Opencyclemap / garmin 705

Moaner
Moaner Posts: 117
edited December 2009 in Road buying advice
Santa didn't bring me a 705, so I'm having to buy my own.
I'm now wondering whether to get the garmin maps or use opencyclemaps.

Does opencyclemaps work ok on the garmin?

Also, I hear coverage is patchy, any practical experience of using opencyclemaps for rural road riding, particularly the backlanes of Cheshire?

thanks.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I use the 705 with the GB Topo maps. I tried the opencycle maps, but my village was missing as were several B class roads in my area (Aberdeenshire). Not sure if all areas are as poor on opencycle, but my GB Topos have been faultless. And just as cheap :wink::wink:
  • TornadoTom
    TornadoTom Posts: 129
    City Navigator maps are better for road cycling than the TOPO GB and OSM maps.

    I run both City Navigator and OSM simultaneously though as the OSM will provide contours (not that I use them).
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    TornadoTom wrote:
    City Navigator maps are better for road cycling than the TOPO GB and OSM maps.

    I run both City Navigator and OSM simultaneously though as the OSM will provide contours (not that I use them).

    I bought mine while mountain biking so can't remember the difference exactly, but I thought Topo GB was City Navigator with the addition of pathways and contours, I maybe wrong, but yeah for road only riding City Nav maybe all you need.
  • rich_e
    rich_e Posts: 389
    Got one myself for Xmas, and have only been out on one proper ride on my MTB so far.

    I got the package which included the TOPO map, which a lot of people seem to say isn't very good and that you should just get the free OSM cycle maps instead. So I installed those to a memory card found them to actually be quite disappointing.

    In my town for example, they didn't have my road, or any roads near it, only the major roads. I also found it didn't have some of the trails which the TOPO does.

    I suppose that the benefit of the OSM maps is that I can ride trails I know, and them use the GPS information to update OSMs maps, for my benefit and everyone elses. But the TOPO has worked fine for me so far.

    I was going to pick up the City Navigator map for my road bike, but the TOPO map seems to be able to navigate you around roads, so I'm not overly sure what the major difference is.
  • pabloweaver
    pabloweaver Posts: 444
    Santa brought me the wonga to buy a Garmin 705 and a little note saying the whole process was so confusing I'd better buy it myself!

    found a site with the 705, HR, Cadence & UK SD card for good price.

    thing is ...

    Will I use the cadence and am I better gettting city navigator uk or europe ( not much difference in price ).

    Thanks to Redddragons* info in the past I undertand the benefit of having the maps on DVD, I want this to be as painless a purchase as possible ...

    so if anyone can list the definitive purchase requirements I would be happy! ( just in case my IT skills are not what I think they are!* )

    oh...and is it a s*d to use from the word go?!


    * free maps are good :twisted:
    http://www.northcheshireclarion.co.uk/

    Great club in and around the Warrington area.
  • kingrollo
    kingrollo Posts: 3,198
    thunderflash55 wrote:
    I use the 705 with the GB Topo maps. I tried the opencycle maps, but my village was missing as were several B class roads in my area (Aberdeenshire). Not sure if all areas are as poor on opencycle, but my GB Topos have been faultless. And just as cheap :wink::wink:

    F**n hell - you have a garmin ....and your own village ?
  • rich_e
    rich_e Posts: 389
    It's not difficult to use, but it requires a good understanding of computers I'd say.

    As long as you have maps, you can easily navigate a route in the same way you would a car Sat Nav. However for MTBing, and I'd say the same for Road Biking with a proper route, you need to pre-plan it on your computer first.

    Or, find an existing route, which really needs to be done third-party using a different website and downloading to your Garmin.

    While I'm getting on fine with it, it's certainly not something to give to someone who has no clue how to use computers, as it would be useless.
  • andrew_s
    andrew_s Posts: 2,511
    Cheshire looks fairly OK on OSM. In areas where it's good, it can be better than City Navigator as all the cycle tracks etc tend to be on it.

    Maps:

    TopoGB has additional contours,watercourses, areas of woodland, some (but not all) paths and tracks etc (which can't be used in automatic routing).
    The scales at which different features turn on and off is affected. On CityNavigator, minor roads are displayed out to scalebar=1.8km, but on TopoGB they are only shown out to scalebar=300m.
    It can be difficult to distinguish between contours and minor roads.
    TopoGB takes up a lot more SD card space. 1GB holds approx half of GB in Topo, but GB, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Benelux in City Nav.
    TopoGB will only display a restricted area on a PC screen (assuming you got it on DVD).

    I reckon CN is better if you are using a road bike.

    On OSM, cycle tracks and bridleways are used for routing if you've got the GPS set to bike. In country areas on a road bike this can be a disadvantage when you find yourself faced with a route leading across a muddy field.
  • Moaner
    Moaner Posts: 117
    Ta for that - CN for me !!
  • Moaner
    Moaner Posts: 117
    Ta for that - CN for me !!

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