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Looking for GPS for walking and a Good car satnav as oneunit

 
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mikepie
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Joined: Sep 13, 2006
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 5:46 pm    Post subject: Looking for GPS for walking and a Good car satnav as oneunit Reply with quote

Hi I'm looking to buy a GPS for hill walking , ideally something that will work with memory map, but I also want to use it for routing in the car with spoken directions.

Anyone have any cluess or hints
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Andy_P
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 8:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They are usually quite different beasts...
For a start, car navigation usually has some sort of "snapping" onto roads, which is a disaster if you wan to use it for serious walking off-road.
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mikealder
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2009 10:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Road Angel 7000 tried to perform this dual function but having tried it I found it failed for either mode of use, its just not quite right - great idea but doesn't master the task required.

If you want the best equipment consider two seperate devices, high end would be something like a TomTom XL IQ Live for road use, and a Satmap Active10 for the off road activities, add a few maps to the purchase and you will be looking at £500 to £750 with this approach.

The alternate is the GPS equipped PDA combined with a decent sat nav software for road use and something like Memory Map or Quo for the off road activities. Add an Otter box so the device can survive and you might have the answer to your needs at far less outlay - Have a look at the Asur PDA devices with built in GPS receivers, or even consider some of the HTC PDA based mobile phones as they are very good in use even if you don't need the phone (try an ebay search for something like the Artemis and you won't go far wrong) - And before you ask I don't have an Artemis for sale my 11 year old daughter makes use of that device these days - Mike
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philpugh
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Location: Antrobus, Cheshire

PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 6:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mikealder wrote:
Have a look at the Asur PDA devices with built in GPS receivers, or even consider some of the HTC PDA based mobile phones as they are very good in use even if you don't need the phone (try an ebay search for something like the Artemis and you won't go far wrong) - And before you ask I don't have an Artemis for sale my 11 year old daughter makes use of that device these days - Mike


I'll second that - I resurrected an old Artemis and it runs MemoryMap like a dream - a tad heavy on battery usage possibly though. Mind you - I also have an Active 10 Wink
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Topefisher
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I recently had this dilema which was further compounded by having also to be waterproof and go on my Motorcycle.
There is also the added benefit of boat use - see below:

In the end I have opted for the Garmin Zumo 660 unit which cost a megga £411, but fortunately as it is also being used in my company car they went halves on the cost.

Motorcycle use: This unit has European and UK mapping, is waterproof. It is Bluetooth and can be used with selective phones. It is stereo bluetooth protocol and interfaces with the Scala and similar headsets for helmet verbally received directions. There are also settings on the unit for motorcycle preferences. The screen display has large button usage specific for when using gloves. There is a full quality Ram motorcycle mount system with it which has waterproof motorcycle specific wiring loom and which also includes a headphone and MP3 socket if needed. It can be adapted for multiple motorycle use by using additional waterproof sockets etc and extra partial Ram mounts.

Car use: As above features. There is a dedicated car mount included, along with standard 12v supply lead, which has now been hard wired into the cars fuse system to kep things tidy. Its a wide screen and is very handy for people with not so good short eyesight.

Switching: The unit automatically senses which vehicle it is connected to and all the dedicated vehicle specific settings are hence selected.

Walking: I have full Garmin UK topo maps installed on a seperate micro SD card. They work well on this unit. You can very quickly switch between mapping systems and work fully to the topo mapping. It dosn't have all the geocaching capabilities that my previous Garmin 60csx had but it is very good for general walking. The battery life is also quite reasonable and I am looking at alternatives for further extending. Again the unit has the advantage of being waterproof so a case isnt really needed unless damage pretection for you is essential. Being a wide screen its is quite a big unit for hand held but its certainly to my liking.

Boating: I also have all the UK Blue Chart waters stored on micro SD which then converts the unit into a very good backup chart plotter on my fishing boat, where again, its waterproof properties are very beneficial. Again mapping selection is a very easy selection process.
The easiest method of swapping from motorcycle to motorcycle and from motorcycle to boat is to use good quality waterproof socket and plugs that are generally available ( on a well known auction site ). You can get the twist and lock type which give a more positive and lasting connection.

I think Garmin do not widely or even publish the marine and walking capabilities of this unit and it is only by trial and error that I have managed to prove these out to some extent. I have yet to do far more exhaustive trials which I will in 2010.
IMHO this has got to be one of the most versatile units available and I certainly am not aware of any unit that will offer to do all of the above effectively.

For me it has been so good I have now disposed of my previuosly trusty TomTom and also my Garmin 60csx.
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AliOnHols
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PostPosted: Thu Dec 17, 2009 9:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Topefisher, many thanks for that bit of info. I too have been looking for an all in one and believed that something from the Garmin csx range would be the closest "match" so it is with great interest that I notice you have ditched the 60csx in favour of the Zumo 660.
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Topefisher
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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2009 9:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Ali, Don't be put off by the 60csx as it is a superb piece of kit for its intended use. I bought my 60csx to try and use for most of reasons I have mentioned plus some standard off road mountain biking as well.

It just did not give voice commands on the motorcycle and it was just too small on the screen sizing for me when used on all the applications I mentioned except in the car where I just used a standard TomTom Go.
I didn't do geocaching with it so never got to used it to its full potential, just some hill and moorland walking. I did like this unit though, but it just ended being dead money and for what I sold it for it almost paid for my half of the 660 anyway.

For me it just wasn't as versatile as this Zumo 660 is now proving to be.
2010 will be an interesreting year to prove this unit out fully and I am looking forward to doing just that.
I dearly wish I had got the 660 earlier on this year when we had a fortnights motorcycling on mainland Spain. I was relying on others in the group to do the navigation and the TomTom riders they had were really playing up.

I don't intend using the Zumo 660 on a mountain bike as the need for a GPS when cycling will no longer be necessary for me and its widescreen format is just too big for that application anyway. We are just sticking to recognised trails.

I reckon a lot of the price of the Zummo 660 has to be in the duel sets of mounts supplied anyway, in particular the motorcycle one and its comprehensive multi outlet harness.

I didn't really intend to put anybody off the 60csx. As I have mentioned it really was a good bit of kit.
What I am trying to do is get over the added hidden advantages that the Zumo 660 has which isn't widely published.

A lot depends on the individual using a unit in particular if you need reading glasses for close work. The large vs small screen layout, then becomes far more important, especially if you can get away without having to always wear your reading glasses when using.
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AliOnHols
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PostPosted: Sat Dec 19, 2009 8:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Topefisher, many thanks for your detailed replies, they are very informative and much appreciated.

Do not worry, you have not put me off of the CSx range, I had discounted them myself for the very reasons you mention i.e small screen in Car mode; Lack of BlueTooth for Motorbike use; Lack of any useable map when first purchased; etc.. However, what you have done is to point me in the direction of the Zumo range which is something I would not normally do (I get so angry with manufacturers when they think that they can double or triple the price of something just because it is a "niche" market and, regardless of how "mainstream" motrobikes are, anything associated with motorbiking seems to be in the "niche" - - Sorry, I lost the plot for a while there and went into Rant Mode Shocked). So, It looks like the Zumo could be the All Singing All Dancing answer if only I can find a way to justify that hefty 400GBP price tag plus, of course, the cost of the additional maps for each of the other disciplines - Walking and Boating.

Just one question, I notice that on the Garmin WebSite it states that the Zumo 660 does NOT have Dead Reckoning, Are you aware if this correct? not that this is so important, I just find it strange that this function is not supported for a Motorbike dedicated GPS when my old Nuvi 760 for the car did have it. Presumably though, it does "kick-in" whilst in Marine or walking mode? Otherwise, navigating the Solent via the M27 could be a tad tricky!

Many thanks, Ali.
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Topefisher
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 20, 2009 3:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Ali, the Zumo 660 does not have a marine mode. It has four modes only that you can setup preferences for which are the motorcycle, wallking, automobile and scooter. I havn't even checked out why there is a seperate scooter mode to the motorcycle one yet??

You are quite right in that I do not think it has dead reckoning as such.

I would never recommend anybody purchasing this device outright for a main navigation device, but yes certainly as a backup device.

Other than my compass, my main navigation device is my Garmin 192C which even now is starting to be a tad dated as it dosn't have good 3D imaging.
The 60csx I had was intended as a backup device to this and I only ever had it on board for that.
This Zumo 660 is intended as the same.

I do go a bit over the top I am afraid, with a fixed compass, backup handheld compass, fixed chartplotter and now the 660, but I have been caught out too many times in thick sea mists and one or two times with battery failure.
You wouldn't believe how many jetskis and other boats I have had to lead or bring back in but thats another story.

The topic of what the definition of a chart plotter actually is is quite exhaustive and yes the Zumo 660 certainly falls well short of being a defined one. The topic of dead reckoning navigation is even far more exhaustive and this isn't really an interest of the original poster so won't go into it here.

It does however go much further than the benefits of a standard GPS.

I only took it with me the last time I went out before winterising my boat to give it a quick once over.
You can see where you are, where you want to go, store waypoints/wreck locations, fishing marks etc and go to and from them.

It certainly hasn't got all the capabilities of my 192c though thats for sure.

I will post results when I do more experimenting.

With regard to bluetooth, most of the listening devices that I know of that are used on motorcycles such as the Cardo Scala's I have, use a different stereo bluetooth protocol apparently than the normal car stanavs which is why the car types cannot be readily adapted for motorcycle use even with waterproof covers.
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