sat-nav dilemma

[john.highmoor]

Any advice on sat-nav dilemma? i'm heading to the pyrenees and am sick of stopping at every junction to check a map. I have at most £150 to spend and have been looking at new Garmin etrex 20 or 2nd hand garmin 705 if i can persuade anyone to sell me one at my budget. Help on choosing would be great for me.

 

[Ticktockmy]

Paper map every time, just train yourself to memorise a length of the route at a time. GPS are OK, but you don,t get the big picture of your route with the average screen on the GPS.Paper maps don't run out of battery charge . Buy one of the smaller Ring bound road maps, and then mark your route on the pages you require and use it with the GPS if need be.

 

[john.highmoor]

I always carry paper maps but when things get complicated and you have a long journey, having to stop all the time to make sure you are not cycling up the wrong mountain the wrong way can really spoil my rhythm, i just need a robot to point me in the right direction. I just don't know which one.

 

[martint235]

I'd go for the Etrex 20 (or even a second hand Legend or Vista) rather than a 705 due to the ability to change the batteries (standard AA) if necessary. I don't take paper maps but I do try to have in memory a rough idea of the route so the GPS is just confirmation of where the turn is.

 

[jay clock]

If you go for paper maps, then having a handlebar bag or map holder is essential. It allows you to constantly monitor the route as you ride, and really limits the delays. All the satnav options have significant battery weaknesses in my view, and evening if recharging every day at a hotel or campsite, getting a full 8+ hours out of any device seems an impossible holy grail.

 

[jay clock]

One other thing I found helped when cycling to Gibraltar was a handlebar mounted compass something like this http://www.totalmerchandise.co.uk/uploads/product-images/Bicycle_bell_with_compass.jpg

 

[neil_merseyside]

I've found that when plotting a route on BRT/BH that most of the time I can remember enough of even a 70miler not to really need the GPS! BUT the time I can't remember I do need the GPS as the confusion is usually a sneaky double turn/fork immediately after a junction or a changed priority that doesn't look as mapping did.
I have an edge605 and just acquired an etrex20, I prefer the 605 from familiarity but E20 should be as good once I'm used to it (shame it can't read tcx though).

 

[martint235]

If you go for paper maps, then having a handlebar bag or map holder is essential. It allows you to constantly monitor the route as you ride, and really limits the delays. All the satnav options have significant battery weaknesses in my view, and evening if recharging every day at a hotel or campsite, getting a full 8+ hours out of any device seems an impossible holy grail.

I get 18+ hours out of a set of AAs in my Etrex. I can then either recharge the batteries while I sleep or just buy some AA batteries in a shop.

 

[P.H]

Etrex 20 and a map for me. Use the map to plot the route onto the GPS, a whole day or a bit at a time, nice and simple and I get around three days touring from a pair of AA batteries.

 

[john.highmoor]

how many hours would you get from a garmin 705? does the battery degrade quickly like a mobile phone? if i buy a secondhand on
e will i need to change the battery and is that feasable?

 

[john.highmoor]

whats the difference between etrex 20, legend and vista?

 

[BigonaBianchi]

Paper maps on a long tour. The gps loaded mobile phones are no good imho because of charging and visability restrictions in bright sunlight. My Garmin uses AA batteries and I carry spares...in the UK mostly you have the option of 'just buying more in a shop'...but there are places out there where there are no shops for hundreds of miles.

 

[martint235]

whats the difference between etrex 20, legend and vista?

The Etrex 20 is the replacement for the the Legend. The Etrex 30 is the replacement for the Vista. The main differences between the Legend/20 and Vista/30 are the inclusion in the latter of built in altimeter and compass.

As for battery life on the 705, I used to have a 605 which is essentially the same unit without HRM and cadence capabilities and I'd get about 15 hours if I used it as a speedo, less if it was actually doing the navigating.

 

[MarkF]

Good luck to the OP.

This is why I've never used one.

Paper map every time, just train yourself to memorise a length of the route at a time. GPS are OK, but you don,t get the big picture of your route with the average screen on the GPS.

I like to look at a big paper map in the evening over a beer, get the big picture, it might fire my enthusiasm up for a side trip that I otherwise might not have noticed. I just jot down a few pointers for the next day's riding normally. On my last tour, my riding partner had pre-loaded maps already on his phone, we split up, knowing exactly what I'd be doing, all day, drove me crackers and took the fun out of the ride for me.

PS. Don't think I've ever been "lost".

 

[P.H]

.but there are places out there where there are no shops for hundreds of miles.

But don't such places also have very few roads? So just switch the GPS off between junctions.