The first bike GPS devices

[steverob]

Just curious, but does anyone remember when the first GPS devices for bikes (assuming there wasn't some other sort of cycle computer that could record where and when you rode, not just distance and speed) started coming out on to the market?

I'll admit that sort of purchase completely passed me by, mainly because I really wasn't interested in the technology side of things at the time and also cycling was just a hobby to get me out of the house and with the limited miles I was doing, just logging the total miles from my old wheel sensor-style cycle computer into a spreadsheet wasn't too much of a pain.

It was only in 2013 when a mate of mine asked whether I had a GPS device (my first thought was, why did I need a map, getting lost on a bike is part of the fun!) that I started looking into it and saw the data recording side of things and realised what I'd missed out on. It would have been interesting to have had one of these devices earlier so I could look back on some of the routes I used to cycle in areas that I haven't had the chance to get back to since or compare how fit I was then versus now.

 

[ufkacbln]

There weren't any really.

At first I used basic ETrex and similar with the "breadcrumb trails" hung around the neck



Then my first "bike mounted" was a wrist mounted Garmin Foretrex, using a piece of foam pipe protector
(Note - stock photo not my setup)

Provided speed, distance, basic directions, distance to next stop and also a record of the trip

Then I moved on to one of the first "bike mounted" options, the "SatMap" which although bulky had mapping and was a major step forward:

(again stock image)

Then as things got smaller I waited and the Edge series came out, none of which apart from size offered anything else that I needed until I splashed out on the Edge 810

Lasted me a few years until I lost it and replaces it with an Edge Touring that does all I need

At present I use:

Edge touring - general cycling
Etrex 20 - walking and general use
Montana for touring abroad and occasional SatNav use in the car
Foretrex for general use and grab option for photo tagging

 

[steverob]

There weren't any really.

At first I used basic ETrex and similar with the "breadcrumb trails" hung around the neck

Then my first "bike mounted" was a wrist mounted Garmin Foretrex, using a piece of foam pipe protector
(Note - stock photo not my setup)

Provided speed, distance, basic directions, distance to next stop and also a record of the trip

So was the Foretrex the first device you had that would keep a record of the ride that you could download to a PC or somewhere else later? Even though it wasn't a device specifically made for bikes, would still be interested in knowing about when did you buy that - just trying to work out a timeline of when devices like this became available to consumers.

 

[numbnuts]

In 2000, I had a Garmin Emap with full UK mapping which had a handle bar mount, I still have it and now use it for geocaching.

 

[jefmcg]

I put a GPS enabled mobile phone on my handlebars in 2008. Does that count?

I managed to extract the rides I recorded back them (kept them on my own webserver), so I have have strava data going back to March 2008.

Eg
View: https://www.strava.com/activities/199399784/embed/bbf9193e7e5949f8ed8b8e4117b8f0b3988775c0

 

[ufkacbln]

So was the Foretrex the first device you had that would keep a record of the ride that you could download to a PC or somewhere else later? Even though it wasn't a device specifically made for bikes, would still be interested in knowing about when did you buy that - just trying to work out a timeline of when devices like this became available to consumers.

Edited.. I should have said that they all recorded, one of the selling points was the ability to recover your route and backtrack in case of difficulty

In the times of the original Etrex there was no interface

You had to buy a secondary RS232 lead and connect, there was also very little to do with it

Planning was all done on the unit!

Same with the Foretrex, although by that time USB had entered and there were some very basic mapping programmes

It was not until the advances in Software such as Memory Map that realistic planning of routes on a PC became realistic

 

[steverob]

In 2000, I had a Garmin Emap with full UK mapping which had a handle bar mount, I still have it and now use it for geocaching.

Interesting - I knew there were handheld GPS devices in the early 2000's, but thought they were only aimed at people like hikers who maybe needed to know where they were at that exact moment and if they were heading in the right direction for example. I had guessed that the cycling side of things with trackpoint recording and things like that didn't come along until quite a few years later. Looks like it was way earlier than I thought!

 

[Sea of vapours]

Looks like it was way earlier than I thought!

I bought my first hand-held gps in 1995. Even then your could load routes, record a track and transfer it to a computer to review / analyse / whatever. (Not that I was using it on a bike, but I could have.)