I'm looking into buying a hand-held GPS, for hiking and MTB'ing. Basically I'm sick of making wrong turns and having vague ideas where I am, and it's a new toy

The unit that seems to suit the level that I want is the Garmin eTrex Legend which I can source here in CH for about CHF260-

Firstly, does anyone have anything good or bad to say about this unit, or have alternate suggestions?

Secondly, more Swiss specific, is not having an altimeter in the mountains a real issue? (ie the positioning can give false readings due to varying altitude) Also, does forest cover impact greatly on the ability to get a satellite signal for this model?

I have a Garmin eMap which IIRC is a very similar device and I have the cycle mounting on the motorbike

Actually altitude makes little difference IIRC - except for speed calculations. Jump off a cliff with your GPS and you'll see 0kph

Garmin 60CSx. I have the model without the X. The X denotes additional SD card slot for the maps rather than use of just the 64Mb internal memory. Its ruggedised comes with a car plinth, and I added a handlebar mount for my bikes. Colour display, maps extra. Ideal in the mountains too.

dave

I've not actually tried this but GPS provides 3D based on a reference ellipsoid earth shape rather than a geoid, so the GPS altitudes are not that accurate.

The Garmin GPS such as the 60C, which are not fitted with baroalt, deliberately omit the display of the GPS altitude - otherwise they would have difficulty selling the baroalt devices.

If you upload your track logs, the device will include the GPS alt for later analysis - if you can wait that long.

Taken from newgroup discussion:
"However, after using this information to determine 3D velocity, the receiver then calculates horizontal and vertical velocity (the
components of velocity parallel to and perpendicular to the local horizontal). And it's the horizontal component of velocity that seems
to be reported as "speed" in the user interface. Vertical velocity may be available in the NMEA data stream."

dave

Lob, how good are these for bikes & are they worth having? I'm always on the look out for a good pressie for my husband as he is bloody difficult to buy for.

to be honest I don't often use it as I make the same journey every day

mine's also not a navigation model - it's more for tracking, etc

If he likes gadgets then it might just do the trick though...

I've used mine every time I go anywhere interesting. Mountain biking Black forest, Alsace mountains, round the lake. Allows you to mark points of interest.

They can be used in the car, hiking or snowboarding as well as cycling. Its one of those gadget that I bought on impulse and have used far more than I anticipated at the time, unlike my PDA and smartphone.....

Garmin and Magellen are two good brands. Watch out for the cost of the maps though, they can be an extra 160EUR if they are not included with the unit.

dave

Dave, I'm not saying it's not proved useful; I have MapQuest for Switzerland, Canada+US and the UK.....and have used it to navigate out of Brussels when I mistakenly did not take the ring road.

In the last two cars we've had built-in navigation (got to keep up wiht the Joneses ) so it gets less use nowadays. Flogging up and down the A3, I can tell you that there are no POIs!!

In fact the last use it got was to give me my coords for installation of my satellite motor...

That Garmin 60CSx does look luvverly but its about 3x my budget

The maps, you know, can "my mate" get his hands on them?

If you go Garmin, I think your mate will come across Metro Switzerland quite easily

Check the Garmin site for the correct mapsite that is applicable to your unit. The CDs can be installed on more than one machine, but are only licenced to install maps on two registered GPS devices. So if your mate is real and has purchased the maps then you should be OK. As for pirated versions, I have no idea.

dave

I own the Garmin Legend and Legend Cx and use them mostly for snowshoeing, hiking, and cycling. They're great. Over Easter I was in Tessin and used the unit with tracks from GPS-Tracks.com to guide me on different mountain bike trails. You can also record a "track" of your trip and later plot a map. Here's an example of one I made last year.

You can also go geocaching with a GPS.

The altitude reading is accurate and often within a few meters of what you see posted on signs and buildings in the mountains. It always depends how good your signal is.

Consider buying the Legend outside of Switzerland. I bought both units in Canada and paid literally half of what I would have paid here. Have fun!

OK, I'm pretty much sold on the Garmin eTrex Legend for my needs.

ChrisCH, that's one great cycling adventure you had there, St Gallen to nearly Stockholm.

Thought I'd collate the bike map/GPS sites mentioned to date. Also adding bikely.com, which I've manually added rides to over time. This also has GPS co-ordinates to up and download.

GPS-Tracks.com
Bikely.com

Make sure whatever you buy has a SirfIII chip.

I just bought myself the Hollux GPSlim 236 (89 Euros) and the difference to previous receivers is amazing. It even gets a lock-on in my living room! I've been using GPS for several years now and the latest chips are a huge leap forward.

For hiking/trekking, Garmin are still without compettition IMHO.

My current setup is a PocketPC with Bluetooth + the hollux. When I'm on the bike I just have button headphones for the voice instructions. Works very well, I'll get a bike attachment some day so I can look at the map, but I haven't needed it so far. (the headphones also block the wind from your ears).

The Legend is good, but I prefer the newer Legend Cx: faster menus, colour display, more memory, faster computer connector (USB versus serial) and other features.

Last year's bike trip was fantastic and I'm already gearing up for another tour this summer. I'll check out bikely.com sometime.

Thought I would update following my purchase and much googling of the Garmin eTrex Legend. Overall I'm extremely happy with it as my introduction to GPS and it covers my initial requirements very well, which were actual positioning, recording the actual journey and following pre-determined paths. We took it for a "pre-mapped" MTB ride yesterday and it was faultless, turns and paths that in the past have caused head scratching and tears, were made easy allowing us to concentrate on the fun stuff.

So here are my pro's and con's. Garmin eTrex Legend.

Pro's:
- Met my beginners budget - Unit, handle bar mount and postage at CHF290.
- Met my initial use and performance criteria. Recreational Hiking and biking.
- Altitude readings very accurate.
- Garmin seems to have the market for GPS, so there is a lot of resource and advice on the interwebby.

Con's:
- Satellite reception sensitivity in the city, Zurich 8004, is rubbish with signal regularly lost due to close five level buildings. So yes the SirfIII chip would be a definite improvement, but would add another CHF200 to 400 to my purchase price.
- Storage, 8mb is going to fill up quickly with the detailed maps that my mate got for me.
- Serial connection to PC, outdated and a PITA. My 06 Dell desktop and 04 Toshiba laptop both don't have serial ports, so I'm using my wife's laptop and working on a serial to USB solution.
- Garmin seems to have the market for GPS, so there doesn't seem to be much development or pricing competition for their products, unlike other areas of consumer electronics.
- It's pretty old design and technology. If I get more into it, I'd love DaveA's Garmin 60Cx.

I guess the final word comes from my wife, "I like the GPS because you didn't get shitty because of wrong turns!"

regards from Portugal to everybody
spider daddy: what software do you use?
I also use a PDA (fujitsu-siemens pocket loox) + Hollux GPSlim236 for Geocaching. Instaled BeelinesGPS to get to the coordinates. But i need some map software. Could you recomend some?
Thanks is advance

Hi all,

I'm just getting into cycling in Switzerland and keep getting lost. I'm sick of it and need GPS!

I've never used GPS before and don't know what to expect. I was thinking of going with a Garmin Legend Cx or something similar.

Do I need to buy extra maps or will it have the Swiss maps in it already? When you plan a route, do you do it on a computer beforehand and download the route to the unit? Then does it alert you when you need to turn (over a headphone connection or something)? Can it handle routes on bike-paths (i.e. not roads)? Will it also work in the US?

Thanks for any tips. Without ever using a GPS unit, I just don't know what to expect or what I will need to buy to get good navigation through around Swiss roads and bike-paths.

kevin

Also, there's a big jump in price in Garmin units that feature "high sensitivity receiver". What does this mean? How much more sensitive is it?

also check out the Garmin Edge 305 - these are made for cyclists!
Be warned though the mapping/navigation functions are poor, but the unit is better for fitness.