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Hey,
I'm getting lost a little more often than I like and so I am thinking to upgrade my Forerunner to an Edge.
What do you use?
Cheers
I'm on an Edge 800. I don't think that is what helps me not get lost, most of that is due to me being able to keep up with the group!
Of course, I have lost the group more often than once, and to be honest, finding where I needed to be was mostly from an iPhone. The edge is OK-ish if you have a route already plugged in, but quite clunky for trying to find a way out with the little screen.
I have HAD to use it when abroad and ended up on my own. (i.e. no smartphone). I had a route saved, so loaded that and managed to get around, but more stopping than I would have liked, tough to see the 'route' on the screen, especially in the sun. Workable. Just.
Just my Google Nexus at the moment.
I ride where I know each time, then slowly explore, and backtrack until I am where I can recognise (how we used to do it!) or I travel in packs, and learn the ways like that.
Was thinking of getting a Garmin, but not that fussed, and my phone is good enough when I do get lost. More of a bearing-finder than something to follow constantly.
Tokyo can be a maze that for sure. But if you stay on the main arterial routes and do some google street view research in advance you can get in the vicinity of where you want to go quite easily.
Then the I phone comes into play.
I have the edge 800 and the only time I tried to follow a route was an abject failure, mainly cause I have zero interest in cruising around at 20km/hr looking at a matchbox size screen.
Tokyo can be a maze that for sure. But if you stay on the main arterial routes and do some google street view research in advance you can get in the vicinity of where you want to go quite easily.
Then the I phone comes into play.
I have the edge 800 and the only time I tried to follow a route was an abject failure, mainly cause I have zero interest in cruising around at 20km/hr looking at a matchbox size screen.
I have my iPhone with me all the time for music so I guess I could whip that out if I'm totally lost.
The forerunner is cool, I walk in the door and it sends my workout to Garmin online and I can geek out
(uploaded KML files, which can be built from other people's GPX files
For the iPhone there is a bicycle navigation app from NaviTime. It features turn by turn directions, voice directions, and preferences for the routing. Routing could be shortest distance, least amount of uphill, maximum uphill, prefer small streets, prefer major roads. It's all in Japanese but with a bit of Google translate copy / paste, you can set your destination and go. The voice prompts are in Japanese but the navigation vocabulary is limited and should be easy to learn. The voice prompts continue to work even with the screen turned off.
As an aside, I use the car version of NaviTime. One of the best feature is real time traffic information and aggressive re-routing to changing conditions. Should be useful for Golden Week... Or not. Most likely I will be stuck on a two lane highway filled with cars.
Anyways, I mount my iPhone on the handlebar of the bicycle. But even with the volume turned to maximum output, it's difficult to hear the prompts over the traffic and wind noise. I don't want to use earphones because of the reduced situational awareness.
So... a slight thread hijack (Hello Jack!). Anyone recommend a speaker system that's loud enough to overcome traffic and wind noise? But no so obtrusive like a ghetto blaster? It would be nice to able to keep up with podcasts while commuting by bicycle and hear the voice prompts as I go try to reach a destination.