Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Long distance cycling - how much gps memory needed?

Im looking to pick up a GPS for my bike, but dont buy into the whole Edge thing and instead want an older handheld with full routing capability. Problem is, when I look at the old Garmins they have on the order of 16-32MB of internal memory, and I haven't found any with SD or CF slots yet. Question is, how much memory do I need to get from, say, Chicago to Detroit? Do you load maps by region, or does it just load the roads and cross-streets for your designated path? Thanks for any insight.

As long as you have some idea of what route you're taking, it shouldn't be a problem. I have a 24MB GPSMAP 76S which is several years old now, and the Garmin MapSource software. I've had no trouble loading maps for 500 mile trips in the 24MB, although the 76S doesn't do dynamic routing, so none of that detail is present. I don't know how much additional memory the routing takes up. Anyway, here's a screen cap of an autoroute from Chicago O'Hare to Detroit plus letting it autoselect all maps needed.

MapSource screen cap of Chicago to Detroit (http://www.autocrossing.com/misc/junk/mapsource.gif)

It says it was 299 miles and needed 18.5mb to select all the maps required. That's generally a lot more than you would normally do on a bike anyway, but yeah, a 24-32mb unit is probably fine for most stuff. You can also manually de-select maps for areas that you think there is no reason to have the detailed maps for and just let it use the basemap for that segment. Still, if you really want lots of maps in the unit, you'll need one of the newer ones that uses an SD card and just get it over with by buying a 2GB card. Then you can load the whole country at once.

Im looking to pick up a GPS for my bike, but dont buy into the whole Edge thing and instead want an older handheld with full routing capability. Problem is, when I look at the old Garmins they have on the order of 16-32MB of internal memory, and I haven't found any with SD or CF slots yet. Question is, how much memory do I need to get from, say, Chicago to Detroit? Do you load maps by region, or does it just load the roads and cross-streets for your designated path? Thanks for any insight.

look at the new eTrex lineup.

i used my old eTrex vista for ~7 years. when it broke, i picked up a new Vista HCX, which has a microSD slot. while the antenna is a bit better than that of the Vista CX, it's not *that* much better. if you don't need a barometric altimeter, save the $$ and go with a Legend.

with a 1gb microSD card i loaded nearly all the maps west of the mississippi. 2gb would get you the entire US.

i also have an Edge 305 which is quite good. however, if you are doing long days be advised that the edge 305 requires you to charge it, while the Vista allows you to pop in a fresh set of batteries.

look at the new eTrex lineup.

i used my old eTrex vista for ~7 years. when it broke, i picked up a new Vista HCX, which has a microSD slot. while the antenna is a bit better than that of the Vista CX, it's not *that* much better. if you don't need a barometric altimeter, save the $$ and go with a Legend.

with a 1gb microSD card i loaded nearly all the maps west of the mississippi. 2gb would get you the entire US.

i also have an Edge 305 which is quite good. however, if you are doing long days be advised that the edge 305 requires you to charge it, while the Vista allows you to pop in a fresh set of batteries.

I'm curious as to what happened to make the Vista break?

I'm curious as to what happened to make the Vista break?

well, first off, i had it since early 2000, and i used it nearly daily over that time period (no exaggeration). i recorded almost every activity i did -- running, biking, hiking, mountaineering, climbing, skiing, etc.

the rubber strip/gasket that surrounds the device (and hides the seam between the top and bottom pieces of the device) is a weak link. again, mind you, this seal doesn't break down immediately -- it takes some time. the gasket slipped off a while back, and i used barge cement to reinstall it once or twice, which worked for another 1-2 years.

this older device did not have the current USB-style connection -- it had one that was much bigger and not well-sealed.

about 6 weeks ago, i was caught in a torrential downpour. i noticed the device was still recording, but the buttons did not work. got home, uploaded my stuff to motionbased, and all was fine.

later that night i noticed i could not power on the device. there was water visible in the LCD. after that, i could get it to power up for a few minutes but not respond to buttons. i waited a few days thinking it would dry out...but then i took matters into my own hands. wound up overheating it & warping it a bit. i think that if i had been extremely careful, i might have restored it. that said, it was getting on in years, and i didn't mind the excuse to upgrade.

wound up taking the plunge on the hcx & the edge 305 at the same time. had i known the 705 was coming out, i might have waited for it. well, actually, i needed a device to use (i'm an addict). i guess i should say i wish that my vista held on for a few more months, so i could have (a) replaced it with the 705 and not had the hassle of buying the 705 and re-selling my hcx & 305 and (b) been able to give a good, if not cutting-edge, vista.

i was disappointed that this gasket on the newer models still fits the same way it always did, as i know it will fail eventually. that said, i would not use this as a reason to not buy it.

one other possibility is that water got into the vista's battery cover. the newer unit's battery cover has a much better seal, so that is an improvement.

i can't quite tell which was at fault, but neither situation on the old one was great. it had survived rainstorms before -- but this one was like a monsoon for 20+ minutes.

Not sure if this will help at all but I have 1,500 miles worth of information stored on my Edge 305HR+. I don't use it for route finding but that's 6 months worth of riding on there.

The etrex vista cx or hcx will fit the bill..