Randonneuring GPS

Hello, all!  I was wondering what all of you long-long-distance folks do for GPS.  Somehow, I got the itch to try and ride my local section of the Pony Express as a brevet and I want to be able to track the ride (and, ideally, be able to call for help if needed but I'm not sure that's a possibility).  I have a Garmin 200 and a Sigma Rox 11.0 and I'm not sure that they'd last the amount of time that it would take.  So what do you guys use?  The bike that I'd be using - my Surly Ogre with a lot of stuff stripped off of it - has a SP dynamo hub.  Thanks!
   

Why not just power up the gps with the dynamo?   I use a Lezyne Mega XL that is supposed to last 48hrs.  I used it at the dirty kanza a few weeks ago and it still had well over half the battery left after i finished.  It was connected to my powermeter and hr monitor the entire time, and i also had the navigation running for the duration of the ride.  

Personally I have gone all-in with kLite with their crazy bright headlight and USB Charger (the 2 port kind).  Just a note - if you do go with kLite for either their light or USB charger, you also need to buy one of their extender cords as the USB charger and headlight has a short cable.  I wish they would explain that on their website, but alas, it's not the most user friendly.  

The one thing that the kLite website does explain fairly well is how to use their system (or any similar type system) for long periods of time.   I have a cache battery that I used on a multiday bike trip.  Charged up my phone and rear blinky light a couple times, which drained the battery to almost empty.  I tried charging the Cache battery with the dynamo on a 60 mile day, but it barely added anything to it.  Got home and found that it took all day and into the night to charge the cache battery I have with a regular phone charger.  So yeah, it would take tons of miles to charge a cache battery with a dynamo hub.  

I found this website for a ton of info on dynamo USB chargers.  This website is also a treasure trove of information for other cycling aspects.

Gwoity wrote:Why not just power up the gps with the dynamo?   I use a Lezyne Mega XL that is supposed to last 48hrs.  I used it at the dirty kanza a few weeks ago and it still had well over half the battery left after i finished.  It was connected to my powermeter and hr monitor the entire time, and i also had the navigation running for the duration of the ride.  

That's a good rec on the computer!  I'm not sure whether my Rox would have enough battery for the whole thing and I also don't know if it can trickle charge while in use.  I'll have to ask Sigma about that.

cyclery88 wrote:Personally I have gone all-in with kLite with their crazy bright headlight and USB Charger (the 2 port kind).  Just a note - if you do go with kLite for either their light or USB charger, you also need to buy one of their extender cords as the USB charger and headlight has a short cable.  I wish they would explain that on their website, but alas, it's not the most user friendly.  

The one thing that the kLite website does explain fairly well is how to use their system (or any similar type system) for long periods of time.   I have a cache battery that I used on a multiday bike trip.  Charged up my phone and rear blinky light a couple times, which drained the battery to almost empty.  I tried charging the Cache battery with the dynamo on a 60 mile day, but it barely added anything to it.  Got home and found that it took all day and into the night to charge the cache battery I have with a regular phone charger.  So yeah, it would take tons of miles to charge a cache battery with a dynamo hub.  

I found this website for a ton of info on dynamo USB chargers.  This website is also a treasure trove of information for other cycling aspects.

Thanks for the tips!  I have an Outdoor Tech battery but it's kind of like your battery - it takes a couple forevers to charge and such.  I'd much rather just use the dynamo I've got and save some space.  I'll take a look at that Cycling About article.

The AA-powered Garmin Etrex series is pretty much the standard in long distance self-supported racing. Many will use dyno-powered chargers to run them, or cache batteries, but the ability to slap in some AAs from any gas station when/if those options fail can save ones ride.

@barturtle Can they trickle charge while in use?  That's my hangup with my current GPS, that if I needed to, I couldn't just plug it in and still have it work.

I use the Garmin etrex 30x. Battery life is long. If it dies, you just drop in new AAs and it's good to go. The etrex is nice, but it is not intuitive. 
When I go bikepacking in the backcountry I carry an InReach mini. It runs off satellite service. You can text with it as well as send people your map and location. It has a SOS button as well. 

Pynchonite wrote:@barturtle Can they trickle charge while in use?  That's my hangup with my current GPS, that if I needed to, I couldn't just plug it in and still have it work.

 


The Etrex is not designed to charge rechargeable batteries placed into it. However it will switch automatically between using the AAs (rechargeable/alkaline/lithium) that are placed inside and external USB power.

Sweet!  Thanks @barturtle!  I was looking on the specs sheet on Garmin's site and didn't see that information.  Looks like I need me an Etrex.