Re: GPSR for bicycling?
From: Arnaud (fakeforspam_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 06/17/04
- Next message: Chris: "Re: FEEDBACK on http://www.aspidshop.com/export/store/ ??"
- Previous message: Peter Hamilton-Scott: "Re: Garmin cf QUE and Ozi CE"
- In reply to: Ken Stagg: "GPSR for bicycling?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 22:29:32 +0100
Hi Ken,
I have a Garmin 60C I use for cycle touring and I'm very happy with it.
Here are the main things I like about it:
- auto routing:
This is actually quite useful on a road bike and it makes navigation much
easier, even too easy maybe. I always carry a paper map "just in case" but
never look at it.
I prepare my routes on the PC before the tour. It is possible to create a
route on the GPS itself but not much fun...
Note that you need to buy the proper routable maps for this to work (they
are quite expensive in europe)
- battery life
They officially say 30 hours, I get about 20 with alkaline batteries. On a
10 days camping tour I'll carry 10 AA batteries.
- track log
I average between 1500 and 2500 track points for a 125 miles ride. I think
10000 points will give you at least 600 miles worth of data.
Of course it depends on the roads, in the mountains you'd probably consume
more points because of all the bends.
You can save logs but you lose altitude/time data in the saved logs. The log
is also averaged to 500 points max, so you'll lose some details. I never
bother saving logs and always use the active log.
- satellite reception
Very good reception, the 60C only lost tracking a few times on roads under
very dense tree cover.
- memory
For example 56 Megs will hold the maps for about 1/3 of the UK with routing
data enabled and half of the UK without routing data.
- colour screen
Maps are quite easy to read
- screen redrawing speed
Apparently it's much faster than the vista, although it's not ultra smooth
either.
The only problems I had with the 60C is with firmware bugs... random crashes
while calculating an auto-route or displaying the highway page. It doesn't
happen often and is easily recoverable (just turn the unit back on again)
but hopefully some future updates will fix these bugs.
Also the unit sometimes turns itself off depending on vibrations. This has
happened to me a few times while riding an unloaded bike fast on badly
potholed roads, but never with a fully loaded touring bike. The bike
vibrates much less when you carry a lot of stuff if your load is well
balanced between front and rear.
Hope this helps...
Cheers,
Arnaud.
On 16/06/2004 23:48, Ken Stagg wrote:
> 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
- Next message: Chris: "Re: FEEDBACK on http://www.aspidshop.com/export/store/ ??"
- Previous message: Peter Hamilton-Scott: "Re: Garmin cf QUE and Ozi CE"
- In reply to: Ken Stagg: "GPSR for bicycling?"
- Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ]
Relevant Pages
|
