OS Horizon £424.99

As an Ordnance Survey map addict I was excited to see how well the company had translated the world’s best cartographic data into a user-friendly digital format. Unfortunately, after running two test units, so far the answer is very badly.

The OS GPS website struggled to recognise my existing account and repeatedly failed to upload the six free OS map tiles included with the device. When they do upload, the file names on the device don’t correspond to those on the website so you don’t know which you’ve downloaded without scrolling across them all at zoomed scale. The screen is poor in terms of visibility when you’re riding and the default resolution change from 1:50,000 to 1:250,000 occurs when you’re only seeing about 300m of map, so you’re either riding in a tiny window of accurate coverage or looking at a blurred road atlas. The maps it’ll let you upload outside of OS are really limited, syncing routes from the TwoNav account and GoCloud is a nightmare and so is uploading GPX files.

Full waterproofing is a bonus for British rides but the unit is bulky and the small rubbery flush-fit buttons are hard to find and operate in full finger gloves. The screen is hard to see in most light conditions and battery life is variable depending on usage intensity, but is always under the quoted 10-hour life. It uses its own twist-lock mount rather than one with plenty of aftermarket options. In other words, it’s currently very hard to recommend it compared to the OS app for smartphones, which is far better than this shockingly unusable GPS. We have made Ordnance Survey aware of our concerns, but at the time of going to press were still awaiting a response.