Ditching Garmin for android or iphone as GPS

[Buddy_Holly]

The more I read about EARL the more I get pumped about it. For 300 you get so much functionality. On my last look at their site I saw that they are adding another port for an external antenna (This again is something I have limited concern about- but it expands it capabilities beyond just a GPS). The site says it will have a five hour recharge time in sunlight from the built in solar panel- I would think that a full day of riding might not be enough to charge it and use it at the same time, but just having it be able to catch first light and last light of the day should be great for most riders who don't ride sun-up to sun-down.

They have some video of the refresh and scrolling on it and it seem acceptable. For me just being able to make a stop and see in the sunlight where I am and if I am on track would be a big bonus. While riding if it is constantly refreshing I can see this as a problem because all of the lines will be blurry and indistinct. I hope this is not the case- especially since while riding it won't be perfectly stable on any handlebar in the dirt- it will be blurry from movement on its own. With color screens this is less of a big deal but with grey scale it can get hard to see.

In the end I am hoping for the best. At the worst I will have a new e-reader for books, that I can run every andriod ap on, and charge with solar.

[SauceSquatch]

I really appreciate the knowledge here and I am hoping that OsmAnd is my solution. For a long time I have been using google maps as my preferred method of navigation just because it's so easy and there is a web based interface that I can create my maps with (which i have gotten pretty decent at). The one nice thing that I really love about google maps is that you can download your area for offline use (menu > Make available offline) so you don't need to use any data, just GPS signal. I was just in the appalachians so I downloaded about 250 square miles of the area I was going to be in before hand.

However I really want to be able to load up some GPX maps that have been created by the community and OsmAnd seems to be the ticket, just tested and loaded up some .gbx files. They have a great how-to as well:

https://code.google.com/p/osmand/wik...oViewGPXTracks

As for the debate of smartphone vs. Garmin I can only speak to the smartphone and for the money I feel it's a viable solution despite the shortcomings (not waterproof and screen visibility in sun). My gloves (dianese 2-stroke) work on touch screens and in mild rain my windshield protects the phone from getting wet (while at speed), in heavy downpours I pull the phone off the mount and throw it in the tank bag until it's safe. It works but if I had $500-$700 with nothing better to spend it on it seems like a dedicated device would be pretty nice.

I have been using a Galaxy GS3 for over a year and it's been great, just got a GS4 and it's pretty awesome, however they just announced a GS4 'Active' which is waterproof (AT&T only right now).

After a few rides I'll report back on how well it's working for me.