My mother-in-law wants to buy a 'GPS SatNav thing' for my father-in-law to use both on his bike and when walking. He cycles most days and goes walking infrequently but whenever possible, so I guess bike use will be the majority of it.
What do the experts of STW recommend?
Budget, knowing my mother-in-law, will not be particularly relevant.
Thanks
I've just bought an etrex 20, mainly for bike use but it is a proper GPS rather than a bike one (does that make sense - very hungover ATM)
Yep, I know what you mean.
Dakota would be a good call or the Oregon if he might prefer a larger (easier to read) screen.
Definitely get it with OS mapping.
And I got the full uk mapping on an sd card from [url= http://http://talkytoaster.info/ukmaps.htm ]GPS maps place[/url]
we have a garmin dakota with full gb 1:50k mapping and its ideal for this. can get bike mounts and cases for clipping to rucksacks etc too. i use a ram mount as the garmin one isn't great. if budget not an issue the bigger screen of the oregon would be better but its big enough really
didnt think about the maps, he's mainly in the US but it's here he does his hillwalking.
Another happy etrex 20 owner her. I didn't bother with the Garmin maps as the free Openstreetmaps ones have been more than adequate and actually seem to contain more info than the Garmin ones.
The only negative thing about the etrex was that it doesn't come with any mounts, and to be fair the Garmin ones are a ripoff (the bike one was £7 off Amazon and amounts to little more than a clip-tie secured piece of plastic).
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
^ are those mounts secure enough devash?
I got an ebay mount for my etrex 20. It worked a charm, I put a zip tie on it just in case, but it probably doesnt need it.
Ta
E.trex 30 is good, load free Talkytoaster OS style maps on it & you are good to go.
Bike mount is a bit cack but does the job. Word of warning-make sure You feel it click into the mount properly or it could shoot out when you brake or hit a bump-
if he's walking in the UK and is familiar with OS maps i'd go with a OS based mapping one. as you say money isn't an option, so why bother with a half way house/dodgy map which shows a path and nowt else for navigation/route planning? he'll probably have a an OS map anyway for back up... i find the information on 'free' maps irritating and hard to read (but i have a love for OS maps and been using them for 20 years+)
Another recommendation for the Etrex 20 or 30 here. The mount is fine as long as you you have a backup just incase as it can pop out sometimes. I use the lanyard that came with it to tether it to the handlebars.
He's a land surveyor by trade, I think much of his working life has been spent poring over maps!
My Garmin GPS managed to unclip it's self from the mount and had a large bounce when going down a bumpy hill. I now always attach it the the bars with a bit of fail safe string to prevent disaster.
The extra security of a lanyard is a good idea. I had a Dakota eject twice but I've so far managed not to lose my Oregon (despite it having the same fitting). I reckon it's been my fault for not clipping it in properly but I did have to put a wee bit of insulating tape on the mount to stop the Dakota rattling around a bit once it had been in and out of the mount a few times.
FWIW, I find the touchscreen interface much easier to navigate around than the "button and scroll" system of the Etrex.
Edit: The Dakota and Oregon both support HRM and cadence sensors.
I use my Edge 800 for walking. Use a spare mount attached to a lanyard so I don't drop it.
My bias is for riding so I wanted cadence HRM and a bike specific one. If my bias was more walking then the Dakota or Etrex would have been better as they are much cheaper. I attach my Garmin to my bike in anycase. I've known a few people lose them when the O rings have snapped or they've crashed.
You can download opensource maps quite easily for Garmin but it is often cheaper (with he uk ones at least) to buy official ones when you buy the unit.
The Etrex 30 also supports HRM and cadence sensors as an upgrade from the Etrex 20 which doesn't.
old eTrex Vista here. goes in my rear jersey pocket, and only comes out whenever I need to double check where we're going. balances out the Ixus camera in the other rear jersey pocket.
works for walking, geocaching, gets left in ski jacket pocket when skiing...
just need to remember to load the latest OSM maps whenever I go away somewhere.
AA batteries in the Etrex is a massive plus imo. Those toaster 'looknfeel 1:50k' countoured maps look good, can route via bridleways too.
we have a garmin dakota with full gb 1:50k mapping and its ideal for this
1:50k is not ideal for walking - 1:25k is a lot better.
Depends where you walk. 1:25 is often over-cluttered with detail and you see too little of it on a GPS device in any case.
If 1:50K is the recommendation of the instructors at Glenmore Lodge, I'm happy to go with it.
The Dakota and Oregon use AAs too. The Oregon actually has an in-built USB-powered charger (designed to be used with Garmins own battery pack but can be fooled into charging normal NIMH cells).
The only downside to the Talkytoaster maps is that you have to zoom right in to get small roads to show on the screen, otherwise very usable both on and off road.
see also satmap and memorymap (I have a satmap gps, works fine for me and I like the rechargeable aspect and use MM software on computer, so I get emails from them and they are having a sale.
^ are those mounts secure enough devash?
Yup, solid as a rock. It takes a little bit of prising to get the unit out which is reassuring.
Cheers Etrex and Dakota share same mount from the look of it. Scotroutes, appreciate your view on touchscreen... Dakota 20 (AA) with full UK OS 1:50k at £200 on ebay is looking good.
My MIL felt the OS maps would be appreciated, and with 15% off at Cotswold the Oregon 600 got the nod. Thanks very much.
Dakota 20 user here too, would have liked the larger screen of the Oregon but this is ok for what I'm doing.
It has jumped out of the bar mount once but it spends most of it's life in the Camelbak now.