Bike SatNav for Holland Holiday

[j22jbl]

I am off to Holland in a couple of months with the family, Youth Hosteling. If is a great destination for a family cycle holiday, with well marked routes and brilliant facilities for those on two wheels.

Navigating from A to B is easy thanks to the well marked cycle routes, but I wonder if a SatNav might just remove some stress from the end of the day when the kids are starting to flag, by guiding us in to our accommodation without the risk of going around in circles trying to find the hostels.

I use TOMTOM in my car daily for work in the UK. No problems. What I am after is an economical guide to Holland (and Europe) allowing me to type the post code in and then follow instructions to the destination.

Can anyone recommend a system that fits the bill, having experience to call upon. I am willing to consider an App on an iphone, or a dedicated model designed to fit the bike handlebar.

Thanks in advance.

Ps Taking my RST. Cant wait!

John

[chrisj]

Hi,

I use a Satmap active 10 which is great for cycling. I guess there maybe 2 downsides the maps are a bit pricey would be about £71 for whole of Holland 1:50k, also uses quite a bit of power. I use the rechargeable battery you can buy for it and charge it with dynamo hub and e-werk

[cmlstratton]

You can find some advice on using your iphone on the CTC forum see: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=47079
'Melon' gives good advice about Offline Maps however I don't think they are free anymore (£0.59p per 3 downloads = almost free)

[geocycle]

Hi,

I use a Satmap active 10 which is great for cycling. I guess there maybe 2 downsides the maps are a bit pricey would be about £71 for whole of Holland 1:50k, also uses quite a bit of power. I use the rechargeable battery you can buy for it and charge it with dynamo hub and e-werk

A few questions. So the satmap allows you to type in a postcode and plans a bike friendly route for you?  Does it also recalculate if you go off the route?  Can you only load their bespoke maps? Thanks

[blair]

I used a Garmin Etrex Vista HCx for several weeks touring in Europe last year.
It was a great help, and had a reasonable selection of POI on the map.

I've also used the TomTom app on an iPhone, and it works well until the battery dies.

Some points to consider:
- iPhone apps chew through the battery, you will only get a few hours.
- you probably need a mapping GPS for what you are doing, the non-mapping ones are only useful for pre-planned routes, or for recoring your track
- the auto-routing is not 100% reliable. It will sometimes take you on a 20km diversion to avoid a short section of highway, or a bridge that it takes a particular dislike to.
- a GPS that takes AA batteries rather than a built in battery means that you can buy some spares if the battery goes flat. Alternative is somethin like the PowerMonkey, but that's another box to carry (and maybe lose)
- an outdoor or bicycle unit is much more water resistant than a car model, and usually has longer battery life
- thoroughly test the bike mount on some rough roads to make sure it is secure and doesn't rattle.
  (a dab of Shoe Goo does a good job of suppressing rattles)
- I always lash the lanyard from the GPS to the stem, but then I am a bit paranoid about losing gear
- I found it worthwhile to have a simple Cateye computer as well, just to have a backup for speed and distance

I've had good results from my Garmin, the TomTom may be a bit better at navigating, but I think it depends  more on the quality of the maps than anything else. The newer Garmins can take raster maps (e.g. detailed topo maps) which is a real advantage.

Have a look at a Garmin Edge 800, or a Dakota 20. They work out around the same price, usually, when they have equivalent extras.
The Garmin Oregon and the Satmap have bigger screens, but that means that mounting them on the bike is a bit more difficult.

[stutho]

I too have use the Etrex Vista HcX for bike tours in both the  UK and in Europe.  It was originally bought for  hillwalking.    The Etrex performs both roles really well!  It is more rugged than most GPS units; it is easy to learn to use and has a very full feature list.  However 2 things I don't like

1. It can't display OS maps :-(   (not a problem for Holland! but in the UK there should be the option)
2. the Topo & Road maps it uses for UK and Europe are expensive!

I use mine in conjunction with MemoryMap to plan my routes before I leave the house! 
Although I like to have the GPS with me, I ALWAYS have a paper map! I like to have flexibility when touring (or hillwalking) a paper map affords this far better than any GPS ever will.

StuTho       


 

[ThousandYardStare]

Maybe I'm missing out on some fun, but it seems like unnecessary gadgetry and expense using a Satnav on a bike. What's wrong with a map...doesn't eat batteries, and doesn't end up in a landfill when it packs up two weeks after the warranty runs out (consumer electronics...bleuuughh!). I'm not a total luddite...it can make a lot of sense for driving and hiking. Wouldn't bother on a bike though.

[6527richardm]

I have just been reading this thread and can recommend a Garmin Edge 800 it works out at about the same price as a Satmap but is bike specific albeit it can be used for other navigation.

I considered the Edge and the Satmap but in the end went for the Edge due to its size.  Mine came withthe UK OS map and it is relatively easy to plan a route and load it onto the unit.  You also get lots of ride information which you do not get with the Satmap. As regards batteries it is an internal battery but because I stay in B & B's I can charge each night and the charger is very light effectively no more than a small plug.

[Fred A-M]

How long does the battery last with the Garmin 800 or any other satnavs mentioned?

Recharging would be key for me as I largely intend using campsites in the future - can any of above be charged using Son Dynohub or does anyone know if the Dynohub can be used to recharge AA batteries?

Ref Iphone, asides battery life issue, download costs abroad for a 1 week trip are likely to cost more than a Garmin, so wouldn't advise, even if you are keeping your day trips short!

[Joatamon]

There are Garmin models which use AA batteries and they're arguably more suitable for touring - the GPSMAP and Etrex series.  I get  a day and a half touring out of a pair of AA batteries, and it's just more convenient for me to not have to worry about charging, and more cost effective than paying for a dyno hub.   You may find that even if you already have a dyno hub, the capital cost of whatever regulator/charger might be required wouldn't be worth it.  No matter where I am, as long as I have 2 AA's in the bag I can run the present set to exhaustion.

SatMap - as far as I'm aware, it uses raster maps from the OS, as opposed to Garmin's vector mapping.  That means no auto-routing. 

Free mapping from OpenStreetMap means you don't really have to buy Garmin maps.  Try talkytoaster for UK map downloads which will work on Garmin without further processing.  There's free mapping for Europe as well but that might need a bit of effort to make it work with your GPS.

[Blacksail]

The 800 manual say 15 hours, that'll be without using the backlight, and you can buy an external battery which is good for another 20 hours. The old 705 could be charged using a USB connector, so you could charge from a dyno hub, but the screen turns off when connected in this way so you couldn't use it at the same time that you were charging it. Don't know if the 800 shares this feature..

Does anyone know if you can get satnavs that know about cycle paths, as in the Netherlands you'll spend 95% of your time on paths and they don't necessarily follow the same route as the roads.

[Joatamon]

First time I've seen this, but it looks promising:


http://openmtbmap.org/

[Fred A-M]

Cheers Blacksail & Joatman for the feedback, v useful - note taken for if and when I secure and when I secure that next promotion/new job!

[blair]

Re: GPS versus paper maps
GPS will tell you where you are, and tell you when you have gotten off your intended track.
Maps aren't always up to date (GPS or paper) and it's often difficult to pick which of several branch tracks is the one you want.
I found the autorouting very useful finding our way through French villages, and it's a lot quicker than trying to work out the route from a typical road map.
It's essential to have a paper map as well, though, as the GPS is no good for long range planning, and paper maps don't suffer from flat batteries.

Re: Battery life
I use Sanyo Eneloop LiMH AA batteries (2500 mAH, I think) and they seem to give about 15 hrs life, usually enough for 2 days riding. I carry spares in a B&M IXON IQ headlight, and use its charger. B&M do a gadget called an e-Werk which will recharge this from a hub dyno. I'll probably get a PowerMonkey if I do the Outback Odyssey this year (1000km mountain bike ride).

[ThousandYardStare]

Reasons I can think of to use a GPS on a bike:

For wilderness trail riding
You like playing with tekkie toys
You're crossing Mongolia or the Democratic Republic of Congo (ie somewhere with no signs, where you can get dangerously lost)
You have a very poor sense of direction
For pre-programming a race route (or other times when it's detrimental to stop and check the map for a few seconds)

So I suppose beneficial indeed in some cases, but for bike touring they're absolutely not necessary for the vast majority of trips ('necessary' being the key word here- If you simply enjoy playing with gadgets that's a different matter).

I write this partly because I hate to see people convinced that yet further expense is necessary if they want to get into the marvellous world of bike touring, partly because I loathe consumer electronics , and partly becuase it's 4 in the morning and I'm trying to take my mind off a monster toothache  . Apologies for (slightly) hijacking the thread  .