footpath walking

paul_j_c2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 11

hi everyone happy christmas, i am thinking of buying a handheld gps for walking footpaths garmin etc,is it possible to show footpaths like an Ordinance survey does,so as you walk along you can see were you are.
as you can most probably tell i am a bit of a novice with this kind of thing only ever used a navman in the car,i would like something not to complicated or expensive as it will be just a useful guide to keeping on the right track and making a route any help will be greatly appreciated thanks paul

Robin2 · Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:31 am Post subject:

Although I have never used them, there are Ordnance Survey maps that you can use in a GPS enabled PDA. You will find a lot of information in this forum (Palm and Pocket PC Topographical software)
Robin
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TomTom One v3 Europe, Navcore 7.903, Western Europe 835.2420
TomTom Go 720 Europe, Navcore 8.351, Western Europe 855.2884
Satmap Active 10
Plus a lot of other PDA GPS kit, seldom used

mikealder · Posted: Tue Dec 26, 2006 11:52 am Post subject:

Paul, The GPS equipped PDA is great with Memory Map software loaded (Ordinance Survey maps) - these are what I use, although there are other suppliers of topographical maps for the PC/ PDA.

You can use the maps on the PC and PDA this gives you the option to plan walkes on the PC, transfer to the PDA etc. The interesting part being annalysis of your walk afterwards. Speed, Height profile, heart rate (if equipped with a seperate unit).

The drawback to the PDA used in the great outdoors is weather they don't like water (rain) etc, to this end budget on getting a rugged enclosure for your unit Otter box products provide the security against drop damage, they are water proof and you can still use the touch screen.

There is of course the Garmin products which are waterproof etc, I have never used one of these though - Mike

paul_j_c2000 · Occasional Visitor Joined: Mar 30, 2005 Posts: 11

thanks robin and mike for your input i have read about pda's i would prefer a completly waterproof unit like the garmin's can this memory map or something like it be loaded onto one of these handheld devices? thanks paul

philpugh · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 2:32 pm Post subject:

No - it's not possible to run Memory map on a GARMIN GPS unit. You can get Topographical maps for the mapping GARMIN GPS units. I haven't used these as I use Anquet (on a PDA) which is similar to Memory Map. I have seen reviews which don't rate the accuracy (i.e. missing footpaths etc) of the GARMIN UK topo.

barryd · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 6:20 pm Post subject:

For a rugged and relatively cheap solution, you could of course just use Memory Map or Anquet (etc) at home on the PC to plan the route on OS mapping.
Then print your OS map with your route on it for reference, and download the route (not the map, just the route) to your handheld GPS.
The GPS will survive pretty much anything that you survive, and if you want you can find "water resistant" paper for printing your maps.
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Barry Davies

Skippy · Posted: Wed Dec 27, 2006 8:34 pm Post subject: Re: footpath walking

GoldGordon · Occasional Visitor Joined: Dec 27, 2006 Posts: 1

I have been using my Garmin Etrex for a couple of years. It gives you a basic map so you can see local places and features like lakes and rivers but it comes into its own when you want to take a fix on your position and input waypoints based on the OS grid. (or the grids for any European contries and the US). Mine came with a gazetteer and maps for all of Western Europe for less than the price of 2 sections of the UK on OS map software. It's a brilliant device for walkers.

I have also been playing with the Anquet maps on a PC with tranfer to PDA. The maps are brilliant (though the software is bit clunky at times). It's impressive to see it on a PDA with GPS and to track your position along the OS map image but for serious walking I would stick to the Garmin. (Waterproof, drop-proof, 8 hour battery life and no loss of data when you change batteries)

The Anquet software means can have neat A4 size printed OS maps with the routes marked and that exact route transferred to the Garmin for tracking.

philpugh · Posted: Wed Jan 03, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject:

I'll second that!

Handheld GPS system / Anquet (Or MemoryMap) / personalised printed maps are the only way to do serious trek work. PDA's can't hack the duration - modern GPS units (e.g. GPS60) will give you sufficient battery life for a couple of days decent trecking (Garmin claim 28hrs - I can vouch for 18+ hrs on 2*AAs)

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