So you want OS mapping on your GPS, we check out and review the available options.
So you want the familiarity of
Ordnance
Survey mapping on an easily useable
GPS unit? Here's a
quick run down of what's available from the likes of
Satmap,
Garmin,
ViewRanger,
FileBuddy
and
Lowrance.
Where applicable, we'll link to the full review on OUTDOORSmagic and
let you know the pluses and minuses of each unit. Mapping costs vary
from format to format, but in general, 1:50,000 OS mapping is more
affordable than 1:25,000 and arguably all you need.
Satmap - Active 10
|
Price:
£290.99
|
|
Weight
226
grammes (with rechargeable battery pack)
|
|
Features: Standalone GPS unit
using OS mapping supplied on SD cards, includes electronic compass,
direction indicator, map orientation, on-board route planning,
replaceable polycarbonate screen protector, waterproof construction,
push button operation plus joystick, comes with soft case. Tech spec
includes back-lit LCD screen, Microsoft CE operating system, SiRF Star
III GPS receiver. Also available rechargeable battery pack, bike mount
|
Satmap's Active 10
is the first GPS unit designed from the ground up to
work with OS mapping and our first choice for a stand-alone GPS unit.
It has an outdoors-friendly tough case with screen protector, full
button interface, a reasonably intuitive menu and everything you need
to plan and follow routes on the ground. It lacks fripperies like turn
by turn routing, but what you really need is there and well done.
The rechargeable battery is a must in our opinion and makes the unit
far more effective. There's also an online route planner though you can
plan routes using the unit itself easily enough.
Mapping costs are reasonable if you stick with 1:50,000 scale mapping,
but as usual 1:25,000 scale mapping is very expensive. Maps come on SD
cards and can be ordered direct from the Satmap web site.
Full
Review
|
 Intuitive, outdoors
specific and fantastic OS mapping, self contained. Large screen.
 Still no Mac
compatibility, not as quick as ViewRanger
|
Garmin Oregon 400T
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Price:
£399.99
|
|
Weight
197
grammes (with 2xAA batteries)
|
|
Features: Touch-screen operated
GPS unit, high sensitivity receiver with Hotfix, barometric altimeter,
pre-loaded road mapping, elctronic compass, microSD card slot, pciture
viewer, stopwatch, HRM support, 3-inch diagonal colour screen - 240x400
pixels, waterproof, USB interface, 1000 waypoints, 50 routes, 10,000
track lg points, 20 saved tracks. Auomatic turn by turn routing on
roads, custom POIs, wireless data sharingwith other Garmin units. mount
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Whereas the
Active 10 was designed to work specifically with OS mapping, the touch
screen Oregon 400T and its siblings seems to view it as more of a bolt
on. Mapping is expensive at £129.99 for a National Park in
1:25,000 and 1:50,000 scale, the screen is borderline in terms of size
and iffy for visibility in direct sunlight and despite various software
upgrades the maps display quite poorly looking blurred and hard to read.
Not great for OS mapping then, but the test of the unit is fantastic
with a clear, though sometimes fussy graphical interface, turn by turn
mapping so you can use it as a car sat-nav to reach the start of your
route and points of interest so you can find a pub or restaurant
easily. In a nutshell we'd say it works better than traditional GPS
units, but loses heavily to the Satmap when OS mapping comes into the
equation.
Full
Review
|
 High quality
feel and touchscreen interface, great general features.
 OS mapping
expensive and feels like a bolt on, screen marginal, map renders poorly.
|
Lowrance Sierra GPS
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Price:
£TBA
|
|
Weight
206
grammes (with 2xAA batteries)
|
|
Features:
Touch screen and push button interface with 68mm screen,
custom mapping including Ordnance Survey mapping for UK, waterproof to
IPX7 standard. Micro SD card slot for up to 32 GB cards. Directly
accepts GPS trails and geocaches, as well as POIs from web communities
or other sources - store up to 3000 geocaches; Sensor enhanced
navigation with digital, stabilized 3-axis compass and barometric
altimeter; Trip computer records trails, altitudes, trip times, speed
and distance travelled; Multimedia MP3/voice notes, picture, and video
players - for entertainment or viewing trail camera photos; Power
standby mode saves battery life while allowing ultra fast startup;
Speaker, headphone jack and microphone; Mini USB port for power and
data cables
|
Due imminently -
it was supposed to launch back in May - the top of the range Sierra won
an award at this year's Friedrichshafen OutDoors trade show. It uses
touch screen like the Garmin and push buttons like the Satmap to give
the best of both worlds on paper, but unfortunately, that limits the
screen size and while it's clear and easy to read, it's also quite
small.
When we used a pre-production sample at the launch in the Lake
District, it worked reasonably well on the ground, but we still prefer
the larger screen and ease of use of the Satmap. Because it offers turn
by turn mapping like the Garmin, maps are expensive - more expensive
than the Satmap for example - and seem slow to produce.
Full review once we have a production sample, but for now the jury is
out.
Launch
Report
|
Touch screen and buttons,
good map reproduction and does most of what you want.
Mixed interface means
screen is relatively small and hard to get perspective from.
|
ViewRanger Software for Smart
Phones
|
Price:
£varies according to the mapping plus you need a compatible
phone, mostly Nokia
|
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Weight
114 grammes (Nokia 5800 touchscreen phone)
|
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Features:
GPS Smartphone-compatible mapping software, OS mapping
downloadable or buy on DVD or microSDHC memory card, maps
delivered with ViewRanger software, mapping also available
for many European countries and the USA, software allows
route planning, tracking, panoramic views, tracking
'buddies', trip, upload and download GPX files from your
phone to your computer.
|
ViewRanger
differs from the standalone GPS units because it's simply software that
turns your Symbian 60-based smartphone into a versatile GPS unit using
OS mapping.
We tested it with a new Nokia 5800 touchscreen phone and were blown
away.
It scrolls and zooms in and out smoothly and rapidly, it's incredibly
easy to use and it does pretty anything you might want it to and a lot
more besides, like giving access to labelled panoramic views and
showing you where your mates are.
If you have a compatible phone already, it's a no-brainer though you'll
also need a case to protect the phone and some way of recharging as
even with careful energy conservation tactics, we still struggled to
get more than a day walk from a single charge.
A real bonus is that you can buy and download mapping direct to your
phone and pay accordingly which makes it pretty affordable, data
charges aside. Or you can
go the whole hog and buy the entire UK on 1:50,000 for
£146.80. It's also very light and compact, around half the
weight of the standalone GPS units.
ViewRanger can also be used with non-GPS smartphones coupled to an
external GPS receiver via Bluetooth.
Full
Review
|
Brilliant, fast zoom and
scroll, easy to use menus mostly, does pretty much everything.
Battery life isn't
massive, phones are more fragile than weather-proofed GPS units.
|
RouteBuddy Atlas for Apple iPhone
|
Price:
software free, mapping is £8.69 for a 1:50,000 sheet or
£17.38 plus VAT for 1:25,000
|
|
Weight
iPhone weighs 133 grammes
|
|
Features:
Free iPhone app based on desktop RouteBuddy software and
using the iPhone's built-in GPS, allows you to buy and store OS maps on
your iPhone and see where you are on the map regardless of phone
network. Record tracks and save them on your Mac or PC. Also
supports two popular online mapping services, OpenStreetMap and
OpenCycleMap
|
Right now, if
you want to run OS mapping on your Mac or iPhone, Route Buddy is your
sole commercial option. You can buy full UK mapping, albeit in sheets
matching paper maps for some reason, then use it
both on your phone
and your desktop computer.
At the moment it doesn't offer anything like the versatility of
ViewRanger or standalone GPS, but RouteBuddy tell us they are
developing the application, so it's a question of watch this space.
Right now you can view your position on an OS map, track and record
your route and download the resulting file to a desktop PC or Mac.
There's also a simple trip computer showing your position as a
longitude / latitude coordinate, distance travelled, time expired,
heading, altitude, speed and accuracy. You can also, if you have a
connection, use OpenStreetMap and OpenCycleMap on RouteBuddy.
|
The only Mac-compatible OS
mapping option, displays nicely on the big iPhone screen.
A work in
progress, so relatively simple at the moment, hard on battery life like
all phone GPS apps.
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