GPS for landy? - Horizons Unlimited

**patchlewis** · #1 2 Nov 2003

hi there, off to Morocco for a month or so and wondered if anyone has any advice (or even if you think its needed) on GPS systems for my landy. I ride bikes a lot too and will probably be going further afield next year so I will need one at some point. If anyone has one for sale, I'd be interested too. Thanks.

**Huey** · #2 3 Nov 2003

Hi,

I bought a new Garmin V in July, but as plans have changed I now want to sell it. Paid £380 new, so it'd be good to get maybe £340 for it. Its as new, except I chopped the ciggy lighter plug of the 12v lead and replaced with a DIN one. The leads can be bought seperatley anyway . . .
let me know if you're interested.

cheers

Huey

**SandyM** · #3 4 Nov 2003

FWIW, we have been very pleased with our Garmin V...

Regards,

Michael

**Dace** · #4 4 Nov 2003

Hi Huey,

If patchlewis does not take you up on your offer I will as I'm looking one at the moment. Let me know either way.

Cheers
Dace

**Huey** · #5 5 Nov 2003

Dace,

No word from patchlewis so drop me a mail if you're still interested.

hugh_murray@ml.com

cheers

Huey

**ollieholden** · #6 5 Nov 2003

We found a GPS really helpful in the desert - we just had the basic Garmin 12 on a car bracket screwed to the dash. We plugged in the waypoints whilst waiting for the car to warm up in the mornings. The only thing which was a pain with the 12 was that the cig lighter had a small transformer built in so it wasn't straightforward to replace with a DIN. Cig lighters are awful, esp. with corrugations.

Cheers

Ollie

**patchlewis** · #7 10 Nov 2003

thanks for the advice. Huey, thanks but not got the cash at the mo, so let Dace have it.

**Bundubasher** · #8 17 Nov 2003

Hi
I've seen some cheap Magellan's on Ebay and also some basic but more expensive Garmin Geko 201's.

**SandyM** · #9 23 Nov 2003

Probably most people here know this, but it's worth mentioning again that a GPS is only as good as the maps/waypoints that you have.

To make your own position (as shown by the GPS) useful, you need to ALSO have the position of other things - your destination, landmarks, junctions, or whatever.

Garmin's World Map is handy, but its accuracy ranges from perfect (in a few places) to hopeless (in most places). Consequently, it is very dangerous to rely on getting to a point marked on that map - the water or village or whatever may not be there at all.

Likewise, be a bit careful about waypoints provided by other travellers, unless they are corroborated. A small typo when they listed the waypoints could mean disaster if you are relying on the waypoint in the desert.

This doesn't apply when the GPS is really just there for convenience, but in remote/dangerous areas, never rely entirely upon a GPS for your navigation.

Wrong place to post this, I guess, but what harm can it do?

Michael...
www.expeditionoverland.com

**Sam Rutherford** · #10 4 Dec 2003

Remember the golden rule!

Go forward with a map & compass, go back with a GPS.

That way, you are using waypoints that have been logged by your machine, to real points on your route.

As far as buying is concerned, go cheap and cheerful (I also recommend Ebay). If you can enter waypoints and go to them - it's enough. Don't bother with map versions, you don't need them (if you are on this forum, you will fall off the installed maps anyway). Lat/long and a good map is all you need.

Sam.