Best gadget for cycling route mapping

YORKSHIRELASS · 5 October 2016 at 7:32PM

Hi all, excuse my ignorance here, I am not very tech savvy. I have started road cycling and want a gadget like a Sat nav so that I can plot or upload my route and it will give me directions.

I know there are smart phone apps but I have a very old very basic smart phone with no memory so that's no good.

Ideas please? I liked the look of a Garmin Edge Touring but what would you recommend?

[Deleted User] · 5 October 2016 at 10:41PM

I have a Garmin navigator which will navigate you free with rechargeable batteries. No battery mad smartphones needed. Mine was £30 on a boot stall ... Ebay has them on sale all the time.. they work well with free maps downloaded O.S. maps are expensive for the Garmin and because of the small screens they are not that suitable for road use. Mine is a Garmin Dakota. personally there is nothing to beat a paper O.S map for your area , costs a tenner. Best maps in the world.
the Garmin will use satellites to navigate you, whereas the mobile apps will use the towers only and won t work if you go in remote areas with no nearby cell phone towers

YORKSHIRELASS · 7 October 2016 at 7:00AM

Thanks. Thats helpful. At the moment I use the old paper OS maps but having to stop and check the map is a pain sometimes when you are cycling.

I have been looking on ebay and I think that's the way to go, I am not bothered about the latest model.

Nasqueron · 7 October 2016 at 9:05AM

Aldi were selling the Garmin 810 off last week, been replaced by 820 so going cheaper but still a good unit, probably none left but ask around if you can pay £180

Otherwise second hand garmin would be fine and you can even download free maps for some models

Johnmcl7 · 7 October 2016 at 1:55PM

If you've a bike shop nearby it may be worth going in and having a look as quite a few have Garmin displays now so you can see what you think of the screen size, resolution and detail.

I had a Garmin Edge 800 which I chose to use for mapping and recording rides but ended up not using it for mapping as I found the screen too small and the resolution too low to be useful When I was getting lost I ended up using my phone for its larger and detailed screen. That's just me though hence I think it may be worth having a look yourself and see what you think.

John

[Deleted User] · 7 October 2016 at 2:41PM

I use a 4m to the inch road atlas. Cut the spine off, and a single page folded in four fits into a map holder on the bars made from a Tupperware CD case. A GPS is not much use as I don't stick rigidly to a pre-planned route.

Aretnap · 7 October 2016 at 5:50PM

sacsquacco wrote: »

the Garmin will use satellites to navigate you, whereas the mobile apps will use the towers only and won t work if you go in remote areas with no nearby cell phone towers

Any modern smartphone should have GPS built in, so the accuracy is as good as (for practical purposes) a dedicated satnav, and isn't dependent on having a phone signal.

Personally I'd suggest getting a new phone and using an app. You can get a good Android Smartphone for not a lot more than £100 these days - I'm very happy with my Moto G4 which I bought for £160 from Amazon, and I regarded that as a bit of an indulgence. My preferred app is Viewranger, which lets you download OS 1:50000 maps at about £7 for a region (a region is equivalent to quite a few paper maps). Add a waterproof case that you can mount on your handlebars for about £15 and you're still cheaper than a dedicated GPS - and you have all the advantages of a modern smartphone as well.

I've never seen the need to buy a dedicated GPS. I'm told that the advantages are better battery life, better weather resistance and being easier to operate with cold wet hands. But I usually find my battery is fine for all but the longest rides (and you can get a backup battery for a tenner if you're worried about all day rides), and I'm a bit of a wimp so I try not to be out in the worst weather anyway, so a smartphone works well for me.

brat · 7 October 2016 at 8:04PM

My garmin forerunner allows me to download a route to it but it is a breadcrumb trail with no map overlay, so IMO in't next to useless to follow, but I hardly use it anyway. I usually know where I'm going. If I don't know where I'm going and worry I might go off route I have the UK Map app which cost £7.50 for the iphone. It's an offline OS map down to 1:10000 so it shows detail right down to individual houses. All you have to do is download the relevant tile for the area you want to explore. You can download google maps for offline use too.

YORKSHIRELASS · 7 October 2016 at 9:19PM

Thanks all. My teenage son keeps saying to me that I may as well get a new smart phone - mine is a Moto G which is 3 years old OR buy a second hand smart phone and use that just for cycling.

Have not heard of Viewranger so will look into that. I am still a bit undecided. We tend to map out a route before hand and follow that but quite often like to explore new places so dont want to worry about getting seriously lost and having to make a massive detour!

Nasqueron · 8 October 2016 at 11:46AM

jack_pott wrote: »

I use a 4m to the inch road atlas. Cut the spine off, and a single page folded in four fits into a map holder on the bars made from a Tupperware CD case. A GPS is not much use as I don't stick rigidly to a pre-planned route.

The better versions of the GPS will happily track you and then plot you a route to a way point or home on the fly without needing to stop and look at the map at each junction even if you don't want to follow a fixed route

esuhl · 8 October 2016 at 12:16PM

I use an old Samsung Galaxy SII in a waterproof mount on my bike. The only issues I have is that sometimes it can take ages to pick up a GPS signal, and with tracking on, the battery only lasts 60 to 90 minutes!

I use an app called MapMyRide, which can draw your route on a map (so you can see where you are and where you've been), or you can trace out a route in advance so you can easily see where to go.

I got an external battery pack for the mobile, so it lasts several hours now.

I tried a Garmin from a friend's motorbike, and it was MUCH more reliable... but I couldn't really get to grips with the map display. I just couldn't figure out where I was! Maybe I'd get used to interpreting the map, but I prefer the OpenCycleMap layer used by MapMyRide, etc.

Best gadget for cycling route mapping

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