You are hereForums / Preparation / Geek Gear (GPS/Comps/Lights/etc.) / GPS Waypoint Suggestions
GPS Waypoint Suggestions
Greetings all from the east coast of the United States!
Justin (not sure what his username here is) directed me to this website some time ago and I was hoping you all could give me a hand in picking out a GPS.
I currently have a Tomtom for my car. While it is great for road navigation, as soon as I go offroad, it tries to auto-align back to a street. With that and the ~hour battery life, I am trying to find a handheld that will track where I have been (including speed and altitude). I just got into road biking and there are quite a few trails around where I live that I would like to get mapped out. The Tomtom doesn't have waypoint functionality and I haven't been able to understand waypoints and uploading data to the web. I see you all have been recommending the Edge, but that is a bit above what I care to spend. Since I am generally always within a mile or two of a main road, I don't really need a mapping device (It is almost impossible to get lost on the trails I ride), I just want something that can track where I have been (perhaps at a 1 point per minute) including altitude (I've read it does this via barametric pressure?) which I can upload to my PC and map using a similar manner in which you all use this website.
Any information would be greatly appreciated and if you all would like, I can upload some trails for the Maryland/District of Columbia region under your "outside the country" section.
Thanks!
Aaron
- Login to post comments
- Bookmark & share
Makes a bike specific - the 305 has a large stem mounted face unit and wireless cadance/speed
I use a Garmin eTrex Legend that works well with the optional handle-bar mount.
It logs a point every second but it doesn't do altitude very well. While most GPS will be able to calculate your altitude in addition to your location - the accuracy is quite variable.
Look at models with a built in altimeter/barometer if height info is important to you.
Have a look at http://www.gpsaustralia.net/forums/ for all things GPS.
Thanks all for your suggestions. I am going to look at the etrex legend today!
You may well be able to find older GPS device on the net very cheaply. Think I've seen the basic eTrex for just over 100 bucks!
My policy is that if there's a store that lets you play with a device and that was really important to you then one should do all they can to buy from them. Depends what kind of deal they will do. I'm sure the eTrex is getting towards the end of it's life (as are Edge 2/3 series) so you should be able to get some deals. Not that there is anything wrong with these, so long as it's got a barometric altimeter and SiRF III chipset (or better) the only extras your getting are fancier interfaces/ability to store/record more routes/points/etc.
I got the eTrex Vista.
It seemed to be the best mix of what I wanted plus features
it does seem to have issues with which way is North, a lot, though the directions relative to north are displayed correctly, it has no idea where North actually is. Haven't sussed when and why this happens. but it works quite well with MapSource and Google Earth and attaches to the bike handlebars or car dash mat or the lanyard around the neck
marhleet, does yours have a built in compass? Some of the higher level Garmins do to address this problem.
In most cases the GPS will use your direction of travel to work out north. If you stop it has a hard time knowing where north is from the satalites alone as you aren't moving any more.
When geocaching this is a real problem for me, a GPS with a compass is WAY better for geocaching.
Dylan