Advices for a GPS novice

Hi all,
I'm considering buying a gps for my next bike trip in germany. The
main uses will be tracking (to later geocorrelate the pictures I take)
and navigation.

The first big choice is whether to buy a bluetooth unit that does the
logging but can be hooked up to my cell hone for navigation if needed
or buy a full flagged trekking GPS.
I mainly use linux, so a good support for my favourite OS is a factor
in my choice.
The first option (bluetooth gps with logger) is cheaper, this one
(http://www.semsons.com/vivgblgpsrem.html ) is about 100E and can log
with 1sec accurancy for about a month (I'm considering the memory to
be the limit, not the battery life, I can charge the battery at night
but I won't be able to empty the mem until I get home).

As a dedicated gps I'm considering
- Garmin Edge 605
- Magellan triton 400
- DeLorme PN-30

(all of them have microsd slot so that I won't have memory issues, do
you think it's a good idea? what's the ballpark size of a map that
covers a 500km path? what's the ballpark size of a 10000 points
track?)

I have a few questions about trekking gps related to the fact that I
would like to save a good track (at least a point every 10 sec) of all
my movements so that later I can associate the a location to the
pictures I take:
- what is the exact difference between a track, a trail and a route?
- why the 10000 point per track limit?
- what does it mean that I can save 10000points and 50 tracks? (can I
save 10 tracks with 10000 points each?)

I also have a few question about sport GPS in general:
- what should I expect exactly from the navigation software?
- Can I set a destination on the fly on the GPS or should I
plan the trip carefully on my pc and then upload the paths before
leaving home?
- Can I specify I want it to stay on-road or off-road?
- will it be of any use to go around in a city?
- what should I expect from the PC software?
- what is the support of various vendors for european maps (delorme
seems to be almost USA only)
- I know there are repositories of free maps around the internet
(like OpenStreetMaps) Is it possible to upload them on the gps? Are
they detailed enough to be usable?
- do you have any additional advices on things I haven't thought of
(other gps makers, thing to think of before buying)?

Hope you can help me. Bye,

Emme

emme ci wrote:



tomtom can log thanks to TTrackLog on

http://opentom.org

tomtom is linux, but I would like to add .. navit/gosmore/roadnav .. etc
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Opentom/links/

Unfortunately, only Garmin can log and use the OSM maps ... (I don't know
if Garmin is partly open src linux , just like TT..)

Tomtom bought TeleAtlas for 2.000.000.000 Euro ..

They are crazy, the US army gives away the maps of the US, now, every
Tomtom/teleAtlas share holder is AGAINST the existance of ... the Eu
Army ;-)

TeleAtlas has a list of 43 National IGN/NGI (National Geo Institutes)
adresses, thats's more or less it. They code the maps to "create" 50 brands
of GPSses that can't exchange maps ;-)

Maps made with TAX money@ IGNs should be free. If the chinese applied this
trick, we would have to complain ??


I have used / owned a Michelin, a Tomtom, a Navman, an IGN.fr/Evadeo, and a
Siemens/VDO Dayton.
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