I’m looking at getting this as my first gps. Firstly I want to use it for trekking in the Europe, just to tell me where I am if I get lost and to plug in a set of co-ordinates at that point to tell me where to get somewhere. Later I plan to get some mapping software and use it in the UK to record routes and compare where I went with what I’d actually planned! So, the questions:
1) Will it do what I need it to? 2) I’ve looked at the 301 as well. As I don’t climb, and the unit will always tell me where I am, I presume that the altimeter is of limited use. I also assume that the electronic compass won’t be that useful, as I will always carry a compass with me anyway. Am I missing anything here? 3) Are there any other features on other units that I really ought to consider at this prices point? 4) I’ve focussed on this unit because of its light weight and small size. I accept that there are some trade-offs in screen size and battery life as a result. As I’m prepared to live with this, are there any other units I should consider up to £150-ish. 5) Is £86 from Amazon as good as I’ll get?
I also have a couple of general European gps questions: 6) For use abroad, is it as simple as choosing the right country setting on the gps. I have heard that there are different regions in France – is there a list somewhere. And what happens when I walk over a border? Do I have to recalibrate every time I do this? 7) I have heard that some European maps are not GPS compatible. What does this mean?
I brought a Geko 201 from amazon a couple of months ago, they seemed the cheapest at the time. Don't get one off ebay unless the seller has very good feedback, as I never got one which i ordered from a seller in America!
I was thinking they other day about the altimeter and compass on the 301. There is a compass and altimeter on the 201, but the compass works from your course, so you have to be moving for it to be orientated and the signal accuracy would effect it. The altitude given seemed accurate to within a few meters they other day on my 201. I'm not sure if it is working off the coordinates and stored height data, or the the satellite signal, but it seems OK. You don't get the weather forecasting that you get with the barometric altimeter though.
Normal Battery life is lower than the 16 hours stated in they instructions. I've got mine set to save a tracklog and following uploaded routes and it seems to last about 8 hours with two Duracell ultra batteries. Thats with the power save mode turned on.
The trip computers good if you like keeping track of how far you have gone, ETA'S, and your speed. It also tells you the Lunar cycles and the best times to fish and hunt at night on pacific days. The clock and date is also set by the satellites which I thought was quite cool.
Hi, I've had a Geko 201 for 3 or 4 years now and as well as the UK have used it happily in Norway and Sweden, France, Ireland, Slovenia, Italy and Spain. It does everything I want and certainly everything you've described. Personally I wanted to stick with a standard compass, didn't see the need for electronic and haven't missed it. And I have a Suunto altimeter anyway, but tbh I find the altitude readings from the 201 via GPS calculation are usually pretty accurate when put alongside the barometric ones from the Suunto anyway. It's certainly light and small but easily usable, and £86 is as good a price as I've ever seen.
The GPS needs to display your position in terms of some type of reference, e.g Lat/Long, OS National Grid, etc. It "knows" your position irrespective of how you ask it to display it, but the position is only any use to you when you can relate it to a map! That's where having the right settings comes in - there are two that you need to be aware of, Map Datum and Position Format. In the UK the Map Datum is OrdSurvGB (i.e. in my laymans head it's the survey system that was used produce the map), and the Position Format is British Grid, i.e the usual one printed on our paper maps. Around Europe you need to find out which settings are compatible with your map - many European maps used to omit this info but because of GPS more and more of them now print it somewhere in the legend. For a lot of Europe the UTM Position Format is appropriate, and the Map Datum is often WGS84 or European1950, but you really need to check.
Apart from that,for a map to be "GPS-compatible" it really needs the numbered grid system printed on it, ideally like the 1km OS system so that you can relate your grid-ref to the map easily and accurately. Again, newer maps are tending to include this a lot more, but you may encounter maps which only have a 10km grid, or Lat/Long markings, or nothing at all - they aren't easy to use with a GPS!
I'm no GPS expert but I have a Geko 201 and used it in Spain last New Year. It worked absolutely fine.
I didn't look into GPSs as thoroughly as I should have done before buying it, but I reckon I struck very lucky. It's a great little GPS that does all sorts of things and weighs very little/takes up very little space.
MattC, that was a superb reply on European maps for a GPS newbie! I will be using this in the Pyrenees on the 1:50,000 Rando Editions maps with the dreaded 10k grid system - I'll have to take a ruler with me! The grids are numbered, but how do I which map datum this relates to?
Jason, thanks for the tip - sadly they omit the VAT on the front page, so Amazon is still in the lead at the moment.
Openskies The Pyenees - my favourite! Have a great time.
I've just done some detective work with some recent copies of maps from there... Rando Editions 4 (Bigorre, on the French side) has the 10km grid but no grid numbers as far as I can see, and no mention of Datum or Position info! Rando Editions 24 (Gavarnie-Ordesa, from the Spanish part of the series) has the 10km grid, small black numbers on the grid lines at the map edges, and no mention of Datum or Position that I can see. But the Top 25 sheet (Blue covers, 1:25k - excellent maps for France) for Gavarnie has a fully numbered 1km grid, says UTM and WGS84 in small print in the legend, and says "GPS compatible" on the front! What's more it's grid numbers correspond with those on the 10km squares on sheet 24, so it's a pretty safe bet that that's UTM/WGS84 too, and probably a fair assumption that sheet 4 and the rest of the series are too.
You said you map had numbered grids, so that's ok - otherwise you'd need to sneak a peak at a Top 25 map or such to get the position of a known point and use that to cross-reference to get you started on your 10km squares, which would be a bit of a pain...
Out of curiosity - which Rando sheets are you looking at?
I love the Pyrenees - this time we're going end to end!
I did some work last night as well and came to exactly the same conclusions as you! We will be using maps 20-25, plus 1, 2 and 11. Last night I compared 24 and 25 to 1547 and worked out that the grids matched. My older 1:25000 maps also have the GPS grid printed on, it just doesn't say GPS compatible on the front.
The GPS grid isn't aligned to true or magnetic north on the 1:25000 map -interestingly this means that the 1:50,000 maps aren't aligned to grid north or even magnetic north, but to a separate "projected north" which matches the gps grid, so we will need to remember to add in a separate compass variation if navigating it traditionally. Working it out is tonight's task - but it is drawn on the maps.
Thank you VERY much for all your research. It is really appreciated.
I have the foretrex 101 which is basically the same as the geko 201 (ie same software and features on board) but is lighter, straps onto your wrist, and has better battery life, c. £100. I reliably get 21hrs+ on duracell ultras, or 10hrs on 700mAh rechargeables. The wrist strap works really well, and means that you can turn it on to get a fix without doing that walking-along-tripping-over-whilst-staring-at-your-gps thing that I see so often.
Mag compass and pressure altimeter features on the 301 chew into your battery life, so if you don't need them, avoid them.
When you get your maps, a great (free) program is gpstrackmaker, which enables you to scan in a paper map (or use an internet image eg from google earth), identify 2 known reference points with coordinates on the map (eg grid line intersections, or the top & bottom corner of the map), and it automatically overlays its own grid and works out the location of any other point on the map. If you have lots of paper maps, this saves the cost of going over to memory map.
When using maps with 10 km grids, it's useful to enter waypoints in advance, rather than standing in the pouring rain or wind trying to relate 16 numbers to your map.
What I do is to decide in advance what will be way points I can use - to change direction, one peak out of a line of several on a ridge etc etc, then measure off their UTM/grid coordinates then enter them as waypoints. You can do this in the comfort of a hut or tent.
When you're out on the hill, you use the "Goto" facility on the GPS to tell you the bearing and distance to a waypoint. From that it's easy to use your compass on the map (many have a scale) to backtrack to where you are.
