I know this is seriously off topic but I want to get hold of a handheld GPS unit. Does anyone have any cheap sources and, even better, does anyone had any advice on which ones are good ? I definitely want Garmin and also want local mapping facilities. Ideally I also want altitude readings. I'm thinking of either Etrex Legend of Emap

 

Dave

 

P.S. Warren - a fiver says you can't get an argument out of this thread !

you wanna bet.

 

I am funnily enough also looking at the moment, but all ive really seen is a system for my handspring, but im not sure how good it is.

 

pricewise go to kelkoo and do a comparison.

Waz,

I've made some enquiries about a unit for my Palm and it's not worth it. A basic standalone unit will give everything that a PDA based system will give plus more. Fancy going for a group buy ?

D

I have one.

Its good. It depends on which one you get.

The one we have is the estreet I think. It has basic layout of roads but you can down load from a supplied CD street maps of areas.

 

Got it from somewhere in Preston.

 

Stuart

I have a Garmin Vista and it's great. I can recommend http://www.gpsw.co.uk

Garmin GPS.. I have the Emap with a 32 meg chip for maps It will fit 4 street level maps at a time I got the MetroGuide Map Source CD for it Got Emap from Dixons for £89 If you get 1 you can have a copy of my CD You need there lead to dowmload the maps??

 

Jan..

Thanks for the offer Jan !

 

How much geographical area do you get on 32Mb ?

 

Cheers

 

Dave

Well they divide the Uk into sections IE London, South East, South West ETC I have just put maps in so I can find JeffTT tomorrow (Tamworth)So does the left side of Birmingham & the right side the M40 down to London & across to Dartford If you have a laptop then there's no prob's because you can do it on the go..Jan..

Is the one fropm Racelogic any good? Think it was less that £150 and linked with maps on a laptop. The piccys on the website looked good

Willie

If you're going for maps on a laptop then any cheap GPS receiver will do the job although the Racelogic one is fairly competitive if you're happy to have it only in the car. It's a 12 channel unit which means performance will be fine.

 

I need a handheld unit for paragliding and ideally I'm after altitude measurement although that's looking expensive.

 

Seriously, if anyone is interested in a group buy on handheld GPS then post on here or mail me. I'll probably be buying after Christmas and will almost certainly go for either the E-trex legend or E-trex vista. See www.gpsw.co.uk or www.garmin.com for details.

 

I'd be after money at short notice once a price is determined - please only express interest if you're serious.

 

Dave

 

Just checked on my Emap & It has Elevation on it??

 

Jan..

I didn't realise that Jan - will it track elevation over time and / or distance over recorded journeys ?

 

I've already got 3 altimeters (!) but none of them record anything other than highest and lowest value per flight. I want to record values over a period of time. The websites I've looked at suggest that I need to the Etrex Vista to do it.

 

Your help is much appreciated.

 

Dave

Not sure if it tracks it as I havn't used that feature, But I know it tracks normal trips I has an event log of trips etc which can be saved to laptop/pc..

 

Jan..

If you are gonna use it with a laptop, the cheapest simplest one will do. Auto route 2001 and 2000 has an option to use a gps, it plots your your route and uses the GPS to find out where you are,

The Garmin Vista definitely records elevation over time. It also has a barometer function and a compass. The memory is 24Mb and can store about 20% of the UK in great detail, or the whole world in fairly basic detail.

I have most of the UK & US map CD's and would be interested in exchanging some backups if anyone has any of the mainland European ones ....