Basic GPS questions – sorry!

Probably going over old ground here 😳
(Please presume I know next to nothing, as I don’t)

Would a cheap GPS unit do the following:

1. Log my rides so I can upload on to Memory Map (which I already have)
2. Allow me to upload rides (other peoples) and steer me in the right direction without more maps being loaded on the GPS unit?
3. Are the cheap ones restricted by the number of waypoints(?) a ride can have?

I think that’s about all I want one to do, and the cheaper the better!

Garmin Etrex would do all that
Saving a route to the GPS as a tracklog rather than a route seems to avoid the waypoint issue [for me anyway]

I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘cheap’. We got some very cheap ones at work for students to play with that worked, but I wouldn’t really want to use regularly. But if you mean cheapish, then a base level garmin etrex or gecko will do everything you need. They are restricted in the number of waypoints you can have, but in practice people use tracklogs rather than waypoints downloading to the gps, and the limitations on these normally won’t cause a problem. You also need to figure into your costs a pc link cable, as this won’t be supplied with the gps.

I should have typed quicker 🙂

You also need to figure into your costs a pc link cable, as this won’t be supplied with the gps.

I got one with my cheapo Garmin 205

Yes a basic monochrome eTrex would do everything you want – BUT (if you get the most basic yellow one) it requires a serial interface and you have to buy the cable separately. If you have a newish PC without a serial interface you might need to get a gizmo to convert to USB. If you buy new, then have to buy the cables you might find that you are only saving £50 or so against the price of a new Legend HCx which comes with all the cables, has better battery life (IIRC) and is more sensitive. The newer models also allow you to store waypoints on a microSD card

If you do decide to go for a cheap monochrome go for a Legend (which at least has a serial cable, as well as basic mapping). The Legend also has the facility to vary the intervals between trackpoints – making the storage capacity last a lot longer. Secondhand on eBay is probably the best bet as there will be plenty of people trading up.

You can easily compare specs on the Garmin website.

You also need to figure into your costs a pc link cable, as this won’t be supplied with the gps.
I got one with my cheapo Garmin 205

Well yes, but your 205 was as big a dud as your Rohloff hubs.

i have an garmin etrex h which i may be selling shortly. I have the usb pc cable for it too. As per the answers above, it does all the things you asked for. Drop me an email if you might be interested (address in profile)

I’ve got a Garmin 205 and it does all the OP requires of it, personally I use Tracklogs rather than Memory map.
Motion based also allows you to share the route overlaid onto a google map.

Well yes, but your 205 was as big a dud

not exactly. It can cope with being 1m underwater and still work, and it does the job I got it for, recording rides and/or finding waypoints, it’s just useless for knowing where you are at the time 🙁

you might need to get a gizmo to convert to USB

oh yeah, about £3 on Ebay

it’s just useless for knowing where you are at the time

And, as you demonstrated so well, completely useless for telling you your elevation.

Loris,

thanks for link to Motion Based. Pretty cool site.

It would appear that the altimeter on my Edge 305 can’t be relied on. This ride has me 180 feet below sea level at one point.

I’ve noticed it misbehaving a bit recently. Most of the time it seems correct but sometimes it’s WAY out – reading in m what I would expect to see in ft, even though the units are set properly.

Anyone else noticed this?

Anyone else noticed this?

Yes sfb posted about it on the old forum ( which is why I was pulling his leg). I’ve never had a problem with an eTrex – so maybe this is an issue with the 205/305.

so maybe this is an issue with the 205/305

well, a position error of 50m horizontally is neither here nor there, but that amount vertically IS an issue 🙂 The altitude is derived from the GPS calculation, not from a pressure sensor like some other units.

the 305 measures altitude with a barometric sensor.

This changes due to the weather and pressure. This means that one day at the exact same point the 305 could potentially give you different altitude readings.

ah, I didn’t know the 305 had one!

The Garmin Edge 305 and 205 have an identical specification apart from the addition of the following features for the 305;

* heart rate monitor and Bike speed/cadence* sensor in some versions and
* barometric altimeter as opposed to GPS based one on 205 models.

Thanks for the info chaps, been out and about all day, I’ll go through it more thoroughly tomorrow and maybe get back to you Cluber.

By cheap I was meaning sub £100 and that is the max I would be loking to spend, hopefully much less 🙂

By cheap I was meaning sub £100

I got the 205 from £50 from PCWorld

completely useless for telling you your elevation

I’m not too fussed about that 🙂

I would recommend the Garmin Geko 301 – which I’ve been using for 5 years or so – it will do everything you need. Small, light, great battery life (and it takes AAA’s, so no proprietery battery to die on multi-day trips) and very robust. It’s got no mapping, but I always carry a map anyway, so need for that IME. It’s waypoint limit has only been an issue on very long multi-day trips. Mine came with the serial cable, but I had to buy a bike mount (and a usb converter)

Works perfectly with Memory Map (even if you’re running it in Linux as I do)…..