Good affordable GPS?

andrewJohnson

Hello, I've noticed that I ride less because of the crappy main roads I ride on, and if I try to find good roads I end up getting lost, so I'm looking at buying a GPS to use. What ones would you recommend me looking at? The Garmin Edge 705 looking decent and not overly expensive.

ForumNewbie

andrewJohnson wrote:

Hello, I've noticed that I ride less because of the crappy main roads I ride on, and if I try to find good roads I end up getting lost, so I'm looking at buying a GPS to use. What ones would you recommend me looking at? The Garmin Edge 705 looking decent and not overly expensive.

I have a Garmin Edge 200 (approx £100) and it's fine if you are not bothered about heart monitor or cadence. Most GPSs wont stop you getting lost though as they are not Sat Navs.

I think the Edge 705 being an older model will have the old style mounting bracket with zip ties. They are not as good as the Edge 200 and 500 which have the new brackets with strong rubber bands. Sounds dodgy, but they are really solid and stay in place once on, and are much easier to move from bike to bike if necessary.

swiftyx2

Hi,

I have just got myself a Byton Rider 40 and having used it a couple of times I can not fault it. It has loads of features built in and seems good value for money.

Steve

andrewJohnson

ForumNewbie wrote:

andrewJohnson wrote:

Hello, I've noticed that I ride less because of the crappy main roads I ride on, and if I try to find good roads I end up getting lost, so I'm looking at buying a GPS to use. What ones would you recommend me looking at? The Garmin Edge 705 looking decent and not overly expensive.

I have a Garmin Edge 200 (approx £100) and it's fine if you are not bothered about heart monitor or cadence. Most GPSs wont stop you getting lost though as they are not Sat Navs.

I think the Edge 705 being an older model will have the old style mounting bracket with zip ties. They are not as good as the Edge 200 and 500 which have the new brackets with strong rubber bands. Sounds dodgy, but they are really solid and stay in place once on, and are much easier to move from bike to bike if necessary.

Well I was thinking that something with a map (like the 705) would stop me making the wrong turns or early turns, as that is my main problem. Not knowing the roads around me that well, it puts me off of riding as I really hate the busy main roads which are the only real roads I know well.

ctc

Garmin 200 & 500 you can upload a predefined route into the courses feature. You can then use this to show you a 'breadcrumb' route to follow. It's not full GPS, but if you just want to follow a route that you've already planned without getting lost, should be enough

drewduncan

Garmin edge 200 is very good. Gives u all basic info u need except from heart rate and cadence

andrewJohnson

CTC wrote:

Garmin 200 & 500 you can upload a predefined route into the courses feature. You can then use this to show you a 'breadcrumb' route to follow. It's not full GPS, but if you just want to follow a route that you've already planned without getting lost, should be enough

Oh, I did not know they had those features, I thought their only gps feature was showing the route details on your PC after the ride. I'll definitely look at them then. Following a predetermined route is all I really want, so I can map out a route that takes less busy roads without the fear of taking some wrong turns then having no idea where I am.

andrewJohnson

Stanley222 wrote:

Bryton are cheaper than Garmin and do the same thing!

What's the Bryton equivalent of the Garmin Edge 500? I'd like to be able to plot routes before hand(even if it is a basic gps).

andrewJohnson

I've gone ahead and bought the Garmin Edge 200, just noticed the 30pounds cash back promotional discount for the 200.

Thanks everyone.

danowat

I've never understood how people manage to get "lost", you are never far from a signpost, village or town in this country.

buzzwold

Interesting read as I'm thinking of upgrading my computer to do more than mph, distance and max speed. Not that bothered by GPS for navigation as I can't get that lost in my journeys. Also my mobile has full GPS. But I am interested in being able to upload ride data to keep tabs.

Noticed that the decision has been taken by AJ, but wondered if there are phone apps for Windows phones (Nokia Lumia) that will do the same or similar. i.e map distance, climb, speed etc. I can always get a heart rate monitor for £20.

fungus_the_muffin_man

I have had a 705 for a few years now.
You pre plan your route on bikeroute toaster or map my ride type sites ( I haven't used the garmin site for ages)

transfer the route to your garmin and it then gives you turn by turn routing just like a sat nav would. The only difference is that you can't put a destination and allow it to plot a route for you. You have to pre plan it. You can also find other peoples routes and transfer them to ride.

The other thing you can do is record a route you ride if you get lost there is a way that you can get it to return you home, but I've never used this myself and believe that from what I've read on here from others doesn't always take you home the quickest/ easiest way. However it will get you home.

I wouldn't also bother about the way it fits to the bike. It's simple and easy to do. It's also secure. My Garmin stayed in place even after being hit by a car. It then logged the ride it got in the Police traffic car. Which brought up some interesting speeds on 30 mph roads lol.

cougie

Cheaper option is to join a club. Those guys know all the best routes and never need a GPS to see where they are.

cougie

LOL ! What kind of club is that ? The old guys in my club know the entire area like the back of their hand cos they're out riding all week and have done for years. And they're as fit as fiddles too.

amaferanga

If its just for navigating with then the Garmin Etrex range are a bit cheaper than the Edge 705.

Don't think I'd have gone with an Edge 200 to navigate with. Strange choice that.

Mr Will

I wouldn't buy a GPS to solve this particular problem, a much better option would be a half decent smart-phone. Even buying sim-free it'll be cheaper and it'll do Google maps, turn-by-turn navigation and ride-logging, plus act as a camera, phone and everything else.

The only downside will be battery life if you are using the GPS constantly, but you should still get at least 5 or 6 hours continuous use.

amaferanga

Mr Will wrote:

I wouldn't buy a GPS to solve this particular problem, a much better option would be a half decent smart-phone. Even buying sim-free it'll be cheaper and it'll do Google maps, turn-by-turn navigation and ride-logging, plus act as a camera, phone and everything else.

The only downside will be battery life if you are using the GPS constantly, but you should still get at least 5 or 6 hours continuous use.

What about the fact that they're not waterproof? A waterproof pouch is all well and good unless you actually want to do anything on the phone.

~£100 for an Etrex with mapping.

andrewJohnson

amaferanga wrote:

If its just for navigating with then the Garmin Etrex range are a bit cheaper than the Edge 705.

Don't think I'd have gone with an Edge 200 to navigate with. Strange choice that.

Well, the 200 will give me a bread crumb route to look at which should be enough to keep me on track. And I'm a student so I cant afford anything overly expensive, so when I saw the 30pounds cashback for the Garmin 200 it seemed like the right choice, it's only costing me 70pounds now.

pipipi

Buzzworld...take a look at Strava

ForumNewbie

andrewJohnson wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

If its just for navigating with then the Garmin Etrex range are a bit cheaper than the Edge 705.

Don't think I'd have gone with an Edge 200 to navigate with. Strange choice that.

Well, the 200 will give me a bread crumb route to look at which should be enough to keep me on track. And I'm a student so I cant afford anything overly expensive, so when I saw the 30pounds cashback for the Garmin 200 it seemed like the right choice, it's only costing me 70pounds now.

Andrew, if you are wanting to plan a new route you could also take the radical step of buying an Explorer Ordnance Survey map or other map of the area, and work out a good route, excluding A roads etc. So that you don't get lost when out there, you could take the map with you, or if too bulky, just photocopy a few sections of it and take them. I still do that sometimes when going on a new route, even although I have a Garmin 200.