Topic: GPS (Read 4993 times)

Paddyman · « **on:** November 21, 2014 »

Hi All, maybe some off you could help me. I am looking for a good gps for the mountains, basically want to be able to download maps and tracks from mountainviews.ie and other similar sites. probably looking to spend between 200 and 300 euro, and can any off you recommend any good outdoor hiking shops in the Co Down area.
Thanks

Rich.H · « **Reply #1 on:** November 21, 2014 »

Can't offer any help on the GPS unit side of things, but have you considered the Viewranger phone app? You can get full 25k & 50k maps downloaded to a device and keep and share tracks with folks. It acts like a full graphical GPS unit with a couple of extra features too. For the budget you have set yourself you could even go all out and simply buy one of the outdoor style rugged handsets without using any sim card for the sole purpose of gps, and get all the maps included inside your budget price.

Paddyman · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2014 »

Thanks Richard for your advice, i was intially thinking of getting a gps unit, because it would be waterproof more robust and would most of the time pick up the satelite singles even in bad weather, where as the phone might not be as reliable, but you make good points for the phone and apps and its probably cheaper . Thanks

Rich.H · « **Reply #3 on:** November 24, 2014 »

Signal wise both items should be exactly the same, the phone app does not require any mobile signal and works exclusively from gps, although if you were to use them in more extreme places and high altitude the phone perhaps could suffer. You are correct about the durability issue though, I know most outdoor gps units tend to be near fully waterproof so it comes down to just how wet do you want your unit to be able to get while still working. There are a few phone handsets that are waterproof, and some full proper cases you can bu will add an element of waterproofing to the phone. If you are only worried about the odd few splashes of rain then neither method will have better durability.

RedLeader · « **Reply #4 on:** November 25, 2014 »

For hiking shops around County Down, there's Hilltrekker in Newcastle comes to mind, though every time I call they seemed to be closed for lunch!
http://hilltrekker-online.com/hilltrekkermain.html

I have a Satmap 10 (not the new model, the original). It probably does what you're talking about - you can preload it with OS maps and download routes to it in the usual open formats (like .gpx etc). However, I've never been completely impressed by it, although it's my current GPS as I can't afford to replace it. It leaked the first time I used it and cost £80 to repair, I'm not convinced by the battery life and it has a habit of switching on and off repeatedly when it's on charge. Also, as a test I had it tracking at the weekend for a walk around Tollymore and it said I'd done 500m+ of ascent which much as I'd like it to be true, is probably incorrect. It takes an age to get a satellite lock (5+ mins) and I think I might have started the tracking before it was mentally ready

I've also had a Garmin GPS in the past and it was impressive, very rugged, but being one of the older ones had a small screen and limited map capabilities but they have well updated their range since then.

I use Mapyx for desktop route planning so I can export to a GPS device, both Garmin and Satmap are compatible with the routes but not the maps so I effectively had to buy the maps twice - once on desktop and once on the GPS but the Satmap still came in at the budget I was after which is ballpark what you're talking about.

I'd also look at the Landranger GPS units from Mapyx as they are fully compatible with the Mapyx desktop software and maps can go from the desktop to the device. I looked at them extensively last year but decided to go with the Satmap unit instead but I'm not sure I made the right choice.

Feel free to ask any questions you want.

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Author Topic: GPS (Read 4993 times)

Paddyman

GPS

Rich.H

Re: GPS

Paddyman

Re: GPS

Rich.H

Re: GPS

RedLeader

Re: GPS

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