Thursday, 11 June 2009

Satmap Active 10

I decided to use a GPS for the ride, reasoning that it would avoid a lot of faffing around wondering where I was on paper maps and generally getting lost. I agonised over what to buy and in the end the choice was down to Garmin or Satmap and in the end I bought a Satmap Active 10. The availability of 1:50k OS maps for the entire UK clinched it.
One minor gripe which to be fair is probably with the Ordnance Survey rather than Satmap or Memory Map - I am very unhappy about having to buy the entire UK at 1:50k twice, once for Memory Map and once for Satmap. Come on guys, that is plain unreasonable!!
Having bought the Satmap I found most of the time while cycling I use a compas pointer to show me where to go next. But the ability to switch to a detailed map view is invaluable.
I made a typical newbie error when plotting my route initially, putting waypoints in the middle of every road junction. When following the route on Satmap I had to cycle right up to the middle of the junction before it told me whether to turn right or left. Not very smart. So I have just edited the route to chamfer off all the corners so that as I approach the corner the pointer shifts to the direction I need to follow after the corner, much better.
Yesterday I exported the entire 14 day route from Memory Map in .GPX format and loaded it into the Satmap. Satmap took the lot without a word of complaint - Excellent bit of kit!

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