UKC

Aside from using my phone which has a poop battery life, which other devices can you suggest that dont cost loads?

Ive used paper maps but they either get ripped or wet or are just too much faff when cycling.

In reply to ow arm:

most sat navs are dependant on being plugged in to the cigarette lighter, and have a fairly poor battery life when not.

consider an external battery battery for your phone. Costs £20 -40 and will give you 3-6x battery life.

In reply to ow arm:

Not a lot of cheap options.
I would stick with the garmin edge 800 as it has been tested and does a job, don't be tempted by the newer models.
Download free open source maps onto the sd card and your away.
£161.88 at handtec (wiggle and evans price match).

Or buy second hand and take a chance!

In reply to ow arm:

A compass affixed to the handlebars?

In reply to Orgsm:

will tell me which direction im heading but not if its the correct direction

In reply to ow arm:

ive got a mio 300 . works ok . not the smallest , but does the job.

http://www.handtec.co.uk/mio-cyclo-300-gps-cylce-computer-uk.html?gclid=Cjw...

In reply to ow arm:
There's a new(ish) Garmin Touring - which is basically a slightly simplified 800 that does navigation, comes complete with maps etc but doesn't do heart rate, power etc. i have ine on my commuting bike down in Brum - does the job fine.

In reply to ow arm:

How long are your rides? Do you need your phone to be a phone? If not then use that as a sat nav with the phone receiver switched off...should make it last plenty long enough. Youll need to download some maps onto it tho.

In reply to balmybaldwin:

what a great idea! thanks ill try that first
want something for up to 100 milers so 7-8h battery life

In reply to ow arm:
Well, as long as you switch the screen off most of the time it should be fine. Things like strava apps would still work, and doubt they'd make much diff to battery life just turn everything else off.

Could just use it as normal if you can quickly memorize the next 3-4 turns/half hour riding so you can just flick it on to google maps for a minute or 2 at a time.


Make up a little route card as a backup with basic instructions for the straight forward "get to the end of road turn right/left" stuff, and more detail for the important turns e.g. second left after church in puzzlethwait.

In reply to ow arm:


A general sense of direction an outline of villages you will pass through and it should suffice.

In reply to ow arm:

any thoughts on the garmin foretrex? 101 or 301 etc

In reply to ow arm:
Do you really need a sat nav, what info are you trying to record. I always used to plan routes with a map, I then bought a garmin edge 500,

For a few weeks I was keen logging the info for every ride then I lost interest.

I have found most sat nav based cycle units to be too small to be useful, really depends on what you want I do.

Touring cyclists have always managed in the past with just maps

In reply to ow arm:

I'd get the biggest external battery you can for your phone and then play around with the power management settings if that still isn't enough. You can pick up some well sealed compact usb chargers for much less than a sat nav.

In reply to ow arm:

all great suggestions thanks ill experiment
only thing Im looking for is navigation for touring and long rides. I just find it frustrating to stop and look at maps or cue cards, spoils the cadence

In reply to ow arm:

The best setup I managed was to use Viewranger (or something similar): Create the route at home on a proper computer with audio cues at key turning points and upload it to the phone. That way the screen stay off most of the time and the phone bleeps if I'm approaching a turn or have gone off course. A poke at the home button turns on the screen and I can see where to go. In theory I can record specific turn cues (e.g., "Turn left after bus-stop"), but that's a lot of hassle to set up.

Most times I just use a map printed from Bing (OS).

In reply to ow arm:

Just a word of warning - take a paper map with you even if you don't look at it all day. I did a tour with a friend of mine last year who had a gps. He was fiddling with it in a cafe one morning and managed to delete the route.

In reply to Marek:

I reluctantly shelled out £200+ for a garmin 805 and have to say its brilliant, and has really opened up the area in terms of finding new routes to ride. It adds a lot of confidence when riding longer rides in new areas and has made a big difference to me. It is a lot of cash, but worth it. NB - Battery life is still not great so for anything beyond 100miles i use a little battery pack which was about £20 and extends the battery life very significnatly.

In reply to ow arm:

A tandem and a wife.

Oh sorry, you said inexpensive.

In reply to ow arm:

I have a Garmin Edge 200. It is extremely basic, but does a great job of RECORDING rides. In terms of on-road navigation, you have to plan your route beforehand in Garmin Connect online, upload the route(s) to the device and then go out and ride, following the 'breadcrumb trail' on the screen (there is no underlying map shown). I did end-to-end last year using this system and it worked faultlessly. However, it does demand that you do all your nav planning at home. If you go off route, it just gives you a direction arrow to get back to the route. You have to figure out how to get there. Higher Edge models do have mapping and are therefore (presumably) better for route finding as you ride.

N

In reply to cousin nick:

+1 for Edge 200. Less than £90 and will do exactly what you want. Though only if you can plot your route online at home first as stated, then upload to device. I use mine on MTB and road and means I never worry about which turn to take. I also enjoy plotting my routes first at my desk instead of working then going out and riding them.

It's always funny on threads like this when people respond with 'been using a map for years its fine'. Of course it is, but it's 2014 now.

Pre-internet, conversation in the pub. Q. What map is best for going out riding? A. You don't need these new fangled map things boyo, I've been using a Sextant and toggle rope for years and works just fine.

Wow, I've gone all UKC

Enjoy the road, hope it helps!

In reply to ow arm:

i just got a Mio 305 from ebay which, while not cheap, was cheaper than the equivalent garmin and came with the maps for Europe already on it. used it to navigate a bit yesterday and the bigger screen really helped as well.