Tour divide GPS,

[fab]

Hi, hope you can help me, I intend to ride the 2017 tour divide, I've done plenty of on and off road touring in Europe, but always used paper maps cut up and laminated and a compass ( sorry i'm old ), reading blog's about the divide tells me I need to upgrade to a GPS Garmin, I'm not great with Tec so would need the basic thing, no need for heart rate, cadence, etc, just need to know where I am and where I'm going!
Can anyone recommend a unit that would suit my needs?   
Thanks for your help!

[Iowagriz]

Are you touring the Divide, or racing with the Grand Depart in June?

If racing then you would do better with the gps. If touring, then the malls from ACA work just fine.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[fab]

I'm aiming for 25 days and leaving around the time of the grand depart, or maybe a little later in June to miss the snow.
I guess your thoughts are that the GPS will be a lot quicker, instead of getting the maps out, good point.
Any suggestions ?

Thanks

[Iowagriz]

Yes, quicker, plus the race route differs from the map route in at least two spots.
1) in Wyoming, they avoid Rawlins and go thru Wamsutter
2) New Mexico has several options on the maps, the race takes specific routes.

If you want the race route, follow along with the 2017 race thread, it can change from year to year with small changes.

I do think that ACA sells a gpx file for touring, but might be wrong.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[rick miller]

I used an Etrex 20 this year  (the same one I have owned for several years ).  The 20 and 30 are easily the most popular units on the tour.

[Adam Alphabet]

For bikepack racing the Garmin hiking models tend to be the most popular. I've used an old Dakota 20 on the CTR and AZT 300 twice with an Etrex 20 as a backup after my first AZT300. I had a track failure/lock up of my Dakota20 after the first 100 miles which lead to some stress but I still finished, the divide being almost 10x longer might not be as forgiving.

The AA batteries vs rechargeable are nice if you're not running a dyno hub. Garmin's can be a bit quirky and it's a good idea to get used to them before you head out on the race. Always double check the track/maps, upload the latest firmware, etc. There's a bunch of info on these forums about them.

[bakerjw]

GPS without a doubt.
I ran a Garmin Etrex 30x and would not consider doing it without one.
I also had the GPX file on my phone as a backup.
I also had the maps as another backup.

The maps really help to get a lay of the land. In life we still have to stop and smell the roses.

Lastly, I also used the elevation profiles that are listed in the 2016 prep thread and already in the 2017 race prep thread. Since plans seem to go to hell in a handbasket very quickly, the elevation profiles give you a quick guide as to what lies ahead. If you are sapped and know that the next day will be off on mileage, you can quickly get an idea of where you can land if you only have 1 or 2 mountain passes in you.

I will be heading out next year likely on the Wednesday after the grand depart. After this year, I learned that riding totally solo creates a zen experience.

[fab]

Many Thanks for all your wise words and good advise, it's a great help.
I've noticed that in the UK, the stores sell Garmin 500, 800 and 1000, the reviews say these tend to be unreliable when you go off the beaten track, is that why the Etrex and Dakota are more popular, I take it you can get a bike mount for the handheld hiking devises ?
I will definitely get the maps from AVA as back up.

[Adam Alphabet]

Many Thanks for all your wise words and good advise, it's a great help.
I've noticed that in the UK, the stores sell Garmin 500, 800 and 1000, the reviews say these tend to be unreliable when you go off the beaten track, is that why the Etrex and Dakota are more popular, I take it you can get a bike mount for the handheld hiking devises ?
I will definitely get the maps from AVA as back up.

https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/cIntoSports-c10341-p0.html
Figure out which one you want... get the appropriate mount. I use this one.
https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/prod11411.html

[Wandering by Bicycle]

Have you considered using a smartphone instead of a regular GPS? When my friend an I rode it we had both the ACA paper maps, which are great for figuring resupplies, daily distance, and side trips, as well as our smartphones with the apps Maps.me. and Gaia GPS. We primarily navigated with our phones and usually referenced the maps in the morning, before setting out. For much of the route, navigation is pretty straight forward and doesn't require staring at a screen to find the way.
I wrote a bit about using a smartphone for navigation here (https://wanderingbybicycle.com/1477-2/), and there are also some trip reports from the Great Divide as well. Enjoy the ride, it's an amazing experience.

[Britt]

Cabelas has etrex 30 on sale.

[Overshot]

Just a question for those that used the erred on the divide.

Did you use the stock Garmin basemap or download OS maps, or buy the Garmin maps?  I have been trying to load maps via GPSFiledepot and import them to Basecamp and have been totally unsuccessful.  It seems that without a somewhat detailed todo map having the track only does not meet the full purpose of having this along.

Any input or suggestions are welcome!

[Spec44]

Did you follow the tutorial on GPSFileDepot? That's how I got mine done.

https://www.gpsfiledepot.com/tutorials/how-to-load-maps-on-my-garmin-gps-unit/

Pay particular attention to this note on their site, if it applies to you:
There is an issue with the 64-bit installer used in the PC version of this mapset. If this is the first mapset you are installing on a Windows 7 64 bit PC, you will need to FIRST install a mapset which used a 32-bit installer, 'My trails ....' http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/maps/view/53 works and is small in size.

[Overshot]

Hi Spec44,
I have used and followed this tutorial very closely.  When I try yo open the dowloaded map file either nothing happens, or I get a prompt saying Basecamp can't open or download the file.  I have tried several different map downloads and most all of them get the promo that they cannot be opened.

I am using a Mac, with Basecamp version 4.6.3, and Mac OS 10.12.5

Any further insights with this?

[Spec44]

I'm not even a little familiar with Mac OS.  I do know that with windows, when you download a .gpx or a map file, figuring out where to save the files on your computer is critical (and not necessarily intuitive) to Basecamp recognizing it.

  I just downloaded a map to my Windows machine (hadn't done one in awhile), re-figured out where to put it, but when I clicked on the Maps tab the georgia map wasn't in the list of installed maps.  I closed basecamp and reopened it, and then it was there.

I also have never been able to figure out where Basecamp saves the .gpx files so I can just copy paste them into Topofusion.  Anyone have insight?