 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Evening
I'm curious about getting one.
Essentially I'm wanting to do bigger/longer road rides from the house so following existing routes to further flung places will mean more miles and following one via said device will aid that - well, that's the theory. I tend to do loops without giving myself much time either - often repeating ones I've done before - basically bored of riding within a certain radius.
Does this sound feasible/realistic?
I'm not competitive and never used Strava but I want something that's going to make want to ride further and more often. I rode from L'boro to Coventry on Sat which wasn't massive (36 miles) but was nice because it was all new - I got there because I'd looked at Google maps and made a list of key villages/towns and key roads/turns etc - had to ask a few directions along the way but got there - not practical on longer rides.
A work colleague brought his Garmin 200 in today - basic but looks like it will do the job - any recommendations? Don't wanna spend mega-bucks.
Sorry if this is an incoherent ramble - it's taken 20 mins as I'm watching the footie at the same time!
loads of goals 😀
Mobile phone with sat nav is probably the cheapest option [ battery life may be an issue but mine just has a voice saying turn every time i need to turn and as i am slower than car its plenty of notice
Any cheap garmin then download open source maps and plot your own route with Memory may or whatever programme you choose.
Cheaper garmins just have a breadcrumb trail and no map
Bump
The Garmin 800/810 is probably the cheapest way to get mapping if you want a specific bike computer, however they only follow a route given and don't recalculate - but will bleep at you if you go off course.
I'd be tempted to get an older iphone / android thing and use propper maps. That way if it is a leisure ride and you are in the middle of nowhere you could always search for interesting places to visit or get food / repairs as needed.
Trouble with that is likely to be battery life as older devices tend to have been abused with charging. Maybe use in conjunction with a reserve battery case or carry a couple of battery bank things.
Some what of a faff but it depends what you need.
Yep bar-mounted phone with extra battery pack is the way I do it.
I find these apps useful:
[url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/viewranger-outdoors-gps-open/id404581674?mt=8 ]ViewRanger[/url] - lets you plot out a route on iPad or PC then transfer it to your phone. Lots of pre-made routes from other users. Does waypoint-to-waypoint navigating rather than turn-by-turn, but than can be useful if your route isn't all on road.
Can display OpenStreetMap (free) or OS maps (cost). Has lots of nice options like alerting you if you go off the route.
[url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/cyclestreets-uk-cycle-journey/id391984737 ]CycleStreets[/url] or [url= https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/bike-hub-cycle-journey-planner/id391782662 ]Bike Hub[/url] - give you car sat-nav style turn-by-turn navigation with voice guidance. Both use the [url= http://www.cyclestreets.net ]CycleStreets.net[/url] routing which accounts for bike-specific things like how busy the roads are, speed limits, hills, etc.
(Those links are all iPhone but I'm pretty sure they are available for Android too)
I have an iPhone 3s sitting around doing nothing - will that be ok?
Depends if the apps still support it. I use my main phone, a 4S, and that is fine.
Garmin 810 and OSM maps was using it yesterday on road and great navigation, really long battery life, waterproof and robust.