Between bicycling, and now, "the canoe trip from hell" last weekend, I have developed an interest in a handheld GPS. I bicycle more than I boat or hike, but either way, I'm taking a new look at navigation. Besides, the reading I'm doing on GPS tells me they offer a lot of good information in addition to maps and directions.

The number of options for all GPS, and particularly handhelds, is just about overwhelming. One I keep coming back to is the Garmin 76 CS, but other than the Garmin name and the WAAS capability, I can't explain why I like that one.

Are any of you using a GPS for cycling, or other purposes?

And if so, what unit do you have, and why is it your handheld of choice?

Thanks in advance,
Rick

I have the Garmin eTrex Legend - it was cheap is the main reason I like it. I also had a friend that had the same one with a bunch of maps, so I was able to get those loaded on it. I haven't really been using it as much as I should - it seems to take forever to get the location fixed, and I'm usually not that patient. I like being able to see my route and speeds - it can keep track of a bunch of stuff. You can also add your own locations on the maps - I put in my favorite bar

The only thing that really bugs me about it is that it uses a serial cable to interface with the computer. That blows, since I don't have a serial port and haven't bought an adapter cable yet. I've seen some of the maps that my freind has rendered with his, and it's pretty cool. There's a website that plots your route with your speed or altitude or whatever you want color coded - makes looking at the ride pretty neat.

So yeah, that's what I've got.

I use a GPS on my bike from time to time, I like to track my path then download the info to my PC and see where I've gone, average speed, total distance, and so on.. I'm looking at getting a new GPS though because the one I've used in the past is my dads and If i broke it he'd have my head on a silver platter, The Garmin ForeTrex 201 looks to be really cool, very tiny, built in battery, compltely water resistant, and is designed for biking and jogging.

I've used the Garmin GPS IV in the past, I like that it has maps, but I don't really find that much of a need for them which is why I think the ForeTrex 201 would be great, it can track paths but it doesnt have city street level maps, which I don't mind, if you want one of the best handhelds I'd so go for the Garmin GPSMAP 60CS, color screen, tons of memory, good unit for around $400, all Garmin handheld GPS have available bike brackets, but I'd hate to go down with a $400 GPS on my bike and break it.

I use the Garmin Forerunner 301 and love it because it encourages me to improve my stats.

I have an old Garmin GPS-12XL that is 5 or 6 years old now. I use it to track how far I've gone and mark points of interest. It works fine for what I need.

I have the Garmin Legend and won't go on a long distant trip without it. It freed me from having to buy and carry maps with me so I have no regret what so ever. I lot of people buy it for the stats but that's the last thing I bought it for. It's nice to see how many miles you traveled but what's more important is NOT getting lost and that's what saved me many times.

This weekend, I stopped at one train station and traveled 20 miles to the last train station. I used no maps and basically had the destination as final way point. I used no paper maps at all! I made my route all along the way and it guided me right to the train station. The device is incredible.

I used to think the map was not important but there are situations when you really need it if you have to make another route on the road. It doesn't have to be color but make sure you get a GPS with a map.

I have one too, and like it. But it pisses me off sometimes. When I'm starting a ride I hate sitting there in one place and waiting for it to acquire the satellites. Sometimes it takes five minutes, and I'm itching to get riding... but if you start riding it takes even longer to sync up.

Sometimes it goes nuts and shows I did 2500 feet of climbing when I did a basically flat ride.

The software it comes with is pretty lame.

It's a neat tool, but it has some warts.

I have the Garmin Vista. I use it when I am doing a new route and then save the tracks. It has all so helped me when I made a wrong turn and was should I say lost. Thank god for the maps the I loaded in it.

Somewhat off-topic, but you mentioned canoing. I don't own a GPS yet, but am planning to buy one. I've tried a couple of friends' GPSs while paddling. Here's my 0,02€:

GPS cannot replace a map and a compass, but it will give you location info in situations when it would otherwise be difficult or impossible to obtain. Such as in thick fog, darkness, or when you have good visibility but for some other reason cannot place yourself on the map.

A handheld GPS is practically impossible to use while paddling (as a map replacement), because the display is too small and can be difficult to read in bright sunlight. Stopping to get whatever info you need from the GPS is not always an option. A wrist-strapped device (Garmin ForeTrex -series or the Suunto M9 wristwatch GPS) may be better in this respect.

What I like about GPS is distance, speed and route info. I would like to see route info on device's map at the end of a paddling day; and also to download it to my computer at the end of a trip. It seems my choices narrow down to Garmin Etrex Legend C, Magellan Meridian -series or maybe a Lowrance (these are a bit less common around here). Whatever device I buy, it seems I will spend at least the same amount of money to buy maps for it.

--J

I use the etrex legend too and have never had to wait more than 20 seconds for it to get it's satellites dialed in. I use it as my main bike computer now. I haven't broken down and bought any maps for it yet, I just make routes in Topo USA and download them into it. Works good for me so far. 100+ mile rides are much easier with a GPS as opposed to having to check the cue sheet constantly. 200+ mile rides are much nicer with a GPS because the GPS doesn't get tired and make mistakes like I do after the sun sets and I have been on a bike for 20+ hours.

I have a GPS but I don't take it with me for road cycling. However, if I did a lot of trail riding, I would probably want one to mark interesting places that I might find along the way.

I had a Forerunner 201 I was annoyed by the fact that the "stopped moving" detector was always turning off and on. How it's supposed to work is when you stop moving, your moving time stops, and so does your moving averages. When you start moving again, it starts counting again. How mine worked was, it would toggle to stopped but apparently the distant to travel to get started again was so tight that it would constantly toggle from moving, stopped, moving, stopping .... It annoy the heck out of me especially if you had the beeps turned on. Never did work right.

Also the ForeRunner was NOT capatible with Garmin's map source so you had to figure a different way to plot your data. Also, the ForeRunner was mainly for runner's, it didn't provide any more info to cyclists than any other GPS receiver. The only thing "cyclist" related about the receiver was Garmen makes a handle bar mount for it. It's actually a universal mount so it's really not sprecific to the forerunner.

I abandoned use it and went back to my GPS V. It's big and heavy but it's capatible with Garmin's MapSource and Topo software.

d.tipton

Generally a GPS is only as good as the maps or maplike features that are loaded into it.

Last year we planned a canoe trip at the last minute on the long weekend and our campsite for the first night was quite long a paddle through some big, winding lakes.

I had hugely detailed maps of the area on my computer's GIS and pre-plotted the routes accross the lakes through the islands as the shortest distance possible. Then just paddled along the imaginary lines I had drawn using the GPS. We probably saved several kilometers of paddling compared to the meandering, landmarking-off-the-shore routes we used to take.

When cycling I just throw it in my camelback with the "tracklog" feature on. Then at the end of the week I have time and distance records of my riding.

Years ago I canoed regularly, but now I bike regularly and canoe rarely. This past weekend was one of the canoeing exceptions.

I live in Alabama, and the Cahaba Lilly (found only in the Cahaba River in the U.S.) is presently in bloom. So, someone hatched the idea of a group of us going on a day trip to smell the flowers, and a group of us bit on the proposition.

It was a pleasant day in terms of the weather and the company, but the river was awful. As in, no rain in weeks, meaning lots of shallow shoals and dry spots. The ritual became, "paddle 10 yards, pull the boat for 20, paddle 15 yards, pull the boat for 10 ... you get the picture.

The high spot of the day occurred when we were pulled up on the bank just downstream from a particularly rough shoal, and a game warden canoeing down the river fell out of his canoe! He literally went under gun, radio, and all. Omigosh! If only I had had the video camera! I would win the "funniest video" deal hands down! Except for his pride he was (thankfully) uninjured, and he somehow managed to quickly disappear downstream in spite of the shallow water level.

Anyway, we had left vehicles at the put in and take out point, and the section of the river we were on was to be 6.6 miles in length. But as someone hinted, most of our group probably paddled more to the tune of .. say, eight miles of something like that!

Due to the unanticipated shallow water level, we began to fall further and further behind schedule. And at one point, I was wishing for some real idea of "how much further." I.e., "how much more of this must I endure?"

I own an automotive GPS (Garmin SPIII Colormap), but the idea of a handheld is something I have not looked into in any detail. Thus my questions. Personally, I prefer to approach such decisions with a view to actual user experiences, rather than just what I can glean from advertising.

Thanks to all for the insight.

Rick

I cycle with an old original yellow etrex. It has saved me on a couple of rides where I didn't know the route and got dropped. It doesn't have mapping, but it can still get you back to where you started. And I love being able to download and review my ride. And, if you don't get lost, you have an accurate route you can save and use for a guide on a later ride.

I've been using GPS as a pilot since the system was available to the public. I also have a StreetPilot in my Jeep which works pretty nice and I can download topo maps to it for when I go offroading. I bought my wife a handheld eTrex unit because she and I like to Geocache. I have never bothered to carry one with me cycling because on road rides, I find it easier to deal with a compact map of the area I carry with me and on MTB trails around here, the sky coverage is so spotty that I'd spend more time hunting for a signal than anything else.

I have an Earthmate BlueLogger GPS which I use in conjunction with my Treo 650 SmartPhone and Delorme's StreetAtlas Handheld software. Whenever I go on a Club ride that's new to me and/or the ride leader doesn't supply a map for, I turn the GPS's logging function on and then download it to my Desktop computer when I get home via BlueTooth. I can then import the data into Delorme's Topo 5.0 and/or or StreetAtlas mapping software. I can then create a route from the data and generate a map and cue sheet for the route. I then publish the route and elevation profile on a website. That's my primary use.

After I map a club ride into Topo 5.0, either with the GPS data or from another map, I determine the total climbing elevation for the ride. I log all my rides into BikeJournal.COM and I like to track how many miles I've climbed YTD. I also include the total climbing elevation in the description of rides I lead for the club. I like to challenge myself with hills on rides and it seems good practice to tell others how much climbing to expect. Some like hills. Others don't.

The other use I put my GPS to is to help me find my way on an unfamilar route or to help me figure out where I am when I'm not sure of my location.

I can download a map and route to my SmartPhone and display it. I can even turn tracking on and it will tell me how far to the next turn and which direction to turn.

What I've found most useful, though, is when I am on a new route and am not sure of where I am, e.g. is this my turn or do I need to go farther? The GPS transmits location to the map on my SmartPhone and I can see where I am on the map and know if it's the right place to turn. Many rural intersections are without any road signs.

The biggest problem I have is difficulty reading the map/route display on a sunny day. It's easy to read inside but outside in the bright Texas sun, I need a good amount of shade to be able to see it clearly. I've thought about devising some sort of light, collapsible shield to block the sunlight. Something in which I could put the phone to create shade to better see the display.

I don't seem to have any trouble getting a 3-D fix. I just put the BlueLogger on the top of my bike bag and forget it about it. It's smaller than my phone.

I also have StreetAtlas Plus which I have loaded on my laptop. Although I haven't tried this feature out yet, I could take the GPS and my laptop in my car and the software would tell me, i.e. speak out loud, the distance to the next turn, the name of the street, and the direction to turn. StreetAtlas Plus also has a fairly complete listing of business establishments and points of interest, e.g. restaurants, stores, churches, parks, and can search for them. Also, and this is really fun to browse, it has detailed 2000 U.S. Census data broken down by zip code: median home value, education level by racial/ethnic categories, etc, etc. It's fun to test your assumptions about where the rich folks live or how many people in a particular zip code have a college or graduate degree.

I don't take my E-Trex on road rides but for mountain excursions it is handy: great for re-locating a stashed bike, halfway up a misty hill.

I don't like to get too dependent on battery powered technology in potentially hazardous situations, so I still carry and use a compass and map...............but the GPS has been pretty reliable to date. Oh, and my compass broke last week;-)

Yes, please do not throw away your maps and compasses, and if you don't know how to use maps and compasses, I suggest you learn before you go backcountry anywhere!

I was involved with a colorado search and rescue group for a long time, and when GPS units and cell phones became common it began an unending stream of people who go out in the wilderness, have their GPS batteries run out/drop the GPS on a rock/in a lake/stolen by bears/can't get a signal, etc, try their cell phone and realize there is no signal there either, and then starve for a few days while someone comes and finds them.

GPSs are super handy, and can make a lot of routine activities easier, but do not rely on them for the safety of you or your family, make sure you have a backup plan if navigation is key to your survival.

peace,
sam

The more I use my Garmin Forerunner 301 the less I like it.

The HRM is really bad. The receiver does't display heart rate more than 50% of the time. I have tried all the suggestions in the manual for improving this including using conductive gel on the electrodes, but it still only works about 1/2 the time.

I have emailed Garmin Tech Support, but I don't have high hopes for a solution. I feel I wasted $300 on this thing.

Back to my Vista and my Polar HRM I guess.

UPDATE: Fortunately, I bought the POS from REI, and they have a Satisfaction Guaranteed policy. So, I packaged it up and took it back. They gave me a cash refund. I bought a Polar "Beat" HRM to use with my Vista. Simplest HRM there is, not even a switch. All I want one for is to check to see how high my heartbeat gets right before I die, and this one will do that.

Have the Garmin eTrex Legend and luv it to bits - particularly on long trips in territory I haven't gone before. Usually bike solo so a nice "if I need someone to find me" incentive also. Theres a great site in my region (https://www.radverkehrsnetz.nrw.de/) that is essentially a route-planner for bike paths, that allows you to plug in addresses or plot against the online maps and it calculates the best path for you according to your specs (quickest, most scenic, etc) and from that you can download to your GPS; theres also a height profile if you really want to know whats ahead of you. Fantastic - even if I am just going to the other side of town - and great for planning longer rides. There's software you can get to do the same thing but havent had to use is thanks to this site.

As to reliance on batteries - I also have a solar battery/phone recharger (https://www.wagan.com/htmls/detail-2053.html) that sits open in the mesh pocket on my backpack and charges the GPS or my phone - really good on long trips, but I use it around the house too. I figure its not much of a push for alternative energy but every little bit counts.

To phidauex's point though; I always carry a compass as a just-in-case

I've been mapping Denver Metro bike trails for two years now with a GPS.

GPS maps have a number of advantages over paper maps:

• It knows where you are
• Can warn you of upcoming turn/missed turn
• No folding/unfolding requuired
• Paper maps are out of date before they are printed
• Paper maps do not allow you to zoom in for more detail
• Paper maps offset trail from real location for clarity
• Electronic maps can be modified repeatedly as often as desired/needed

Have "mapped" over 550 miles of metro trails condensing them into 35 trails.

Gps_dr website

Unlike many/most of the Colorado trails available on-line or in print, these trails are:

• Not Mt bike trails (With exception of Heyden/Green Mtn trail)
• Rideable most of the year
• All trails connect to other trails
• Can be ridden by a wide variety of fitness levels
• Route descriptions are available in text & spreadsheet formats.
• Routes/Waypoints/Tracklogs uploadable in a variety of formats
• Free

The trails are designed to create a network around the Denver area and of course do not include all of the on/off street trails and bike lanes.
For simplicity, I've connected various trails/trail segments together.
For connectivity, I've added extensions to existing trails as needed.
For use on the widest range of GPS recievers:

• Limited the length of each tracklog to 250 pts each
• Limited waypoint names to 6 characters
• Limited routes to 30 waypoints

I use paper and on-line maps along with DeLorme Topo USA 5 to plan new trails.
I also use it to create a proprosed ride track that I upload. When I get back I edit to remove the enevitable mis-turns etc. I do carry a paper map or two on exporatory trips.

Happy GPS Biking

An update to my earlier post (#9): I finally chose the Magellan Meridian Color. Mainly because there was a good deal to be had on it with Finnish charts included. I have now used it for a couple of months, including a combined bike-kayak trip with 600 kms of cycling and 200 kms of paddling. Some observations:

The display is too small and difficult to read to be used actively when kayaking. I ended up keeping the device powered up in the front deck dry bag. It would log the route and distance, and I used it as a backup when in doubt about directions.

Towards the end of the trip I paddled an additional day leg that was not in my original route plan and for which I did not have any maps. With a little practice I found a way to keep the dry bag open (the weather was barely good enough for this) with the GPS still inside to allow a quick look into map info. I suspect a color display is pretty much required for this, for clarity. I also had to keep the display zoomed in to the details, so getting an overview of the route ahead consisted of finding a sheltered place to stop and zoom out, then return to the more detailed zooming and continue. This is one of the reasons why I don't see GPS replacing my maps in the kayak any time soon.

To summarize my kayaking experiences: GPS does a good job as a data recorder and a backup navigational device, but it does not replace map and compass, and the battery drain is considerable. My next purchase will be a solar charger.

I haven't used it much on bike. It has a nice stats display mode that could well replace my bike comp and probably be easier to read too. And with a suitable handlebar mount I could imagine getting used to reading the display for directions. It is of course bulky and heavy compared to bike comp, so I mostly take it with me on longer trips and usually keep it switched on inside the handlebar bag.

--J

Interesting.

Creating and saving routes is an incredble feature and I'm little by little learning the power of my GPS. I find when I'm on the road, I'd create a route that entered an area of very fast traffic or a fast highway. Later when I'm home, I'll modify the route I saved so that next time, I'll take another more slower road. Last week, I discovered another route that looked like a fast highway but to my surprise was ridable by bicycle. All these new adjustments are saved on my computer as I build new and intesting routes across New Jersey. I used to think traveling from New York City to Philadelphia by bicycle would be hard and dangerous, well that's not the case anymore. Last Saturday, I went from New Brunswick to Newark by bicycle and my GPS led me all the way. There was one part where the route got real ugly and I had to change course. Now that adjustment is saved so that it can be avoided for future reference.

There's no turning back to maps anymore.