From SatNav to Hand-held GPS

[Bieffe]

Hi Folks,

I recently bought myself a nice new shiny Garmin Nuvi 1490T.

Purely by coincidence ( maybe ) "her indoors" suggested that a hand-held walkers/ramblers GPS for might be nice for her impending birthday, something like the Garmin Oregon (£350 + maps)

However, with my old Nuvi 200 now surplus to requirements, I was wondering if it was possible to use that as a proper walkers GPS, by buying UK ordnance survey map, and updating or replacing the road software if necessary. If this is possible, it would give a much better/larger display than the smaller walkers' GPS units have.

Also, it seems a shame to put the old Nuvi 200 out to grass.

Week old queries with Garmin are still awaiting replies.

Anybody got any ideas?

[Steveee]

Hi Bieffe,

I have recently started getting into cycling and rambling. I quickly realised that GPS devices aimed at the road are just not suitable. One of the main problems is the battery - they all assume you will have access to a power point. When new, the battery life was estimated as + 5 hours on the nüvi 200, but I doubt you will get this now.

You can install walking maps on the nüvi 200. The TOPO Great would probably give you what you need for walking. But as said above, the real issue will be battery life.
_________________
Steveee
Where am I?
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GO 920 (retired)
Garmin Oregon 550T
Garmin Drivesmart

[AllyCat]

Hi,

I don't know if that Topo map has been upgraded from the "Topo GB 2" which was largely derided several years ago, but I think a key phase might be "Topographic data is provided by Ordnance Survey® of Great Britain; road maps are provided by NAVTEQ™." I believe Topographic data means contours and water features, I don't think it includes the "useful" OS data for walkers like all footpaths/bridlepaths, churches, etc..

But to be fair, Garmin do show what their mapping looks like. Follow the "View Map" tab from the link above and "Click to view interactive map". Now zoom into an area you know well and see if it's satisfactory for you. You can also compare the area with a "real" OS map from OS Getamap or other online resources.

In general, OS map data (Landranger and Explorer) is only licensed to work on specific hardware so the choice is critical. Many of the PC applications (Memory-Map, Quo, Anquet, etc..) include software to also use the maps on a Windows Mobile PDA/SmartPhone (and M-M has their Adventurer 2800; Quo a similar device). But others (like the Satmap and recent Garmin Handhelds) have maps locked to the card/device with limited or no PC display capability.

Cheers, Alan.
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Garmin GPS72H/76/60/45, Etrex H, Mapsource v6.5.
Acer N50,HP114,Loox N560,Dell x50,CF/SD cards to 4/32GB.
RoyalTek,Holux236,Navman B10 & Copilot(Globalsat) BT GPS,TomTom5/6.
Memory Map (v5.4.2 & v5.1.3 OS & Euro), GPS gate,OSGPSconverter.

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