Saturday 7 February 2009

GPS and sat nav


I was "given" two toys recently (I bought them, and they were given to me as birthday and Christmas presents). The first was a Garmin Nuvi 250 sat nav for the car; the other was a Garmin etrex H hand-held GPS device. The main reason for both was to be able to measure reasonably accurately my boat speed, and test the theory that more revs doesn't always result in more speed.


As I have already mentioned the device intended for the car will, in "pedestrian" mode, give a speed to the nearest tenth of a mile per hour: good enough for the boat. So do I sell the etrex H or keep both devices?

Advantages of the car device: large bright screen; has maps; can run from 12V supply. Disadvantages: not waterproof; can't replace internal rechargeable battery (which is supposed to last 5 hours before needing a recharge).

Advantages of hand-held GPS: waterproof (supposedly) and fairly robust; easy to replace its two AA batteries; logs moving time as well as stopped time. Disadvantages: screen difficult to read; no maps; can't use to navigate in car.

I am really, really bowled over by the Nuvi 250 sat nav. It's amazing! (Never had a sat nav before, so I'm easily amazed!) As well as having European maps I can use it on the boat!

2 comments:

Nev Wells said...

Halfie

Being a bit of a gadget geek I'd keep them both - unless

A. You don't have a car
B you need the cash

The Nuvi will do you for those unexpected trips (like my recent trip to Manchester to take my youngest clubbing)

The hand held will allow you to enter the world of Geocaching - and you can start finding all the caches Sue for No problem is putting out at the moment. Geocaching gives you a very good reason for a walk !

Nev

Halfie said...

Nev, you might be right. If I sold the GPS I'd probably find myself in a situation where it would be perfect. And, no, I don't need the cash - it was a present, after all!

But geocaching? I don't feel the urge. Yet.