Today I was at Sagami Cycles and came across this nice little number, albeit a clone of the Garmin I have to say that for the price it’s pretty impressive as it also comes with Japanese road maps preloaded, in a nice easy on the eye package.
For me it's not so good due to it all been in Japanese but for you guys with excellent skills its worth looking into.
I have no idea what the features are or if the data can be uploaded or down loaded but like I said a very nice package.
There was a Jupiter booth at Utsukushigahara last WE and they were giving demonstrations. This particular model works with a touch screen and it looked impressive. It does not have a "navigating function" (instructing you where to turn, etc.) though as I recall from the explanation I got at the booth. There were 2 or 3 more less sophisticated models being demonstrated as well.
ReplyDeleteThe bracket for attaching the device to the handlebar looked a bit crappy. Will follow the reviews on this.
The July Cyclesports has an article about cycling applications for the iPhone, including GPS and map applications. ... made me think that perhaps this is the way to go when my Garmin is ready for replacement. Has anyone tried them?
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. Here is the link to the product description:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.yupiteru.co.jp/products/atlas/asg-cm11/index.html
The touch screen and the Japanese map is attractive, but I would miss the ability to follow routes and to use it outside Japan.
In fact, some of you won't believe it, but I ordered a Garmin Edge 705 after all, at really low cost, still far below the price of this device.
I've recently done a lot of cycling in areas pretty much unknown to me (Kansai, Germany) and even equipped with maps, I found myself on the wrong roads or trails or asking for directions rather too often. Never a disaster, but it just costs a lot of time, which I'd rather spend cycling or cycling on the right roads.
So I will be curious to see whether the 705 can help me. I won't use it as a replacement for my Ciclo computer, and won't carry it on every ride, and will continue to work also with maps. That's at least the plan...
David, you want the ultimate iphone bike computer then look at the iBike Dash.
ReplyDeleteVery pricey but its a hardware and software combination.
http://www.ibikesports.com/ibikedash/index.html
Thanks, James. Looks impressive.
ReplyDeleteI think as long as my Garmin 705 holds out, that will do fine, except I don't have maps for Japan.
... First I should try to see if the GPS/maps on my Blackberry to work reliably.
David, if you don't want to buy maps for Japan, try this:
ReplyDeletehttp://garmin.na1400.info/routable.php
I will too, once my unit arrives.
Thanks, I will try.
ReplyDelete... As for buying the Garmin maps, when I asked at Cyclemode whether the Japanese maps would work on a U.S. version of the Edge 705 ... I was told "no" ... but they were probably just worried about support, or trying to sell the hardware.
David they are right, the Kanji will not display correctly on the Garmin units. This is why the Japanese version is about x3 more expensive asthe whole OS had to be written for Japan only market.
ReplyDeleteThis is why most of us use the UpUpDown maps. As these are in English.