Advice requested: Which GPS and mapping for recording walks?

[pdhpdh]

I am a complete GPS novice, and I'm after a pocket GPS.
I do a bit of walking (SW England) but I don't particularly need navigational assistance.
All I really want to do is be able to log the route & distance I've walked, time taken (and thus average speed), and if possible the variations in height over the length of the route ( rarely more than, say, 300M in my case, I'm a bit of a lightweight). It would be great if the device could distinguish between time I'm moving and time I'm stationary.
I'm guessing this bit is achievable for a relatively low cost ?
In a perfect world I'd be able to come back to my laptop, plug the receiver in and download the route I've just walked to some mapping software to display and store the exact route I just walked.
I'm guessing this bit is much more expensive and complicated?
Presales for a GPS etailer suggested Garmin eTrex Summit HC and Memory-Map software/maps.
The Summit seems a decent unit from my research, and is about as much as I'm willing to pay at this point, so that seems a straightforward choice, unless there are other/better suggestions. One thing I have seen in reviews is that the Summit has a "relatively poor" battery life at 12 hours, and wondered whether that's a realistic estimate and what it's likely to be in use.
I've seen lots of digital maps & mapping software is available, and am getting more and more overwhelmed with choices!
Bearing in mind that I walk with OS Explorer1:25000 paper maps the Anquet series seem good, but I've also seen Memory-Map "Selections" which might suit me fine to begin with.
Can any of the more experienced hands here offer advice? Either on the choice of GPS or, perhaps more importantly, what to look for when purchasing digital maps/mapping software.
Remember I'm not looking to upload maps to the GPS unit, this is all about recording and displaying walks in as fine-grained detail as I can.
thanks in advance & I hope these aren't too many questions for a single thread.
Paul

[philpugh]

GPS unit choice is inevitably a budget thing. Most of the newer devices will do what you want from logging point of view.

Both Anquet and Memory Map will work well with the Summit - allowing you to plan walks on your computer, download waypoints and routes to your GPS, then recover your actual track after the walk and plot height, distance duration. You can print bespoke maps with your waypoints and routes marked and preserve your OS maps a bit longer! You can then archive all the files these for future use / reference.

Although the Summit is a mapping unit - you can't get OS quality maps onto it - so don't be mislead by sales persons.

Go for a sensitive receiver (so the Summit HC is a good choice) as you can have tracking issues in dense woodland (esp on a wet summers day).

Also - always take a compass - electronics (usually the batteries) will fail at the worst time. Carry spare batteries - usually these devices use 2-4 AA cells - so a spare set is hardly a major load item.

I have a GARMIN GPS60 and the quoted battery life is 18hrs - I get around that sort of time from 2 Duracell AAs - so I am well pleased. I'm about to upgrade to a mapping unit (Colorado 300) - which I know will have worse battery performance - but I expect a good days walking out of it - which is around 8 hours when out on the hills.

Don't let the technology get inthe way of enjoying the walk - it's only another tool to help you stay on the straight and narrow
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Phil

[BillScarab]

I use Memory Map with a Garmin Geko 301 for this purpose. I plan the route in memory map and then uplaod the route to the Gekp so I can use it to navigate. Then when I finish I download the track from the Geko to the PC so I can see where I really went!

www.gps4less.co.uk have the Geko 201 for £63 at the moment, no idea how reliable they are I saw it on Hotukdeals. I think the only differences between the 201 and the 301 I've got is the colour of the unit and the 301 has a barometric altimeter and an electronic compass. The Gekos are very small and lght and the bettery life is OK but I always carry a spare set anyway. They use 2 AAAs.

The biggest cost tends to be the price of the maps for MemoryMap due to the OS licensing costs.

[pdhpdh]

Thanks for your replies.
Just to say, Phil, yes it's the walking that matters! Which is why I'm not that interested in uploading routes & waypoints to the GPS.
But I am interested in have a detailed record of a route I've walked (which pleases the obsessive-compulsive bit of me) and in owning hardware (because I like toys! -- and coincidentally I saw the Colorado last night and fell for it -- although it's massively overspecified for my needs)
Someone else gave me a link to EveryTrail, which looks very interesting, and does on the web pretty much what I want to do on my laptop.
I've assumed that to record a walk's height profile I'll need a GPS with a barometric altimeter like the Summit?
thanks again
Paul

[philpugh]

If you aren't bothered about using the navigation side of the GPS then something like the Zycast 289 GPS Logger works well. I have one and you can import the track logs directly into MemoryMap or run them through some s/w to display them on GoogleEarth. It has a Nokia LiIon phone battery - so you could have a spare one with you - very lightweight. They claim 8 hours - but I get abit less than this in costant use. It has a Lat/Long/Alt display - so not all that useful with OS maps. It's very sensitive and I carry it in my rucsac 'top bag'.

I have used GPS4LESS in the past - which answers a previous question from BillScarab - I find them reliable. My Colorado 300 is on pre-order from them. They have offers on several GPS units at present. Remember that for some of them you will need to buy the cable to connect to your PC - others come with a USB cable. They have the sensitive ETREX H on offer for approx £54 and the USB cable for a further £25. Nice simple system with very good battery life and a good introduction to the technology.

Many GPS systems will calculate Altitude and some will log this information. However the accuracy is not really that impressive. It's common to stand still and see that your altitude is changing several 10's of metres over a few minutes. There horizontal accuracy is far more impressive. 10-15 metres should be the norm. A well calibrated barometeric unit will be more accurate - but will need regular calibration during a walk if atmospheric conditions are changing rapidly (as they tend to do in UK). If you use MemoryMap or Anquet then you can get a pretty accurate elevation profile as they will use your 2D track (Lat/Long) to derive the altitude from their height data. Memory map will allow you to use GPS height or their calculated height to show a profile - you can certainly tell the difference between the two.
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Phil

[pdhpdh]

That's most helpful -- thanks very much.
I may have to defer a purchase as the car has had to have it's going-round-corners-and-stopping bits fixed, but I feel a lot clearer about things now.
I think I'll probably get a Summit and experiment with EveryTrail to begin with.
Or maybe I'll save up and get a Colorado and a pile of Anquet CDs

Paul

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