ADAM HARVEY has the latest travel gadgets
ViewRanger mapping software for GPS mobile phones tracks path, pace, altitude, distance and direction on Ordnance Survey of Ireland (OSi) 1:50,000 maps. The software is simple to use and updates instantly, with direction shown by a thin red line and your trail etched on to the screen in a black, pencil-like mark. As well as recording your precise path, the software will also show the location of other ViewRanger users (if you want it to) and tag the map with photos taken with your phone. You can download topographic maps for the whole of Ireland on to a phone for £120 (€136), or download smaller high-resolution sections of the OSi maps for £20 (€23) per segment. Not all GPS phones can handle the maps: Nokias and Samsungs will, Sony Ericssons won’t. www.viewranger.com.
Danish firm Yakkay has turned a functional green cycle helmet into a much more interesting device, with changeable covers that look like real hats, from furry white models to army-style lids fit for safety-conscious Cuban revolutionaries. Goeco, in Co Limerick, has them on special at €90 for the helmet and €20 per cover (www.goeco.ie; see www. yakkay.com for full range).
Lungs afire, legs like lead, but you can still take more – or so says your annoying new heart-rate monitor, the Polar FT80, which tells you when it’s time to start running again. The monitor works out your ideal training zones and rest periods and lets you know if you’re being too easy on yourself (£250/€285, www.heartrate monitor.co.uk).