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The Dakota 20 is a great way to go. It is a tough weatherproof unit, good on batteries and can be seen in direct sun. For hiking an iphone app is pretty good, but the garmin can be mounted on my bike handlebars in full exposure to the weather
I did manage to trash the screen in mine recently and picked up two very nearly new units on ebay for about $100 each. Looking at the disks, they had only been turned on a few times. I think many people but these things and never use them.
For maps I go download from gpsfiledepot.com or buy a Garmin sd card on ioffer.com. I'm not sure everything sold there is legal but they work better than the genuine Garmin cards. The garmin city navigator sd card has all sorts of tiny dirt roads on the map, as well as wealth of offline info on lodging restaurants etc.
The Dakota 20 is a great way to go. It is a tough weatherproof unit, good on batteries and can be seen in direct sun. For hiking an iphone app is pretty good, but the garmin can be mounted on my bike handlebars in full exposure to the weather
I did manage to trash the screen in mine recently and picked up two very nearly new units on ebay for about $100 each. Looking at the disks, they had only been turned on a few times. I think many people buy these things and never use them.
For maps I go download from gpsfiledepot.com or buy a Garmin sd card on ioffer.com. I'm not sure everything sold there is legal but they work better than the genuine Garmin cards. The garmin city navigator sd card has all sorts of tiny dirt roads on the map, as well as wealth of offline info on lodging restaurants etc.
On the Spanish forum, people have strongly recommended that I get one for the Camino Olvidado.
You really don't need it. I walked the Camino Olvidado from Bilbao to Cistierna last year without GPS. I had intended walking to Villafranca but changed my mind and turned left to Gradafes and Puente Villarente (where I had a close encounter of the chinche kind.
Laurie
When are you starting ? Do you have an update here on your recent "gear", smart phone? ipad, camera etc? love to know ...Buen Camino.
Last year I bought an iphone
This year I am going to buy a gps based on several very strong recommendations on the Spanish forum about the Camino Olvidado
Hi LaurieLaurie
When are you starting ? Do you have an update here on your recent "gear", smart phone? ipad, camera etc? love to know ...Buen Camino.
If you have an iphone, why a second GPS unit? Just curious.
Hi Laurie
I looked up your model of camera and read "The Canon SX260 HS also offers built-in GPS with included Map Utility software and GPS logger function". Have you used the GPS etc functionality and if so what do you think of it?
Thanks
Mary
All smart phones have some kind of GPS (that's why the industry name for them is "trackers"; smartphone is a marketing term). You'll find a lot of GPS apps for the iphone, which will have a lot more features than the P&S version of the canon GPS utility.
I've never used GPS on the Camino and like Laurie, am technologically challenged. I'm not sure why a person would even need it???
And with regard to the GPS on the smartphone, they also tell me that it eats up the phone battery, that it will require a data plan (I don't use the iphone for data or as a telephone on the camino,…. and that there will be places on this route where we wouldn't get connection anyway. Laurie
You do not need a data plan to use GPS.
I am with the ladies who "don't know much" when it comes to tech. But, one pilgrim wrote that she used a pedometer to track her distances, etc. to figure out how much further she had to go to "x". Could you add this to your compass/map usage? Just a thought (and CHEAP).I'm a complete digital immigrant and I don't even have an iphone or a smartphone so all you digital natives please bear with my ignorance. In NZ I've found that there are huge gaps in cellphone coverage when in the mountains - usually in the more remote bits and in forested valleys - and so I'm mistrustful of anything that relies on satellites. If a GPS has the same problem (and I wouldn't know) then maybe the old map and compass is still the way to go. Although, the tricky bit I've always had with map and compass in thick mist/low visibility and undulating terrain with unclear landmarks, is working out how far I've come based on how fast I'm really going. The tempting bit of a GPS for me is if it can tell me within 2m where I am!
Mary
I hadn't thought of a pedometer. I have a history of breaking them - mainly dropping them - or they wriggle around my waistband and give me an inaccurately low reading. I tried clipping one to my bra where it was very accurate until sadly I got blisters! I need to track down a pedometer that behaves well and some topographical maps of the mountainous areas of the del Salvador and Primitivo. I went onto the IGN site but I haven't found an index map yet to figure out which maps to download.I am with the ladies who "don't know much" when it comes to tech. But, one pilgrim wrote that she used a pedometer to track her distances, etc. to figure out how much further she had to go to "x". Could you add this to your compass/map usage? Just a thought (and CHEAP).
Stefania
Otto, who I walked with on the Salvador, had one with him.I don't think there are any other Caminos in Spain where a gps would be recommended, am I right? (Well, I would recommend it for a few stages on the Vadiniense/Lebaniego, but I've already walked that camino and had to bushwhack my way out of the brush by following an overhead electricity line). Thanks, everyone, Laurie
You don't need a data connection to show your position on the map. You might need a connection to download the map but there offline maps. Google maps lets you download the maps in advance. Others sell maps.
You might need a data connection for directions. Or to search around you for something. (supermarket,hospital,ATM,etc)
Battery depends on your phone but you can get external batteries to extend the life. The bigger (heavier) ones might give you most of a week. The smaller ones maybe an extra day.
The advantage of using your smartphone instead of a standalone GPS is it's one device . Instead of a phone,GPS etc
Have you tried this sort of pedometer. It clips on and has a second safety clip. Terry clips both the main and string clips to his pocket and it has always been very accurate. The battery lasts about 6 months and as the pedometer needs re-setting when the battery is changed he has kept a note of his personal settings. He set it up using a measured step and then checked it over a measured kilometre, then tweaked it until it was correct.I hadn't thought of a pedometer. I have a history of breaking them - mainly dropping them - or they wriggle around my waistband and give me an inaccurately low reading. I tried clipping one to my bra where it was very accurate until sadly I got blisters! I need to track down a pedometer that behaves well and some topographical maps of the mountainous areas of the del Salvador and Primitivo. I went onto the IGN site but I haven't found an index map yet to figure out which maps to download.
Mary
Hi, NicoZ,
T
In google maps on the phone, you cannot download the map to see it without a connection, so that means you need to have continuous coverage. And in some parts of this camino there will be bad data connection. The telephone consumes battery, as does the GPS, as does the high consumption you will have when you have the screen lit. Another option would be to use a program specifically for smartphone that lets you download the maps in the phone's memory, for example OruxMaps for Android."
I wear mine on the pocket near the top of my hip with the devise facing in and the clip showing on the outside. This works well for me.I hadn't thought of a pedometer. I have a history of breaking them - mainly dropping them - or they wriggle around my waistband and give me an inaccurately low reading. I tried clipping one to my bra where it was very accurate until sadly I got blisters! I need to track down a pedometer that behaves well and some topographical maps of the mountainous areas of the del Salvador and Primitivo. I went onto the IGN site but I haven't found an index map yet to figure out which maps to download.
Mary
Laurie
If I get to start in Seville end of April I will finish mid-June (ish). A lot of ifs at the moment. I will pm you when I book. Your "exploration" skills know no bounds, a Garmin e trex is very useful when hill walking, to know where you are. Lots of people use the apps now on their phones and all the advice here is probably great, I get a headache when I see, smart, app, gps, battery power, charging, could go on. I may bring a kindle with me though? I like the fleece attachment, I wore a worn out fleece (well it was very light) on 2 caminos, had it in the bin in Santiago and took it back out and brought it home with me! My boots will be "new" this year, what boots are you wearing, a gear list ?
Thanks again
Good luck with new route, we all have something to look forward to in years to come.
I used for the Camino Del Salvador the Garmin Etrex 20. As Laurie started this post with the question about the Dakota 20: here are the differences.
Navigation on Etrex is with a kind of joystick. Dakota is with touch screen. Screen of Dakota is a little bit bigger but Etrex has a brighter screen, easier to look at with sunlight on it.
Dakota has only 850MB internal memory. Whole Spain is something like 1,6GB (=1600MB). You will need an external SD card. Etrex has something like 1,6GB internal memory.
What is very handy with Garmin is the software Mapsource (in fact now it's Basecamp) where you can study the map on your PC, transfer the parts of the map which are interesting for you (to save on memory) and prepare a route/track and transfer it to your equipment.
About the use of Mapsource/Basecamp. Two months ago, I explained during 1 hour the usage of Mapsource to an 85 year old man (farmer) who never used a computer in his life. And it's OK, he can now work with it.
Only to say that Mapsource is easy to use.
I have one remark about free Garmin Maps. Not all paths are on the free maps. The expensive Garmin maps do have "almost" all the paths on.
Very good plan Susanna!
About touch screen versus navigation joystick. The 85 year old man has the Dakota 20 and he sometimes has to press twice. I like the navigation joystick. It goes even quicker and there are no prints on the screen.
May I suggest you one thing. Buy some protection foils. The Garmin's have "plastic" screens (phone = glass) and are sensible for scratches. I found on ebay a set of protection foils not too expensive in the UK.
BUT no GPS, because you need batterys, charger... and this can have 300 and more grams, and it gives you no extra special benefits.
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