It’s our last day in Amsterdam and I thought I would throw together a quick equipment/gear posting. I really have not done much traveling in my adult life, so I am far from being an expert on navigation while in foreign places.

For our 2009 Europe trip I decided to make use of some electronic goodies for navigation instead of paper-based resources. The two devices that have been important so far in Amsterdam are my Garmin 705 bike computer / GPS device and my iPod Touch.

Garmin 705 Bike Computer (GPS capable)

This device is a rather expensive bike-oriented GPS device that tells me how fast, how far, if my heart is about to explode, and many other things. Most importantly it functions like a GPS unit in a car and I can key in destinations and then follow a route to those destinations. Alternatively, it can be used as a palm-sized map that also tracks your path, which has been handy for hiking and bike riding.

Garmin 705 Bike Computer

Being bike-oriented the screen is quite a bit smaller than a car-oriented device, which I’ve found to be OK when out in the country, but more challenging to use when moving at speed through a city like Amsterdam. Having spent some time using an iPod Touch, I can say that interacting with the 705 is a bit clunky and slow comparatively. This is most noticeable when trying to pan or zoom.

In order for this thing to be of any use here in Europe I had to buy a city streets map on a microSD card. Topographical maps are also available for certain areas, but I decided to forgo that option for this trip. For my bike rides I have been creating bike routes (aka courses) on my laptop with Bike Route Toaster and then uploading them to the 705. This has worked quite well, but did require some learning, and has not been without the odd hiccup.

To summarize, I’ve been happy with the Garmin 705 so far and feel like I’m getting better at using it and the course creation software. Hopefully, this trend continues as we start our travels in Spain.

Apple iPod Touch (mini-computer)

The iPod for those who don’t know is basically a mini computer. You can do most stuff that people do with their home computers like, listen to music, watch videos, read and write e-mails, and waste time on the Internet.

iPod Touch (third generation)

In terms of navigation, I have been able to download a number of maps in PDF format (most notably, the Amsterdam transit map) and have found it rather handy to be able to refer to these while out and about in the city. The iPod’s relatively smooth and quick panning and zooming helps quite a bit.

The key differences between the iPod and the iPhone are network connectivity and GPS capability. With an iPhone you can get on the Internet anywhere, anytime, assuming you have paid your exorbitant phone bill. An iPod on the other hand only connects to WIFI networks (home or business wireless networks). There are lots of WIFI networks around, people seem to have caught on and most are secured, meaning no connection for the average iPod user. Of course, there is always the option to pay for access, at coffee shops etc.

Despite the network connectivity challenges with the iPod, I have found that it can do enough offline, that it can be pretty useful for travel navigation. A valid question is why don’t I just use an iPhone, which is pretty much capable of doing what the Garmin 705 and iPod do. This sounds good in theory, but at this point I am not interested in Canadian iPhone plans and felt I needed something more physically robust for bike riding, like the 705.