I know, I know….another GPS question.
However I'm not looking for opinions on which one to get. I've spent the time reading & researching. I have an idea of what I want, I just need some insight on what's actually capable. I've searched around for this, so apologies if the answer is already out there. I just don't know how to word this for a search:
Ultimately all I need from a GPS is the ability to compute and give turn-by-turn directions from point A to point B. I don't want to use my phone. I've done it, I don't like it. NO.
Past this – I don't particularly need other features but I won't say no to them, and while I like the idea of an eTrex I want something cycle-specific with the intelligence to give turn-by-turn guidance and not just a breadtrail.
Here's the big ask: I want to be able to change the suggested route, ideally on the fly and if possible, on the GPS unit itself. If it has to be on the phone, no problem, as long as it's intuitive and/or simple. For example – I'm at point A and have the computer route me to point B, but I don't like the route that's suggested – I want the ability to modify the route – either sections, or the entire thing. Kinda like in Google maps how you can click on the route and drag waypoints around to go on roads you know work better for you. Is this possible on ANY cycling GPS unit?
I totally understand and am ok if I have to use my phone to do this. Or if it's not possible, my other thought was simply using the cycle.travel app, creating a route on the fly, and then sending it to the GPS unit. Would this work with any of the following units without internet connection? I like the idea of the GPS computer being able to do routing/rerouting on its own, however if this use-case is better done by using an app on my phone and sending the maps over to a unit, I'll just do that. I just want to make sure whichever unit I get can accept the maps I'm sending and give decent turn-by-turn navigation.
Units I'm considering, in order:
- Garmin 840
- Garmin 540
- Wahoo Elemnt Roam v2
- Lezyne Mega XL – maybe, sounds like this is breadcrumb-style only. But it would save me some money and is simple which I like.
by Omgwtfpnutbuttabbq
5 Comments
This is why I stopped using my Garmin for routing. I haven’t found any bike computer that can reroute well. Nothing beats Komoot on a phone. I now have a super cheap low end Xiaomi phone that has incredible battery life that I use exclusively for routing.
I just use my phone. I know, I know, the idea gets lots of hate, but it works better than any GPS unit out there.
On my Garmin 530(and I assume also newer models) I hate that I can’t really change my destination on the fly while an activity is running.
For planning I use Komoot, but sync only works when there is no active activity.
It is annoying a.f. especially if I’m not 100% sure about the route, or do a detour and it alerts me the whole time that I have to turn around.
It takes considerable computing power to calculate more than a basic “as the crow flies route” which is why most (if not all) cycling computers are bad at it.
With [cycle.travel](http://cycle.travel) you will still need the internet on while using the app to make a route, but once you have sent it to your cycle computer, you can turn the internet off. You can download offline maps though, which doesn’t require the internet to see where you are down to street level (though I’m not sure how that compares to a model cycle computer) though you won’t have any route loaded.
It might be a case of using [cycle.travel](http://cycle.travel) offline maps to get you (without a route) to a location where you can connect to internet to then create a route and send it to your cycle computer?
It sounds like you don’t want to use your phone…maybe it’s too big? Maybe you don’t want it on the handlebar? Maybe the battery life sucks? I use an old iphone SE. I set it up to use data from my main phone (which is in my pocket). It’s small, it’s easy on the battery, it’s cheap and expendable, and it’s way more capable than any stand alone GPS. I’m curious, what’s the drawback to using a cheap, expendable phone? I can run ridewithgps, komoot, strava, google maps, etc. And I can route on the fly. I can even have concurrent routes running on RWGPS and google. And google maps auto-reroutes if I get off course–no input needed.