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I'm considering getting a GPS.
I've been thinking of one more lately because I find I spend quite a long time checking my route card and map during a ride in new areas. These are usually planned, so I guess a GPS would make sense. I could ride with less stopping to check? Happy to walk in the hills like this, but on a bike you cover a lot of ground quickly and stops seem more frequent.
I don't want to get hung-up on "training" and strava and such like, and reckon I'd get quite bored "planning" routes for walking and putting them into a GPS. I also can't see me downloading other peoples routes if I'm honest.
I guess I'd quite like to:
pre-load a route
use it as a speed/distance logger on fitness rides
use it as a back-up for walking (ie - get a grid reference)
battery life is pretty important
ability to connect to everything else under the sun isn't
I was looking at something like an Etrex 10 or Garmin edge 200, but also thought about a Fenix 3 watch as it would always be with me then (I would forget the GPS was on the bike until I was already out walking in the hills). However I don't have a huge budget for this sort of thing. The phone doesn't cut it as the battery life isn't good enough.
Any thoughts, do they make a big difference to riding when in new areas, or does the extra time spent loading routes/charging etc negate these benefits?
I've been looking at this especially since my wife took the wrong turn coming off a col and ended up 40 miles off route requiring a 3 hour round trip to rescue her. I'm sure a etrex 10 would do the job you want, my old original etrex could do that. I'm looking at an Etrex 20 as that can upload mapping which would be useful.
For exploring new places, I think its worth getting a GPS you can load maps onto. Especially if not following a preplanned route, it can be handy to see where the paths are. And even off-path, a basic contour map lets you see the shape of the hills etc.
I'd look at the Etrex 20. Its not much more expensive than the Etrex 10. It might be cheap now that is replaced by the 20x. It is available with preloaded OSM maps, or you can download free maps and copy them on yourself.
Plus it has good battery life - about 24 hours on a pair of AAs. And it will give you a grid refence, and speed, distance, time, plus record a track if you want to upload it to Strava etc.
Thanks guys, will take a closer look at the 20. Problem with most of the maps though is the price. 1:25k is very expensive, and 1:50k doesn't show enough detail, so I'd have a 1:25k paper map anyway.
Think I've settled on the idea of an Etrex rather than a watch though, mostly for AA battery use and cost.
forget OS, openstreet map has a lot of detail now, living in Aus' at present and got a Mio because came pre loaded with openstreet map but would hesitate to recommend a Mio based on connectivity/firmware problems and battery life issues (at least for me),
just looked at wharncliffe woods OSM and that shows more rideable stuff than OS does - www.ridewithgps.com is worth looking at if not done so and is good for plotting routes
useful recent review over on road cc
[url] http://road.cc/content/buyers-guide/163835-best-cheap-gps-cycling-computers [/url]
for watch style gps's I had an earlier version of the decathlon one mentioned in this article and it was very impressive but had an odd non standard cable that I broke and had moved on to wanting turn by turn instructions for which need a bigger screen (at least with my eyesight)
This site is good for GPS recommendations:
[url= http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/11/winter-gadget-recommendations.html ]DC Rainmaker[/url]
Mostly from the running perspective but he does seem to cover most bases.
I've got an etrex 20 and found it to be great. Use it for riding, walking, running and geocaching with family. Iirc I got a map of UK on a SIM card from "memory map" ??? I think I paid about £15. I use rechargeable aa batts and carry a spare 2 just in case. It's good for finding new routes, map screen is good and zoom is good, use it mounted on bars or turn it on and chuck it in a bag so I can always track back if I need to. Upload to strava too so my phone battery is always tip top. Not seen the 20x yet but the 20 is more than I need at the moment.
+1 etrex 20. Does everything i need and is pretty sturdy
Etrex is a favourite where navigation is important. Definitely go for the 20 over the 10. Breadcrumb trails are very useful, but the convenience of having a map backing it up, and just clarifying things that are eay to mistake, or maybe puzzling you, is great. Also if you stray from breadcrumb trail, it can be impossible to know how to get back, without completely retracing your steps. Just load it up with free OSM maps.
Battery life is about 25 hours with decent batteries, and it uses AAs, so you can carry/buy spares.