Author Topic: GPS purchasing advice please  (Read 9589 times)

PaulF

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Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #25 on: 01 November, 2011, 03:47:24 pm »
Garmin eTrex's will allow tracks and routes to be uploaded.

Bear in mind that Map My Ride will generate a track which (for me at least) is less useful than a route.

sletti

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Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #26 on: 01 November, 2011, 03:59:43 pm »
Garmin eTrex's will allow tracks and routes to be uploaded.

Bear in mind that Map My Ride will generate a track which (for me at least) is less useful than a route.

Really? On the computer, the routes do seem to follow the road pretty faithfully. Unless I misunderstand GPX and importing into a unit renders the map as a list of straight lines between the waypoints...
"Stig", as in "A Stig", not "The Stig".

Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #27 on: 01 November, 2011, 04:58:01 pm »
A track follows the road, a route takes straight lines between the specified points.  Some prefer tracks, others routes.  You need to try both to see which works for you.

Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #28 on: 01 November, 2011, 07:43:14 pm »
A track follows the road, a route takes straight lines between the specified points.  Some prefer tracks, others routes.  You need to try both to see which works for you.

Not quite
A track follows wherever you drew it (or wherever whatever website you used decided you wanted to go).   You can perfectly easily make a track up of straight lines point-to-point.
A route is only straight lines if you select off-road navigation on the unit.  If you select the "follow road" option it will hopefully choose the best road between the specified points.   
Experienced users from the audax community have suggested a combination approach of: a track following the road YOU decide in advance you want to use, overlayed with a route for navigation guidance purposes is quite a useful (if time consuming) approach.

Oh yes - and just to confuse us both Routes & Tracks use a .gpx file extension.

frankly frankie

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Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #29 on: 01 November, 2011, 11:09:49 pm »
After reading this thread I seem none the wiser, so I'll wade in with a question.
Which manufacturers ... ?

Diving into a 3-yr old thread possibly won't show current best practise!
Really, you have to go with Garmin, unless you really can't say 'no' to your non-conformist cyclist gene.

95% of other UK GPS-users out there will be using Garmins, so just run with the herd.

Track: is a line drawn through a list of points, generally the points are quite close together (<100m) so the line follows the roads quite well.  It's just like having a highlighted map on the handlebars.
Route: is a line drawn through a list of points, generally the points are much further apart (>500m), so it becomes a join-the-dots from turn to turn.  In some ways it's more like a routesheet than a map.
Modern Garmins (with maps installed) have the optional ability to take a Route as above, and combine it with the map information, so that the Route follows the best (hopefully!) roads (rather than straight lines turn-to-turn).  Like a car satnav (spit!).  In this case it's better to use fewer (but not too few) points, getting the balance right is a fine art.

Three methods, and they all work with a bit of understanding of the pros and cons.
when you're dead you're done, so let the good times roll

ed_o_brain

Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #30 on: 02 November, 2011, 01:27:14 am »
Is this a good time to point out that I have an etrex for sale in the classifieds?

Re: GPS purchasing advice please
« Reply #31 on: 04 November, 2011, 11:59:41 am »
... Memory Map OS maps can only be used with Memory Map software - ie on various PDAs, with all their problems with lack of robustness, battery life and screens not designed for outdoor use.....
There are satnavs specifically sold for outdoor use under the Memory Map Adventurer name, with Memory Map OS mapping.
"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