GPS-How good are they in actual bike tour use?

What level Garmin? I just read that the Legend will only accept the Garmin mapware.

I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the bike
paths and tours listed in many touring books? And if not, would it be worth it to take it for the
nearby roads? What links will tell me of this mapware? Thanks, Lyndon Salt Lake City

 

Garmin will only accept Garmin maps and Magellan will only accept Magellan maps. I use a Garmin
Vista but have only used it here in the USA.

The Garmin web site has a feature where you can view the maps on line before you buy. Try that.

Here are two good links about GPS: http://users.cwnet.com/dalede/ http://gpsinformation.net/

Bob

"Lyndon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What level Garmin? I just read that the Legend will only accept the Garmin mapware.
>
> I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
> Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the bike
> paths and tours listed in many touring books? And if not, would it be worth it to take it for the
> nearby roads? What links will tell me of this mapware? Thanks, Lyndon Salt Lake City

 

I used a Garmin (GPS V) on the Bike Florida trip. MapSource is the software that came with it. Since
we used B&Bs and hotels on the tour (instead of tent camping), I put the hotel/b&b waypoints in the
Garmin (downloaded from my home computer post trip) and the Garmin directed us accurately to each
accommodation. A couple of the b&bs would have been tricky to find without it. The hotels were a no
brainer as they had "location-location-location".

GPS V has an optional handlebar mount that worked great; very secure and easy on and off.

I have not used it in Europe.

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

You can use the very detailed USGS maps, digitized by National Geographic for their Topo series, to
plot these trails, then download the waypoints to the GPS unit (where they would be superimposed on
the less-detailed, Garmin maps-- but these garmin maps look pretty good as far as roads go).

Nationalgeographic has a free service called mapexchange, where people can upload and download
routes plotted on their Topo software. As of right now, there aren't many routes there, but if
'bent users were to adopt these technologies and do some uploading, there could be many routes up
very soon.

www.nationalgeographic.com/mapxchange

for more info on this stuff, i'd try searching the orienteering boards...

> I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
> Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the bike
> paths and tours

 

"Lyndon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> What level Garmin? I just read that the Legend will only accept the Garmin mapware.
>
> I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
> Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the bike
> paths and tours listed in many touring books? And if not, would it be worth it to take it for the
> nearby roads? What links will tell me of this mapware? Thanks, Lyndon Salt Lake City

It's well worth it in my opinion, I use a Garmin III+ all the time, however you must use
Garmin's maps.

 

I rarely leave my driveway without my GPS V on the handlebars. I use rechargeable NI-MH batteries in
mine--they last about 8-10 hours between charges. Around town it helps me to stay off the main
roads, while making sure I'm not getting myself into a "no outlet" situation. Often times
neighborhoods are designed with twisty streets designed to confound the casual short-cutter--no
prob. with a GPS moving map display. Out in the country it shows the county roads too (though it
sometimes fails to distinguish between gravel/dirt roads and paved roads, nor does it tell you if
the road has a shoulder or not.) Best of all, when you're on a lonely stretch of country road
bucking a 25 MPH headwind... you've got a cool gadget to play with. One complaint: when I use the
GPS-V's autorouting feature, it accurately calculates the mileage to destination, but the ETA it
bases on a 60 MPH average .... I'm not there (yet).

Bill Anton Vision R-40 OSS Lubbock, TX

"m..leuck" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> "Lyndon" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > What level Garmin? I just read that the Legend will only accept the Garmin mapware.
> >
> > I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
> > Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the
> > bike paths and tours listed in many touring books? And if not, would it be worth it to take it
> > for the nearby roads? What links will tell me of this mapware? Thanks, Lyndon Salt Lake City
>
> It's well worth it in my opinion, I use a Garmin III+ all the time, however you must use
> Garmin's maps.

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] (Lyndon) wrote:

> What level Garmin? I just read that the Legend will only accept the Garmin mapware.

That's true for street maps, other types of third party maps should work (such as Topo).

> I would like to know if this would be a gimmick, or I real tool for recumbent touring in
> Holland,Belgium, France, and the Rhine River. Is there mapware that can be downloaded for the bike
> paths and tours listed in many touring books? And if not, would it be worth it to take it for the
> nearby roads? What links will tell me of this mapware?

Garmin has a number of Eurpoean maps available, including Metroguide (shows restaurants, hotels, gas
stations, etc) and Roads & Recreation (accurate shore lines, points of interest). The Roads &
Recreation line doesn't mention trails, but the US version does include some (although it doesn't
distinguish the type of trail - bike, hiking only, etc). Both have detailed street maps.

http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/RnREuro.jsp
http://www.garmin.com/cartography/mapSource/MGEuro.jsp

-Carl

 

I like to go here: http://terraserver.microsoft.com/ and check out the USGS aerial photos. You can
use gps readings, towns or specific addresses to locate photos.

 

I am new to GPS so please bear with me. I too was on the Bike Florida trip. How do you know what the
way points are that you entered for the B&B's.

Peter M Spirito

PS: and a great trip it was...it was my first camping experience

"chere" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I used a Garmin (GPS V) on the Bike Florida trip. MapSource is the software that came with it.
of tent camping), I put the hotel/b&b waypoints in

 

(1) Enter the address in the software (2) mark it as a waypoint (3) download to the GPS.

Yes, Bike Florida was a great trip (except for those last 20 miles in the rain).

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

<<I am new to GPS so please bear with me. I too was on the Bike Florida trip. How do you know what
the way points are that you entered for the B&B's.

Peter M Spirito

PS: and a great trip it was...it was my first camping experience

 

I used my GPS (Garmin eTrex Vista) a few times on Bike Florida. I put it in my bag after using it
for a while on one of the days when we were just heading south on route A1A - it was just too boring
to look at - on the GPS, not in "real life" - this whole big blank "nothing" on one side (the
Atlantic Ocean), for hours. I have a picture on my website which shows my trike and I on the beach.
Very scenic, but boring on a GPS screen! One thing you can do with the Vista, which you probably can
do with others, is do a "find" on a city name, and once you have, mark it as a waypoint - no need to
do it prior to the ride and download it to your GPS unit.
--
Larry Varney Cold Spring, KY http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney

chere wrote:
> (1) Enter the address in the software (2) mark it as a waypoint (3) download to the GPS.
>
> Yes, Bike Florida was a great trip (except for those last 20 miles in the rain).
>
> --
> Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD
>
> <<I am new to GPS so please bear with me. I too was on the Bike Florida trip. How do you know what
> the way points are that you entered for the B&B's.
>
> Peter M Spirito
>
> PS: and a great trip it was...it was my first camping experience>>

 

Oh, dear! Hope I didn't give the impression I was staring at my GPS the entire time on Bike Florida
and missing the scenery! I didn't see as much as you though, Larry, and I'm still envious of your
photo ops. Next time I'll take advantage of some of the options. I'll admit I was too much of point
A to point B rider this (first) trip; concerned that I would bonk or couldn't cut the mustard (or
something)... first time jitters. Now that I know I can do it, I'll be a little more relaxed next
trip. As my yoga instructor tells me, strive for a "C" (instead of an "A").

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

Larry Varney <[email protected]> wrote:
: (the Atlantic Ocean), for hours. I have a picture on my website which shows my trike and I on the
: beach. Very scenic, but boring on a GPS screen!

If only the pics were in larger resolution =) Resources are so limited...

Does that fairing give nice speed benefit? How about the guy with the bottom fairing - is that made
of coroplast?

Trikes rok!

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/ varis at no spam please iki fi

 

I plan on putting larger versions of those Bike Florida pictures up eventually - what's there now
was basically an experiment with ImageMagick, to see how it would take a bunch of images and turn
them into one large montage. Did a good job, especially considering the price
- free! I haven't ridden the GTO enough without the fairing to immediately notice what amount of
benefit I get from having it - except that I was kept somewaht dryer during some heavy rain on the
subsequent Florida Bicycle Safari - but I did get a chance to do an impromptu coast-down test with
another guy on an unfaired GTO. Sure, different weights, different tires, so nothing seriously
scientific or conclusive, but I did roll away from him quite noticeably. That bottom fairing is
something made out of plastic, and I'm sure Murray Cleland will be glad to let us all know about
how it improved the speed of his MR Swift.

[email protected] wrote:
> Larry Varney <[email protected]> wrote:
> : (the Atlantic Ocean), for hours. I have a picture on my website which shows my trike and I on
> : the beach. Very scenic, but boring on a GPS screen!
>
> If only the pics were in larger resolution =) Resources are so limited...
>
> Does that fairing give nice speed benefit? How about the guy with the bottom fairing - is that
> made of coroplast?
>
> Trikes rok!
>
>

--
Larry Varney Cold Spring, KY http://home.fuse.net/larryvarney