Garmin or paper maps?

Moominman2

Hi guys,

Me and a couple of friends are planning to cycle from the South East to Paris in a couple of months, and I was set on buying a garmin 800 purely for the navigation. I've since found that using paper maps might be the better route to take, due to some roads not appearing on the garmin/ opensource maps?

Does anyone have any experience with this? I'm wondering whether I'll just keep my edge 500 instead.

Many thanks,
Luke

bobmcstuff

It depends, if you're uploading the route to your Garmin following the blue line should be fine even if the road doesn't appear (I don't have any base maps installed on my Edge 810 yet, I just follow the blue line).

Paper maps are always useful as a backup (e.g., the Garmin could crash or run out of battery). On normal rides I don't carry a paper map. When I was touring in Scotland last week I still used my Garmin but had a paper map with me just in case.

damocles10

I tried using the Garmin 800 navigation on the fly ( just to see ) with UK maps installed...took me around the houses on what should have been a straight forward route it also avoided A roads, in this particular occasion it took me up almost every hill in the area - not much fun....but, like bob states, if the route is planned it should be OK.

The additional Garmin maps are good I think the computer is a few bits short of a byte like most satnavs.

buckmulligan

With the paper map route, if you can try to memorise a good proportion of the route then it would help, but stopping to get a paper map out of your pocket at every junction gets pretty old, pretty quickly.

If you can afford a Garmin it will make your life a whole lot easier and if you do so, I'd also strongly recommend getting an "Out-Front" mount rather than using the default stem-mount option. The out-front mount means you're not looking straight down to view it and thus more of the road ahead stays in your peripheral vision; it might seem like a small difference, but when you're trying to cycle and navigate for long days in unfamiliar territory, it could help a lot in preventing an accident.

As damocles says, do not rely on the Garmin to choose a route as you would with a car sat nav, plan every km out in advance! Also, from my experience of cycling in Northern France, DO NOT rely solely on Google Maps for adequate navigation by bike. I've tried that and more than once ended up on muddy, unpaved farm tracks that quickly descend into something that resembles tractor racing, rather than road cycling. Once you've established a route, do some Street View reconnaissance and if it doesn't look like a main road, check it out to make sure it's at least paved! I know some people will think I'm mad to question the mighty Google Maps, but it would seem that they have different standards in France as to what qualifies as a "road". Good luck!

flimbo

Last August I cycled from Scarborough to Paris, via The Netherlands and Belgium. I plotted the 480 mile route using bikehike.co.uk and uploaded the routed to my Garmin. There were three of us riding and we each had the routes on our Garmins.
It took some time to plot the route but that was in the comfort of my own home and we'd never have ridden it in the time we did do, with just paper maps. Plus, it was so enjoyable being able to look around and take everything in and just follow the line on the screen, rather than constantly looking for street names at every junction and wasting time pulling out maps.
We took paper maps with us but didn't refer to them once. If I were to do it again, I'd put the hours in beforehand on bikehike.co.uk and plot the route again.

Moominman2

Thanks everyone for the words of advice.

I think I'll go for a garmin and plan the route out in depth from what you guys have said. I'll carry some paper maps for reassurance too...And I'll give the out-front mount a go!

Would anyone recommend the 810 over the 800? I presume the 800 does way more than I need it for as it is already?

Cheers,
Luke

ben-----

BuckMulligan wrote:

Once you've established a route, do some Street View reconnaissance and if it doesn't look like a main road, check it out to make sure it's at least paved! I know some people will think I'm mad to question the mighty Google Maps, but it would seem that they have different standards in France as to what qualifies as a "road". Good luck!

Exactly the same Google Maps issue applies to roads in the UK I find.

One helpful thing is to start dragging the little orange guy, the first step you do to use Street View, and not drop him anywhere to get the roads which have Street View imagery available high-lit in blue; the routes which get blue highlighting usually correspond to tarmacked/paved roads and the non-blue line routes are usually the mud track, not suitable for road bike ones. This isn't infallible but a useful guide I find.

rnath

Garmin - no contest. I got an 800 a few years ago and it remains the single best bit of kit I have for improving enjoyment of distance rides - spend much more time enjoying the surroundings. Pulling disintegrating paper maps out every 15mins in the rain is no fun. As above, plan route beforehand and load onto the 800. Maybe keep a backup of the route on your phone (OutdoorsGPS etc) in case you have any problems with the Garmin?

DubaiNeil

I would agree with what appears to be a general consensus towards a Garmin device, with maps as a backup. One thing I would suggest though is to get the Garmin in advance and try and map rides you know well and see how the routing relates to your knowledge & preferences. There are a plethora of settings in map my ride/bike route toaster which influence the routing and then the Garmin has settings itself that may not be what you wish...
I found this through experience, and now map routes in far more detail than I initially tried, to ensure it doesn't suddenly send me down onto a tow path, rather than straight along a proper road...
Additionally, practice with turn by turn routing, and get used to how & when it will alert you to a turn...

DC Rainmaker has information on free OSM mapping for Garmins, which just requires a memory card, and tools like Bike Route Toaster for route creation and upload.

stueys

I would pay the slight premium for the 810 over the 800. You can upload/download on your mobile phone without needing a laptop which the 800 doesn't allow, worth the extra. Other than that they are very similar.

marcusjb

I use both and both have their merits.

For touring and more leisurely riding, maps do increase your connection with the landscape you are riding through and make it much easier to head off down a road simply because it looks interesting.

If I am riding faster stuff, then the garmin, but it is a very different experience and is very easy to get into head down mode and not actually look around.

Both have their foibles. The key is to gain enough experience in using either of them to understand the short comings and adapt to them.

BrandonA

Why not both?

People use Garmin devices all the time without issue so I'd use this as my main option. Having a paper map as backup is hardly going to weigh much and take up room in your bags so I'd have one in case the Garmin plays up.

deadhead1971

There are various map options, from free OSM to paid products - there's lots of screenshot comparisons in some of the blog posts listed here:

http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/garmin-edge-tips-tricks/

There's also a very popular article on how to set up the 800 properly for trouble free turn by turn navigation.
Hope it helps :-)

Bar Shaker

Having to keep stopping and checking your various low scale paper maps will become very tedious on a long ride. In the wind and rain, it could become very frustrating.

A Garmin 800 can be had for £150 second hand and probably sold for the same price afterwards, if you don't have any other use for it.

diy

When I had my 800 I was big fan of the open maps, my 1000 comes with europe wide open maps installed and I haven't felt the need to change them. Make sure you get an external power supply though. If you Nav and record on an 800 the bat will last maybe 6 hours tops.

something like this: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/351218323176?_trksid ... 0399503665

will go in a top tube bag and power your phone garmin and a usb light for about week.

I have the above and they are great loaded up with some old laptop 18650 cells