Gps Recommendations...

kaiteri · *by **kaiteri** on Wed 10/Mar/10 1:27pm*

Got some long-distance Euro touring coming up. Can anyone who's sussed the field recommend their GPS unit of choice..?
Pref. large, clearly readable screen, AA batteries, reasonable price (supplier?).
cheers

mark2c · *by **mark2c** on Wed 10/Mar/10 2:48pm*

Garmin 550. Handles both topo and routable road maps. AA rechargeable batts & USB charge. Good support community with many free open source maps available (eg NZ road maps).

danose · *by **danose** on Wed 10/Mar/10 2:53pm*

mark2c wrote:Garmin 550. Handles both topo and routable road maps. AA rechargeable batts & USB charge. Good support community with many free open source maps available (eg NZ road maps).

presume you mean the oregon 550

and if you can live with a marginally smaller screen and no camera the dakota 20 does the same for $300 less

9ine · *by **9ine** on Wed 10/Mar/10 3:27pm*

I reckon you cant go past the Garmin Edge series. 705 has colour screen. Includes HRM, cadence, lots of training options. I use it with map from the open source NZ map project. Covers all the roads I have been on so far.

mark2c · *by **mark2c** on Wed 10/Mar/10 3:52pm*

Thanks Danose, yes Oregon 550.

For US$150 rrp more you get:
* Way better screen resolution (240x400 vs 160x240). Very noticeable improvement on topo maps.
* Snappier performance.
* Way more track/route etc memory.

Both can do HRM & cadence if that is your thing.

Ebay was a good place for my purchase. Cheap enough to have a US warranty return at my cost and still be well ahead price wise.

One day I'd like Garmin to offer an additional cost international warranty (like is available for cameras) that would see the NZ agent receiving a fee should local warranty work be needed. Presently overseas travelers with GPS problems are stuck with poor service in Godzone (no warranty service for non-NZ sourced devices).

Would it be the same with an NZ sourced GPS under warranty that failed in Europe? (I can't imagine them having the NZ Garmin agents' poor "take your Garmin GPS back to NZ and bugger off..." type attitude).

kaiteri · *by **kaiteri** on Wed 10/Mar/10 5:39pm*

Thanks for your responses, guys.

The Oregon range seems pricey and some of them include features (camera, cadence, etc.) which are superfluous to my route-finding priorities. I've also been warned off rechargeable batteries in place of std AAs (longer life) which are available throughout Europe.
A bright screen is pretty important to me.
SD cards seem to be the way to go for loading a variety of maps.

Any experience of the eTrek Legend...?

disoriented · *by **disoriented** on Wed 10/Mar/10 5:49pm*

mark2c wrote:Would it be the same with an NZ sourced GPS under warranty that failed in Europe? (I can't imagine them having the NZ Garmin agents' poor "take your Garmin GPS back to NZ and bugger off..." type attitude).

Wouldn't suprise me if you got that reaction in some parts of europe.

mark2c · *by **mark2c** on Wed 10/Mar/10 5:54pm*

kaiteri wrote:The Oregon range seems pricey

Agreed.

kaiteri wrote:...some of them include features (camera, cadence, etc.) which are superfluous to my route-finding priorities.

For me the camera is surprisingly useful.

kaiteri wrote:A bright screen is pretty important to me.

Probably the best feature of the 550. Way better than the previous Oregons that are still better than most.

kaiteri wrote:I've also been warned off rechargeable batteries in place of std AAs (longer life) which are available throughout Europe.

All Garmin Oregons can use AA alkalines.
HTH(I'm a twerp)

kaiteri · *by **kaiteri** on Mon 5/Apr/10 3:13pm*

mark2c wrote:
kaiteri wrote:The Oregon range seems pricey

Agreed.

kaiteri wrote:...some of them include features (camera, cadence, etc.) which are superfluous to my route-finding priorities.

For me the camera is surprisingly useful.

kaiteri wrote:A bright screen is pretty important to me.

Probably the best feature of the 550. Way better than the previous Oregons that are still better than most.

kaiteri wrote:I've also been warned off rechargeable batteries in place of std AAs (longer life) which are available throughout Europe.

All Garmin Oregons can use AA alkalines.
HTH(I'm a twerp)

BTW, Just thought I'd let you know I followed up your recommendation and went for the Oregon. Didn't want the camera so got the 450. Touch screen is very cool! Thought I'd still use my Summit for tramping but can't see myself ever going back to all those buttons.