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garmin Nuvi instead of handheld GPS.
Russ Boy 
| 21 Aug 14:29 |
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Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 20 Bike: My Profile | Hello All, I'm not sure whether this has been discussed before or not,but i was wondering if anyone had used a 'car' type Satnav,instead of the comparitively more expensive handheld gps device. An amazon reviewer stated that the Garmin Nuvi 200 could be used on a bike,as it had a rechargeable 5 Hour duration lithium battery.I was wondering if anyone had used this type of SatNav on a bike before,and whether it is a practical alternative. The unit isn't waterproof i don't think,but with some sort of casing maybe there is a fix for this.Also,do satnav's come with interchangeable lithium battery to extend your on the road time.Overall,It seems a bit easier as it has a 'map' rather than a series of waypoints that you get on sub £150 handheld gps devices. Cheers if you can help, Russ. |
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RonnieG
| 23 Aug 03:56 |
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Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Posts: 24 Bike: My Profile | HI Russ, The Nuvi range canalso be used handheld/ walking and tracks your movements like in a car. At bike speed it wil do the job. The issues are charging time, weatherproofing and mounting the thing. I think the weatherproofing is the bigges challenge. I would rethink why you may want a full blown sat nav. have you looked at the edge range. Most people are put off because they have no maps in. However ,aprt from the waypoint process you alluded to, with the third party web sites, eg Bikeroute toaster, you can plot a full route, point to point or circular. Use auto mapping ec. Download it into the edge and you follow the route. It gives you turn by turn info. Altitude. (it reads the route ahead so you know what's coming! (is thata good thing lol !!). If you go off route it tells you and if you ant to detour the compass tells you exactly by direction, distance and time how far away fron your original route you are. The basic model comes wih heart rate monitor. I bought the 305 about 5 weeks ago. It has performed great and has really enhanced my enjoyment. Have you tried anything like this? Ronnie |
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Russ Boy
| 23 Aug 04:48 |
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Joined: 11 Aug 2009 Posts: 20 Bike: My Profile | Hi Ronnie, Thanks for the info.Yes i've had a look at the edge,and also the garmin etrex H which cost £60 from Amazon,but i believe the Etrex gives general 'as the crow flies' directions which may be more suited to off the road riding which i don't do.I wasn't sure whether you could increase the number of waypoints so that it would more accurately follow a road route. Maybe the Edge is the way to go,as on a London Hastings trip i lost count of the number of times i got lost,or doubted the route i was on. As with all technology,i'm always looking into whether any given techie toy is shortly to become obsolete,and there is a new type of european GPS system in development called 'Galileo' which will increase the number of GPS satellites for a european consumer,to speed up maintain satellite lock for more accurate positioning,but apparently this is not due until 2013,so thankfully this is not an issue. I'm quickly realising that cycling is not cheap,and try to keep all the paraphernalia down to a minimum.I'm trying to justify GPS to myself,and it hopefully will motivate me to go on long rides on a regular basis. There appears to be little downside with the Etrex at £60,(based on Amazon reviews),but the Edge does looks the better device. Thanks for your reply. Russ. |
| jamesgleave | 07 Aug 08:05 |
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Joined: 07 Aug 2011 Posts: 1 Bike: | Have you checked out the Qstarz BT-Q1000Ex from www.racingit.co.uk? I've been using the device for a while and the battery lasts for about 15 hrs and is a Rechargeable Lithium Ion type. I've been primarily using it for MTB racing as you can take data and then overlay the GPS traces to show performance throughout the race. I also did a training week in Spain where it tracked all my rides and then uploaded to googlemaps using the Qstarz software provided. The device worked well in the rain as there is only one little button that could let water in. However there is a little case provided to mount on the bike. I've been impressed with it and the software package provided allows you to look at all aspects of your ride with the data. Worth a look and under £150 |
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txbnet
| 07 Aug 10:46 |
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 Joined: 29 Jun 2010 Posts: 149 Bike: My Profile | My kids bought me the Edge 605 for Christmas and I take it with me on longer trips but not shorter ones where I know where I'm going! I have to say that unless you've got excellent reading sight, (which I haven't), I find it very difficult to see any turn by turn instructions. The symbols are so small and the screen isn't fantastic in daylight. Also the map within the Edge reminds me of early MS DOS programming. No satelite shots or conventional maps. So I tend to use mine as an expensive data collector, mileage, average mph etc. I still use paper maps for finding quiet country roads and on LEJOG, I used small postcards on my handle bars, one for each a.m. and p.m. showing villages and towns in order of what I should be looking for on signs. While I don't want to offend my kids and stick it on EBay, if I had my choice I think I would just get hold of an IPhone when the prices come down a bit and loads the maps into that, then I don't have to carry a phone, a camera, a sat nav and an MP3 on a long journey. It'll do the lot for me! OK, I concede its not fixed to my handlebars, but it takes a few seconds to stop and get a location from google maps. Hope this honest appraisal helps with your selection process. |
| My Latest Route: Jan 2011 Whitley Bay to Bellingham | |
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sdwalker
| 10 Aug 07:31 |
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 Joined: 17 Mar 2011 Posts: 91 Bike: My Profile | most car satnavs have waterproof cases to fit to bikes and i know Garmin do one not sure what model for but my brother has got one. re last post as good as an iphone is on all the fronts you will drain the battery in seconds running a gps and the player at the same time. i looked into getting a gyro charger for my phone but to get a pre assembled one you need to fork out well over £100 and that is whithout the devices your buying too. Also the one i was looking at could run charging at different ampage and for the life of me i swear i would break something using the wrong settings so it could be a costly mistake to do this. personally thre seperat units phone, ipod and gps may weigh marginally more but unless you are a veledrome racer you are not going to notice the difference. |
| My Latest Route: Mar 2012 Bedgebury Forest Red Route | |
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