A forum for owners of Yamaha TTR250 trail and enduro bikes!

94Garry · Veteran Member

i need a gps thingy

Moo · Senior Member

Not sure what your price range is, but something similar to a Garmin Montana?

TTRfan · Super Guru

The cheapest option is probably a Road Angel 7000 set up to run Memory Map. They seem to go for very little money these days and are a great introduction to using a GPS on your bike loaded with OS mapping.

Even better is to also run Memory Map on your laptop/PC so that you can plan routes on your PC/laptop and transfer them to the Road Angel and, after a ride, you can transfer the tracklog from the RA back to your PC and see where you have been etc biggrin

Brian

locky · Guru

I use a Montana, not the easiest gismo to use at first and Garmin Basecamp is hard till you work it out but a fantastic bit of kit.

mossproof · Super Guru

Garmin tends to be quite expensive, especially if you want proper os maps rather than the Garmin topo series, which are less accurate in terms of rights of way designations. As Brian suggests, a second hand Road Angel is a good option. Alternatively, buy a cheap Android smartphone, making sure it has gps (or use what you've got if you have one) and install a free app like Viewranger or Mytrails. I have a Motorola Defy+ which has a quite small screen, but there's plenty of others larger. They operate without the need for a simcard, although in my experience, initial location finding at switch-on is faster with a simcard. After that there's no discernable difference in speed of location update and as fast as a dedicated gps. OS maps are then available for online purchase either as individual "tiles" or complete district or country sets. Viewranger tends to overcomplicate itself by trying to be part of the in-crowd on-line community thing with the ability to, for eg, live-update your twitbook feed with your location, should anyone else give a damn which muddy ditch you're up to your neck in on any given Sunday! Mytrails is simpler/more basic.
The disadvantage of smartphones over dedicated gps is battery life. My Moto will go 5-6 hours with Viewranger running continuously and recording track, but I have a 12v usb socket for charging when necessary, and there are larger capacity aftermarket batteries available online.
Second hand Garmins already loaded with os maps appear on your favorite auction site occasionally, as do Road Angels. Shop around and cost up the various options.
Ride safe, and please ride legal,
Simon.

94Garry · Veteran Member

I won a Road Angel Navigator 7000 on Ebay for £24, is it a easy process putting memory map on?

Also if you have one, how have you mounted it to the bike?

peteBLUEttr · Super Guru

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/350845501817%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

greekmountains · Veteran Member

94Garry wrote:
I have no idea what type of gps i need, mainly something that i can use if i get lost on un named track's ie forestry roads, idealy showing OS maps and not needing a phone signal.

The main use i have for my ttr is travelling the forestry roads round me, there is hundreds of miles of them, atleast a dozen lochs i know of, water dams, and lots more to see, i plan on some wild camping this year and im worried if i go in and for example take a left at a fork right at the next and so on i will lose my orientation and need to find my way out

-- Edited by 94Garry on Wednesday 3rd of February 2016 10:34:39 PM

-- Edited by 94Garry on Wednesday 3rd of February 2016 10:42:00 PM

Really good question-spot on Garry 👍

greekmountains · Veteran Member

TTRfan wrote:
The cheapest option is probably a Road Angel 7000 set up to run Memory Map. They seem to go for very little money these days and are a great introduction to using a GPS on your bike loaded with OS mapping.
Even better is to also run Memory Map on your laptop/PC so that you can plan routes on your PC/laptop and transfer them to the Road Angel and, after a ride, you can transfer the tracklog from the RA back to your PC and see where you have been etc
Brian

Yes or like me Brian- use a map , fail to locate some of the trails take a wrong turn and then think “oh —— me where am I “ 😳

Moo · Senior Member

I have also used an option that Ridelimousin use for trails..

Cheap Samsung Galaxy S2 (£20 off ebay) with an extended battery (£5?) with Viewranger on it.

Works brill and lasts the day uncharged.

Cheap enough to not matter if its damaged or lost..

devon_rich · Senior Member

Another for viewranger but the limitation can be the phone itself.
I use a galaxy s5 in an ultimate addons case and charger.

If mois ture gets between the phone and case it goes completely wonky.

Important point is phone signal s not nessesary.

-- Edited by devon_rich on Saturday 2nd of February 2019 08:24:56 PM

Dan-in-a-Van · Veteran Member

I use Alpinequest on an android phone for hiking & mountain biking. The full version can use Memory Map files as well as other downloadable maps. On the TTR I've got an old Garmin Street Pilot III. Its rugged enough to leave mounted on the bars in all weathers and for navigating on the move. I keep the android in my jacket for if I get really lost ;)

Screenshot_2018-08-27-12-39-14 (1).png

Fish13 · Member

i think there is an app called Qfields. should be able to help you out.

Kaos · Senior Member

I have tried a few cheap GPS units but just use a smart phone now. All I want is to track where I have been and see a map of where I am. I use an app called "Strava" to track my rides and have "offline maps" which works without phone signal. Enough to point me in the right direction but not necessarily navigate. i have a Samsung s9 i just put it in my camelbak or jacket pocket. My old S6 still works so sometimes I fire that up and strap it on the handlebars. Bigger rides I throw in a spare battery pack.

PlumasDude · Senior Member

I've been using Gaia GPS on my iphone for 4 or 5 year, works offline, exports tracks/routes to GPS or KMZ. Its generally a US app but I see Gaia now has UK and Euro maps, might be worth checking it out. I don't mount it just carry in a pocket/pack.