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I am going to purchase a Garmin type GPS thing.
Mainly to ensure I get from one side of the SDW to the other without getting myself, and a group of others, lost.
What is the best thingy to buy? There was a new one i recall people talking about but the name escapes me.....
Cheers
Mark
Wahoo Elemnt?
What do you want it to do?
If you just want navigation and recording your ride for strava get a garmin touring unit.
If you want more data, go for the 800 series. 800 does not have blue tooth. 810 does. 820 is newer with internal memory and no sd slot.
1000 series are bigger with a brighter screen.
There are alternatives to garmin that I've heard good things about but I've never used them so I'll let the others tell you about them.
Garmin are great when they work but can be flakey. They do have an excellent replacement policy. I think am 810 costs £75 for a replacement reconditioned unit.
Edit: see post above from vincienup for a very good alternative
What do i want it to do?
I would like an easy to navigate map from an uploaded GPX. Easy to see if you have gone wrong.....easy to ensure you are on the right track.
If it uploads the ride to Strava then great - as saves the phone doing it.
Thats about it.
Wahoo Element - thats it. Better than Garmin or stick with Garmin?
personally think the elemnt is better. Less flaky. Been excellent for the year and a bit i've had it..
Bez of this parish has tried both and still reckons the Garmin Edge Touring is the way to go.
They have their idiosyncracies. Don't use turn by turn navigation, set recalculate to off, off road, - if the search worked (maybe try google rather than on site) you should be able to track down all the advice.
You're following a pink line on a map. You still need to keep an eye on it but you can spot when you've gone wrong and work out which direction to go in when you get to a junction fairly easily.
If you're the 'ride leader' make sure you've used it a few times to follow routes before your SDW trip otherwise you will have trouble.
What's your budget? I had years of sterling service out of my old Etrex 3.0 but my wife bought me an Oregon 700 for Christmas and I'm very impressed with that.
To be honest though I think that Garmin's units are losing ground to mobile phones these days as they're pretty much as capable on the GPS side of things as dedicated GPS units and can do a lot more besides (the Oregon will pair with a mobile phone but it seems a bit silly to take both).
Budget = will get the best solution out there 🙂
Plan is to test out on off road trail centres etc.....then local off road stuff so should be well set for SDW in June (all in theory) 🙂
I've got the Elemnt Bolt. It's a great cycle computer, easy to use, doesn't have glitches and very easy to upload GPX routes to.
IMO the navigation is OK on the roads to follow a route , but I don't find it particularly useful to navigate off road, due I think to the GPS not being that accurate, the screen being small, little detail off road and it's all in black and white. I think Garmin's generally get better reviews for pure navigation. Depends on what's most important to you.
You'll be alright on the SDW, it's well signposted and you don't really need a map. If you're in a group the first rider can check the finger posts and point the rest of you in the right direction. Good luck with it.
Bez of this parish has tried both and still reckons the Garmin Edge Touring is the way to go.
Certainly is for me, but not necessarily everyone. Main issues were three functional (it's rubbish if you need to divert from your route, it doesn't give good "through junction" guidance, and you can't view the map "north up" while navigating—that last one being a matter of personal preference) and one non-functional (bugs in the phone apps which ate battery even when not using the app or the Elemmt).
I suspect it's not a bad choice for the SDW. The question is more what you do with it afterwards: it's a bit spendy to buy a GPS for one ride rather than borrow one 😉
Oh and you won't get OS maps or similar on a Wahoo, whereas you can load all sorts of stuff onto most Garmins.
I had heard that the first section of the SDW was a little convoluted.....hence the thought that a GPS would be a good purchase.
Chances are that work will subsidise the purchase - as it a work team building / charity jobby.
Now I am even more unsure of best plan 😀
Sounds like the garmin edge touring is perfect for you. Its also cheaper than the other units
Garmin Edge Touring would be spot on for you. These are the settings I used to set my up (from ridewithgps)
RECOMMENDED NAVIGATION SETTINGS:
1. Tap the Wrench Icon on the main menu of the unit.
2. Select Routing Options
3. Change Routing Mode to Cycling
4. Change Calculation Method to Minimize Distance
5. Ensure Lock On Road is set to Off
6. Enter Avoidance Setup and disable all (keeps the unit from changing your pre-planned route based on its own map data)
7. Change Recalculation to either Prompted or Off (Important!!! If you lose GPS signal or go slightly off course, recalculation will usually short cut you to the end of your route. You almost never want it, so we set it to Prompted).
8. Course Turn Guidance must be ON. This option must be ON for cues to show and play a sound. This is for custom routes or routes that have been recalculated. If you turn this off the device will remain silence.
iPhone and Ordnance Survey maps app
What's the battery life like on the edge touring? I'm looking at getting a new GPS soon, but I'm thinking an eyes etrex might be a better bet for longer rides as it runs on standard AAs, so I can just throw a few spares in my pack.
Garmin Etrex 20 with os mapping. Batteries last for 48 hours plus.