Hi! We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
But as we’re losing ad-revenue from this then why not make a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2006 9:34 pm Post subject:
Hi Alan.
Thanks for your message answering my question with no more doubts left.
First a few words to the general OS-related part of your message. I know the OS maps, I've a complete collection of the Travel Map 1-8 series (these are the 1:250'000 ones) as well as the Travel Map GB-2005 (which is the 1:625'000 one). I like to use them as the quality is really good and also very accurate for finding all kinds of places. I've used some Landranger and Explorer maps as well, although I don't own them.
As a side-note: We've been to various parts of GB since Sept-2003, ranging from Cornwall, East Anglia, Wales up to the Scottish border, been to the Scottish Borders/Edinburgh and much of the Western part up from Glasgow to Inverness. So you could say that we (my wife and myself) are quite enthusiastic about The Island !
Back to the main topic. The problem of interoperability is sad, but I suspect you're right, all the vendors like to sell their own branded data.
My conclusion now is, that for me it's not worth to get the TOPO GB, I'd rather buy a few Explorer/Landranger maps on paper.
My decision about the type of device (PocketPC vs. traditional outdoor GPS) is already made. I first thought about a PPC, but then decided agains it for reasons of readability in bright sunlight as well as the robustness and waterproof design. I'd like to be able to use it in car, on my motorbike and from time to time while hiking. This made the Quest 2 very appealing to me.
Thanks for all the great answers in here, it helped me a lot to take a well informed decission. I'm always open to hear other opinions and/or hints! I'll stick around some more for sure, this forum is quite to my liking, as far as I can tell by now. :D
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2006 12:36 am Post subject:
Hi BeatO,
Glad to be of help. As this question is getting rather off-topic, I'll be brief:
I entirely agree with your objections to a PPC for outdoor use. But do you find the Garmin colour display better than a PPC's in daylight, and if so, do you know why? Is it perhaps that the display works better in reflective mode, or is the data format (e.g. colours) more suited for outdoor use? Or is the backlight brighter?
Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:09 am Post subject:
Hi Alan
IMHO, the Quest works better in reflective mode than any PPC I've seen up till now. That's true esp. in bright sunlight conditions. If you need a backlight (because it's getting dark), the differences are much smaller. The strength is that you don't need any backlight in bright conditions with the Quest2. But that's just my opinion.
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:48 am Post subject:
BeatO wrote:
The strength is that you don't need any backlight in bright conditions with the Quest2. But that's just my opinion.
I'll agree with that. The Quest screen works fine in normal light conditions wih the backlight off.
I do wish Garmin would allow us to scan and calibrate our own maps for their GPS units, like you can do with Memory Map. They could argue that their vector maps are smaller, but with 1 gig of memory selling for about £25 who cares? I'll take the OS maps anyday. _________________ Gone fishing!
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject:
Hi BeatO and Skippy,
Thanks, that's what I suspected. Presumably the higher resolution and "65000 colours" of PPC screens make them less good in reflective mode than the Quest's.
I don't know if a "graphics engine" to support raster-maps (on the Quest) would impact on the battery drain, but anyway scanning OS maps is strictly a violation of their copyright. It's not possible to calibrate ANY maps on the UK versions of Memory Map and Fugawi, you can only use the European/World versions of the software. And I paid £32 for my last Gig on SD .
Now, perhaps we'd better give this thread back to "Topo" . Has anyone actually used it in earnest on a handheld GPS?
Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 11:49 pm Post subject: TOPOGreat Britain
I'm getting conflicting messages over TOPO GB's capabilities. Can it provide automatic road routing on a GPS60CS? I don't believe it can route on trails (in fact there seems to be some doubt over whether it shows all trails). Can anyone enlighten me?
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 12:22 am Post subject: Re: TOPOGreat Britain
Andydug wrote:
I'm getting conflicting messages over TOPO GB's capabilities. Can it provide automatic road routing on a GPS60CS? I don't believe it can route on trails (in fact there seems to be some doubt over whether it shows all trails). Can anyone enlighten me?
Joined: 20/08/2002 11:51:57 Posts: 3859 Location: Essex, UK
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 3:32 am Post subject: Re: TOPOGreat Britain
Andydug wrote:
I'm getting conflicting messages over TOPO GB's capabilities. Can it provide automatic road routing on a GPS60CS? I don't believe it can route on trails (in fact there seems to be some doubt over whether it shows all trails). Can anyone enlighten me?
Yes it can. It does the routing based on the Navteq map layer so will only consider roads for routing.
The routing is not confusing, but is limited a little by the capabilities of the device. In particular there is no spoken instructions, but the turn by turn indications are there and the system re-routes if you go off course. I am still to evaluate the routing algorithms compared to other navigation systems and routes that I would take.
Obviously the navigation is limited by the size of the screen as well.
The trails are how shall we put it? Interesting? Some are there and some are not. Different paths are shown at different zoom levels. In theory there should be greater detail in the maps as the source is from much higher resolution data. I will be finding out what is happening here soon... _________________ Mike Barrett
Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 109 Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 10:32 pm Post subject:
Sorry, I should have been a little more precise. Garmin has some PocketPC based devices, which can load them. The non-PocketPC based models have the vector maps. Sorry for that, didn't think about those, as for me Garmin is not a typical PPC-producer.
Joined: Feb 23, 2005 Posts: 376 Location: Catford, London, UK
Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2006 11:04 pm Post subject:
Hi,
Yes, I rather wonder if Garmin even manufacture the iQue themselves, especially as some use the Palm OS and others are MS Windows PPCs. Fugawi is the only OS mapping software compatible with Palms, but PPCs can also run Memory Map (which IMHO is a better PPC application), etc..
However, because the iQue's are fundamentally PDAs, I don't think they're compatible with "Topo", so aren't very relevant to this thread (except in terms of the general comparison of PDAs versus "traditional" Handheld GPSs).
It's not possible to calibrate ANY maps on the UK versions of Memory Map and Fugawi, you can only use the European/World versions of the software. And I paid £32 for my last Gig on SD .
That is surprising!
I use 'Pathaway' on a Palm, linked to a simple eTrex for Topo style maping - mostly for sea kayaking. It can calibrate any map you can scan or screen copy into your PC.
Posted: Today Post subject: Pocket GPS Advertising
We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
Have you considered making a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!
Hi! We see you’re using an ad-blocker. We’re fine with that and won’t stop you visiting the site.
But as we’re losing ad-revenue from this then why not make a donation towards website running costs?. Or you could disable your ad-blocker for this site. We think you’ll find our adverts are not overbearing!