GPS's

[jon.mithe]

Hi,

Just a random post about free things that I've found / use with my garmin edge that other people may found useful as the maps/software out there to buy seems a bit of a rip off.

Maps would be the Open street maps (I think someone suggested here):

http://emexes.powweb.com/osm/download.html

They are brilliant, I'm trying to find an open cycle map version of them, or tools to produce them myself.

For route planning I found this website:

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx

Its pretty handy, does all the routing, summaries and cue sheets and will upload it direct to garmin. Tried using garmin connect, but never succeeded.

For analysis of bike data a friend pointed me towards this free app:

http://mytourbook.sourceforge.net/mytourbook/

Its pretty fancy, does all the heart map / cadence / power / speed / altidude etc etc data + graphs and plots them in google maps. Pretty sure there is alot of analysis stuff I have not found yet.

Anyone reccomend any other free things I have missed / can play with? Have plotted my first 70mile cycle to my folks house I'll be trying soon. Thats bit more than my 7 mile cycle to and fro work, but should be fun, hopefully...

Cheers,
Jon

 

[oxbob]

3 free maps here http://www.mapomatic.net/garmin-maps-download/ one has bike path/tracks overlayed

 

[jimboalee]

3 free maps here http://www.mapomatic.net/garmin-maps-download/ one has bike path/tracks overlayed

Is that the centre of Birmingham I see before me?

 

[jimboalee]

My Garmin gets 'lost' in the tunneled sections.

Which is a real bugger on Edge 605, cus after losing the satellites, I have to re-start a fresh Lap to continue recording. ( And then stitch all the laps together on MS Excel ).

 

[twowheelsgood]

Take a look at the etrex vista or legend hcx for long rides.

It has 3 huge advantages over the mapping edge models.

1. it is half the price of the edge 705
2. it has a replaceable battery - how you gonna charge an edge on the road? (etrex can also take standard AA chargables)
3. at 25hours it has the longest battery life of any garmin gps (getting on for twice the edge)

Basically it has the same functionality at the gps 60csx but isn't so huge.

The only reason to look at the edge series would be if you needed the training functions or heartrate/cadence sensors, which for touring you probably don't. This is my second garmin gps - previously i had a foretrex but the internal battery died at that was the end of it.

 

[jimboalee]

Vista and Legend have 3 huge disadvantages over the Edge.

1/ The rubber bumper band expands in heat and NEVER returns to its original size.
2/ You need to buy a specifically sized handlebar mount, at an extra cost.
and
3/ The Vista and Legend have internal hardware (battery connections) problems which suffer from vibration. Instantaneous loss of battery and subsequent 'Jitter hard stop'.

The Edge also has its disadvantages, as I've already said - cessation of recording when satellite signal is lost, and internal battery - 15 hours life.

The battery issue is solved with PowerChimp, but the recording problem is something I haven't yet assessed a cure.

I had a legend, which is now broke due to 3/, and has 1/ badly.
I have an Edge 605, which has been OK up to now.

 

[twowheelsgood]

Just out of curiousity has anyone else had internal battery life issues on Garmin GPSs?

My Foretrex 201 went 3 years and a friends only 2 years. I really liked that little unit, great value at the time. I really still prefer it over any other for skiing, even without the barometric altimeter.

Do Garmin offer a service/exchange or is it not worth it?

I haven't had any battery bounce issues with my Vista and I velcro it to a bar bag. No rubber band issues but it hasn't got too hot yet - very cold yes. Still as the cadence, training and heart rate features were totally useless to me I'd happily pocket the £100-£150. I find two sets of rechargable AAs are enough for a week touring - that was the deciding factor for me. I'm going to try-out lithium primary cells in the spring - should do nearly two weeks on a single set if the claims are correct.

I took my advice from this guy - he seems to know what he's on about

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/3140

 

[jon.mithe]

thanks for the cycle maps links, I will try those soon. I'm guessing they solved that satalite cut loss -> need to restart data collection in the edge 705? Part of my cycle is between 2 large sets of flats and I noticed in my cycle to work today I had a couple of 20m or so pockets of no data, but it kept on recording. Only thing I have done is put it on record all data instead of that smart recording.

I'm cycling a ~62 mile trip this weekend and I'm going to try and record all the data, I would be a bit annoyed if that battery ran out (60 miles, a few hills I'm approximating 4-6hours).

 

[jimboalee]

Thanks jon.mithe.

Must be my set-up.
I've just changed my settings, been outside to get reception, started a recording, come inside and lost satellite.
Continued recording,,,
Back outside to get satellites and continued recording fine.

Location went a bit hay-wire when reception got dodgy, but got correct when good reception was regained.

One happy bunny.