Which GPS???
 

I'm going through the process of planning a Trans-Africa trip on behalf of the charity I work for and could do with a spot of advice!!

I currently own a Garmin ETrek Legend but realise that this won't be suitable for such a trip.

What is a commonly used GPS system that will allow me to link up to my laptop during the trip and is the 'industry standard' so to say?

Look forward to hearing your comments.

Ben

What do you want the system to do?

You could use your present GPS, an notebook pc, some software (OZiexplorer for instance) and some purchased maps (preferably on cd). With this system you need to set up your own route. But you can change it on the way, update the maps and still have the original routes.

Or you could get a new gps with maps that you load onto the gps. Normally you are then stuck with the gps manufactures maps -= they can be good and they can be bad. Some of them will do autorouting - saves some time.

In my experience GPS technlogy just isn't quite there yet! While it does sometimes get the position right on the loaded/base map, mine (a Garmin V) spends alot of time saying that I'm off the route and it must recalculate. This seems to happen mostly when I'm about to negotiate a particularly tricky set of turns! What it does brilliantly is confirm your position and you will know immediately if you are heading in the wrong direction. I don't know about other models but this one in particular takes a long time to download detailed maps and routes and for a long journey this will be a pain - i.e. it will need at least half an hour every day connected to a laptop to download the info.
It is fun though and I'd much prefer to have one than not but a paper map, sufficiently detailed, should be your main guide with the GPS offering valuable and time saving support.
Other more expensive models may do better but I have no experience of them.
Have a good trip!

Why isn't the Legend suitable? We crossed Africa with a Vista (basically the same as the Legend except it has 24Mb instead of 8Mb) and we really liked it.

The only problem I see is that, in 8Mb, you won't be able to upload all the maps you need to cross the entire continent. You can already upload several countries, though.

Instead of buying a new GPS, you can keep the one you have, carry the WorldMap CD and the PC cable with you, and once in while (maybe 3 or 4 times total) stop at an internet cafe to upload new maps.

Note: I just posted a message under a different thread talking about how we used the GPS: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000139.html


Pierre (& Merritt too)
http://www.photobiker.com

I too support the idea of a basic GPS and backup paper maps. The GPS I mostly use is still the old Garmin II+ and that's a lesser GPS then the one you have. If you're tight on money, keep it.

------------------
A.B.

OasisPhoto.com – Images from the Magical Sahara.
ShortWheelbase.com – Jeep preparations.
Coordinates Converter – Lat/Long <-> UTM Conversion Tool.