GPSR for bicycling?

From: Ken Stagg (kstagg_at_harbornet.com)
Date: 06/16/04 

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 17:48:28 -0500

I've been searching the archives and reading what I can find on the web
but I'm still hoping for more advice. I'm looking for a GPS receiver to
use mostly while on the bike, though I'll be doing some hiking with it
and maybe use it when travelling. I have no experience with GPS.

I only ride on the road so it doesn't need to be as rugged as something
that I'd be dropping of a cliff. It won't - at least until it has proven
itself - be replacing my current bike computer. If it proves itself it
might replace my computer but it would most likely be positioned as a
computer for the stoker's position on the tandem. I want to use it to
help build cue sheets for rides, mostly club rides, that I do that are
led by others as well as building accurate cue sheets that I'll use when
leading rides. I'd also like to be able to build elevation profiles for
rides. In the future I'd expect to use when touring (hotel to hotel so
recharging batteries shouldn't be a problem) - for navigation and POI
duties. I'd like to be able to get as much of the information that I'll
need as possible from tracks rather than waypoints.

The first unit that caught my eye was the Garmin Etrex Vista - and it's
still very much in the running. I've read at least a few reviews,
though, that indicate that it has more trouble under tree cover than a
couple of the other units. Living in the Pacific Northwest this sounds
like it could be a major failing - tall, frequently wet, trees at the
very least line most of my rides and sometimes obscure the sky (or at
least the clouds) overhead completely. Its small size and barometric
altimeter are points in its favor.

The Magellan Sportrak Pro also sounds like a nice unit and the reviews
indicate that it handles tree cover somewhat better than the Vista. It
doesn't have the altimeter but I'm not too worried about trying to get
extremely accurate elevation profiles - not that I'd mind - and I would
expect software processing of the elevation data in the tracklog to be
able to give a pretty good representation of the topography of the route.

The Lowrance H2O looks even more promising in many ways. The ability to
use memory cards would allow me to load much more detailed maps for long
tours, or even to carry more detailed maps along to load in when needed.
The major issue that I have here is that it appears that the Lowrance
tracklogs don't include elevation information so I'd have to build
profiles from waypoints. I doubt whether this would work well for me.
This is really a shame because the unit otherwise sounds like a very good
fit.

One concern I have with the Garmin and Magellan units is number of points
in a track. How often is a point recorded? More often would be nice
from the standpoint of granularity but I don't know if a 200k ride would
then exhaust the receiver's capacity. The Lowrance looks to have many
more trackpoints available at any one time, plus being able to load
tracks off to a memory card.

Any suggestions/guidance would be appreciated - particularly by those who
have used GPS on a road bike!

Thanks,
-Ken

Quantcast