Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)
  • GPS option with long battery life. Dedicated unit or Phone.
  • TheBrick
    Free Member

    I think I may finally buckle and use some form of GPS unit for long single and multi day rides so a 4 hour battery is no good.

    When I looked into this a few year ago the Garmin etrex legend hcx seemed the best. Good battery life and signal with replaceable AA batteries. There were some other garmins out that showed OS maps but to me the benefit of an OS map is being able to see the entire picture rather than looking at a small patch so I would have a OS map of the area anyway. A basic map on the GPS and set of way points seem the way forward. The gramins that showed full OS were also far too expensive.

    I’ve seen some apps for phones that I could load route onto but I’m concerned about battery life and quality of GPS signal, my girlfriends phone always looses GPS signal when using it in the car in remote areas. Then there is the issue of protecting the phone. Battery life may be solvable with a powermonkey or similar I don’t know.

    So what do you use and how do you get on?

    parkesie
    Free Member

    I use a garmin 510 all the extras you could need and something like 12hrs battery life. Can recharge from any usb battery pack type thing.

    doh
    Free Member

    I use an old etrex venture hc it only has basic topo mapping does the job if you plot the route beforehand. Also started using an OS app on the phone that I great for a sanity check but no one should be relying on a phone or gps for directions if you are not prepared for the consequences 🙂

    Also I would have to be a lot richer to be happy about sticking a phone or high end garmin on my bars;)

    butcher
    Full Member

    Etrex 20 or 30 is the way to go. Takes AA batteries, and a decent set will last up to 25 hours. And the benefit is you can replace them when they run out, making it ideal for multi-day rides.

    Great for navigation. Basic cycle functions. OS maps are expensive, but there free alternatives.

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    no one should be relying on a phone or gps for directions if you are not prepared for the consequences

    I’d still have my trusty map and compass it is more to just reduce the number of stop checks, stop check, what are we we looking for? e.t.c. That can really slow things down.

    Etrex 20 or 30 is the way to go.

    what is the difference between the 20 and the 30?

    craigxxl
    Free Member

    Also have a look at the Garmin Oregon range.

    crashtestmonkey
    Free Member

    garmin can answer that

    https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/catalog/product/compareResult.ep?compareProduct=87774&compareProduct=87771

    appears to be barometric altimeter and 3-axis compass. And $100.

    butcher
    Full Member

    what is the difference between the 20 and the 30?

    For the most part I think they’re pretty much the same. But the 30 has a bundle of extra features: ANT+ (for heart rate monitors, etc), barometric altimeter (more accurate climbing data), electronic compass, stuff like that. I use a 20 myself. 30 would’ve been nice but it was quite a big jump in price when I bought mine.

    For everyday stuff, usually on the road bike, I use an Edge 500. It’s more convenient, offers more data, it’s just nice to use. But for big rides, where navigation and reliability is important, I wouldn’t want to be without the Etrex.

    boxelder
    Full Member

    I’ve a 20. The 30 has an electronic compass and wireless data transfer – which I wasn’t interested in.
    The free talkytoaster maps are good and he’ll sell an SD card with them loaded.
    I’m told up to 60 hr battery life with posh batteries

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    barometric altimeter and that sounds nice if I had the chance to do mountaineering but unnecessary for the bike. Hmm I’ll have to see about scraping the pennies together for this one.

    If using gpx files just uploaded on hte the units as a removable storage device on a PC or is garmin software needed to do any kind of communication with the unit?

    butcher
    Full Member

    I’m told up to 60 hr battery life with posh batteries

    I think that is optimistic. I recently rode for around 20 hours before it started telling me the battery was low. That was on Sanyo Eneloops. And Experience tells me I can get a few more hours out of them once it tells me they’re low. So they definitely get close to the 25 hour mark. But I don;t think you’d get far beyond that on any battery. I swapped my batteries at that point.

    If using gpx files just uploaded on hte the units as a removable storage device on a PC or is garmin software needed to do any kind of communication with the unit?

    Just drop it in the GPX folder. No software required.

    One thing to be careful of, if saved as a route they only accept a limited number of track points. Check the full route is there before setting off!

    TheBrick
    Free Member

    Excellent thanks for the info butcher.

    Hooter
    Free Member

    Garmin Oregon here. Lasts a good long day on a pair of re-chargable AA batteries. I’ve used it happily for several multi-day trips in Scotland.

    deadkenny
    Free Member

    As for phone… unless you use a spare old phone or an old Nokia, battery life won’t last. Smartphones in particular are heavy on the battery, especially with GPS on and worse when using the screen. More importantly your phone may be your emergency contact device. No use if the battery is dead thanks to GPS.

    Garmins, if following maps but no interest in tracking the ride for performance, Strava etc, then etrax sounds good. Rugged devices and long battery life. Otherwise an Edge, but you’ll need stuff like an 800 / 810 for maps. You can follow breadcrumb trails with 500 / 510 models, but it’s not great.

    dantsw13
    Full Member

    I’ve just got an Etrex 20 for my birthday – first ride out today!! After using an iPhone it’s certainly more complicated.

    Mine came loaded with the uk topo lite maps, which shows footpaths, but not quite as good as OS.

    Is there a source for sensible priced OS equivalent maps?

    luke
    Free Member

    I have an etrex 20 loaded with talky toaster maps, I’m not sure on how long the batteries last but I use eenergizer lithiums and they seem to last for ever, certainly more than 20 hours.

    welshfarmer
    Full Member

    I use a Samsung Xcover 2 phone. Rugged and waterproof (currently about £140). Turn off wifi & bluetooth and it lasts a good 10 hours on running the GPS. When we bivi overnight I take a small ext powerpack and charge it overnight. I have full 1:25K OS maps running for Wales on the SD card and can load any others I need from my PC. Also if going somewhere new I will store areas of detailed aerial photos to use offline if needed. It has a very reliable and accurate GPS sensor too, better than my mates Garmin. And it works as a phone too!

    jonba
    Free Member

    I have the Garmin 800. I know you didn’t mind the OS mapping but I find it to be very good and make following a route easier. I tend to plan my routes in advance and then follow the waypoints rather than navigate on the fly. It is hard to navigate on the fly with such a small area of map visible, as you say. However, I can plot my routes on vcarious websites that let me see a full (large) moniutors width. You could buy it without maps and upload the OSM ones on there for free (legally) if that would be sufficient.

    Battery life I get around 10 hours. Maybe 12 if I know the route and I don’t have it on the map screen all day.

    When I go on longer rides I have a USB power pack. I plug it into my garmin to extend the battery life. It is probably about the same sizes as the garmin and I just use electrica tape to attach it to my toptube.

    I used it on a 200miler recently and after 14 hours I was still running off the battery pack. I thnik it is a 3600mAh one. From Amazon. This method doesn’t work with the Garmin 500 due to a setup issue.

    If you are just recording you can turn down the brightness, leave it on the basic speeds page and you get much better battery life. You can also buy more than one of the batteries as they are only around £15 each.

    rickmeister
    Full Member

    Edge 800, and if your going to carry batteries for another Garmin gps, why not take a USB battery booster that will recharge the GPS and probably the phone too ?

    Battery life can be extended a fair bit if you take the time to set the Edge up so the screen isnt on full wack all the time. It can be dimmed a fair bit and still be workable.

    Basically what jonba said..

    devash
    Free Member

    Any deals going for the eTrex 20? I’m looking for a GPS unit for hiking and biking but not bothered about performance tracking (speed, heart rate etc). Just need something to let me plot rides.

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    I use a Garmin Edge 705 with OpenMTBMaps.

    Plan routes online (e.g. using bikeroutetoaster, Strava), upload them as a “course” (rather than a route) and then just follow it. Saves getting a map out at every junction.

    Tried a phone but never really worked as well. Screen not as visible in the sun, not as robust etc.

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    spare pair of AA’s in the bag is nowhere near as big as a USB battery booster. And if you’ve charged up those in the eTrex before setting off, they’ll be good for 3-4 complete days out.

    get my Openstreetmap derived maps from http://garmin.openstreetmap.nl and make a small custom map with just what I need, although have used the others mentioned. prefer small map, since when living on mainland EU, full country maps for all the nearby countries are just too big.

    wheelie
    Full Member

    Look out for Amazon price drop. I got an Etrex 20 for £84 with 10 seconds to go!

    I have found Openmtbmaps and Openfietsmap to be good ( and free)and easy to use. I imagine Talkytoaster will be similar.

    dantsw13
    Full Member

    I’ve got maps on my etrex 20, I’ve made and downloaded GPX files through bike toaster, but I can’t get the turn prompts to work on the GPS unit, even though they show on the screen. Any ideas? The routes are coming up as tracks, not routes.

    butcher
    Full Member

    The routes are coming up as tracks, not routes.

    I use Bikehike.co.uk to create my routes and when you save, it gives you the option to save as either a route, or track. Will depend on what you use to create the routes, I suppose.

    Turn prompts would be nice to have though. Not figured that one out yet in any shape or form. Didn’t realise it was possible? Something I need to look into. Audible warnings when you wander off route would be good too.

    dantsw13
    Full Member

    I’ve spent all evening looking at this. The Etrex20 can do route prompting.

    1. It has to be a route, not a track.
    2. For full turn-by-turn, max waypoints is 50. Bikehike.co.uk can sort this for you. Look for the options menu, and reduce waypoint count to 50. This means the pink line is straight line, though, but the turns work.
    3. You can use off road routing. This ups the waypoint count to 250, and gives on screen prompts, but not turn arrows.

Viewing 26 posts - 1 through 26 (of 26 total)

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