Satnav for cycle

suavecarve

suavecarve

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July 09
The past couple of days I have not been cycling on disused railway lines.
The amount of times we have had to stop, me pull out my phone, try to work out where we are and where we are going has driven me to drink copious amounts of blue beer.
So, forgetting all apps on phones, I am looking for a stand alone satnav which can be clicked on and off the bike handlebars, and shows me a map with route.
Can this one be beaten ? Pricewise ?

Check this out! Amazon product ASIN B0B56W7K7L
 
I used a Garmin Edge Touring on handlebar mount. Worked well as you could with a fiddle pre plan routes on open cycle type maps and then upload through Garmin Express. Showed the route on a map with terrain, and you could set level of zoom for good notice of where you were going. Reasonable battery life, and easily removed from bike for security. Quite often would just use to record tge unplanned bike route so later I could see why I was tired.

But I still found myself stopping to look at the smartphone maps, or even a paper one. Places like New Forest have their trails marked with numbered posts at junctions, yet to find those on gps type apps. Made working out where you are for odd route changes a bit of a fudge on the Garmin.

Have just upgraded bike with the Bosch Kiox system. That links with Komoot for route planning. The supplied little handlebar display is horrid. Too small for any detail with route shown as a squiggle line on black no other terrain so inevitably you sail past the turning. Will be mounting the smartphone on handlebar in future.
 
I have an older Garmin edge 800, hardly ever used the maps as it’s pretty small. Phone holder on the bars in a waterproof case or a route pre-planned on the Garmin which will let you know when you have dropped off of the route. Otherwise go with the flow and see where you end up 😉
 
I was looking in Lidl this week and they had a cycle case that strapped to cross bar and it had a pocket with clear plastic phone holder. Looked pretty good but it's not on their website for some reason.

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Kannon Fodda said:
I used a Garmin Edge Touring on handlebar mount. Worked well as you could with a fiddle pre plan routes on open cycle type maps and then upload through Garmin Express. Showed the route on a map with terrain, and you could set level of zoom for good notice of where you were going. Reasonable battery life, and easily removed from bike for security. Quite often would just use to record tge unplanned bike route so later I could see why I was tired.

But I still found myself stopping to look at the smartphone maps, or even a paper one. Places like New Forest have their trails marked with numbered posts at junctions, yet to find those on gps type apps. Made working out where you are for odd route changes a bit of a fudge on the Garmin.

Have just upgraded bike with the Bosch Kiox system. That links with Komoot for route planning. The supplied little handlebar display is horrid. Too small for any detail with route shown as a squiggle line on black no other terrain so inevitably you sail past the turning. Will be mounting the smartphone on handlebar in future.
Click to expand...
In real terms, I would be setting a target (probably a pub) 20kms away having used mapy.cz to ensure cycle routes are en route.

Presumably (as I can't get on with my phone being the sat nag) the Garmin edge sticks to bike paths if I put in "the pub with no name" and select it (cracking pub worth looking up as does overnights) it will take me there

presumably European map upload from express ?
 
Take care with reliance on phone alone if you are on lengthier say half day plus rides. Will battery last when you need screen on all the time? The smaller cycle GPS due to smaller screen may last better?
 
Figaro said:
I was looking in Lidl this week and they had a cycle case that strapped to cross bar and it had a pocket with clear plastic phone holder. Looked pretty good but it's not on their website for some reason.
Click to expand...
I got one of those but phone just too big to put in there with a battery bank.
I may need to adjust phone as well as bleeding thing keeps going off
 
Kannon Fodda said:
Take care with reliance on phone alone if you are on lengthier say half day plus rides. Will battery last when you need screen on all the time? The smaller cycle GPS due to smaller screen may last better?
Click to expand...
Are you at quackers at Easter ?
 
Losing a GPS is a pain, losing you're phone would be serious PIA. I have an old SATMAP that it's now possible to get European mapping for.
Mike.
 
I have an old phone that would probably take mapy.cz as an app.
I would just need to try and work out out how to stop itself turning off.
I have one of those waterproof carriers that I can put a battery bank into to keep it charged.
Then get one of Jim's super magnetic 🧲 thingies

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I've got an old Garmin Edge 705 that has done me many thousands of miles, including some very long endurance events over several non-stop days. The big advantages of small dedicated units are:-
  • Designed for the job, so small, waterproof and a range of good handlebar mounts
  • Integrate with power meters, cadence sensors, heart rate straps (if you care about such things)
  • less fragile than a mobile phone - if you have a crash it's likely to survive, and your phone can be safe in a pocket
  • simple navigation if you're just following the purple line on the map
  • if you do run the battery down, you've still got your phone for emergency comms or navigation

Downsides:-
  • small display can be hard to read
  • much harder to see what's around you on the map (I loved the old Satmap for that - big display with OS maps)
  • harder to plot routes, change routes on the fly, re-route sensibly if there's a diversion
  • won't dynamically update your rate based on traffic conditions or accidents (not as important on a bike)
  • Maps don't automatically update; make sure you get a lifetime maps deal, and include all the places you are likely to ride (e.g. Europe), or be prepared to do a tech learning curve on getting openstreetmaps onto it.

In the early days, if I asked my Garmin to plot me a route it would do ludicrous stuff to avoid A roads if I said I as on a bicycle (what I knew was about 25km home on a main road it was trying to take me 60km down little lanes, in Wales it would take me up the steep sides of a valley through tiny villages rather than take the nice smooth A road along the bottom of the valley). If I didn't say I was on a bicycle it'd try to take me on the motorways.

Nowadays I still use it, but also tend to have a mobile phone in a top tube bag to additionally use Komoot, google maps, or just have the phone to hand. My current one is this, which fits a large Samsung Note 10+ in it.
Amazon product ASIN B07Z8F9GTN
 
mofurt said:
I've got an old Garmin Edge 705 that has done me many thousands of miles, including some very long endurance events over several non-stop days. The big advantages of small dedicated units are:-
  • Designed for the job, so small, waterproof and a range of good handlebar mounts
  • Integrate with power meters, cadence sensors, heart rate straps (if you care about such things)
  • less fragile than a mobile phone - if you have a crash it's likely to survive, and your phone can be safe in a pocket
  • simple navigation if you're just following the purple line on the map
  • if you do run the battery down, you've still got your phone for emergency comms or navigation

Downsides:-
  • small display can be hard to read
  • much harder to see what's around you on the map (I loved the old Satmap for that - big display with OS maps)
  • harder to plot routes, change routes on the fly, re-route sensibly if there's a diversion
  • won't dynamically update your rate based on traffic conditions or accidents (not as important on a bike)
  • Maps don't automatically update; make sure you get a lifetime maps deal, and include all the places you are likely to ride (e.g. Europe), or be prepared to do a tech learning curve on getting openstreetmaps onto it.

In the early days, if I asked my Garmin to plot me a route it would do ludicrous stuff to avoid A roads if I said I as on a bicycle (what I knew was about 25km home on a main road it was trying to take me 60km down little lanes, in Wales it would take me up the steep sides of a valley through tiny villages rather than take the nice smooth A road along the bottom of the valley). If I didn't say I was on a bicycle it'd try to take me on the motorways.

Nowadays I still use it, but also tend to have a mobile phone in a top tube bag to additionally use Komoot, google maps, or just have the phone to hand. My current one is this, which fits a large Samsung Note 10+ in it.
Amazon product ASIN B07Z8F9GTN
Click to expand...
I've got one of those top tube bags, will try it tomorrow with spare phone I use for drone. Just checked and luckily I have offline map of area downloaded into maps.me on it, so it might butter the parsnip.
 
Bosch Nyon Controller , it works , it’s Bosch , it’s excellent .
 
PaddyM said:
Bosch Nyon Controller , it works , it’s Bosch , it’s excellent .
Click to expand...
I ve got a Bosch computer on the bike, presumably it pairs with that through the app (which I have as well)

So then I pair my phone with the nyon and create my route on mapy.cz then tell the nyon that's where I am off to. And I get a "turn left in 30 metres" message ?
 
I’ve used a Garmin Oregon GPSr for years for hiking, MTB and road cycling.
Rotated to landscape mode and 3D viewpoint enabled it looks like my Garmin Nuvi SatNav. ‘Cept it hasn’t got a voice so, iirc, it beeps once for right and twice for left 👀😳

The Oregon also has the ANT receiver so it works with bike cadence, speed, etc. sensors (y)

TL;DR
Other than every 4 or 5 years buying a TalkyToaster OS like map, I don’t buy maps.
You can get detailed world wide maps for free via the OSM community. Routable, topographic, etc.
There’s another recent online source of free maps that was discussed on MHF. I’ve forgotten who that was tho 🤪

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kevenh said:
There’s another recent online source of free maps that was discussed on MHF. I’ve forgotten who that was tho 🤪
Click to expand...
Just to wrap this point up, that thread is Broken Link Removed.
 
suavecarve said:
I ve got a Bosch computer on the bike, presumably it pairs with that through the app (which I have as well)

So then I pair my phone with the nyon and create my route on mapy.cz then tell the nyon that's where I am off to. And I get a "turn left in 30 metres" message ?
Click to expand...
The Nyon has the Sat Nav built in as a programme , option 3 of 4 on the Home Screen , has 3 options quickest , scenic and MTB .
 
The device looks to do the job you want. But beware it says it uses Trendline route planning. I've not used this but have used other apps with similar functionality. These apps use popularity routing, in other words routes that other people have used. That includes MTBers, gravel riders as well serious roadies and casual riders. So you can end up riding down a paved cycle path or road and the next thing you know you've been directed down a dirt road full of potholes and rubble. If you use an app like Ridewithgps, to plan a route it will tell you whether the route is using paved or unpaved sections. Not sure though if this device will allow you to load routes from Ridewithgps or other sources.
 
Mapy cz free android app shows bike and walking routes for most of the world, with turn by turn routing surprisingly accurate.
Mounted on a phone mount on the handle bars.
 
Last edited:
Steve N Tracy said:
Mapy cz free android app shows bike and walking routes for most of the world, with turn by turn routing surprisingly accurate.
Mounted on a phone mount on the handle bars.
Click to expand...
My choice of bicycle satnav too, I've started carrying a very small power pack as a back up.

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suavecarve said:
Can this one be beaten ? Pricewise ?

Check this out! Amazon product ASIN B0B56W7K7L
Click to expand...
Quite a nice discount on the rrp there yy
That might be as the Garmin Edge Explore 2 is out.

On Amazon I’ve seen higher spec Garmin Edge devices on sale at ~£150
It might’ve been the edge 800. I do remember It was the top/decent spec button version 🤪 - rather than touch screen only.
 
LesW said:
My choice of bicycle satnav too, I've started carrying a very small power pack as a back up.
Click to expand...
The Nyon has the advantage of being powered by the E bike battery and has a cool function where it shows on the maps the limit of your e bike battery range in real time .
I used the MTB route function once and the route chosen was challenging to say the least ( I have a full suspension E MTB ) , I rerouted using “ scenic “ ! 🤣
D378A167-A196-41A9-B64F-60378911EDB7.jpeg
 
I recently bought a Mous case and bike mount. Really easy click on click off and secure. Excellent kit.

Plenty of discount codes out there too.

uk.mous.co

Evolution Cycle - Essentials Kit

Secure, easy-to-use mechanical mounting kit - perfect for every bike ride
uk.mous.co uk.mous.co

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