Hello,

I am going to be having a go at the Trans Cambrian Way in few weeks and have started plotting the route. It uses 6 OS maps, and looks like there’s a pretty good chance of going the wrong way.

I’m happy with a map and compass, but on longer rides (doing the TCW as two 50 mile days) I think it would be nice to have a GPS to follow the route rather than stopping at every junction to check.

So what would you recommend – only really to follow a course, don’t especially need a map display. Possibly with replaceable batteries to remove charging stress.

Oh, and cheap would be a bonus.

I have a Garmin 800(with OS mapping) not cheap but i would never be without it.

Garmin Etrex 20. You can load free OpenStreetMap maps on it. It uses AA batteries, so easy to carry a few spares. Or the Garmin Dakota 10 is a similar thing, but with a touch screen.

The cheaper Etrex 10 would work for just following a route, but I think its worth having mapping to give you an idea of how the route relates to where you are.

Ta, will have a look at those suggested so far

Obviously a Satmap for navigation – it comes with an AA battery holder as well as the lithium battery that is standard with it.

Look for a bundle with OS:50k mapping – but you can get national parks and you can also cut custom maps of the area you ride, which is handy.

No touchscreen rubbish – just big buttons for when you are trying to press them with muddy fingers whilst moving on the mountain bike.

And it is British…

Satmap. The best

And it is [strike]British[/strike] Chinese…

Garmin Etrex 20. You can load free OpenStreetMap maps on it. It uses AA batteries, so easy to carry a few spares. Or the Garmin Dakota 10 is a similar thing, but with a touch screen.

The cheaper Etrex 10 would work for just following a route, but I think its worth having mapping to give you an idea of how the route relates to where you are.

I went through all of these options before going for the eTrex 20.

The Dakota 10 looks decent but it has a fairly small inbuilt memory and doesn’t take SD cards, which the eTrex does (as well as having a larger internal memory).

On the other side, the eTrex 10 looks OK, it just doesn’t have proper mapping, only a line to follow.

The eTrex 20 was the budget conscious option for me, without paying extra for barometric altimeters included in the eTrex 30 and Dakota 20.

They won’t have all the cycling specific functions you’ll find on the Edge units, but they have your basic trip readings (average speed, max speed, distance, elevation, etc) and they’re spot on for mapping.

Battery life on the eTrex is something like 25 hours on AAs. Think it’s a bit less on the Dakota because of the larger screen. They last me for ages, anyway.

The good thing about Satmap is they are a UK company, and will repair old units at a fixed price, although not sure what they are going to say about my 4 year old unit I sent in bits to them last week for them to have a go at rebuilding.

For what your asking for, sounds like you just need somthing with a breadcrumb trail, which the Satmap will be an overkill for.

I wanted something similar – just a thinger I could plot a course into and I’d tell me if I was on track, and point the way back if I veered off. Like you, to keep riding and leave the maps in the bag, saving time and energy. I got the much discussed Garmin Edge 200 for £73 (thread on here, find it in my history or search).

I was about to buy a bike computer anyway, so I got GPS tracking and pointing for an extra £30.

You cna always take scans of the route sections from the OS maps and keep them in plastic in the bag.

Ediot: Mini USB charge, which might not be quite what you want. 14 hours is claimed battery charge, but apparently that’s very conservative. power monkey as well t charge overnight if you need? barely heavier than spare batteries.

yeah cheers all, I suppose something like the eTrex 2o was what I was thinking about rather than one with OS mapping on screen (only really because of the cost). Garmin bike computer looks interesting too.

The eTrex 20 has proper mapping. The 10 doesn’t.

Picked mine up for £140 and downloaded Open Street Maps on to it. Not as good as OS, but hey, it’s free. The OS maps themselves aren’t cheap whatever you buy.