 So I'm back with another question that I can just about say scrapes into a category suitable for OM... I've been looking at sat navs and GPS devices for ages now, again trying/failing to find one product that will do everything I need, but there's such a variety it's hard to score one against the other. Here's the thing: In September I'm solo cycling to Gibraltar from London in aid of my local children's hospice and want to get myself a decent navigation aid. I really need something that runs on AA's with a large battery life (say 8 hours) and I can plan a step by step route (such as with google maps - how I've planned my route). Cost is a factor because I'm organising everything myself, therefore wont be deducting any costs out of the money I raise. Ideally, I would prefere something thats outdoors-worthy and waterproof. If it can be used with standard uk topo maps then thats all the better, as I'd have a standby use for it afterwoods. Anyone have any ideas of the sort of gadget I should be looking at ... surely there must something out there?
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 SatMap any good to you?
I've been using one regularly for a couple of years and it's not let me down yet.
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 My Garmin GPS60CSx will do that. You can get em quite cheaply nowadays, given that they're quite old and Garmin are already selling a replacement (which isn't necessarily better). Waterproof, more or less (IP67 or something), takes 2 AAs, you can get a cradle to attach it to bike handlebars, etc. You can fit it with lithium batteries which will give it an excellent battery life, though I've not measured the life of mine when turn-by-turn is on.
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 I'd second the SatMap Active 10. Bike mount available, fairly robust, runs on AA batteries with reasonable battery life and, above all, has a clear and easy to read display. Cons- it isn't cheap, but some appear on eBay every now and then.
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 Does Satmap offer maps for France and Spain? There are a lot of devices around that will do the job - most of the newer Garmin gps models, including the (relatively) budget new eTrex 20 and 30, for example. But the availability and cost of maps, especially turn-by-turn routable ones, is likely to be a limiting factor. Garmin do them but they'll cost you, and depending what version you get you may not be able to also use them on your PC for planning. Planning purely on the gps for a long route would be a pain, so PC planning and loading the gpx file to the gps is probably better. You could certainly make some tweaks along the way on the gps unit. OpenStreepMap data is freely available for a lot of countries, and the maps will certainly load onto the Garmin units, but I'm not sure if it's turn-by-turn routable.
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 I'd second the GPS60CSX. Iv'e had one for a long time and if you get the Garmin Europe road map it will load onto a micro SD card and do what you want no problem. Additional maps can be loaded on and turned on/off on the unit depending what you are doing with it. Been dropped, soaked and generally knocked about but still working OK.
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 Garmin for the ability to put whatever map you want on it...... Also have a look at velomap. I have been quite impressed at the detail. Works with Mapsource, so easy planning on the pc.
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Cheers guys, something from the garmin gpsmap range looks likely. Seems to do everything I'd need. I cannot find anyone reputable selling the 60csx anymore, but the 62s seems pretty much the same with a few unnecessary(?) extras. The gpsmap62s is £260.00 direct from amazon. The model up appears to be a lot more for an added camera and the model down doesn't have the ability to add a memory card, so this sounds like a pretty good model for what I want  The handle bar mount is £12.50. I am running low on handlebar space with my collection of lights etc. So not a bad price I guess, especially so as I'll have a pretty good gps to keep too. I can definitely plan a turn by turn route with this? With multiple (London to Gibraltar) roads and waypoints??? Thanks again for the help  )
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For the 62s, Ram mount have something that's a lot more secure than the Garmin version and this bit lets you mount it on the stem as well. (Yes, I have had my GPS fall out of the Garmin mount!)
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 Empty your handlebars by buying a Cateye Nano Shot - amazing bit of kit !
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 Wouldn't a road car type gps and maps be better and likely much cheaper?
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The problem with car sat nav, Parky, is that they tend to have a battery life of about 2-3 hours i think, they don't run on AA's and are not very robust or waterproof. The stem mount looks a handy bit of kit, lemming; definitely be getting something like that what ever model I get. The Cateye would be great, again though, it's usb rechargeable not replaceable batteries. I've been looking at some videos on youtube of Garmin basecamp and it all looks pretty much like what I'm after. The custom maps feature of the Garmin is also nice. At £75.00, the Europe City Navigator maps are pretty good value for money, for full covereage of almost everywhere in Europe that is.
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i didn't know that the car things had such a poor battery life.
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I can definitely plan a turn by turn route with this? With multiple (London to Gibraltar) roads and waypoints??? Thanks again for the help ) Yes, but you will need to buy the relevant map as the unit will only have a basemap on. I think this will be the City Navigator 2012 edition. Not sure how much but somewhere around £70ish I think. That should come with the PC program, Mapsource or its later updated version but if not it can be downloaded from the Garmin site. PersonallyI would get the map on CD rather than a memory card as it can then be easily loaded onto the PC and to the unit. Much easier plotting routes on the PC and transferring to the unit. Might be more convenient to plot day by day routes as well as one big one.
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I'm not certain, so anyone who knows for sure please put me right, but if you get the CD map versions to use on the PC with Mapsource (or more probably Basecamp since Mapsource isn't updated or supported now iirc), aren't there some limitations as to the size of map section you can upload to the gps, at least as a single chunk. And potentially with a subsequent map upload overwriting a previous one, again on some older units at least - a lot of the newer ones I think now handle this. Just worth checking, since it could take a lot of map sections to handle London to Gibraltar!
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Garmin for the ability to put whatever map you want on it...... Also have a look at velomap. I have been quite impressed at the detail. Works with Mapsource, so easy planning on the pc.
I've used openmtbmap which is related, and a general routable road map both from the same openstreetmap dataset on which I've done a modest amount of work.
They're excellent maps, however routing information is not guaranteed to be perfect by any stretch of the imagination, so I'm generally hesitant to recommend those. The commercial maps for Garmin will route properly, but won't be anywhere near as nice.
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I'm not certain, so anyone who knows for sure please put me right, but if you get the CD map versions to use on the PC with Mapsource (or more probably Basecamp since Mapsource isn't updated or supported now iirc), aren't there some limitations as to the size of map section you can upload to the gps, at least as a single chunk. And potentially with a subsequent map upload overwriting a previous one, again on some older units at least - a lot of the newer ones I think now handle this. Just worth checking, since it could take a lot of map sections to handle London to Gibraltar!
Yes Matt, you're right there is a limit but it's pretty big. Can't remember exactly but I have an 8Gb card in mine with all UK Topo, most of West Europe City Navigator and Topo Pyrenees on it so should be OK for London to Gibralter. Again Matt you are right about transferring maps, it will overwrite anything already on it so it all has to be done in one go. Does take a hell of a long time to make the mapsets up transfer it though. Or, as cards are so cheap now, you could put individual maps on individaul cards and swap them over as required.
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 try the etrex 20 mate,
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Thanks, Brian, for clarifying that. I'm only recently reading around this stuff. I think some of the newer units, certainly the etrex 20 and 30, allow you to rename the map file from its default name once you've uploaded it, even if you load it to the unit's own storage rather than a card, so if you do them sequentially you can still load several maps or portions of maps, but you need the patience to do it.
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from what I can see, reading from the Garmin site, the etrex 20 does everything the gpsmap62s does, in terms of what I'll actually use it for. I mean, I cant really see a use for the digital compass or wireless link and photo viewer etc. So good shout ETB, might be able to save some money there . Is there a difference in how good the reciever works in the two units? I can't seem to find much info on the website.
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