Bargain GPS?

Brock_71 · May 2007

What do you reckon to this mapping GPS unit for touring Europe? Seems pretty cheap for the spec?

<hr noshade size="1">A bicycle is for life, not just for Christmas.

Unknown · May 2007

It looks like a good deal to me. I have an older Magellan Meridian Colour which has a slightly poorer spec but does most things I need. It cost œ180 in Canada.

andrew_s · May 2007

That's a good price for a Magellan 500 (about œ275 normally)
For touring, you should note that it runs on rechargable lithium-ion batteries with a life of 17 hours, which would be a problem if you camp or use insecure accommodation like youth hostels. Spares/replacements are of the order of œ30 each.
Detailed mapping data (Mapsend DirectRoute Europe) will be another œ100, and probably quite important on tour.

An alternative would be a Garmin Etrex Legend Cx (œ185). This runs 36h on 2xAA so power away from home isn't a problem. Map data is similarly required - either City Navigator (œ165 incl car mounts & stuff) or Metroguide (œ100)

Map Data:
Magellan Mapsend and Garmin CN will do routing and give directions on the GPS. Garmin Metroguide is just on-screen road layout unless you track down the method of bypassing the download-to-GPS limitations. Both Magellan and Garmin will load maps for a large chunk of Europe on a memory card.
I do find CN routing data very handy on my garmin, as it means that a route can be set up on the GPS as a set of shortest routes between half a dozen waypoints. Without it, you would either have to rely on routes set up on your PC before leaving home (inflexible), or just treat the GPS as a moving map display.

When using routes set up in advance, the Magellan is better as it holds them on the card. Garmins hold them in internal memory, not the card, and so you have quite strict limits on how much route data you can put on.

Garmins are quite a bit more common in the cycling world, so tracking down assistance and advice will be easier.

edit: fix link

Brock_71 · May 2007

Interesting and helpful, thanks Andrew.
The li-ion battery is indeed a deal breaker, especially since dynamo / solar charging options seem a bit scarce and inefficient. I don't actually need such a device until early next year, so I'll hold off for now and keep an eye on the market.

<hr noshade size="1">A bicycle is for life, not just for Christmas.

andrew_s · May 2007

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Brock_71

Interesting and helpful, thanks Andrew.
The li-ion battery is indeed a deal breaker, especially since dynamo / solar charging options seem a bit scarce and inefficient.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
I stopped looking at Magellan as soon as I saw that, too.

Oldknees · May 2007

Has anybody had any experience with GPS mobile phones please?

slow is good too

cougie · May 2007

My wife has Route 66 on her Nokia N73 - works really well. All you need is an extra receiver and software.

I think its the N95 that has the receiver built in. Seems just as good as Tom Tom ?

Bargain GPS?

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