Garmin Metroguide Europe v9 queries

[Sergeant Pluck]

 

What's the difference between this:

http://www.gpsw.co.uk/details/prod580.html

Garmin Metroguide Europe on DVD at £113,

and the Garmin Metroguide Europe DVD listed at GPSonline (under software, cannot link directly) at £60?

http://www.gpsonlineshop.co.uk/erol.html

[andrew_s]

On the face of it, no difference.

I'd be inclined to guess that GPSonline is in error, and the price is for the SD card version rather than the DVD stated.

[numbnuts]

or have a look on e-bay

[Sergeant Pluck]

It's the DVD version ok at GPS online. Must be GPS warehouse that have got it wrong, that's more like a price for City Navigator.

[Wombat]

You do realise that it doesn't have a postcode search facility, don't you?  To be honest its pretty flaky software (although I do use it).  It does do the job, (except that annoying refusal to acknowledge UK postcodes) but it just seems to do everything in an inconvenient way.

[Sergeant Pluck]

You do realise that it doesn't have a postcode search facility, don't you?  To be honest its pretty flaky software (although I do use it).  It does do the job, (except that annoying refusal to acknowledge UK postcodes) but it just seems to do everything in an inconvenient way.

No I didn't realise it did not search by postcode but hopefully I'll find it useful. I have this and Metrogold to enable on-device routing. I also have Memory Map for most of England on my PC so once I familiarize myself with everything I may use that at least for route planning.

I've no idea yet how much memory the UK Metroguide occupies on the card - i.e. whether I have room for both Metroguide and selected MM regions on a 2GB card.

The HCx and other stuff have only arrived this morning so I have a lot to learn. 

That price was for Metroguide Europe V9 on DVD so I think it is GPS Warehouse that have the price or product image wrong.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Thanks for that Craig. Yes, they do US versions of the HCx but I got the Euro model, no idea of the origin of the Metroguide DVD but as long as it works with Metrogold I'll be happy enough.

Even if the MM maps cannot be sent to the device I am fairly sure I can plan routes and (?) view tracks on MM and use in combo with Garmin mapping on the device.

Steep learning curve ahead I think. First impressions: impressively quick to locate me from scratch.

[Wombat]

Do let me know if they have suddenly enabled the postcode search on it, and I'll harrass Garmin yet more, for being a bunch of lying cheating no-goods!  Sorry, but they have given me trully appalling customer service, and convinced me to buy an upgrade from V7 to V8 because of a claimed postcode search function which turned out to be a lie.  At least I got my money back for the upgrade, after 6 months of trying.  GPS was good, though!  I have acquired the attitude over a period of years that their hardware is excellent, but their software is flaky.   I have been seen to use the "Very big screen GPS" approach of the laptop running Nroute (free add-on to existing mapsource users) on the passenger seat of the car, connected to the GPS sat on the dash, but I doubt its legal.

[pdm]

Thanks for that Craig. Yes, they do US versions of the HCx but I got the Euro model, no idea of the origin of the Metroguide DVD but as long as it works with Metrogold I'll be happy enough.

Even if the MM maps cannot be sent to the device I am fairly sure I can plan routes and (?) view tracks on MM and use in combo with Garmin mapping on the device.

Steep learning curve ahead I think. First impressions: impressively quick to locate me from scratch.

Good luck with your new purchase - I have a couple of Etrex Vistas (a Cx and an HCx) - I Use them all the time.

Just one leetle pointy to remember... Routes planned on the PC with PC auto routing are not NECESSARILY the same when auto routed on the GPS unit. To ensure they are the same, make sure you have enough unambiguous waypoints on the route you upload. Interestingly, the HCx and Cx route slightly differently on waypoint sparse routes! Don't forget to set auto routing parameters to "bicycle" on both the GPS and the PC....

One other minor bugbear with Metroguide is that is is pretty much car centric - no cycle lanes, no cycle routes, no bridleways and no shortcuts are mapped.... Where I know such items exist, I program the route top the start of the facility and them restart the route from the end thereof. If the facility is long and needs to be followed on the GPS, I program a track rather than a route and upload that to follow over that section (rarely do this, though..)

[Sergeant Pluck]

Do let me know if they have suddenly enabled the postcode search on it

Will do. My Memory Map and CoPilot software and maps have postcode searches so between all that and Googlemaps and bikely I hope I'll be able to develop a sensible workflow. To be honest I am hoping that I'll be able to use bikely or similar for map and planning purposes and just send labelled waypoints to the device as per Greenbank et al.

And thanks for the advice, pdm, some of which I was aware of and some not.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Hmm, interesting. OK well I've installed the software, the webupdater has done its thing, I've run the Metrogold unlock thing to enable on-device routing and all seems to be heading in the right direction by the usual not-terribly-friendly standards of all GPS software 

So far so good.

No, V9 does not permit search by postcode alone.

So let me get something clear: with this version of Metroguide that I have, which did not come with an unlock code, what difference does that make? OK I obviously can't use the "unlock maps" utility but why would I need to anyway??

Why is the normal back that comes with the Etrex a nice solid thing, while the back that you need with bike mount a much lighter plastic thing?

Ah, I see. I get to use the nice solid back with that plastic doofer. The lighter back must just be for Etrexs without the microSD slot.

Ah - and I see Memory Map on the PC talks to my HCx ok.

And I've got a route originally on Googlemaps (AFAIR), which which was on MM, to appear on the HCx ok. This is all quite promising.

[Wombat]

They just seem to go on about the unlock business, even though you have a product that doesn't require it.  The base Mapsource software seems to be almost like an OS, for application such as metroguide, or topo, so it makes references to apps that you may not have.  Its annoying, but I just try to ignore those silly bits.

[frankly frankie]

Don't forget to set auto routing parameters to "bicycle" on both the GPS and the PC....

I would suggest you also try 'Delivery Van' (on both of course) - seems to me to work better than 'Bicycle'.

[andrew_s]

Bicycle routing seems a bit odd to me, and it's not at all obvious what it's doing. I wouldn't use it without a review of where it's going to take me.

Trying it on a route straight through the centre of Rouen the other week, set on bicycle, shortest route, it gave quite a nice cycling route on mostly minor streets. It was however a long way from being the shortest way, which would have been to just carry on along the fairly large road we'd started on, do a bit of twiddly stuff right in the middle, and straight out along another larger road.

On the other hand, if I ask it for a bicycle route from Tregaron to Rhayader (leg 4? of the Elenith), it ignores the short route over the Cwmystwyth mountain road and does an extra 10-12 miles going via Devils Bridge and the A444/A470.

[frankly frankie]

Even if the MM maps cannot be sent to the device I am fairly sure I can plan routes and (?) view tracks on MM and use in combo with Garmin mapping on the device.

Certainly planning with MM is a far more pleasurable experience than using Metroguide - but not quite as accurate.  Metroguide has a 'snap' feature which helps you plonk the waypoints exactly on the road junctions, and lo and behold when you get there on the bike, the location is spot on.  Using 1:50,000 Memory Map you can be 10 or more metres out, which OK is not really a 'problem' but I find I don't get that satisfying 'spot on' feeling when cycling the route.

Actually if I were to be limited to a single map product, I think Google Maps is now better than either, especially for generating a road-following track.  I helped someone use it to plan a 3-week End-to-End recently, it was quick and easy and very accurate, and also very easy to distribute to other participants.