[OSM-talk] Recommendations for a new GPS Device?

[Ed Loach]

Rory wrote:

> I have a NaviGPS BGT-31, and I've very happy with it.

What Rory said, though I've got the GT-31 version (my computer
doesn't have Bluetooth) and usually use the USB cable for charging
(only occasionally for transferring), and transferring the SD card
(I had a 128MB microSD card and an adapter left over from when I
bought a larger card for my phone so used that). 

Having read the other reviews though it would be nice to see what is
already mapped in an area rather than take traces when I happen to
be somewhere I don't normally go and check when I get back - for
example on the rail replacement bus service from Bury St Edmunds to
Peterborough I was a little disappointed that the bus followed the
A14/A1 rather than a more scenic route - that was the other bus
which stopped at all stations the train would have normally stopped
at, but would take an extra 30 or 40 minutes). 

Picking up signals in busses (sp?) or cars seems to be no problem
though; in train reception seems a bit more unreliable though. It
does struggle occasionally here in my office (although we replaced
all the walls with foilbacked plasterboard to retain heat a couple
of years ago, so I'm effectively working in a Faraday cage with
holes for windows and a door; my mobile phone also struggles to get
a signal in here at times). I've not needed to map my office from
inside it yet though.

I bought the bicycle mount to go with the GT31 and I find that with
it on the bike or in the car it gives pretty accurate traces; when
I'm walking the lines aren't quite so straight but I assume that is
because I carry it in my hand and so the extra movement as I walk
and perhaps my body getting in the way of signals affects things
slightly. 

Since I've had it in August I seem to have about 21MB of trace
information in total though I don't keep it on the card; that 21MB
is the BIN files from the memory card and the GPX and KML versions
after conversion with the supplied Navilink software. I tend to
delete the NMEA, PLT and WPT files as I don't know what I could use
them for (and can always reconvert the BIN file if I find a use).

Ed