Three Ways to Use a GPS

As you know, I've been playing with GPS's lately, and it occurred to me that they make excellent bicycle computers* for a few reasons... well, three reasons, actually.

Display of Information:

Let's face it, most cycling computers are a compromise. They have small screens and can display only a limited amount of information at any one time. Often, there is much button pressing to see various aspects of your ride. The GPS, on the other hand, is not small. Because it's not small it has room for a nice large screen, which may or may not be color. This allows it to display all the information you want right there on the same screen. The Edge 705 can display up to eight items. That's the other thing, most of the GPS's out there let you decide what to display. If you've got a heart rate monitor, show your heart rate, but if not, turn off that display and show something else. Nice.

Logging Information:

The second way that GPS's rock is that they log the ride stats for retrieval later. Most also connect to a PC so you can upload your rides to different websites--like MotionBased, a Garmin-owned site--so you can share your ride with others, or just keep a training log of where your rode and what the ride statistics were--e.g., where you rode, how fast you averaged, how far you rode, etc. Many of these websites allow you to view or download your route in Google Earth format--it'll be a .kml file.

This allows you to review your ride and take a look at the terrain. Frankly, I find it fun to look at the topography after a ride and see what the hills really look like.

Routing:

This is the one feature that to date I have not needed to use on my bicycle, but intend to anyway. The Edge 705, and others, will enable you to select a destination and then it will determine the route, based on select criteria that you input. You decide whether or not to allow routing on primary roads, or limit it's road selection to secondary roads. You also tell it your mode of travel. It calculates the distance and takes a stab at predicting your arrival time. The Garmins that I've used with this feature predict arrival time with an amazing amount of accuracy.

Now, the reason why I have not used this feature much on the bicycle is that when I ride I rarely have a destination. Usually, I'm out for the ride itself, but if I was touring, or riding in a strange city, that might the feature I'd rely on the most. As it is, I tend to use the other two--information display and logging--the most.

But none of it works if you forget to plug it in and charge the battery.



*This assumes that you are using one with either a wheel pick up for speed/distance, or are using a newer GPS with better reception. If you are not, then it'll just be frustrating. Seriously.