Handheld GPS for walking?
 

Can anyone recommend a hand held GPS that can be used for walking directions from street to street in cities one is visiting? I undertand that one problem with car GPS units is that they will direct you to highways and circuitous routes rather than the easiest walking path.

I do not have a cell phone, so a cell GPS is not an option.

I have just purchased a Tomtom One XL, but haven't even tried it in the car yet. It mentions a "walking" mode, but I have no idea of how effective that is.

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thank you,

Senior Lady

I think you would be able to use the Tomtom, just read the directions.

Do you have an ipod touch? I bet there's an app for that! ;)

Google Maps for Blackberry will do walking , public transit, and driving directions.

ipod touch probably need a BT pug type GPS. Does ipod Touch have BT function build-in?

Posted in a separate thread, I tried to use my Sprint BB 8820 in Taipei and the aGPS function doesn't work although email and voice works.

I use a Garmin eTrex Venture Cx for travel use. It use AA cells and can work for over 30 hours. It has a microSD card slot to hold maps. It recorded 771 MPH flight speed from NRT-SFO on Wednesday.

The pedestrian mode works, keeps you off the freeways. However, you can't see the screen in the daylight, and tall buildings or narrow streets block the signal significantly. I rarely get a signal from my hotel room either, so it's hard to set POI before leaving the room.

Best thing is probably to set your destination, turn on the voice, put the thing in the chest pocket of your jacket, and do what the voice says.

The bottom line is I've had no luck using it in European cities.

TT walking mode is good
 

Walking mode ignores freeways and lets you go the wrong way on one way streets. In addition to reception issues, the other problem that I found is that on foot you are much slower so the directional arrow is not always correct. Especially if you stand on a corner trying to decide, TT might tell you straight on, when you should turn right. So if you stop, check the map carefully. I normally check 30-60 seconds after a direction change and I am moving forward, just to be sure I am on the right path.

Great tool for finding where you parked the car :cool:

GPS for City Walking
 

Thanks for the help, FTers.

Wil try the TT in Walking mode in Victoria, BC. Have no sense of direction at all, so it will be a big help!

Senior Lady

I put my Garmin Nuvi in Pedestrian mode and go just fine.

The iPod touch does not have a GPS chip in it.

The problem with using a Garmin Nuvi is that you have to have the antenna flipped up in order for it to operate, and then it doesn't fit in your pocket. I use a Garmin GPSMap 60 CSx for walking/hiking and it works great. (It doesn't give spoken directions, though.)

I use a Garmin eTrex Venture Cx for travel use. It use AA cells and can work for over 30 hours. It has a microSD card slot to hold maps. It recorded 771 MPH flight speed from NRT-SFO on Wednesday.


Does this one have voice direction.. I think thats what its called.

Yeah, that really sucks, since I like iphone features, but don't need the phone part.

Excuse my stupid question, from the Nuvi menu (I have model 370), how do you get into the "Pedestrain mode"? Thanks.

From my research I think its the Nuvi 500 that works.

I see where Garmin will be introducing the 1200/1300 series which has "enhanced" pedestrian mode (I think the only difference will be the ability to dowload, for a fee, transportation options like bus/train, etc. for a specific locale).

I have a Nuvi 670 which I plan to use in Europe but have NEVER used it in pedestrian mode.

Even with the encumbrance of the antenna needing to be flipped up, does the pedestrian mode work well?