Cycling sat nav question

what to do?

Hi folks,

Am moving to a new (EU) country shortly.

Don't know the place well and don't know the roads.

Are there any decent sat navs with maps that people recommend? Do the garmins offer turn by turn navigation? Is it visual only or does it alert you in any way that a turn is approaching? Is it possible to just head out exploring and then click a sort of 'take me home' option? Is it possible to have a setting to avoid motorways? Or is that automatically done as it knows you're on a bike?

Do some of the sat navs interact with the likes of map my ride /strava? Eg, can you just search for a recommended or popular looped cycle route of whatever distance you are interested in?

I generally only cycle 50 to 70km distances so battery shouldn't be a major concern. Reluctant to spend a fortune as I obviously am only doing short spins and I'm not competitive, but I realise that the requirements I have may lead to a more expensive unit.

Thanks!

07Lapierre

here you go:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/garmin-edge-810-in-depth-review.html

seamus

Basically the answers you're looking for are "yes". There are cycling Sat Navs which will do all of these things. But the more you want them to do, the more expensive they become

At the lowest level you can use your phone for navigation. The Strava/MapMyRide apps offer turn-by-turn navigation, and assuming you've a modern smartphone you'll get mapping on it too. You can get mounts and waterproof covers to make life easier.

There are in essence three categories of Garmin GPS for bikes, increasing in expense as you go.

Entry-level devices like the Edge 200 which mainly function as bike computers (speed/distance/time/etc) and track your position so that you can analyse your ride afterwards.

Sport/Race devices like the Edge 500/510/520 which try to balance weight and functionality with GPS. These give you the ability to follow preset routes - you get turn-by-turn navigation, but you don't get maps. So you'll get a small graphic telling you to turn in 200m, but you won't have a map to make 100% sure you're taking the right turn.

Touring devices like the Edge 800/810 which give you fully functional turn-by-turn mapped navigation.

what to do?

Thanks very much!

I probably should have said that I have done some research on this, not just blindly asking here! . Sometimes it's good to hear from actual people though!

Yes looks like the 810 or possibly the 1000 might be the way to go but, as I suspected, are hideously expensive.

At the moment seamus I'm using a smart phone alright with map my ride, using a separate, basic bike computer for cadence and speed. . Would prefer to move away from using the phone if possible.

Thanks again.

smacl

AFAIK, the Garmin touring edge at €190 does all you're after. A good bit cheaper than the 800 or 1000, but not as useful for sports / fitness.

cdaly_

what to do? wrote: »

At the moment seamus I'm using a smart phone alright with map my ride, using a separate, basic bike computer for cadence and speed. . Would prefer to move away from using the phone if possible.

Thanks again.

I quite happily use my (old) smart phone with a SportsTracker app. I like that because I can download OpenCycleMap and zoom it up to the extent that I can actually read it. It doesn't do navigation, just shows me where I am and how I got there. The Scouts taught me everything I know about map-reading and navigation.

I'm reluctant to go to Garmin due to various issues I have heard of which affect the long-distance rider like hangs and battery charging issues.

There are also alternatives to Garmin like Teasi and Bryton.

Planet X

Few months ago I bought a Garmin eTrex 20x. Runs off two AA batteries rated to go for 20 hours. Does most things. Is bigger than 810's etc etc. Can run off USB also on the move.
Look it up. It's an alternative.
Will take an SD card and has massive internal storage.