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I've recently moved and I'm fortunate to now have lots of bridleway and lanes on my doorstep. But I've never owned a GPS device for my bike and I can only memorise so much from Google Maps. What cheapish, basic tech is out there that would help me get home avoiding busy roads if I get lost? I'd also like to build routes in strava and download them to a bar mounted device. I know "affordable" is subjective but anything out there under say, £100?
Garmin Edge 130 Plus will do just about everything you need and is maybe just a hair over budget. I used it to follow a pre-loaded route for the first time recently and it was excellent.
(there's a non "plus" model which is quite a bit less good, worth the small extra for the Plus)
Garmin edge 130 plus? £110 which is cheapest I've seen it for a while.
I got a 2nd hand Garmin 810, then a full UK 1:50 os card from ebay for significantly under £100.
Alternatively use one of the old phones everyone has kicking about in a drawer somewhere and a decent mount?
I've got an old iPhone setup with only ordnance survey app on it, that works pretty well
The cheap option is a phone. A second hand smart phone will be well under budget and give you the functionality of a high end bike GPS with a couple of caveats. Put it in airplane mode and the battery lasts ages. It'll run strava, trailforks, garmin, and any number of map apps. The downsides are weather related. The touchscreen is not great in the rain and they aren't 100% rain proof but my not-officially-waterproof phone has survived a decent amount of rain.
Yep, cheap smart phone - load up with whichever Apps you need..
cheap used smart phone and a bar mount. Or even your existing smart phone.
touch screen isnt great in the rain but I have accidently left my iphone 8 submerged in a bucket of filthy water for hours to no ill effects. they are waterproof these days.
I have accidently left my iphone 8 submerged in a bucket of filthy water for hours to no ill effects.
@ayjaydoubleyou I've got to ask, how did you do this?
Phones are ok but there's too many compromises for me, as above - battery life, water in the rain, overheating in sun, poor GPS accuracy, risk of accident damage.
But many make it work, just be sure to buy a proper quadlock or similar to stop it flying into the bushes on the first 1ft drop...
I’ve got to ask, how did you do this?
returned from filthy winter ride, forced by girlfirend to undress at the back door and put my trousers and jacket into a bucket to soak.
Shower, food and a bit of TV later.... where's my phone?
If you are already at the point of memorising some of a route
I can only memorise so much from Google Maps.
phone in pocket may be cheaper and safer for the phone.
I use a Wahoo Elment Bolt to follow routes. Simple black and white map. Works well.
forced by girlfirend to undress at the back door
Some people would be happy about that.
Cheap phone optimised for battery life (Moto G7 Power in my case). Topeak/Zefal case and bar/stem mount. OS app, downloaded custom area map so you can see it offline if necessary. Or simple app like 'Grid Reference' which gives you a six figure Grid Ref without needing a cellphone signal, if you're using a paper map. Can't remember the last time I didn't know exactly where I was - which is not entirely positive, if I'm honest, but that's a different existential question.
OS map?
Refurb 130 was £80 on Amazon last week. But I’d go for a android phone and backcountry navigator. I lost my 130 over winter and have just switched to a 530 and the difference having a map versus a line is night and day, I did 55 miles ride off road last week and didnt go wrong once I know that wouldn’t have been the case with the 130.
I got a 2nd hand Garmin 810, then a full UK 1:50 os card from ebay for significantly under £100.
+1
I had a Garmin 810. It died in some super heavy rain.
Instead of forking out for a new version I got the same 810 from the classifieds here. The battery lasts 8h, so fine for most of my rides.
OS map?
Beat me to it. The cheapest option.
Ignoring your criteria for a moment OP but as highlighted on another thread the Edge 530 is £180 on Amazon. It is obviously over budget but you can pay in instalments and the device you are buying is the most future-proofed, colour screen, built in detailed maps, etc.
I've got an old Edge 810 and I just can't trust it on long rides not to just stop recording. I certainly wouldn't be buying another legacy device.
Cheap phone optimised for battery life (Moto G7 Power in my case). Topeak/Zefal case and bar/stem mount. OS app,
Same phone, same app but i use a Decathlon XL bar mounted phone holder. Been out all day (without airplane mode) and still had plenty of battery life left. Personally i just buy my local os maps and then use the digital download code to get the map on the OS app so don't need a subscription
Buy an OS map, and/or use your phone.
But the actual best way to learn your area is to take a good look at the maps, then just go out following your nose/signs and see what you find, if you get truly lost you can alway pull out the map/phone and figure out where you are, but there is something to be said for clearing a day and just getting out for a random ride rather than set route following...
Strava on your phone can track you quietly from your pocket/bag and you can review the route, maybe see what you passed close by, afterwards and it gives you more choices over what to explore on subsequent rides...
But yeah there's something to be said for not "navigating" so much as taking a means to get yourself "unlost" if necessary...
The main use for the navigation features on my Garmin these days seems to be plotting the shortest route back to a known location when the light and/or my stamina start to go...
aside from the obvious OS map in your pocket, I have a Cubot king king mini (£90) and OS map app. I am a fervent paper map user but I can't deny the king kong is a great little thing for the money. It is allegedly waterproof, shockproof and very very small and light
It's also my main phone, for which it is also great really. If i drop it i just laugh!
I have this:
1) subscription to OS Maps online - £25 for planning on bigger screen at home
2) OS Maps app so I can download / cache OS maps on my phone - comes with the subscription but is quite limited.
3) paid version of the Back Country Navigator android app so I can have offline versions of the older OS maps from Bing that cover a wide area e.g. North of England
4) Garmin 530
I use the backcountry navigator app most as its great for panning around an area and you can overlay several GPX's on the same map. bigger screen size of the phone helps too
The garmin is good for "whats next" type scenarios and following a route but I find the map apps allow me to actually navigate and read the terrain. If you are mostly off road then I'd suggest you'd be fine with just a phone for navigation.
If I'm properly remote I'll also have a paper map and compass
The older Garmin 510 has a really small memory capacity - there's only about 90mb free so its challenging to get decent map coverage on there. The newer ones have a fully detailed set of maps and are much better.
I was looking into the cheap phone idea, but it seems that all the relevant apps require the latest operating systems which the older phones don't have and can't be upgraded to. Am I missing something?
Put cling film over your screen and wrap it around into the case. Touch screen still works and it's more waterproof.
I was looking into the cheap phone idea, but it seems that all the relevant apps require the latest operating systems which the older phones don’t have and can’t be upgraded to. Am I missing something?
I haven't found this to be an issue. Maybe they are conservative with their specs. I still had viewranger running ok on my Nokia 5800. My current bike phone was £50 and is a few years old.
Bryton GPS.
Work a treat.