Originally Posted by
jhawk
However, my phone also has GPS capabilities, but it's a drain on the battery - and then there's the argument that a map will do. Which is true. But, I'd rather keep the map as a back-up, rather than my primary method of location
Smart-phones are very capable but they require mounts and some sort of weather-proofing. As you said, the battery life isn't really good enough either. I'd reserve the phone for calling and as a backup for the GPS.
The phones have much better screens than the GPS units and make it much easier to review maps. Note that the smart-phones generally require cell-reception to use maps. You might want to be sure that any navigation/mapping program you use on your smart-phone has "off line" maps (maps downloaded before hand). Note that some of the "off line" programs make downloading maps a pain.
Paper maps are kind of hard to use while riding and you need a lot of maps for a long trip.
Originally Posted by
jhawk
Furthermore, I'm wondering what the score is with regards to GPS's being compatible with cycling applications/mapping software, such as MapMyRide (which I use), Strava (which I have, but have never used), and there are hundreds of others out there. Can you just simply plug your GPS into your PC and 'download' your route from MapMyRide, etc, onto the GPS itself?
Pretty much. I use ridewithgps.com, which lets you plan the route and download a gpx/tcx track file that you can copy to the SD card in the Garmin unit (the SD card shows up as a drive on your computer).
The basic choice for a cycling GPS is the Garmin 800 (rechargeable/small) or the Garmin Etrex 20 (can use AA batteries/larger). The larger Oregon/Dakota's might work. You'd need to buy a mount for non-cycling (non Edge) units.
The new Garmin 810 seems a bit flaky at the moment for navigation (hopefully, there will be updates to the firmware to fix that).
There's a new Garmin, the "Edge Touring", which will be available in a few months. It's basically an 810 suited more for navigation (it trades some of the training features of the 810 for navigation features). It's priced well ($200/$250) but we don't know how well it will work.
Originally Posted by
jhawk
Any help on the locking front?
Note that quite a few tourists don't carry locks. If you really need to lock your bike, it's possible that you are leaving it in the wrong place (lock your bike in a place that doesn't need a lock!).
Locks are a trade-off between light-weight and security. If you are going "ultra light", you probably don't want to carry a heavy lock. If you are travelling with somebody else, you can share the locking system.