Touring with Phone GPS?

JS200

Hello,

I think that I'm right in thinking that iPhones are enabled with GPS 100% of the time, but in order to navigate you need internet connection for downloading maps as you progress. Now, when travelling abroad, that's going to be expensive in terms of roaming data charges.

So does anyone know if there is an app that can be used offline abroad, that has the maps already downloaded, that will act as an effective GPS navigation tool, without the need for an internet connection?

Thanks...

antfly

Co-pilot live, but it's not free.

neal1984

antfly wrote:

Co-pilot live, but it's not free.

+1

JS200

Great! Thanks for that...

Are you able to pre-plan routes with it and does it have a bike route option, like some other navigation apps. Oh, and does it include Europe?

Cheers!

JS200

Ah, just checked this out on the store - thanks.

What's it like for bike navigation? Good for touring?

andymiller

JS200 wrote:

Ah, just checked this out on the store - thanks.

What's it like for bike navigation? Good for touring?

The estimates I've seen for the battery life of an iPhone used for navigation are about 4 hours. That's your biggest problem.

Also I've tried using my iPod's touchscreen in the rain and it was a nightmare.

A dedicated GPS like an eTrex 20 will set you back £140 which might be hard to justify if you only use it a couple of weeks a year - but set against the price the fact that a set of rechargeable AA batteries will last a couple of days, they are very waterproof and shockproof, and you can get extremely good mapping for free.

You can preplan routes on an iPhone but the small screen size makes it a bit of a pain (same applies to a dedicated GPS of course).

southdownswolf

Garmin have just announced new "turn by turn" gps devices with turn by turn navigation for on and off road, which look much better than the Edge800/500 / eTrex etc. However, they are going to be about £250, so not cheap...

For touring purposes, a battery backup is worthwhile for attaching to your phone - about £40 will get you a decent usb battery with about 2-3 times as much juice as a phone.

I use Sygic on my Android devices and have navigated all across Europe - but that was in a car. You just download the maps that you need and store them locally. Access to the whole of Europe costs about £30, but updates are then free forever. I tend to keep UK and France on my phone at all times, then download other countries when needed, but take them off again when not needed to save memory space. I know it's available for the iphone/ipad etc. You can install on several devices without buying a separate license.

antfly

I can't really see how it's any better than the Edge 800 which also does turn by turn directions and you can get loads of different maps for it. The new one doesn't seem to do cadence either.

andymiller

southdownswolf wrote:

For touring purposes, a battery backup is worthwhile for attaching to your phone - about £40 will get you a decent usb battery with about 2-3 times as much juice as a phone.

And for a short tour they are very useful - but you need to charge them up and charging them can really take quite a long time.

Alternatively there's the option of a hub dynamo and something like a B&M e-werk - but at that point a dedicated gps like an eTrex 20 and rechargeable AA batteries starts to become a cost-effective option.

andymiller

Duplicate post.