Map holder

[ColinJ]

Etrex (any Etrex, even the cheapie yellow one) plus Tracklogs works very well for me. Although Anquet Maps and Memory Map have the advantage of working on Pocket PCs, which Tracklogs doesn't.

It's the cheap yellow one that I've got. Available from Amazon UK for about £65 and possibly less elsewhere.

Factor in another £10 or so per bike for handlebar mounts.

You also need an interface cable. I bought an Etrex-RS232 cable for use on my desktop PC, but then had to buy an RS232-USB converter cable so I could connect the Etrex to my laptop which doesn't have a serial port. Somebody probably makes an Etrex-USB lead so you could skip skip the extra lead.

So, you are probably talking £100 for the Etrex, handlebar mounts and cables.

NB - the cheapo Etrex has no mapping capability! You do the map reading at home, upload the route to the Etrex and just follow a 'breadcrumb trail' on the Etrex screen (or follow a direction arrow - I much prefer the trail).

My Memory Map software has seamless OS Landranger mapping for the whole UK. You can buy individual regions - I think that there are 6 altogether, but it works out that 4 individual regions cost as much as the whole country so I went for that instead (it also avoids problems at the 'edges' of the regions). Figure £150-£200 for that.

 

[bonj2]

It's the cheap yellow one that I've got. Available from Amazon UK for about £65 and possibly less elsewhere.

Factor in another £10 or so per bike for handlebar mounts.

You also need an interface cable. I bought an Etrex-RS232 cable for use on my desktop PC, but then had to buy an RS232-USB converter cable so I could connect the Etrex to my laptop which doesn't have a serial port. Somebody probably makes an Etrex-USB lead so you could skip skip the extra lead.

So, you are probably talking £100 for the Etrex, handlebar mounts and cables.

NB - the cheapo Etrex has no mapping capability! You do the map reading at home, upload the route to the Etrex and just follow a 'breadcrumb trail' on the Etrex screen (or follow a direction arrow - I much prefer the trail).

My Memory Map software has seamless OS Landranger mapping for the whole UK. You can buy individual regions - I think that there are 6 altogether, but it works out that 4 individual regions cost as much as the whole country so I went for that instead (it also avoids problems at the 'edges' of the regions). Figure £150-£200 for that.

Hmm... i've already got City Navigator europe on DVD which i bought with my garmin edge 605, so i'm ideally looking for an etrex that i can use that with, as while i'm willing to probably spend up to £100 on a better (for me) gps, I obviously don't want to have to shell out for maps again.

 

[SheilaH]

I think, in a way, GPS makes things more complicted on an audax. For a start you have to spend an hour or more plotting the route. Then you have the worries of having made mistakes or the unit malfunctioning. As Bonj says, knowing which way to go on leaving a control is not always straightforward (especially in a one-way system), as well as finding the control point in the first place (much easier now with googlemaps). You then have the battery life issues.

A clip and a piece of paper can't go wrong (unless there are annoying mistakes). I think having to look out for turns makes the boring bits of the ride go quicker too.

(That said, I'll be firing my gps up on the elenith, BC, and BCM over the next 4 weeks)

 

[ColinJ]

I think, in a way, GPS makes things more complicted on an audax. For a start you have to spend an hour or more plotting the route. Then you have the worries of having made mistakes or the unit malfunctioning. As Bonj says, knowing which way to go on leaving a control is not always straightforward (especially in a one-way system), as well as finding the control point in the first place (much easier now with googlemaps). You then have the battery life issues.

I enjoy reading maps and plotting routes so that is fine.

I don't worry about malfunctions because my GPS doesn't malfunction (when I remember to use the correct-sized batteries!). If it did happen to malfunction, I always carry the route sheet for backup.

I agree about controls in towns. I got confused at the start of A Mere 200, but within 200 metres of following less-confused riders, I was navigating by GPS again.

I double-check routes very carefully. If I can see any possible ambiguity, I label my waypoints to help me. If necessary, I use Google Maps to check the names of the roads against the instructions on the route sheet.

Battery-life is only an issue if your device has a fixed internal battery. I realised that before I bought a GPS and that is why I bought the simple Etrex which uses 2 AA batteries. I always start with a fully-charged pair of cells that have a 27 hour life - that's about double the longest ride that I've ever done.

I might do a 300 or even a 400 one day, but only if I was fit enough to average 20+ kph. I can't see me ever doing a 600 so I can get by on one set of batteries. If for some reason the batteries did die on me, I could just stick in a couple of Duracells from a garage.

A clip and a piece of paper can't go wrong (unless there are annoying mistakes). I think having to look out for turns makes the boring bits of the ride go quicker too.

I never get bored on rides because I'm either talking to someone, or if alone, I'm riding at the fastest pace that I can sustain. That may not be particularly quick, but it means that I'm working hard enough to not have energy left for boredom!

 

[SheilaH]

Well, last weekend was the first in about two months that I haven't ridden a 200k on the saturday (and sometimes on the sunday too)... farting about with the gps does get to be a pain. Those long welsh rides like th BC and BCM ar quite a lot easier to map given that they use few roads.

I love looking at maps too, though. It's just finding the spare time each week to do it thats an issue.

 

[ColinJ]

Well, last weekend was the first in about two months that I haven't ridden a 200k on the saturday (and sometimes on the sunday too)... farting about with the gps does get to be a pain. Those long welsh rides like th BC and BCM ar quite a lot easier to map given that they use few roads.

I love looking at maps too, though. It's just finding the spare time each week to do it thats an issue.

Crikey - if I was doing that many long rides, I'm not sure I'd have the time (or the energy) to do it either!

The route for A Mere 200 was very complicated because of all the little Cheshire lanes it goes down. That took me quite along time to plot. The route sheet was very good, actually, but I'm still glad I took the GPS, especially because I ended up riding about 2 hours in the dark.

Some of the other 200s I've done were pretty straight-forward. 5 km along one road, 6 km the next and so on.

 

[SheilaH]

It is so much easier using Googlemaps in tandem as you can see road names and search for cafe/pub controls. When I first started using a gps 5 years ago it could be a little hit and miss.

 

[bonj2]

oh yes i always use googlemaps in tandem! can't tell what village is what otherwise.
the rendering of google maps is superb, but then they have got rooms full of developers. probably whole buildings full

 

[Greenbank]

Well, last weekend was the first in about two months that I haven't ridden a 200k on the saturday (and sometimes on the sunday too)... farting about with the gps does get to be a pain. Those long welsh rides like th BC and BCM ar quite a lot easier to map given that they use few roads.

I haven't had any problems with mine (I use a bog standard yellow eTrex too) and I've used it for 5000km of events so far. I don't see why you need to fart around with the GPS. Turn it on in advance (so that it gets a lock), select right route, follow. 20 seconds at most. At the half way control it's another 10 seconds to switch to the return route.

I've done a 600 on a pair of 2700mAh rechargables and there was still life left in it. On the recent DIY rides up to Edinburgh (done as a 300, 200, 200 on consecutive days) the batteries lasted until the evening of day 2. 20 seconds to change them and I was off again. On long rides I'll change the batteries whilst I'm stopped at a control, that way I'm not wasting any time doing it.

I program mine with routes rather than tracks, that makes it work just like a routesheet. One routepoint per routesheet instruction,and labelled with the instruction (and a number to make it unique, all within 6 characters), i.e.

"01 L" - left
"02 R" - right
"03 SOX" - straight on at crossroads
"04 E3" - exit 3 of roundabout
"05 CTL" - control

This was my day 2 of London-Edinburgh from Thorne to Alston in just 81 route points:-

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/261851

Luckily I have a good memory and I can remember the snippets of routesheet instructions in/around the controls, also what to do when leaving a control. A quick check on the routesheet whilst at the control helps too.

Also, there's no need to buy Tracklogs, Memory Map, or any other mapping software for the computer. I just create my routes in bikely, download them as GPX files, manually convert them from tracks to routes using a text editor, manually split them at appropriate places if they're too long (max 120 points per route) or a loop (otherwise it'll start off pointing you back towards the finish), then use a simple program to transfer them to the GPS.

It takes about an hour in total to go from routesheet to programmed GPS (for a 300km ride) which also helps me get an idea of the places and terrain that I'll be riding through as I'm looking at the map. Some are easier, the Elenith took less than 30 minutes to plot as it has only got 74 points.

I'll be using my eTrex for LEL (I've already done the route one way in 3 days and the GPS worked flawlessly). I'll just dump some rechargables in the bagdrops and carry some spares with me.

 

[arallsopp]

Hmmm... I hadn't thought about using a GPS unit before really, but am getting a little scared about finding my way through LEL in the dark. (Average speeds do not permit doing it in daylight only)

That eTrex looks great, but the garmin site seems to say it'll only last 17 hours on a pair of AAs?

The GPS-60 on the other hand, seems to go longer. Am I missing something? Anyone used this unit?

Anyone got a primer on what features I'll want or not for general riding / audax?

Cheers!

 

[bonj2]

Hmmm... I hadn't thought about using a GPS unit before really, but am getting a little scared about finding my way through LEL in the dark. (Average speeds do not permit doing it in daylight only)

That eTrex looks great, but the garmin site seems to say it'll only last 17 hours on a pair of AAs?

The GPS-60 on the other hand, seems to go longer. Am I missing something? Anyone used this unit?

Anyone got a primer on what features I'll want or not for general riding / audax?

Cheers!

ONLY 17 hours? that's quite good!
if you're doing LEL you're probably taking at least a saddlebag anyway aren't you - so you can take spare AAs. That's the beauty of those etrex ones. Why they're discontinued god knows

 

[Greenbank]

That eTrex looks great, but the garmin site seems to say it'll only last 17 hours on a pair of AAs?

2700mAh rechargables have lasted more than 30 hours in my eTrex on many occasions. If you get a low battery warning then you swap in a new pair of batteries. It's not exactly tricky.

 

[Alun]

The basic yellow Etrex was updated a couple of years ago with a more powerful sensor, I noticed then that the battery life was reduced in the specifications. On the other hand batteries are more powerful than they used to be, which should compensate to a degree. Perhaps as well to carry a couple of spares if doing a long ride.

 

[Greenbank]

The basic yellow Etrex was updated a couple of years ago with a more powerful sensor, I noticed then that the battery life was reduced in the specifications. On the other hand batteries are more powerful than they used to be, which should compensate to a degree. Perhaps as well to carry a couple of spares if doing a long ride.

Good point, mine is not the H (high sensitivity) version.

 

[ColinJ]

Good point, mine is not the H (high sensitivity) version.

Ditto.

I've not had many problems with losing satellite lock on my older Etrex, once in a steep-sided valley, and a couple of times on heavily-wooded roads. It does sometimes take a few minutes to lock on though.