cycling with a satnav (tomtom or other)
Discussion
i was wondering if anyone as ever done that?
Are there mounts to put some of those on bikes??
I live in east London and struggle to find places where i can go out and do 30 odd miles without always hitting traffic. It is always ennoying to always rely on the same places. I often end up in victoria park doing laps after laps until i get at least 20 miles on the clock.
Once a year there is London to southend or London to cambridge, but i' d never be able to find the same countryside roads and repeat.
I would not be against aiming for a town / village and pick a train up to go back to London (not trained enough to go to southend en back on my bike!)
Are there mounts to put some of those on bikes??
I live in east London and struggle to find places where i can go out and do 30 odd miles without always hitting traffic. It is always ennoying to always rely on the same places. I often end up in victoria park doing laps after laps until i get at least 20 miles on the clock.
Once a year there is London to southend or London to cambridge, but i' d never be able to find the same countryside roads and repeat.
I would not be against aiming for a town / village and pick a train up to go back to London (not trained enough to go to southend en back on my bike!)
I have a Garmin and use memory maps I can plan a route on my computer download it to the Garmin and it direct's me kind of.
I say kind of it's not very helpful if you take a wrong turn it doesn't compute a new route just shows the direction of the waypoint so you still need to know roughly the direction and have a sense of direction, but I navigated down to Brighton with it and have done some rides local to me on it down roads and byways i'd not normally ride along it's pretty cool.
But haven't seen a tomtom for a start I doubt they are waterproof or designed for as much shock as a Garmin.
Heres a link to one https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=410 other's manufacturers are probably available
I say kind of it's not very helpful if you take a wrong turn it doesn't compute a new route just shows the direction of the waypoint so you still need to know roughly the direction and have a sense of direction, but I navigated down to Brighton with it and have done some rides local to me on it down roads and byways i'd not normally ride along it's pretty cool.
But haven't seen a tomtom for a start I doubt they are waterproof or designed for as much shock as a Garmin.
Heres a link to one https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=145&pID=410 other's manufacturers are probably available
Yup, I use the Road Angel 7000 with Memory Map on it. This gives you full Ordnance Survey maps, and will record a route with speed and elevation of all points on it. Fantastic! Also does your typical Tomtom-esque "turn left at the next junction" crap, but is not quite so good at that. Two devices in one, and can be got for £150 on Ebay....
Ive got 2 I use on the bike.
A Garmin Edge 205 which is really a posh bike computer. I think it will allow you to put routes onto it but Ive only had it a few weeks and havnt really explored all the featres. There are no maps on it and so far as Im aware it cant take any.
Also have a Garmin 60cx which is a much larger ( about size of a mobile phone of 10 years ago ) and more sophisticated bit of kit. Does full turn by turn navigation and with the UK topo maps added its not far of OS quality mapping. Pretty rugged and waterproof. Handle bar mount is about £10.
A Garmin Edge 205 which is really a posh bike computer. I think it will allow you to put routes onto it but Ive only had it a few weeks and havnt really explored all the featres. There are no maps on it and so far as Im aware it cant take any.
Also have a Garmin 60cx which is a much larger ( about size of a mobile phone of 10 years ago ) and more sophisticated bit of kit. Does full turn by turn navigation and with the UK topo maps added its not far of OS quality mapping. Pretty rugged and waterproof. Handle bar mount is about £10.
so you guys recon that i have to go down the garmin route and that tomtom is useless?
I do not really want something complicated where i have to plan road in advance etc... the simpler the better. Just need a satnav that can take me from a to b via the scenery route.
I have satnav factory fitted in the car, and the only thing appart from that i ever used is a tomtom. The reason why i ask that is because i saw a courrier on a motorbike in London the other day mounted on his motorbike, then i thought why not on a bicycle.
I do not really want something complicated where i have to plan road in advance etc... the simpler the better. Just need a satnav that can take me from a to b via the scenery route.
I have satnav factory fitted in the car, and the only thing appart from that i ever used is a tomtom. The reason why i ask that is because i saw a courrier on a motorbike in London the other day mounted on his motorbike, then i thought why not on a bicycle.
Certainly wouldnt say a Tomtom was useless, just that an outdoor Garmin unit is more suitable for a bike application.
The 60cx I have does most of what my TT will do but in a more bike friendly way. It mounts on the handle bars, its waterproof, the battery lasts 24 hours, the screen is clearer in sunlight. The UK Topo maps which are extra and you do need have pretty much all the info that a map has including contours, footpaths, streams and landmarks. Once you return from a trip you can download all your data onto the pc where it overlays on the map so you where you went ,when you were there, how fast you were going at that time etc etc.
The only down side is the cost, £200 at least for the unit plus £120 or so for the maps.
The 60cx I have does most of what my TT will do but in a more bike friendly way. It mounts on the handle bars, its waterproof, the battery lasts 24 hours, the screen is clearer in sunlight. The UK Topo maps which are extra and you do need have pretty much all the info that a map has including contours, footpaths, streams and landmarks. Once you return from a trip you can download all your data onto the pc where it overlays on the map so you where you went ,when you were there, how fast you were going at that time etc etc.
The only down side is the cost, £200 at least for the unit plus £120 or so for the maps.
erics said:
I live in east London and struggle to find places where i can go out and do 30 odd miles without always hitting traffic.
You'll always end up hitting traffic in London - unless you go out between 3 and 4am. A satnav won't help you avoid it either so if that's the reason why you're going to buy one [for the bike] then it would be a waste of your time and money.They are good for directing you on rides as opposed to stopping and checking a map though. Different systems need different 'programming' though.
Stewart, i did not mean that i wanted to use it to cycle in London. I said i wanted to use one to escape London.
I want to be able for example to say: i want to go to southend from where i live but i want to be orientated by the satnav through the countryside. And then when i reach the point i take the train back to London.
I want to use that as a tool to escape town and given that i am not so far out from the outskirts, i feel that it is achievable.
I cannot randomly go east and hope i will find a decent countryside road at some point....
Maybe i should have started another thread: 'Ideas for a quiet road ride from east London?'
I want to be able for example to say: i want to go to southend from where i live but i want to be orientated by the satnav through the countryside. And then when i reach the point i take the train back to London.
I want to use that as a tool to escape town and given that i am not so far out from the outskirts, i feel that it is achievable.
I cannot randomly go east and hope i will find a decent countryside road at some point....
Maybe i should have started another thread: 'Ideas for a quiet road ride from east London?'
tbf I had read your post one way and atom111 had read it another.
To reiterate and expand on what I had previously written there are a few systems available. Memory map is a very good, it slighlty labourious, software that a lot of different companies use in their satnav units.
atom111's Garmin has survived some very harsh outings this year. Morzine being one hard hitting and rough trip. And what can only be described as a swim round the Skyline in Afan. So it has proved to be a very hardy piece of kit. It has also been used to plot out, and direct us on, a countryside road ride from Croydon to Brighton.
Well worth a look, although I don't know of any cross over uses - to the car, walking, motorbike etc..., it may or maynot have.
To reiterate and expand on what I had previously written there are a few systems available. Memory map is a very good, it slighlty labourious, software that a lot of different companies use in their satnav units.
atom111's Garmin has survived some very harsh outings this year. Morzine being one hard hitting and rough trip. And what can only be described as a swim round the Skyline in Afan. So it has proved to be a very hardy piece of kit. It has also been used to plot out, and direct us on, a countryside road ride from Croydon to Brighton.
Well worth a look, although I don't know of any cross over uses - to the car, walking, motorbike etc..., it may or maynot have.
Edited by mk1fan on Monday 17th September 23:27
didn't tomtom produce a waterproof and tougher version for motorbikes?
edit:
yes apparently so http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/tomtom-rider/
instructions via a bluetooth headphones!
edit:
yes apparently so http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/tomtom-rider/
instructions via a bluetooth headphones!
Edited by WTD on Tuesday 18th September 06:59
The main problem I would assume you're going to get using a satnav designed for cars or motorbikes is that they presumeably don't have a "cycle route" setting?
Even if you set in shortest route rather than fastest, and tell it to avoid motorways, I would assume it would see nothing wrong with sending you down a dual-carriageway like the A40 - somewhere probably best avoided on a bike!
I use a Garmin and PC mapping software. It doesn't give me turn by turn, it doesn't reroute me if I take a wrong turning, and it can be a pain planning the route out in advance, but on the other hand, it does let you see what that route will be, allows you to decide if you want to go straight up steep climbs or detour round them etc..
Even if you set in shortest route rather than fastest, and tell it to avoid motorways, I would assume it would see nothing wrong with sending you down a dual-carriageway like the A40 - somewhere probably best avoided on a bike!
I use a Garmin and PC mapping software. It doesn't give me turn by turn, it doesn't reroute me if I take a wrong turning, and it can be a pain planning the route out in advance, but on the other hand, it does let you see what that route will be, allows you to decide if you want to go straight up steep climbs or detour round them etc..
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