Author Topic: which gps ?  (Read 6188 times)

GrahamG

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Re: which gps ?
« Reply #25 on: 20 September, 2010, 02:21:59 pm »
Helen - I didn't even realise you could get something that did on-the-fly route planning! Perhaps useful for cities on the odd occasion or to find a POI?

Thanks both for the input - something for the Christmas list!
Brummie in exile (may it forever be so)

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
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Re: which gps ?
« Reply #26 on: 20 September, 2010, 04:27:30 pm »
Quote
Also, Frankly frankie's auk pages are a godsend if you CBA experimenting with the other settings. Just use all his recommendations, and it turns out great.
Do you have a link to these?

I've got several essays about various GPS topics - mostly related to the Etrex C range or to Mapsource.  I've tried to break everything down into bite-sized chunks.  They aren't listed on the AUK server any more (though the page below is linked) so please find them at:
http://www.aukadia.net/gps/
lots of links to other resources there as well.

Although there is a bewildering array of Garmin models they really are all very similar under the skin, with similar capabilities and broadly similar UI - in fact UI-wise the Etrex range now sticks out as the odd one out, all the other Garmins have had a makeover and generally follow the newer Oregon/Dakota way of doing things.  But the Etrex C type are outstanding for their battery runtime, this is really what separates them from the rest - I have a Legend Cx (ie old model) which has run >50h continuous, with some backlight use, on a single pair of lithium AAs.

No, it can't generate a route with no map. The route is when you ask it to take you to the station or something and it chooses its own way.

Helen's right and it seems to me the map is quite important in this regard - for example if you plan on your PC or online using one map (eg Google Maps) and run the Route on your GPS which has a different map installed (eg City Select or OSM) then you will lose some functionality - though you may not miss it, a case of "you don't miss what you never had" I think.
It's because a Garmin route makes use of so-called 'map points' whenever it can - a 'map point' being something like a road junction as an obvious example - and these points have embedded information that can be utilised by the pop-up messages on your GPS.  By planning on a different map you are quite likely to 'miss' (by a few yards only) these points and so miss out on some of the embedded info stored in the GPS map.

That said, Helen is talking about 'follow road' or autorouting - it is perfectly possible to manually program a Route and manually include simple instructions, which are not at all dependent on any map - they'll work even on a non-map GPS such as a Geko.   It sounds laborious, and it is, but it's what some of us do for preference (including me).
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Re: which gps ?
« Reply #27 on: 20 September, 2010, 05:46:04 pm »
Helen - I didn't even realise you could get something that did on-the-fly route planning! Perhaps useful for cities on the odd occasion or to find a POI?

It should work OK, but I was using it to find the station in Reading yesterday, and it did a very good job of telling me when to turn off, just after I'd gone past a junction!

I just use Andygates Munky Maps (derived from OSM), and they seem to be pretty good, exceptionally so when you consider the price. ;D

I prefer the 1:50000 Ordnance Survey mapping on my Satmap Active 10, but I've kind of given up on that GPS because there are too many annoying aspects to it.  You reach a point that however good the positive features are, the negative stuff starts to outweigh them. :(
Actually, it is rocket science.