Hi, heading off to Gran Canaria this Feb, so have decided to buy a GPS - have wanted one for a while, this is just a trigger.
Having done a bit of research I've narrowed to a Garmin Dakota, or a an Edge touring.
The Edge touring is more attractive in having a better mount, seems to be a bit slicker.
The Dakota seems to get better write ups and I suppose the AA batteries make it more flexible, but tbh I doubt I'll need the extra - not planning on doing any long distance touring.
I'm interested in this principally as a mountain bike navigation aid - don't do road cycling and not at all interested in the stats.
The Edge touring seems to have lots of software glitches and hassles - has anyone experienced this?
Ive had a Dakota 20 for quite a few years now and I got it for some planned touring because I could take spare battery's with me.
It worked great for me, it is very bulky though.
If you have somewhere to charge your gps everyday, then something less bulky with a built in battery would be my choice.
I don't know about any of the glitches, but what I have learned over the years from "software updates", don't use them if your device is working fine, they usually make things worse!
No use for Gran Canaria, but you can use the free MOBAC application to create Ordnance Survey kmz custom maps for the Dakota. I'm not familiar with the Touring Edge, but I believe kmz maps don't work on some of the bike specific Garmins (so you need to buy the official Garmin OS maps, or use open source mapping).
The long battery life and AAs are the main advantages of the Dakota for me. As stated above, it's bulky compared to the slimline bike Garmins, but fits nicely on top of a stem.
