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What do GPS do you use on your ride/s?

j-sworks

Maximum Pace
Feb 5, 2012
1,199
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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
 
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! :cool:


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.
 
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! :cool:


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.

I do agree that they are a lot of work and I don't like to spend too much time just trying to get out the door, I had another Garmin product with a bike mount and didn't really use it too much because of the hassle.

The forerunner is cool, I walk in the door and it sends my workout to Garmin online and I can geek out
 
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.

Right now I'm all by my lonsome so I am doing the safe ride and move out a little and explore each time, I have my iPhone with me all the time for music so I guess I could whip that out if I'm totally lost.

I also seem to be good at remembering things I see so that helps me find old tracks, but I seem to always get lost (ish) coming home. I end up taking a new road almost every time. Oh well I'm still new to Tokyo
 
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.

Haha, yeah I guess some more time and experience here will help
 
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 feel exactly the same.
 
I have my iPhone with me all the time for music so I guess I could whip that out if I'm totally lost.

...but hopefully not for music on the bike! :eek: Never would I cycle with headphones.

I use a combination of Google Maps and Strava on my Android (Google Nexus S). Strava for recording, Google Maps for getting directions by destination or for following breadcrumb trails (uploaded KML files, which can be built from other people's GPX files).

The forerunner is cool, I walk in the door and it sends my workout to Garmin online and I can geek out

On the Strava app, once I'm there I touch the "Finish ride" button and then the "Save" button. That's it, the ride magically appears on the Strava website, uploaded via either 3G or WiFi.
 
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? :D 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.
 
I ride with a single earphone, listening to podcasts. No problem balancing what I am listening to with the sounds of my bike & what is around me. Give it a try. Single earphones (earpieces?) cost peanuts, so you'd have almost nothing to lose by giving one a try.

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? :D 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.
 
How to use Google Maps for following a GPX trail

First you need to convert your GPX route to a KML file, which is meant for Google Earth. You can do this by uploading it to RideWithGPS and then downloading it as a .KML. There are other tools that can do that too.

Next, go to Google Maps, click on "My places", "Create map", assign a title and chose weather you want the trail to be public or private. Then click "Import" and upload the .KML file. The browser may display the route in several portions, don't worry about that. You need to be logged into a Google account.

Now you can go to the Android Google Maps app (I presume it works the same on the iPhone Google Maps but haven't tested it). In the map view, click on the layers icon and select "My Maps". You should see the name you assigned when you imported the track. Select it and it will show up as a red line.

Finally, get on your bike and follow the red line on the map. The blue position marker arrow always shows you where you are relative to it. Works great for me!

IMG_2322.JPG
 
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