Quote:
Originally Posted by HillbillyWV
So now, I see a GPS as a $300 hunk of plastic w/ a $50 mount just waiting to get stolen or broken.
What made you decide to take a GPS? Was it because all the ride reports mentioned a GPS or because you truely need a GPS?
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Wrong device?
I can pick up Garmin E-trex type devices (or plug ins for palm tops) for about the £80 mark in the shops, half that on E-bay. Usually US prices swap £ for $, so cheaper still. No mount required, slot it in the tank bag map pocket. This will give Long/Lat in any part of the world and so gives the option to follow a direct path to that shed full of petrol in the middle of the Gobi when needs must. Leave it in a pannier when the maps are working.
I own and use a TOMTOM rider to solve the "Hotel in Naples at 3 am"/"where's the blokes house who sold me his second hand tyres on e-bay" type problems. It talks to the intercom and is a lot easier to live with than Mapcurse and waypoint generator and unlock codes and wires and....
The fact that these devices don't pop up in the expensive shiney aluminium bits catalogue and won't give the boys at the GS club any form of "satisfaction" is an entirely different debate, they do seem locked in expensive ten year old ideas about needing a Garmin and shiney mount. You won't find me more than 100 miles from home without a GPS, but which one depends what you are doing and why, just like you select your other gear.
Andy
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