GPS Units

Cabaal

So I've never been one for OS maps and compasses and like my gadgets so was thinking of going down the road of GPS units, there seems to be a decent selection on komplett - http://www.komplett.ie/k/kl.aspx?bn=10998

Any suggestions, ups or downs on usage?

well it depends on what you want it for.

I had the basic garmin etrex for a few years and it was fine for what I wanted.
Told me grid references, and altitude, had a handy "goto" function, which would tell you how far it was to a point I had entered, didn't use any other functions.

however, be aware that you will be able to buy, and download maps onto your gps unit, for Ireland very soon, so you might need a more advanced model.

http://www.osi.ie/en/news/latest-news.aspx?article=39e567a3-b275-43e2-8a21-c352e334677a

an update:

Irish maps available to download, but the site is still being developed, and expect changes before the official launch in a few weeks

http://www.geolives.com/index.php?langue=en

Krusty_Clown

Looks interesting, but 10 euro for a (10km)2 tile seems a bit steep.
As far as I can tell, it's also only compatible with Smart phones (Symbian, PDA, Windows Mobile). There doesn't seem to be any mechanism to upload maps to your Garmin/TomTom.

You can upload your GPS routes (GPX etc) to the site, but that is a feature that is available in a wide range of sites already, for free (motion based, Training Peaks, etc).

supertramp

I hear the Americans are thinking of turning GPS off in a couple of years. (Nautical college)

There has been numerous failings in it, and the satellites are out of date. And because the rest of the world doesn't pay, they are just going to get rid of it.

The EU are making their own system, that you will have to pay for ( not just pay for the equipment, but pay for use). Probably will be out between 2010 and 2012

Alun

supertramp wrote: »

I hear the Americans are thinking of turning GPS off in a couple of years. (Nautical college)

There has been numerous failings in it, and the satellites are out of date. And because the rest of the world doesn't pay, they are just going to get rid of it.

ROFLMAO !!! They're launching new satellites to replace ones that fail in service all the time and have been for years. And answer this, if they're getting rid of it, what will they replace it with?

The EU are making their own system, that you will have to pay for ( not just pay for the equipment, but pay for use). Probably will be out between 2010 and 2012

It's called Gallileo, which will also be free for civilian use. There will be other commercial frequencies available offering higher accuracy or other additional services that must be paid for, but that's the same for GPS too.

I seriously don't know where you get this rubbish from.

Alun

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

As far as I can tell, it's also only compatible with Smart phones (Symbian, PDA, Windows Mobile). There doesn't seem to be any mechanism to upload maps to your Garmin/TomTom.

That's easy to explain, as they're all raster maps, and Garmin GPS's (and TomTom's too) only take their own proprietary vector mapping format.