Hello Everone,
I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I an outdoorsman looking for a good GPS unit. I currently use a Garmin Edge 500 GPS cycling computer to track a lot of my routes but for those of you familiar with that unit, I'm sure you understand it's shortcomings as far as navigating unknown areas. I also have a GPS capable smart phone on which I use MotionX GPS and I like that I can download maps for free from Google, Bing, or OpenCycleMaps and save them to my phone. The problem with that, however, is that it's GPS Signal receiving abilities are very poor, and I often find myself with a detailed map I loaded into the phone but no signal to tell me where I am. I would really like to find a unit that I can load my own maps into without having to purchase them, since places like opencyclemap.org have them for free online anyway. Good battery life, water proof, and durability are all necessities. I hope what I'm looking for isn't too vague, and I would really appreciate any advice!
I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I an outdoorsman looking for a good GPS unit. I currently use a Garmin Edge 500 GPS cycling computer to track a lot of my routes but for those of you familiar with that unit, I'm sure you understand it's shortcomings as far as navigating unknown areas. I also have a GPS capable smart phone on which I use MotionX GPS and I like that I can download maps for free from Google, Bing, or OpenCycleMaps and save them to my phone. The problem with that, however, is that it's GPS Signal receiving abilities are very poor, and I often find myself with a detailed map I loaded into the phone but no signal to tell me where I am. I would really like to find a unit that I can load my own maps into without having to purchase them, since places like opencyclemap.org have them for free online anyway. Good battery life, water proof, and durability are all necessities. I hope what I'm looking for isn't too vague, and I would really appreciate any advice!