Sports Calendar

Garmin Oregon 300 £250
The Oregon is primarily a walker’s device but can also be used by drivers. For instance, Garmin’s GB Discoverer National Parks countrywide map on micro-SD card (about £100) provides turn-by-turn driving instructions, as well as 1:25,000 OS mapping when walking. Small-scale maps don’t display as well on the 3in touchscreen as on rivals’ screens, but it’s easy to navigate, thanks to big icons you can jab with gloves on. Significantly, the Oregon fixed a location faster than any other device on test.

Verdict: The flexibility of on and off-road mapping is useful, but neither is executed as well as it could be

www.garmin.co.uk

Best for: affordability

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music from free on contract
Smartphones with GPS are supplanting sat navs for drivers, but are they suitable off-road? The software you can run on them is certainly up to scratch: ViewRanger’s maps of Britain, on five SD cards (about £150), use 1:50,000 OS data. The 3.2in touchscreen gives clear magnification, and the ViewRanger maps integrate well — you can thumb-scroll the map and use the 3.2Mp camera to record photos onto it. No slouch at getting a GPS fix, the Nokia is also a great music player to keep you mellow as you walk.

Verdict: An excellent multimedia handset, but not nearly as robust as a dedicated unit

www.nokia.co.uk, www.viewranger.com

Best for: use in poor weather

Satmap Active 10 £260
Hardcore walkers don’t just roam in the summer, so they need a GPS device that handles the worst of British weather. The Active 10 is easy to operate via large buttons and a joystick, even with gloves on, and it’s waterproof enough to survive a leaking jacket pocket. The maker even claims it can withstand a 3ft drop onto concrete. The 3.5in screen is large, which facilitates route-planning as you can see more of the area without having to scroll around, but as with all the tested models, it’s hard to read in full sunlight. There’s a huge range of software to buy or download to an SD card — a 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map of Great Britain costs £200 — and users can plan and share routes over the Satmap website. The optional bike-mount accessory is a nice touch for £30.

Verdict: The best GPS receiver for hill and country walkers

www.satmap.com

JARGON BUSTER

GPS
Reception from the global positioning satellite network is generally good in the great outdoors, unless under trees; it is high-rise city buildings that can cause it more problems.

Ordnance Survey
Britain’s highly detailed Ordnance Survey data have been licensed to makers of GPS devices and are an essential extra purchase for serious hiking, as the “base maps“ supplied with the receivers are sketchy once off-road. At high detail you’ll get contour information, archeological and geographical points of interest and river, forest and — importantly — cliff details.

Route creation
Mapping software and hardware for walkers are far more flexible than that available for most drivers. By pre-programming GPS grid reference points, either via the handset’s buttons or, more easily, on a computer, you can use the devices to navigate from one waypoint to the next, and even share routes with other walkers.

Prices the best found online. Graham Thompson is technical editor of Trail magazine

Explore Personal Tech

• InGear