Satmap Active 10

[ChrisJB]

I've just been reading a review of one of these and they look amazing. As a bit of a Luddite I have always relied on a good ol' map and compass for my walks and have never been seriously/dangerously lost. However, the thought of a little hand held map in your pocket does sound rather alluring. As this is a rather old thread, I was just wondering just what do they do that makes them better than a map and compass (I had a look on the Satmap website and having never even used the most basic GPS got terribly confused)? And, if folks on here are still getting good use out of them?

Regards, Chris

[Richard G.]

The simple answer is, not much

If you're a competent navigator, you'll be able to find your location on a paper map and keep track of it as you progress. I suppose the GPS just takes all the effort out of this, and much of the fun, if you enjoy navigation.

They do have other useful features, like tracking your average speed, time to destination, amount of ascent etc. if you like checking this sort of thing. You could also quickly assess the suitability and timing of an alternate to your planned route pretty much on the fly. Some other apps (I'm thinking Viewranger in particular) have a nice feature where you can look at a 360 degree panorama and it will name all the visible summits for you. There are still issues or concerns about things like touch sensitive screens in the outdoors, battery life etc.

I have an old Garmin Geko 201 with no mapping on the GPS. I still occasionally use it as a backup to a paper map, especially in more featureless terrain, but otherwise I mostly use a printout from a digital map.

I like the idea of a mapping GPS, but until the OS relax their prohibitive licensing model, which forces me to buy multiple copies of the same mapping data for each application I use, I doubt I'll be buying one.

[Richard G.]

I should add, for those not familiar with Satmap, that this is a standalone PDA application, so you have to plot your route on the Satmap, no accompanying PC application, though it will accept GPX files.

If you happen to have other PC mapping applications, such as Memory Map, you can upload both routes and maps to some PDA/GPS units, including the iPhone now, which is an interesting development.

[bran goesgoch]

IMHO the Satmap Active 10 a ridiculously priced and that’s before you have to fork out for the maps to go with it. £400’ish for the facility to view OS mapping on the go is way out of my price bracket.

So this is what I have done….I checked out eBay and looked for a HP iPaq PDA (pocket PC), I found the iPaq hx 4700 for £50, I then bought myself a 2gig SD card for £6 and loaded it with my MemoryMap software which covers all of Wales and this cost me £75, then finally I bought myself a bluetooth GPS receiver off the internet for £28. The total cost for my set up £159.

Because I am using a pocket PC for all my off road navigation, I also have all the additional features that go along with it i.e access to the internet, email, an excellent mp3 with all my favourite music and much much more. Even though my PDA is six years old and by todays standard a little dated in terms of technology, it still does all I want it to do and more. In my opinion it was money well spent.

[jamicu]

You might want to have a look at the Openstreetmap project which provides free maps.
Still a 'work in progress', but the there is software available that should allow you to have Openstreetmap maps on you pda

[link to the pda page on Openstreetmap wiki]

[JeffH]

Many thanks for all the contributions to this thread since my opening and last posts of nearly 18 months ago.

For the record I bought a Satmap just over a year ago and have since used it in the Cairngorms, elsewhere in the Scottish Highlands, on the west coast of Scotland, in the Brecon Beacons, on the Pembrokeshire coast, in the northern pennines and locally here in the highlands () of Cambridgeshire.

In short it's an excellent (if rather expensive) piece of kit, seems to be bombproof and has given faultless performances throughout

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)