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ShirleyTemple Regular Visitor
Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 141 Location: Southampton/Portsmouth
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Posted: Fri Feb 11, 2005 7:23 pm Post subject: Biking with GPS |
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Hi there to any biking GPS experts.
I've got a GoldWing and I'm looking for a self contained GPS primarily for Europe. I will want to use it in the car in this country.
I'm looking at the Mio 268/269. The Garmins are OK but the screens are a bit small and I think I'd like to have the 3D option as well as the MP3 facility . Am I right in thinking that the screen characteristics are not that important, as it's the voice commands which do the business when riding a bike. Is it any better to have the display in Landscape rather than Portrait. Do I need to worry about having a Hard Drive on a motorbike? A lot of bikers opt for the Garmin 2610 instead of the 2620 for that reason.
Any input would be appreciated before I pick up the phone and part with the money.
Cheers, Brian. |
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Skippy Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:49 pm Post subject: Re: Biking with GPS |
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Hello and
I don't know about the Mio, but I do use a Garmin and sometimes a Smartphone on my bike.
My opinions (your mileage may vary!!) are:
Screen size is not that much of a problem. I use a GPS-V and a Smartphone and they both have quite small screens. The most important thing is the distance to next turn countdown. The GPS gives a nice closeup of the intersection when you arrive there so you can tell where you are going.
If you have a decent helmet speaker system then the voice commands are definately worth having, but I can live without them. Sometimes they aren't 100% clear about where they want you to go. If I had to choose between voice or map, I would choose map every time. Simple intersections are OK, but more complex ones may cause you to take a wrong turn.
Screen orientation is probably best in portrait. I don't really bother with 3D map display, I think it's a gimmick but other people quite like it.
Hard disk on a bike: I would say don't do it. There is a lot of vibration and it could cause problems. I don't think Garmin recommend it.
Remember that you will have to waterproof and mount your Mio somehow. Check out http://www.otterbox.com/ and http://www.ram-mounts-uk.com/ for some ideas.
Let us know how you get on! _________________ Gone fishing! |
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ShirleyTemple Regular Visitor
Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 141 Location: Southampton/Portsmouth
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:00 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for that Skippy,
I'll bear all that in mind. I'm going to wait for the Mio 268 (without Hard Drive) review which is due out in March, then make up my mind. I'm quite happy to change the odd card over when travelling.
Thanks again, Brian. |
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Skippy Pocket GPS Verifier
Joined: 24/06/2003 00:22:12 Posts: 2946 Location: Escaped to the Antipodies! 36.83°S 174.75°E
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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ShirleyTemple wrote: | I'm quite happy to change the odd card over when travelling. |
I don't think you will need to change cards, even considering the distances you could cover on a 'wing.
The entire Western European maps for my Garmin GPS are less than 1 Gig and a large portion would fit into 512 Meg. The entire UK is about 128 Meg. CoPilot maps are a similar size. The maps for the MIO might be bigger but take this as a guide.
You can get solid state (ie not hard drive) 1 Gig memory cards for about £50 these days so you would probably have room for a good number of MP3's too. _________________ Gone fishing! |
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StevenGourlay Frequent Visitor
Joined: Sep 28, 2004 Posts: 808 Location: Ullapool
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ShirleyTemple Regular Visitor
Joined: Feb 11, 2005 Posts: 141 Location: Southampton/Portsmouth
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Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Skippy.
By the way do you have snow on your Christmas Cards? I only ask because I've just got back from Ibiza (Spain) and they were saying that they sent Christmas Cards with scenes of snow which I thought was a little strange.
Thanks for the link Steve.
I have visited this site before but I'm not keen on Garmin because:- no 3D view, no MP3 Player ect., smaller screen and a bit bulky for slipping into your pocket. But I will be needing an intercom interface for the voice commands.
Cheers, Brian.
PS I wish they would do something about the speed on this site and I'm on 1mb/s broadband. |
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DavidW Pocket GPS Moderator
Joined: 17/05/2003 02:26:21 Posts: 3747 Location: Bedfordshire, UK
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Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 4:30 am Post subject: |
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We are aware that there's some speed issues on the site; we're doing what we can to sort them out.
David |
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