GPS Newbie

[Pembroke Airhead]

GS'er's I have finally decided that GPS could be usefull to me. Given that I would use it mainly in Europe/Scandanavia and very rarely, if at all in UK, Can anyone point this Newbie towards what make/model would suit me on a very limited budget and ideally 2nd hand. Also what points should I be looking at, at the point of sale.

Regards
Pembroke Airhead

 

[HMR]

Can anyone point this Newbie towards what make/model would suit me on a very limited budget and ideally 2nd hand. Also what points should I be looking at, at the point of sale.

Look only at Garmin!

Buy either a new Quest or a second hand Street Pilot 3.

If you buy a second hand SP3 the map must be version 6 or newer. Available map memory must be 128 MB or more.

Good Luck!

 

[araspitfire]

Not really enough info here:

Do you want it to autoroute?
Do you want it for navigation away from the bike?

Just to give you some things to think about.

I mostly know Garmin, but there are other choices.

If you are willing to make your routes on the computer (or slowly on the GPS screen), you don't need autorouting to follow a pre-planned course. (cheapest option)

Autorouting does allow you to divert from the shortest (or fastest) path, then when you want to get to your destination, it'll figure it out for you again.

Garmin does one map for all of Western Europe.. but it's not all that complete for some bits of Scandinavia. My City Select 6 map only has a bit of Finland... But all of Norway and Sweden. My Metroguide 4 only has a bit of South Norway and Sweden... (they both do Denmark) later versions may have more detail.. but the Maps cost quite a bit too.. if you are thinking second hand, you may not have the cash for newer maps.

I use a Garmin 60c, which does autoroute, and even autoroutes on the base map (the one hardwired into the unit), but my experience of using this map for routing is it sucks. The 60C with the City Select map does everything I need though. Mounts to my bicycle, rides in my pocket, mounts to my dash. The only thing I will miss (when I get a bike =) is that I won't hear the beep that it gives when a turn comes up.. I hope to work something out for that though... I don't need voice directoins as I glance at the screen when It beeps and see quickly what I need to do.

In short when you think GPS for bike navigation use, remember that beside the cost of the GPS, you need to buy a map product, you likely need a power connector (my 60C goes for a couple days on rechargeables, but the vibration from the bike I rented last month caused it to shut off.. by shaking the batteries, a power connector would solve this), you need to mount it.

Al...

 

[HMR]

I agree with most of what araspitfire writes above.

The GPSMAP 60C is a neat device but it's limited memory doesn't allow you to fit the maps of the Nordic into it. Norway+Sweden alone requires 128 MB and the 60C has only 56 MB.

As said above - you should go for map version 6 or newer. That is the first version that covers Norway.

Finland is not included even in version 7 but that is not important since Finland is quite booring MC area. Booring is also Denmark.

Norway and Sweden is great with some of the best gravel roads of Europe! In south and east Sweden and along the coast of Norway you will find amazingly nice paved roads. Some even available in Mapsource!

 

[Pembroke Airhead]

Right what I need is

Thanx for the suggestions - it does help.

So to round up I need Streeet Pilot 3 (I presume SP3 as per ebay), with Map Version 6 or better. New Quest appears beyond my pocket for the use it will get.

As always more memory the better but must have 128+

Autoroute - I presume not a french motorway, but software mapping prediction

Ignore batteries, obtain power supply lead. For the car I presume I can obtain power lead to run off the ciggy lighter.

Right what's on ebay ???? lets see.

Regards
Pembroke Airhead

 

[swebb]

New Quest appears beyond my pocket for the use it will get.

Ignore Quest at your perril... i'd definately consider giving it a good hard look... it covers excellently all your requirements, and NEW can be picked up for under £200 at the moment (Dixons group) which will include the latest mapping products too. (they can be £150 to buy alone!!)

It runs off it's own internal battery (up to 20hrs genuinely) and comes with power cord for ciggy lighter in car etc too... the point is.. buy a second hand SP3, then spend another load of money getting it up to date and ready for how you want to use it.. you'll probably spend at least as much as buying the new quest that is ready straight from the box!!

Plus you get no hassles with unlock codes, mapping and registering of the unit, and you also get Garmin's excellent product support.. all things that could cause you BIG problems/expense with a second hand unit.

Just my two penneth, but don't look purely at unit costs, you'll need to add in the extra's you'd likely need for up to date mapping and power for a second hand SP3, then compare it to the NEW Quest price.... like for like!

I know where my money would go!!!

good luck in whichever choice you make.

-Stu.

 

[Llama]

I would agree with Swebb.
I weighed up the pro's and cons off a 2nd hand SP111 against a quest. In the end the quest was the obvious choice.
I paid £329 for mine from Dixons and then a few days later they dropped their price to £199 (I complained and have been promised a refund of the difference).
I tracked the prices on ebay for about a month anbd you will be very lucky to pay less than £200 for a SP111 on Ebay (if you manage to outbid everyone else). On top of this you may need to buy a memory card and/or software updates depending upon what it comes with(remember the quest comes with a free update to the current map version).
We have a SP111 at work and I compared the recalculation speed with my quest and the difference is amazing. At firsat I thought this wouldn't be an issue but having been rerouted (roadworks, accidents, etc) several times I am glad that I went for the more modern unit. Sitting by the roadside waiting for it to update the route is not my idea of productive travel.
Trust me. Save you pennies and get a quest. You won't regret it

 

[HMR]

The comments from Llama and Swebb are very relevant.

The Quest gives you good value for the money but don't forget to include the cost for power cord and MC-mount in the price.

Buy a SP3 only if the price is right and if it is complete including the V6 map, 128 MB memory, 12V power cord, USB card programmer and MC mount.

The SP3 is slower than the Quest but automatic re-routing should always be switched off on all Garmins anyway since it destroys the route you have planned. It's often more efficient to follow the map on the screen back to the route.

 

[Ste@SSB]

The SP3 is slower than the Quest but automatic re-routing should always be switched off on all Garmins anyway since it destroys the route you have planned. It's often more efficient to follow the map on the screen back to the route.

Auto re-routing has saved my sorry ass more times than I can remember ... I think its essential if you don't look at the screen that often...

 

[Llama]

I always have auto-routing on when I'm on the road and I find the screen too distracting to navigate by.

I only use it as a quick reference every now and again after a voice prompt.

Off-road is different and auto-routing can completely b*gger up your well planned greenlane route if you make a wrong turn unless you make the entrance to every lane a 'via' point and your route doesnt cross itself.

 

[Mutley]

I am looking but I can't find any reference to cheap Garmin Quests on the Dixon's website. Can someone please point the way for me?

Cheers

 

[HMR]

I always have auto-routing on when I'm on the road and I find the screen too distracting to navigate by.

I only use it as a quick reference every now and again after a voice prompt.

Off-road is different and auto-routing can completely b*gger up your well planned greenlane route if you make a wrong turn unless you make the entrance to every lane a 'via' point and your route doesnt cross itself.

I'm not saying that recalculating the route is a bad thing but for me this works much better if I initialize the recalculation myself. Just press the the "route" button twice and it recalculates the route.

Sometimes I often ride a route backwards since the route memory don't allow too many routes. Try that with auto recalculation = on and you'll understand.

Also - I ride to 95% on small countryside roads. Using the navigator in cities and on motorways may be a different issue. But on those places I seldom use the MC.

 

[bikermike]

Give em a call

I am looking but I can't find any reference to cheap Garmin Quests on the Dixon's website. Can someone please point the way for me?

Cheers

Mutley, call into your nearest Dixons / PC World showroom and ask if they have any in stock. If not, ask if the "nice man / woman" would be so kind as to have a look-see on their computer and see if any shops within reasonable travelling distance for you have them in stock. Just a suggestion, it worked for me. Good Luck.

 

[PanEuropean]

...So to round up I need Streeet Pilot 3 (I presume SP3 as per ebay), with Map Version 6 or better. New Quest appears beyond my pocket for the use it will get. As always more memory the better but must have 128+

Just my two cents here - I can't honestly recommend that anyone purchase a used SP III, considering that we are now almost at the end of 2005.

The SP III was a great unit in its heyday (2000 to 2002), but it is woefully underpowered to handle autorouting computations with the newer releases of cartography that have come along. Plus, it's limited in its capacity to store maps. I mean, that dog has had its day. Buying a SP III today would be a lot like buying a used 486 computer today - just not the best thing to do.

A good rule of thumb is to never buy a GPSR that last shipped with cartography two versions or more older than what is shipping now. If I recall correctly, the last SP IIIs that were sold new shipped with CN 5. Pretty soon we will be looking at CN 8.

There are a heck of a lot of smaller Garmin units (Quest, and others even smaller) out there as new products right now. There will also soon be a resale market for the 26xx series products, which use CF memory rather than proprietary chips, and have much faster processors.

My suggestion would be that you hold on for a month or two, and see what the resale market looks like for the 26xx family. There is already one discussion going on about a used 26xx elsewhere in this forum.

Michael