[Bicycle Mount]

Thanks, Mark. I noticed after the firmware upgrade that my unit performs better too....it's generally taking 1-3 minutes to acquire the satellites, and hasn't taken more than 5. Haven't tried it in a car (either with or without the external antenna) since the upgrade though, but you've made me feel confident that I can use it on geocaching.

 

By the way, I was able to double the download speed from 9600 to 19200 when directly connecting the unit to the PC. Still pretty slow (I've heard of others who just use a CF card reader to speed it up) but better. Couldn't get it to work any higher.

 

Do you know offhand, I know when you load a new set of maps you cannot access the old ones, but does it actually erase the old maps from the CF card? I just don't want to keep changing maps as I go and find out the card is "full" with unreadable stuff and have to get a reader just to erase it all. If you don't know I'll ask Whistler support, from what I've seen, I agree with you they're quite good, thanks.

[Bicycle Mount]

I recently bought a Whistler GPS 200 and I have been curious about a bike mount and accessories in general and I have done some research that may help you with your question.

 

It appears to me that Whistler has discontinued it and exited the GPS business (I got a refurb unit on eBay though it came with a 90-day Whistler warranty and an option for a 3-year extended warranty for only $10 that I confirmed with the manufacturer), though they seem to support existing owners quite well. The Western US map CD was damaged and they sent me a new one right away, but it was basically the files put onto a CD-RW, I was pretty surprised about that (pleasantly about the speed of service, dismayed about how I got it, though it did work). Then I asked about accessories and was told to call 800-531-0004 (their consumer hotline) as the only accessory I have found elsewhere was the external antenna and was looking for a car adapter so I don't have to blow batteries when using it in the car. I have not called them as they are basically 9-5 M-F hours and it is hard for me to call them at work.

 

I discovered through some VERY long research that this unit is sold in Asia by a Taiwanese company called Holux (www.holux.com....to the US and Canada they strictly sell GPS receivers that only work with a laptop) and is called the Holux GM 100 (they are the actual makers of the device) and in Europe by a British/German company called Alan Electronics as the Alan Map 500 and Map 600 respectively (www.alan-uk.com).

 

Their sites seem to have some accessories available including a car mount that may work on a bike and possibly a phone number (though it will require paying for an international call) or email to contact them about this. One thing that interests me is that they have a European map for the map software (I downloaded their map software and it was almost exactly like the software that Whistler provides and was compatible with the Whistler US maps, so I'm imagining the Euro maps would work with the Whistler software (but I don't need it to the point of paying Alan $150 to find out); but I also found in a Google GPS forum that someone tinkered with loading the Alan firmware into a Whistler unit to update and "improve" it and it wouldn't turn on after that and Whistler support was nice enough to help him get the old firmware installed.

 

I hope that helps you. By the way, how is your Whistler unit? I am new to the GPS world and I'm not sure if it's performance is "normal" vs. a Garmin Etrex or other "low end" Garmin or Magellen unit or if I wasted my money. Lack of accessories aside, it seems to usually take 10 minutes to get it's first fix and if I use it in my car, it only keeps the lock if I have it pressed at a 45-deg angle against a window or with the external antenna magnetically pressed on the roof. When it does lock, it works extremely well though for a sub-$100 unit; the compass is quite accurate as are the maps and I'm finding near-WAAS accuracy in what I think is a non-WAAS unit. But if I suddenly accelerate or decelrate rapidly, it loses it's lock in a way similar to if I'm first turning on the unit where I have to stop and wait at least 5 minutes to get a new fix (it doesn't do this if I have the lock simply outdoors and suddenly walk or run or something, it pretty much keeps it then). My concern is that if I take it geocaching it will go into one of these 10-minute "lock losses" while I'm out in the woods or something, I don't mind waiting 10 minutes to initially get it started, but its frustrating to have to do that after it's supposedly "warm". Do you know if the firmware/OS upgrade on the Whistler site (which I just installed) helps with this any? Thanks.