Spring 2021 GPS Recommendation

[Jake Kassen]

I'm going to ask the forbidden question: What GPS are people currently happy with?

My trusty Garmin etrex 22x is gone and perhaps after nearly two decades of various etrex use it's time for something new. (Or maybe not?) I like the etrex because the batteries lasted for many rides, it never crashed of locked up, and it was easy to use the map to see other possibilities if one was scouting or encounter a blocked road. It was handy to enter in an address or POI and route to it.

I bought a Wahoo Elemnt Roam a few days but I'm not overly impressed. The map page lacks detail (no street names, no ably to search for things or look around) and overall it seems to have fewer options and customization. Syncing with the Android app works well but I don't want to depend on having a phone with cell service.  On the plus side, it's quick to transfer routes from RWGPS to the GPS which was my biggest complaint about the etrex.

So with that said, what do people like for Randonneuring and touring type rides? 

Jake

[Bill Murray]

I tried the others.  For randonneuring I use the eTrex 20X and will use nothing else.  Never crashes, battery lasts forever; it never lets me down.

Bill

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[Judy Borrmann]

Jake,

I like Garmin, last fall  I bought the Garmin Edge 1030.  It resolved the incorrect elevation issues of the earlier model, has a big screen and longer battery life.  I haven't used it on a brevet yet, I'll  see how it works in a few weeks.  Also, as in the past I always use a Garmin external battery pack as well for backup.  

Judy Borrmann

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[Jake Bridge]

I have the Garmin 530 and like it fine, but I can't compare it to much else other than older bike specific Garmin models.

The map has street names and allows for some looking around, though it's sort of a pain (the 1030's touchscreen would help here). It doesn't compare to my phone for searching, or looking around, or coming up with directions on its own, but I don't really ask it to. If I need to do those things, I just stop and use the phone. (ReIated: I recommend an app that lets you store OpenStreetMaps data offline, e.g. OsmAnd+, so you're not at the mercy of cell coverage). Mostly it does the job I want it to do, namely show me the purple line to follow. 

My absolute favorite thing about it compared to older models is I don't have to plug it into a computer at any point. (as Jake points out, the same can be said for the Wahoo)

Battery life is fine for most single day adventures. Beyond that, or for very long days, you'll need an external battery. 

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[Ted Shwartz]

Jake

I have been very happy with the 1030. It has been running well for 4 years. It still gets 24+ hours on a brevet in warm weather. For extra juice on a real long brevet there are 3 options:

1) Garmin external battery - good but expensive
2) External battery from others - pick your desired charge and size - cheap (what I use)
3) Top off from generator (not recommended - because of variable voltage issues going into Garmin). On long trips I recharge my external battery during daylight

The 1030 design fixed one of the worst design flaws of earlier Garmin Bike GPS’s in that the charging cord plugged into the bottom of the unit and would eventually suffer connection/charging issues. The 1030 connection/charging port has been moved to the rear, and is a much better design

You can now load routes (if desired) directly from your smart phone via RWGPS or Strava if desired

All the best
--------------
Ted Shwartz
508-951-0349

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[Phillip Stern]

An iconoclastic opinion: I navigate using RideWithGps on my iPhone. 

I lost my Garmin 800 almost 3 years ago. 

Since then I have been using my iPhone 8 Plus mounted on my handlebars. I use RideWithGps to navigate. 

Positives: 

Excellent user interface.

Download maps to phone; can ride in airplane mode. 

RideWithGps automatically syncs any changes. 

Audio cues are excellent.

Negatives:

Battery life is short; carry external power pack. 

Not ruggedized; don’t leave on handlebars in heavy rain. 

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[Russ VT]

I've had a Lezyne Mega XL for a couple of years and I'm happy with it. I chose it over the Garmins for the long battery life for touring, and for the substantially lower price.   -   Russ

[Eric Nichols]

I do a lot of map-oriented exploring and hike-a-bike adventures, and the Garmin 1030 has many features I find useful. The large color screen and OSM maps allow me to see the creeks in blue, the town forests in green, and other features that can affect off-track exploration.  I can overlay custom OSM maps to help me achieve my exploration goals.  

I'm also an OSM Cycle map contributor, and the 1030 allows me to render the maps in sufficient detail to note errors and fix them later. 

The internal battery is good for a 300k, or even a 400k if you're fast.  The battery life can be further extended to 1200k-durations with the addition of the external battery pack, which has a weatherproof cable-less connection.  

I can zoom the map and elevation profiles on the fly, so I can see what's ahead and plan my efforts accordingly.  The scalable elevation profile is especially useful on hilly rides. 

I've had many generations of Garmin Edge GPS devices, and several have had stability issues.  In particular, the 800-series Edge units were notorious for going blank around 200 miles.  There is a fellow in the Netherlands who has a side business fixing GPS files.  I asked him which GPS files he fixed the least, and he indicated the 1030 was the most stable and the least prone to hangs. I took his advice and it's been a solid performer. 

If you don't need all the bells and whistles (e.g. power recording) Garmin makes a stripped-down version called the Edge Explore that has a big color screen like the 1030.  I think it has a smaller battery with shorter life, however.  Enough for a 200k. 

The upper-end Edge units also support 3rd party ConnectIQ apps.  There are some cool apps available, like a time-in-hand calculator for PBP. 

With bluetooth pairing to my phone, I get texts and emails on my Edge screen, which can be useful at times, and irritating at other times.   

Eric Nichols

[Mike A]

I've had a 520 plus for several years and have been very happy with it. Sent it in for a refurb last year-my bad in repeatedly wedging the external battery connector cable between unit and handlebar. I have a workaround for that now.  If I were buying new I would get the 530 for sure. It's a 520 plus with longer battery.  That said, for rides of 20+ hours you are probably going to bring a charger regardless of the rating. It also has the full connect IQ and bluetooth functionality of the bigger units.

 We also have the Explore. That's more a touring type unit. You have on-the-fly routing like on the other big garmins. You are limited to, as I recall, two fully user configurable screens and just a single ride profile. Those are big limitations for me as  I like using a different profile when not using the unit for navigation, and both my profiles have more than two custom screens. The Explore also does not support some training-type functionality (though it does have HR sensor). The short battery life on the Explore is another issue. We're getting much less than 10 hours, though I have not tested carefully with making sure  things are  shut off, set the brightness to 0, etc.

 Two other things that are a matter of preference for the big vs smaller garmins are the size and the touch-screen. The touch screen can be a little annoying for me. With buttons, I am never swiping the wrong way or winding up on some screen that takes me a few swipes to get out of. Regarding the size, when we got the Explore I was looking forward to the larger screen. But the fonts are not significantly bigger even with just one or two fields displayed. Plus, the thing seems so clunky after being used to the 520.

[Pamela Blalock]

I have a garmin 830 now. I’ve used many different models over the years. I’m pretty happy with this one. Size is good, not too big. Not too small. Battery life is good. Touch screen is the best of any I’ve used. Works with gloves! Functionality is pretty complete. 

My experience with wahoo support left me very unhappy. People like to complain about Garmin, but between the two, garmin wins. 

John has a second gen Karoo. He traded up from first gen model. He really likes it. 

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Pamela Blalock
Conway, MA

http://blayleys.blogspot.com

[Ted Shwartz]

John

Thought #1: Where did your route/course come from that you are navigating? FWIW - I always create my own routes, so that I don’t suffer from someone else’s learning curve. It helps me get familiar with the route ahead of time too. The pre-read and proofing of the route sometimes save me from my own brain dead behavior on a brevet.

Thought #2: The maps used on all the new Garmin Cycling computers are OSM (Open Street Map). In prior generations of models they were not. They were commercially produced and proofed. My issue with the OSM maps is that anyone, can submit changes to OSM and they may be approved. In my part of Providence, someone has created fictitious bike lanes on every street, going in both directions on either side of the road. The problem with this is that no matter what you do for generating a route, the navigation of the route from the bike computer has you making imaginary turns on and off the fictitious bike paths. You learn to live with it.

Thought #3. How do you have prompting set on your Garmin for off course navigation? Depending on Thoughts 1 & 2 this may be causing the problem. You may also see this behavior after you do a detour and or stop.

In summary, your problem could be coming from the route/course used, the map data on your Garmin, or your settings.

If you send me the route I will take a look at it for #1

All the best

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Ted Shwartz
508-951-0349

On May 10, 2021, at 10:20 AM, John D'Elia <jo...@dgdlawct.com> wrote:

Ted, Hi, John D'Elia here, we have met and I have ridden some of your rides and then gorged myself on your wonderful food at your place in Providence,  easily the best post rando food ever!  My Wahoo recently died so I got a 1030 and used it for the first time Saturday on a 200 in Long Island, it worked well mostly but a couple glitches. It would start beeping every thirty seconds or so and display the forward arrow sign and just kept repeating that. I wondered if I had the reroute calculation set wrong?  Is there any Youtube video or other info that you know of that shows all the best settings to use for rando with this device?  Any info appreciated. John D'Elia, rando 1146

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[Charles Coldwell]

Has anyone tried the Hammerhead Karoo (2)?

--

Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
Belmont, Massachusetts, New England
"Turn on, log in, tune out"

[Andy G]

I now use a Garmin Inreach Explorer+. It's a slight downgrade in function to the Etrex 20x I was using, but I got it because it does Iridium texting. I can be nearly anywhere in the world and send a text to anyone via satellite without a cell phone connection. Mostly what I do with that is infrequent check-ins, e.g. "here's my location [automatic map url inserted here]". It's not too common that I'm out of cell range, but with the gravel routes I do and some areas next to a large bay with poor reception, I like having this connection. I'd say it's also critical for me when hiking as the solo parent with 1-2 kids.

Pros:

- Tracking or messages via satellite

- Still has a huge battery life - hard to test, but I had it on for a 4 day trip without charging, so I think this is 1200km-worthy.

- One button press to start SOS which in this area means police or Fish and Game come to find me. Also, with texting, we can say what the problem is. Some people might have used Spot trackers before, but those were "Press and Pray", in that you can call for help but have no way to receive a message to know they are coming. I've now had two very close calls where I've almost use the SOS button.

- Can follow a GPX track, though 200 point max, but can make several tracks. This would be a bit annoying for a long brevet with many quick turns.

- Free maps, updated once in a while

Cons:

- Bigger than most bike GPSrs (but similar screen size as etrex)

- No POIs or on-the-go routing except straight line to a waypoint. However, I find a phone is much faster than trying to search for a point on my Etrex.

- Expensive (compared to a <$200 etrex). About $450 new plus $12/mo for the service

There are more $$ models like the 66i or 700i, but they lack the battery life in exchange for more routing and bigger screens.

ps. Anyone want to buy my etrex 20x? Or my really old etrex Legend C? hit me up...

Andy in NH

[George Swain]

I had an old eTrex I never really used for anything but recording because there was so much manipulation required to use maps, tracks, routes, etc. I gave up. It wasn't for me. After realizing in my retro-grouch "I use cue sheets" approach to randonneuring that I was basically seeking out and following others with GPS devices, I bought a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt a few years ago. I absolutely love it. The "set it and forget it" ease of use as well as all of the easily customizable data screens, power meter integration, etc. have won me over completely.  While it may not have what I did not realize I was missing in a GPS (map detail, searchable features, etc.) I can easily do that sort of thing on my iPhone if I need to. For me, the Bolt is simple to use and highly reliable for brevet use. I just synch RWGPS before I head out and go. I've used it on routes up to 1200K by bringing a spare battery pack to recharge on long events while riding. 

George