but if you do, that seems to be the cure.

 

[ColinJ]

Colin will wish he'd never posted on this thread - I've been sending him messages asking questions for the last two days!! The cable is not quite as straight forward as you'd think. Not all of the cables fit all Garmin units. This is the one I've ordered today.

http://cgi.ebay.co.u...=item2a08b1e541

In the FAQs on eBay it specifically says it fits the eTrex H. This is assuming you want a USB connection.

The handlebar mount is on eBay for £9.99. Re the price of the eTrex I couldn't find it as low as £54 either. Mine was £66 delivered to work on a next delivery so is coming tomorrow.

Ho ho - you got in first!


Actually, I'm going to try and sell GPS units on one or other of my little websites so this is all good practice! I'll develop a FAQ based on what we've been talking about. I'll also pick the brains of fellow CCers Svendo, goodspeed and zacklaws who use more expensive Garmin GPS units on their bikes.

 

[zacklaws]

Ho ho - you got in first!


Actually, I'm going to try and sell GPS units on one or other of my little websites so this is all good practice! I'll develop a FAQ based on what we've been talking about. I'll also pick the brains of fellow CCers Svendo, goodspeed and zacklaws who use more expensive Garmin GPS units on their bikes.

Fire away Colin

 

[Scoosh]

I have an Etrex Vista HCx, which took me about 2 months to go from expensive paper-weight to useful navigation tool .

I wanted to upload OSM (free !) maps, plot a route and have it tell me when/where to turn.

My difficulty was understanding the difference between Tracks and Routes in Garmin-speak and in getting my Waypoints the way I wanted them.

I finally cracked it after to talking to a fellow audaxer who had his Etrex doing what I wanted mine to do, asking him how he did it - and having sufficient understanding of Garmin-speak to know what he was talking about .


If one is using a breadcrumb trail (ie a Track), do the navigation directions (Next; Dist to Next) come up, or is that only for Waypoints ?

 

[rh100]

I've been having an offline conversation with Ian and he has gone ahead and bought an Etrex H!

Hmm, I checked and discovered that the sneaky £54 company were showing the price excluding VAT so it looks like £65 ish is the going rate!

I bought a Garmin-to-RS232 lead when I first bought my Etrex but later needed it to work with the USB port on my laptop so I bought a converter lead. It's much neater (and probably cheaper) to go straight for Garmin-to-USB with a converter built in. I found this one on eBay for Ian (different Garmin Etrex models have different connectors so you have to be careful to get the right lead).

The Etrex draws about 100 mA in operation when not using the backlight. You don't need the backlight during the day, and a headtorch is better at night anyway. My NiMH cells are 2800 mAH so I get over a day of use on one charge. Since the longest ride I've ever done is 14 hours, I just make sure that I use freshly charged cells. I don't usually use the GPS for short rides. I can't see the point in using non-rechargeable batteries except perhaps in emergencies but if you want to use Duracells (or the like), look up their capacity and see how long they can supply 100mA for.

According to several reviews I've seen online, data is not lost during battery changes but I've never changed batteries when I'm out so I couldn't swear to that. It shouldn't be necessary as long as you set off with fresh batteries.

As long as you plot the routes accurately and the GPS can pick up enough satellite signals, you should be okay in towns/cities. I haven't had any problems but if you were somewhere with narrow streets and very tall buildings you might have a problem. The Etrex H circuitry is more sensitive than my old hardware so it hangs on to satellite lock better. My old GPS has only lost lock a couple of times, when I was in very steep-sided valleys with restricted views of the sky. Tunnels and thick forest can also block the signal but 99.9% of the time you will be perfectly okay.
First time you switch the Etrex on, it can take quite a long time to lock on to the satellites but after that, it remembers where it was when you switched it off so it usually only takes a minute or two next time you start it unless you move it hundreds of miles while it is off.


One other thing I mentioned to Ian - I've had a problem with one pair of batteries which were marginally smaller than the ones I normally use. As a result they were able to wobble in the battery compartment and momentarily disconnect, shutting down the GPS. I cured the problem by inserting a piece of paper under the batteries to take up the slack. It's not likely that you would have that problem, but if you do, that seems to be the cure.

I wondered this aswell. I tried it with my garmin Dakota yesterday, did a battery swap halfway through. First thing I checked was the trip odometer - which was still the same. But the navigation track had cleared, reselected the track and at first it was showing the BEGIN waypoint, but moved on to the nearest waypoint once I started moving again. It uploaded the ride as a complete route when I plugged into the PC, which was good as I was concerned it would split the ride into two. Also on a different ride, the unit had switched itself off, I spotted it and switched it back on again. On upload it seemed that it was off for about half a mile, the plotted route just showed a straight line between when it was turned off then on again, rather than the actual route I took between those points, I guess a signal loss would have the same result. At least the whole lot doesn't get lost. I wonder if all garmin's behave in the same way.

 

[bicyclos]

I purchased the Garmin etrex-H last week from Amazon for £61.10 delivered free. I think I googled first and found it from there. The Garmin to RS232 cable I got for £13.49 delivered from edinburgh cycles (Ebay) they had two for sale. The unit works well uploading etc into memory map V5. Just got my bike mount this morning from Ebay. I think you have to keep your eye out for these bargains which come up now and again and snap em up.........

 

[ColinJ]

Fire away Colin

I think I'll wait until I ride with you guys again and then I can point at different GPS pages and ask how they work, that kind of thing. Perhaps I should get one of those little MUVI cameras and we could do a "How I use my GPS" interview!

I have an Etrex Vista HCx, which took me about 2 months to go from expensive paper-weight to useful navigation tool .  

I wanted to upload OSM (free !) maps, plot a route and have it tell me when/where to turn.

My difficulty was understanding the difference between Tracks and Routes in Garmin-speak and in getting my Waypoints the way I wanted them.

I finally cracked it after to talking to a fellow audaxer who had his Etrex doing what I wanted mine to do, asking him how he did it - and having sufficient understanding of Garmin-speak to know what he was talking about .

If one is using a breadcrumb trail (ie a Track), do the navigation directions (Next; Dist to Next) come up, or is that only for Waypoints ?

The simple Etrex & Etrex H don't display any data fields on the breadcrumb trail page, you have to select them on a different page. I can estimate how far it is to the next turn because the scale is shown on the page and the trail shows about 5 or 6 times that distance ahead of you so often I can see a turn coming up a few hundred yards before I arrive at it.

I use routes rather than tracks, mainly because  this article (mentioned previously) did and that's what inspired me to buy my GPS. I find that using the author's naming convention for waypoints is helpful but I'm getting lazy now and only do it when I think that I might struggle at a complex junction.

I'm getting quite good at spotting where I might have problems and insert extra waypoints if necessary and name them appropriately.

For example, If my route approached a crossroads where I needed to turn right then immediate left onto a road parallel to my original road I would put a waypoint at the crossroads another to the right at the second junction and a third up the second road so the breadcrumb trail would clearly show the right-then-left turns. I'd also name the waypoints something like 063R-L (right turn closely followed by a left), 064L (the left turn itself).

I wondered this aswell. I tried it with my garmin Dakota yesterday, did a battery swap halfway through. First thing I checked was the trip odometer - which was still the same. But the navigation track had cleared, reselected the track and at first it was showing the BEGIN waypoint, but moved on to the nearest waypoint once I started moving again. It uploaded the ride as a complete route when I plugged into the PC, which was good as I was concerned it would split the ride into two. Also on a different ride, the unit had switched itself off, I spotted it and switched it back on again. On upload it seemed that it was off for about half a mile, the plotted route just showed a straight line between when it was turned off then on again, rather than the actual route I took between those points, I guess a signal loss would have the same result. At least the whole lot doesn't get lost. I wonder if all garmin's behave in the same way.

Thinking about it, my GPS did reset a few times when I had loose batteries (see earlier post) but it never lost the route information. Mind you, the power would only have been off for a split-second each time.

I purchased the Garmin etrex-H last week from Amazon for £61.10 delivered free. I think I googled first and found it from there. The Garmin to RS232 cable I got  for £13.49 delivered from edinburgh cycles (Ebay) they had two for sale. The unit works well uploading etc into memory map V5. Just got my bike mount this morning from Ebay. I think you have to keep your eye out for these bargains which come up now and again and snap em up.........

The Etrex H looks very similar to my old Etrex. The most obvious way to tell the difference is that mine has a graphic of the Earth above the Etrex logo, but the 'H' doesn't. 

I use MM V5 too. I had problems with it early on but eventually found the solution. If you ever have problems where you see the error message "Failed to terminate RS232 thread", read my  blog post.

 

[psmiffy]

According to several reviews I've seen online, data is not lost during battery changes but I've never changed batteries when I'm out so I couldn't swear to that. It shouldn't be necessary as long as you set off with fresh batteries.

Not a problem - even keeps the data if you do not bother to turn it of when changing the batteries

 

[zacklaws]

Perhaps I should get one of those little MUVI cameras and we could do a "How I use my GPS" interview!

That should be interesting, I could demonstrate what happens when you fail to constantly check on the Garmin screen what you are approaching when your doing a fast downhill run with crap brakes and all of a sudden you discover a 90 degree "S" bend immediatly to your front, but as I have now fitted highly efficient new Bontrager Speed Limiter brakes, we could make an advert for them too.

 

[soulful dog]

Ta much for the additional info, one other question for those that have just bought one, if you haven't used anything similar beforehand, how easy/difficult was it to get to grips with?