Carrying a second GPS

[Popeye]

Off on a fairly long 4 week Euro tour in the summer, France, Corsica, Italy, Sitzerland.

I'll be using my trusty 2610 but really wanted to be able to keep a track log of the whole trip, which the 2610 will not do. I will not be taking a laptop with me.

Question therefore is ........ what would be the cheapest additional GPS I could take with me that will record and save a decent track log and be capable of uploading the data to Mapsource when I get home. Something that can be bike powered might also be useful.

Any thoughts guys would be most welcome and much appreciated.

 

[Bob Jeffries]

I don't know of any GPS that will keep a decent tracklog over 4 weeks, you'd need an external add-on storeage unit, but they are generally quite expensive.

What I do is use a 12XL to log each days tracklog and then download it to a PDA at the end of each day. I have both Palm and Windows Mobile software (freeware) that will download from the 12XL (and most other Garmin units) but you would need a cable for your specific GPS/PDA combo.

 

[John Armstrong]

A Quest IMHO, 10 000 tracklog points IIRC. It'll take most if not all of the mapping as well.

 

[Greg Masters]

The Garmin Geko 201 will hold 10,000 track-log points, can be bike powered (as I have on my DR-Z) and costs just a few quid from eBay. You can upload and download tracks and waypoints and download routes from MapSource. It also does TrakBack (which the 2610 doesn't).

A cracking unit when used with MapSource (but it doesn't hold maps).

Greg

 

[Jon]

A Quest IMHO, 10 000 tracklog points IIRC. It'll take most if not all of the mapping as well.

A Quest might not last 4 weeks if you're riding every day, even set at the lowest auto settings. They only way it might work would be be to get it to make a note every kilometre rather than the std auto choice settings...........

Mine ran out/filled up on Garmins "least" after ten days (the SPIII ran out after a day )

 

[Deleted account W]

Even units with 10,000 track log points won't be enough for 4 weeks riding. My Quest managed to log my ride from Nottingham to Fez in Morocco before it started over writing the log, about 1700 miles.

 

[Rushy]

Map and a pen?

 

[Deleted account W]

Map and a pen?

I like to highlight the route I took on my map every night and then plan the next days ride using the paper map, then transfer it to the GPS.

Using both maps and GPS works for me

 

[Fanum]

I've never understood why Garmin store the track logs in NV-RAM rather than to the card.......even a full tracklog only comes out at a couple of hundred KB......if the unit could save to card, you could have years of tracklogs on a 2gb card AND the maps as well

 

[BurnieM]

The Garmin eTrex Legend Cx has a 10,000 point tracklog but will also, in parrallel, record the tracklog to its microSD card (in gpx format) up to the limit of the card

 

[PaulW]

The Garmin eTrex Legend Cx has a 10,000 point tracklog but will also, in parrallel, record the tracklog to its microSD card (in gpx format) up to the limit of the card

The 10,000 point limit is a joke on the StreetPilot 2820 for a long tour. Why didn't they do the same as above and also on the 60CSx?? They claim there is approx 800MB of storage free for mp3 files and the like and I know what I would choose to use it for.

I have emailed Garmin to ask if this can be added on their next software update. Maybe if we all pestered Garmin they might do something about it for all their models. No need for a 2nd GPS then!

paul

 

[jan]

I have both Palm and Windows Mobile software (freeware) that will download from the 12XL (and most other Garmin units) but you would need a cable for your specific GPS/PDA combo.

Would you mind posting more info / link ?

thanks.

Jan

 

[Jon]

If you tell you Quest to place a mark every kilometre, you could theoretically map 10,000km.....................If you're ona route that's all you'd need surely?

 

[Blackal]

I've never understood why Garmin store the track logs in NV-RAM rather than to the card.......even a full tracklog only comes out at a couple of hundred KB......if the unit could save to card, you could have years of tracklogs on a 2gb card AND the maps as well

A very good point. I don't suppose that Garmin would develop the software that would allow that - as it would extend the useful life of the trusty 2610.

Bu66er!

Al

 

[Popeye]

Interesting replies all round. It would be so nice if the 2610would do this out of the box.

As cost is something of a prime consideration, I think I'll go with either the Garmin XL12 or the Gecko unit, both on ebay at the moment so I'll keep an eye on those.

I know what you mean about paper maps - I love them and can study them for hours. I do all my route planning on them and then transfer it to the GPS. I find you get a much better perspective and sense of scale on a folded out map.

I'm off to ebay now, thanks all

 

[Mark_C]

The iQue will also save tracklogs to the SD card. You could probably get a cheap s/h one on eBay. They are not waterproof but could be carried in your luggage with external antenna or in a map pocket with the integrated antenna. Power supply plug/socket combo is fragile which is another drawback.

 

[half_empty1]

how about 540,000 track points!

http://www.gps-datalogger.com/

not got one myself but could be worth a look for your trip

 

[Bob Jeffries]

For jan and other who may wish to try using a Palm PDA or Pocket PC to store and manage waypoints, routes and tracks on trips try;

Cables to link most Garmin GPS’s to Palm PDA’s or Pocket PC’s are available at Lynks cables (http://www.lynks.co.uk/). I have used lynks many times and Norma is very helpful.

To download and upload to a Palm PDA I have used;

GPilotS (http://www.cru.fr/perso/cc/GPilotS/)
Palgar (http://palgar.sourceforge.net/)
Gpsa (http://users.rcn.com/tlovell.javanet/)
Cetus GPS (http://www.cetusgps.dk/)

To download and upload to a Pocket PC I have used;

VisualGPSce (http://www.visualgps.net/VisualGPSce/) and it offshoot
BeeLineGPS (http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/default.htm) - $30
GarTrip (http://www.gartrip.de/index.htm) - $35
GeoVisu (http://geovisu.free.fr/geovisu/english/index.htm)
GPS Utility (http://www.gpsu.co.uk/index.html)
GTM Trackmaker (http://www.gpstm.com/index.php)
PathAway (http://www.pathaway.com/index.html) - $60
g7toCE (http://www.gpsinformation.org/ronh/#g7toCE)

Hope this all helps.