I may be venturing into the GPS market, I do not have bluetooth I am hard wired via a Starcom intercom system. What do you use, and what would you recommend cheers Spud :wink:
I have a Garmin Zumo which is waterproof but :shock: :shock: :shock: in' expensive. And being an ex-TomTom user, I don't find the Garmin as intuitive to use. Over again, I'd probably have gone for the TomTom Rider.
Seriously? My smartphone running googlemaps or mapdroid. I have a garmin, what can I say ....? The blooming phone is always at hand and tbh more convenient.
Should I be hanging my head in shame :D
Depends on what you want to do, plan your own routes or just rely on the sat nav's route
I use a map. You know the paper one :)
If I get lost I have TomTom on my phone, but I only use it to find out where I am.
I like to do the navigation myself and make fast decisions to change
the route. A map gives so much instant info.
I've been thinking of getting a GPS to use for gravel tracks, both navigation and to save the track
so I'm also interested in ideas.
I plan my own routes, but I am doing France in June for the bike festival and wanted one just to get me to a local point, I dont want to be screamed at by yet another women, "take the next left, take the next left, told you left" "but dear the road sign said right :wink: " cheers Spud PS I always carry a paper map and a mark one eyeball :wink:
I've recently learned to pre-plan routes rather than rely on the Garmin calculated route. One advantage is you can sit with your laptop and maps to plan then put the route into the Garmin afterwards.
One annoyance I've found with the Garmin is that it seems to always want to take me back to where I deviated from the route rather than recalculate a route to the destination. that might be a settings thing, I dunno??
It's handy for speed cameras, speed limits and I've recently loaded a database from CAMRA listing all the real beer pubs :lol:
Quote from: "Spud"I plan my own routes, but I am doing France in June for the bike festival and wanted one just to get me to a local point, I dont want to be screamed at by yet another women, "take the next left, take the next left, told you left" "but dear the road sign said right :wink: " cheers Spud PS I always carry a paper map and a mark one eyeball :wink:
Stick with the map,were your going is a wonderfull part of world,all a GPS is going to do is make the whole experience antiseptic,I use a GPS every day of life,but hell'll freeze over before I put a bugger on abike,over the years some of the best experiences/laughs we have has has been asking locals and getting directions on a map,I think the modern day expression is interaction :D
Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"I've recently loaded a database from CAMRA listing all the real beer pubs :lol:
So, we will be able to find the pub a bit quicker this year then? :wink: :D
Andy.
Ive got a Tom Tom Rider II, Ive never used a Garmin but most people agree the Tom Tom is more intuative, but........ and its a big but. Tom Tom's customer service in this country is pretty much non existent, and the Rider II like the Rider I has a design flaw, actually its not the sat Nav itself but the powered mount, the brass pins wear and then you get no connection, Ive gone through 2 and they are £65 a pop.
funnily enough I dont think you even get a powered mount in the box anymore, its an extra, you get a passive mount now as they call it and have to rely on a home charge being enough for where your going.
hein Gericke stopped selling Tom Toms because of this as did another GPS supplier I know of.
Id have a Garmin next time.
Quote from: "Chris Canning"Quote from: "Spud"I plan my own routes, but I am doing France in June for the bike festival and wanted one just to get me to a local point, I dont want to be screamed at by yet another women, "take the next left, take the next left, told you left" "but dear the road sign said right :wink: " cheers Spud PS I always carry a paper map and a mark one eyeball :wink:
Stick with the map,were your going is a wonderfull part of world,all a GPS is going to do is make the whole experience antiseptic,I use a GPS every day of life,but hell'll freeze over before I put a bugger on abike,over the years some of the best experiences/laughs we have has has been asking locals and getting directions on a map,I think the modern day expression is interaction :D
I am beginning to think your right Chris, Plus I may have a problem any way, just started using glasses to read but dont need them for anything else. So I will need to check out wether or not I can actually read the screen. I can barely walk in my reading glasses :oops: Thanks for all the imput boys cheers Spud :wink:
I have had glasses for reading-only for about 10 yrs. I can read the Garmin easily while riding. Have to put glasses on when stopped to read a map... :cry:
Spud
In the UK I use a GPS even when I know were I'm going in my van so I can drive on the speed limit,I've been though 3 camera vans since last thursday,but they really are a distraction thats the GPS not the camera van!!!,I'm watching that,I've got the radio on!!,were as on a bike it's pure experience,I've two thoughts,what the bike is doing and the next mile down the road and absolutely nothing else,if I miss a turning so what I'm on holiday,not working earning a living were time is money.
God knows how many times we've been down were your going 15/20 times it's a fantastic part of th world,when you get down there,buy a local map it'll show heaps more,when did the same when in Picos and boy can you get off the beaten track.
I did discuss with my wife about calling in on the last day on the way to the GP,but my other half wants to go to the Sachsenring in july instead so we'll see!!!
Quote from: "Timbox2"the Rider II like the Rider I has a design flaw, actually its not the sat Nav itself but the powered mount, the brass pins wear and then you get no connection, Ive gone through 2 and they are £65 a pop
i got a TTrider 1 when they were sellin them off cheep ( yea right ) it was still a few 100 sqid :shock: when i heard they flew off there mounts and wore out the pins i was :evil: :shock: i never liked the mount so got the Ram Mount stuff :thumbsup and i put a couple O strong rubber bands around the edge to keep the poor plastic clip thingy from popin off !!
the battery is a joke :x i need to charge mine every week to stop it goin flat :roll:
the thing i miss, is, not being able to save trips :? i think you can do that with garmin and share them with peeps :wink:
KK
ps i got mine to find fuel stations when im in a strange area and have learned to TAKE A MAP aswell !! :lol:
Quote from: "LTB"I use a map. You know the paper one :)
A map gives so much instant info.
Right, they do. On my living room floor, in the warm, in the dry! :roll:
So, you're in rural France and the roads seem to be taking you in circles. It's pissing down stair rods. You're approaching a junction, you're not sure where you are, or even which way is north, but there's a signpost. You have to stop, extract the map from its dry hiding place and in no time it's a soggy mess. The small town is not on your 1:1000000 map. So now you've got to find the right 1:200000 map for the area, etc. etc.
I did all that for years through the late '70s and '80s and '90s but now I'll stick to my Zumo550 thanks and keep the maps in the panniers. Hmmm, set hotel destination, go....arrive, book in, job done.
I tell you. You people that refuse to even consider a GPS are deluding yourself.
Quote from: "outrunner"Quote from: "Bixxer Bob"I've recently loaded a database from CAMRA listing all the real beer pubs :lol:
So, we will be able to find the pub a bit quicker this year then? :wink: :D
Andy.
I made sure the pub was right next door. :thumbsup And yes, it's in the good beer guide. :thumbsup :thumbsup
Still, we can use John's new gadget to navigate the 100 yards across the field. :icon_scratch
Quote from: "blacktiger"Quote from: "LTB"I use a map. You know the paper one :)
A map gives so much instant info.
I tell you. You people that refuse to even consider a GPS are deluding yourself.
Having to cross central London with a fully loaded sprinter were time is money I wouldn't be without my GPS,god knows how folk survived before,but on a bike on holiday I don't think so,oddly enough it's the clangers that i've dropped over the years that we remember :D ,it's part of the holiday.
The #1 reason I use a GPS (and a good enough map would do to) is when I see some tiny little road that veers off of my planned drive, the GPS makes it easy to see whether that road will go somewhere or just end up deadending in a few miles.
A good enough map can do the same things, but it would have to be a very closeup map to handle the kind of roads I'm talking about.
I actually hate GPS auto routing, and never use it. I will use it for holding a planned route.
I would also say that in the American southwest, a GPS is something of a "stay alive" necessity.
Geof