Author Topic: Active 10  (Read 11536 times)

Re: Active 10
« Reply #50 on: 13 April, 2009, 05:26:24 pm »
After starting the thread 10 months ago I've just rediscovered it and found the recent posts very interesting.
I see that at least one cyclist doesn't want historical monuments crowding his screen but that is exactly what I do want!
If I've understood correctly somebody else found there way home with it by using it as one would a paper map.

I went to the SatMap stand at the Outdoor show and asked the same question as last year, "What's the state of play with Mac compatibility?"
Last year the answer was something like,"We are aware of minor problems but a software upgrade is imminent." This year the answer was, "We have a new programmer who has been working exclusively on the Mac software for the last two months. it will be ready soon."
Didn't trust them any more that last year so I'm still using paper 1:50,000's.  This is something that I'd really like to buy - modern technology, British product but ... :-\
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Active 10
« Reply #51 on: 16 April, 2009, 01:42:56 pm »
Bought two Mini Adapters from Cyclesense, to put a mount on each bike, & got two different ones - one Abus, one Rixen & Kaul original. Identical except for the trimmings.  ;D
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: Active 10
« Reply #52 on: 16 April, 2009, 04:11:09 pm »
I've also just ordered some spare mounts from CycleSense.  At £2.99 each, it seems silly not to.

I noticed that Satmap have released a new software upgrade, version 1.323.  It doesn't look all that dramatic, but there are a few minor improvements, so I'll probably install it tonight.

The shop now has a "Cycle City AZ London" map for £25 vs the older £40 "AZ Greater London".  Does anyone have any idea what the coverage and resolution of this is?  I've got the 1:14000 A-Z mapping already, so I'm not likely to buy the new one, but I'm curious to know what they've removed to drop the price by so much.  They do mention that they've changed the colours, so that cycle routes are highlighted, but little else is listed.  If it's the same as this, then it's not terribly good value, since that's a lot smaller area than the older, but more expensive map.
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Active 10
« Reply #53 on: 16 April, 2009, 10:31:35 pm »
I've also just ordered some spare mounts from CycleSense.  At £2.99 each, it seems silly not to....
Enjoy your tea.  :thumbsup:

BTW, I just got an e-mail. 1:50K maps of Germany, Austria & Switzerland are now available, & 1:25k maps of Germany & Austria.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Re: Active 10
« Reply #54 on: 22 April, 2009, 09:31:29 am »
Well, I just got my mounts, which isn't too bad a delivery time.  I've yet to try my bag of Yorkshire Tea. ;D
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Active 10
« Reply #55 on: 23 April, 2009, 10:48:27 am »
inspired by the threads on here, we got an Active 10 to use walking in the lake district.  Fantastic toy, right up until the batteries went from 50% to zero in about an hour, while it was snowing...  Luckily we'd got the map and compass.

Mrs Mike wants to use it when on the horse in the forests round Norfolk, but before we 'invest' in the maps, are the 1:50,000 scale maps OK for following bridleways, does anyone know?

And is there a cheaper way to do it than buying the SD cards? 

Re: Active 10
« Reply #56 on: 23 April, 2009, 11:14:00 am »
Mrs Mike wants to use it when on the horse in the forests round Norfolk, but before we 'invest' in the maps, are the 1:50,000 scale maps OK for following bridleways, does anyone know?

And is there a cheaper way to do it than buying the SD cards? 

The 1:50k maps are OS maps. I've found them OK for walking and cycling, so I guess riding is similar. In some ways better than paper as you can zoom in when the detail gets confusing. The downside is that you can't get the big area at once of a paper map.

I treated myself to a patch of 1:25k around home on the same card. I use this very little, but the map has to be quite busy for that scale to be important on paper too.

No cheaper way of getting the maps that I know of though.


Re: Active 10
« Reply #57 on: 23 April, 2009, 11:43:36 am »
...... the batteries went from 50% to zero in about an hour...........
Were you using it in "Powersave" mode? This consumes much less battery, at the expense of setting the brightness to 80% max. You'll also significantly extend battery life if you set it to screen off after, say, 30 seconds. Zooming in and out and scrolling about (i.e. "playing with it") uses battery too. The type of AA is important too. Many rechargeables drop slightly below the critical voltage threshold as they decline and the unit will power down with half used cells sometimes. Disposables generally don't suffer so much like this but are more costly over time. the li-pol battery is worth getting if you are a frequent long time user.
Mrs Mike wants to use it when on the horse in the forests round Norfolk, but before we 'invest' in the maps, are the 1:50,000 scale maps OK for following bridleways, does anyone know?
As the previous poster says, they are exact OS maps, so if a 1:50,000 map is OK, it's OK. For walking I prefer 1:25,000, but 1:50,000 is fine for cycling and I guess would be OK for horseriding.
And is there a cheaper way to do it than buying the SD cards? 
Not so far as I know. This is one way Satmap make their money. And like other companies, they are tightly constrained by OS copyright and licencing.

Re: Active 10
« Reply #58 on: 23 April, 2009, 11:46:05 am »
The screen is inevitably a bit small, so if the map has a lot of detail on it, I suspect that if you zoomed in enough to see it all, you won't have much of the map on the screen!

I find the 1:50000 perfectly adequate for cycling, and it only (!) cost £100 or so for the bottom half of the UK.  The same area in 1:25000 would be something like £2000. ;D

I do also have the London A-Z which is 1:14000, but where there are lots of roads, it's a lot easier to see things at this scale, with the 1:50000 mapping, sometimes you're not even sure which of two roads you are on, since errors in the GPS/mapping can place the track smack bang between two roads!  The 1:14000 seems to be better for this sort of issue.

If you give me the location of a bridleway, I can take a couple of shots of the screen, zoomed in and out as much as is usable, that ought to give you some sort of idea how well it works.  As perpetual dan said, it's essentially identical to the OS 1:50000 Landranger maps.

I have two Li-Ion battery packs for mine, and that will keep me going for an entire FNRttC, even with quite extensive use of the screen (and I think I have it set to stay on for five minutes).
Actually, it is rocket science.
 

Re: Active 10
« Reply #59 on: 23 April, 2009, 12:00:29 pm »
cheers all!

thanks for the offer Tim - one of the areas she uses a lot are the fire roads in woods to the north west of &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf]West Stow

yes, I know it's a pretty simple grid system and most people would be fine with just a compass, we've had that discussion....  ::-)





Re: Active 10
« Reply #60 on: 23 April, 2009, 01:21:36 pm »
cheers all!

thanks for the offer Tim - one of the areas she uses a lot are the fire roads in woods to the north west of &searchp=ids.srf&mapp=map.srf]West Stow

yes, I know it's a pretty simple grid system and most people would be fine with just a compass, we've had that discussion....  ::-)

Is that the West Stow as in rebuilt Saxon village?
if so, I hadn't realised how close it is to Mildenhall.




Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: Active 10
« Reply #61 on: 23 April, 2009, 02:04:33 pm »
Is that the West Stow as in rebuilt Saxon village?
if so, I hadn't realised how close it is to Mildenhall.

yep, one and the same.  Nice place for a day out, the woods there are ace.

Re: Active 10
« Reply #62 on: 23 April, 2009, 03:02:53 pm »
inspired by the threads on here, we got an Active 10 to use walking in the lake district.  Fantastic toy, right up until the batteries went from 50% to zero in about an hour, while it was snowing...  Luckily we'd got the map and compass.

Mrs Mike wants to use it when on the horse in the forests round Norfolk, but before we 'invest' in the maps, are the 1:50,000 scale maps OK for following bridleways, does anyone know?

And is there a cheaper way to do it than buying the SD cards? 
1. I've found the same with the (old, past their best) Nimh rechargeables I'm currently using in it. Sits on 4 bars for a long time, 3 bars for quite a while, but once it hits two bars, it's time to change the batteries. But so far, they've been adequate for all-day rides - on power save, screen switching off quite quickly.

Use the highest capacity rechargeables you can get, charge them right up, & carry a spare set of disposables or Hybrio-style rechargeables. Or buy the battery pack. The biggest drawback of the Active 10, IMO, but unless someone invents a pretty colour screen that size with much lower power consumption & there's a trade-in scheme, or Satmap achieve some miracle in software-driven power management, I don't see a way round it.

2. I've found 1:50K excellent for cycling on road, & adequate for off-road. I have a little bit of 1:25K coverage, but I've not found any real need of it.

3. No, unfortunately. But compare £100 for southern Britain with the cost of all the paper maps. Dirt cheap, when you look at it that way.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

Rob S

Re: Active 10
« Reply #63 on: 23 April, 2009, 04:29:18 pm »

1. I've found the same with the (old, past their best) Nimh rechargeables I'm currently using in it. Sits on 4 bars for a long time, 3 bars for quite a while, but once it hits two bars, it's time to change the batteries.

I haven't had that issue since one of the firmware updates of last year....prior to that 2 bars meant the batteries were about to die.

frankly frankie

  • I kid you not
    • Fuchsiaphile
Re: Active 10
« Reply #64 on: 23 April, 2009, 11:59:22 pm »
Its just a characteristic of NiMH (and NiCad) cells - they plateau at an almost constant voltage for the whole runtime, then drop like a stone.  Its normal. 
Unlike Duracells, Lithiums, Li-ions, and car batteries, all of which show a steady decline over time, and which condition our expectation of how a battery should behave.
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

Rob S

Re: Active 10
« Reply #65 on: 24 April, 2009, 12:00:44 pm »
Its just a characteristic of NiMH (and NiCad) cells - they plateau at an almost constant voltage for the whole runtime, then drop like a stone.  Its normal. 

Indeed it is...though as I said before one of the updates late last year you'd never see two bars for very long....very easy to go from three bars to the easily missed shutdown countdown screen. Now you can continue with it showing two bars for a while...as happened on my walk last Sunday.

Re: Active 10
« Reply #66 on: 24 April, 2009, 01:46:01 pm »
Indeed it is...though as I said before one of the updates late last year you'd never see two bars for very long....very easy to go from three bars to the easily missed shutdown countdown screen. Now you can continue with it showing two bars for a while...as happened on my walk last Sunday.
I take two bars not as a warning to stop the bike & change the batteries, but as a warning to change the batteries at the next stop, if that makes sense. But the only time I've had the batteries fade on a ride was when I forgot to recharge it after the last one, & my batteries are an old set, in which one holds a bit less than the others. I think that when that one fades, the voltage falls off a cliff.
"A woman on a bicycle has all the world before her where to choose; she can go where she will, no man hindering." The Type-Writer Girl, 1897

pj.mcnally

Re: Active 10
« Reply #67 on: 25 May, 2011, 08:18:30 am »
I've also just ordered some spare mounts from CycleSense.  At £2.99 each, it seems silly not to.


Hi - I'm a new forum member - found this thread because I'm searching for a new mount for my Rixen and Kaul map holder (old one has a bit of plastic fatigue and I don't wish to move it from one bike to another).  This is the one place my search terms led me!

The cycle sense £2.99 Abus one sounds ideal, but they're now sold out.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread - but if anyone out there has bought up lots  - spares, stockpiling - would they be willing to part with one?

It'd make a student, and cyclist (road, commuting, touring) very happy!

Thanks - James.

Re: Active 10
« Reply #68 on: 25 May, 2011, 02:37:58 pm »
I ordered a new one from wiggle (or was it SJS, I forget) yesterday. If anyone has a big stock of spares please don't tell me!