Bike GPS

Benny · August 31, 2009, 04:35:56 PM

So this may fall into the HTC stuff and some other bits but I'm hoping one of you clever people can advise.

I ride a fair bit and would like to be able to get home and stick my route in the PC and see where I've been on a map. Not worried if it's google maps or bespoke.

What's the cheapest way for me to do it?

I've had a look at some Garmin bits but they don't make much sense. I don't want overkill, just a map with my path overlaid on it.

smilodon · August 31, 2009, 04:47:29 PM

Not sure about cheapest but for being the absolute best - Tom Tom Rider for cycles or motorbikes it's unbeatable

OldBloke · August 31, 2009, 06:00:53 PM

What do you have (hardware) that might be tailored for a solution?

For example ... if you have a PDA running WinMo then, using a Bluetooth GPS unit (cheap as chips), there are lots of possibilities.

T-Bag · August 31, 2009, 06:03:21 PM

You can buy a bluetooth GPS tracket and pair it with your mobile phone. My housemate did computer science and he had a Java applet for his phone that would upload where he'd been to his computer, tell him how far he'd been and how fast he was going etc etc.

I can find out more about it if you'd like.

Liberator · August 31, 2009, 06:18:45 PM

Except TomTom Rider is more for getting from A to B and not recording your route, plus it will cost you around Ã,Â£300.

I'm assuming you just want it for recording and not for getting to 'B' and want a single waterproof unit.

Pretty much any Garmin eTrex unit will do the job and can be picked up on eBay relatively cheap, they will record speed, time, altitude and GPS location information which can be downloaded onto the PC through their software, overlayed on whatever maps you have with the software and exported in various formats that are recognised in other mapping programs.

The newer colour Garmin eTrex have better satellite tracking but obviously cost a little more, but still around the Ã,Â£100 mark, nowhere near the price of a Rider2.

T-Bag · August 31, 2009, 06:59:44 PM

He had a reciever like this one: Link
And the software on his phone I'm sure was open source, so shouldn't cost any money. It's probably the cheapest way.

Benny · August 31, 2009, 07:15:54 PM

I have.....a bloody Blackberry. On T-(coverage for 1 square mile)-Mobile.

I'd like to but something on my handlebars. Press start. Come home and see an overlaid route on a map...

smilodon · August 31, 2009, 07:25:43 PM

Sorry i misread the original post.

Benny for a blackberry you need this http://www.sportypal.com/

Benny · August 31, 2009, 07:47:48 PM

Cheers Smilo....the only issue is that where I ride I get sweet bugger all signal.

Pretty much all wooded and my signal at home is 1 bar at best before I go anywhere near the 'off road'. Will give it a go though.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=fleet&sll=51.245584,-0.802517&sspn=0.043574,0.077162&ie=UTF8&rq=1&ev=zo&radius=1.67&ll=51.251601,-0.805178&spn=0.043568,0.077162&t=h&z=14

Liberator · September 17, 2009, 07:06:20 PM

I just ordered one of these to track my movements while I'm learning to fly, the Garmin would have been a bit bulky and uses old tech that probably wouldn't keep up with the speeds I need.

A bit of looking around and I've tracked it to it's original manufacturer.

A little more looking around and it's on eBay.

From Ã,Â£45 delivered on ebay to about Ã,Â£60 delivered from the pilots shop.

Reading up on the chipset and the sensitivity, it tracks up to 65 sat's at a time, which I don't think you can actually see that many unless at the top of K2 or flying.

The size of a usb pen drive.

20 hours battery.

It looks like it's exactly what you might be looking for as well. Built for urban canyons, so it should be fine with trees.

Plug into PC and download the tracking log into whatever you want.