Hi All,

This is a continuation of a previous post ‘Weaning off the Trail Centres’ which was well responded to, thank you.

Whilst Cwm Carn is handy and a fairly guaranteed 4 hour round trip from Bristol, I am getting bored with trail centres (they all look the same!) so have decided to try out some more natural riding.

I have decided that I will purchase a handheld GPS to get into some of the back country trails, my wife is expecting our second and I need to be in a position where I can fairly accurately say that I’ll only be a couple of hours, and only be a couple of hours!

I have seen Garmin make a range, any good suggestions? What does £200 buy me that £80 doesn’t? I assume that I need to be able to load trail routes into it and that’s all? I am right in saying that I need to purchase the device and then pay more for the maps or will the included maps be okay?

I am interested in SW England and Wales.

Thanks

Simon

My son has a Garmin Dakota. You get a colour touchscreen map. It takes AA batteries so its easy to keep spares on hand. Easy to use. GPS compass, good for geocaching/navigating when stopped. Free open source maps are available to download.

I’m probably a bit ‘old school’ about this but I think you shouldn’t be relying on GPS if you are intending to go out on ‘natural’ trails. The OS maps are a great resource for researching tracks and for navigating. (with the obvious proviso that you can use and understand a map). OS maps are not expensive and enable you to view a wider area than a GPS screen.

I use a free app on my smartphone if I want to follow or record my routes and this would provide location information in an emergency.

I’d agree that you should always have a map on you when out in the wilds but the GPS solution makes it a lot more fun to just follow the routes.

Garmins seem to be the most popular options for this type of thing.

I use an eTrex 20 with free open source maps alongside an OS 1:25k paper map and compass for any big XC days out.

GPS, plus paper map and compass, plus spare batteries for not getting lost duties. Of course if you don’t know how to use a map and compass it’s not much help. AT least the GPS can tell you where you are and where you intended to be. Phones are fine until you lose signal.

Oruxmaps or Backcountry Navigator with downloaded maps to use offline. Work without a signal on phones. Don’t even need a simcard so you could use an old phone.

As above, I use an old phone plus Backcountry Navigator, also means you can stay in touch on one device. BCN is £8.99 I think and that is all in, no additional mapage to buy on top, that’s 1:25k Ordanance Survey, you can save the area you require to your phone to use off line, you can create a course, overlay gpx files, everything.

For around £200 you should be able to get an eTrex 20 and some talkytoaster maps then hit bikehike to set up some routes. This is what I use and although the maps aren’t OS standard, they do pretty well. You can load up gpx routes and tracks to the eTrex and it is quite a neat little unit. The screen is small so it’s crap for navigating any distance, so TAKE A MAP. It does beep when you get to route markers and this is reasuring if like me, you get lost in your own garden. If you do get one and work out a way of fitting it to your ‘bars/stem, let me know. I can’t find a way.

@fatbobb – eTrex 20 has a Garmin mount, they can be a bit rattly / loose though, so useful to use a lanyard as well to secure. I often have the GPS in a chest pocket instead for occasional referral.

You can get one of the new Etrex 3.0X units (bigger screen) for just over £150.