Which GPS for MTBing

alesupper

Hi All

I'm in the market for a GPS that is suitable to use whilst mountain biking. Ideally I want something with OS maps of Britain that will allow me to plan routes on my PC and then upload the routes to the GPS device.

Having done some research I was leaning towards the Garmin Dakota 20 but haven't made my mind up yet.

Any advice/comments would be welcomed.

alesupper

Wow! I thought I would have been inundated with comments and advice about GPS's but apparently not????

chrisw333

viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12810148

alesupper

chrisw333 wrote:

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=20005&t=12810148

Thanks chrisw333.

I would love to hear from owners of the Dakota 20 and the Adventurer 2800 to hear their opinions on and experiences with these units.

stubs

I have a Dakota 20 and I think it is excellent. I bought it because I wanted a general purpose gps with maps useful for walking, biking and geocaching. It takes a bit of setting up, as a bloke I didnt read the instructions just played with it till I had it set up just as I like.

I got OS 1:50,000 mapping of the north of england and north wales off ebay for £60 iirc it comes with road mapping which is good for in the car. Though it doesnt have voice instructions it just makes a pinging noise as you come to a turn. Really easy to download a route off internet and you just follow an arrow it makes a pinging noise as you approach a waypoint. It has a barometer so you can set the altitude accurately at the start of a ride.

Only small faults are it is USB 1.0 so feels slow downloading and I struggle to work the touch screen with thick winter gloves on, got round that by attaching a small stylus to the lanyard. The unit can rattle in the handlebar mount so I stuck a small piece of inner tube to the mount with double sided sticky tape to stop it. I keep the lanyard on and wrap it round handlebars just in case it makes a break for freedom on a fast trail not that it has yet, it survived a wioeout at 20mph + without coming off.

It has been out for 4 hours in a downpour and hasnt let in any water it has been dropped on rocks and stuffed in the bottom of a rucksack with no problems it is very accurate and get a satellite lock very quickly all in all an excellent bit of sturdy kit.

If you have any particular questions send me a private message and I can run you through it in detail.

camerauk

stubs wrote:

I have a Dakota 20 and I think it is excellent. I bought it because I wanted a general purpose gps with maps useful for walking, biking and geocaching. It takes a bit of setting up, as a bloke I didnt read the instructions just played with it till I had it set up just as I like.

I got OS 1:50,000 mapping of the north of england and north wales off ebay for £60 iirc it comes with road mapping which is good for in the car. Though it doesnt have voice instructions it just makes a pinging noise as you come to a turn. Really easy to download a route off internet and you just follow an arrow it makes a pinging noise as you approach a waypoint. It has a barometer so you can set the altitude accurately at the start of a ride.

Only small faults are it is USB 1.0 so feels slow downloading and I struggle to work the touch screen with thick winter gloves on, got round that by attaching a small stylus to the lanyard. The unit can rattle in the handlebar mount so I stuck a small piece of inner tube to the mount with double sided sticky tape to stop it. I keep the lanyard on and wrap it round handlebars just in case it makes a break for freedom on a fast trail not that it has yet, it survived a wioeout at 20mph + without coming off.

It has been out for 4 hours in a downpour and hasnt let in any water it has been dropped on rocks and stuffed in the bottom of a rucksack with no problems it is very accurate and get a satellite lock very quickly all in all an excellent bit of sturdy kit..

Another vote for the Dakota 20 as above with most of the points mentioned(will nick the inner tube one )
have had it for 2 years and it's never missed a beat

alesupper

Thanks guys. I am leaning towards the Dakota 20.

allen.coulson

I have had the Adventurer for the past 15 months or so and it has done me well. It is great and the map series is well installed. I think you can get a bargain on Amazon. Cons is that it will only store about 300 miles of history although I guess you can upgrade the card. When it is full - and you wont know this then it fails - and that includes location as well as recording - so you are f'd if you are in the middle of nowhere. They offer a skin whihc is not much good and a bike mount which is good. I don't use one and keep the think in my pocket - which occasionally, because of the touch screen changes things. Downloading your rides is a nuiscance - on the unit you can save - '11 Nov 50 miles'. but it will dowload as 'route 1' or something which you need to change. The nav chip is from SiRF which is top of the range. The warranty is one year - third party and is good apparently. Software is great.

I would recommend.