Nokia N70...

So, after 4 lost auctions I finally got one, a Nokia N70 and a new one too.  I have wanted a GPS for a few years now. I was going to get an Etrex Venture cx, but the map on it only has major roads, river and lakes.  I wanted the GPS for my first cycle tour in September and that is almost completely off road.  I looked into Garmin's more detailed Topo map and that apparently is very expensive rubbish. I came to realise that the proprietary US/French created maps on Magellan and Garmin devices probably wouldn't do for me.* The usual solution is to buy software on your computer, make your map on that and then export the route to the GPS. The best software for this is on the PC, Memory Map with full OS Mapping, and on the Mac there is Route Buddy which has the (not so good for cycling) Tele Atlas Maps. But I don't want to leave my map behind on the computer and I don't really want to pay for 2 electronic maps one at home, one on the GPS.

Infact, I would rather take advantage of online maps when I'm at home, like Google Maps or Street Maps, or Multi Map, to create routes while I'm at home and focus on having the proper map on the GPS. This is possible of course, but most the options require a PDA, in most cases running Pocket PC. I do not, under any circumstance, want to run Pocket PC voluntarily, so I thought I was sunk. Then I found View Ranger. Viewranger runs on Series 60, has OS Maps, and can connect to a GPS via Bluetooth.

You can record your tracks, but you can also upload way points and routes to the phone. I tried out their custom map tool and I'll be able to buy OS maps of central Wales, London, bits of the west country and the south downs for about £35. I should be able to get a better bluetooth receiver than in the etrex for about the same again (£35-45). So hopefully I'll get what I actually wanted for rather less money.

*My intial decision was to get an old GPS, a Sportrack Pro and wait till an iPhone based solution to get digital OS maps in my hand appeared. It turned out that the Sportrack and N70 are of the same Vintage, 2005 models and around the same price. I suspect my wait for the iPhone will be rather more pleasurable with the N70 that it would have been with the Sportrack and my Motorola SLVR.