Which Garmin to go for?

pprendeville

Considering getting a Garmin Edge to track my performances on the bike. Kinda getting tired of writing it down on a sheet. Not very easy to compare. Have a blackburn which is good only I can't hook it up to a computer.

So I've done a little research on Garmin and the models to go for seem to be the Edge series which has USB functionality.

Anyone got one of the following? Edge 205/305/500/605/705

What are the pros and cons of each.

I read on Wiggle that battery life of edge 500 is only 18 hours. Very short. Are they all like that? Do they charge by the USB connection?

Also, are the cadence and hr monitors seperate buys?

Are they worth splashing out on?

Finally, when uploading your data, how does this work? Do you have to load it onto the Garmin website (free or pay?) or can you just put it on Excel.

Cheers.

Morgan

The 500.

I don't even know if the 205 and 305 are still in production - you might get one at a good price though. The 500 is a much neater design and does the same job anyway.

The 605 and 705 are enormous lumps and have features not required by most.

18 hours battery life is fantastic - way more than my 305.

Cadence and HR are worthwhile training aids.

You can upload your data to Garmin Connect (free) or onto your PC (either Garmin software or 3rd party like Sporttracks, Ascent).

TinyExplosions

Hav a 705 (as do a fair few people)

You can get it in a bundle with HRM and cadance, and it's up to you if it's worth it.

The software is... buggy, but it's not bad, and there's not much else out there

Worth it -yeah, I reckon so

What would I buy - the 500

Charges via USB no bother, and plenty of free software to analyse your stats to Lumenesque levels of nerdery

Lumen

If you need navigation/mapping get the 705. Otherwise get the 500.

Don't expect it to be reliable, then you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you get the 705, make sure you change the mount at the first visible signs of any kind of stress. The old mounts broke regularly, the new ones are much better.

oflahero

I have the 705, and in hindsight I might've saved a few quid and gotten the 605 instead. It has the mapping just like the 705, but without the HR & cadence monitors, which I initially thought I'd make use of but didn't after a couple of weeks.

Putting on that HR monitor strap on a cold winter's morning is as bad as sitting down on a freezing toilet seat.

pprendeville

That's great advice. Think I'll go with the 500 so. Don't really need mapping to be honest. POlan my routes in advance and have a good naviagation system in my head to cope with getting lost.

CheGuedara

Get the 500 - great wee device.

Light, small, gives all the info you need, easy to use, grand battery life (never come close to doing a 16hr+ ride to have it leave me down).

Hrm & Cad very handy training aids to have, just keep an eye on the cadence sensor as a dodgy one can be a bit of an annoyance

blorg

pprendeville wrote: »

I read on Wiggle that battery life of edge 500 is only 18 hours. Very short. Are they all like that? Do they charge by the USB connection?

The Edge 500 has the longest battery life; the 705 is around 15 hours and the 305 around 10! It is quite a contrast to the five years I got out of my Cateye. They charge by USB so it is just a matter of getting into the habit of plugging it in daily.

pprendeville wrote: »

Are they worth splashing out on?

Finally, when uploading your data, how does this work? Do you have to load it onto the Garmin website (free or pay?) or can you just put it on Excel.

I wouldn't be without mine. Which to go for depends on what you want/need. Personally I want/need the maps AND heart rate, so the 705 is best for me. If you don't want the maps, the 500. If you want maps but not HR, the 605 is a valid choice although it often isn't much cheaper than the 705 and you can't add HR/cadence to it later.

Incidentally, regarding the maps- I never thought I would use them but ended up finding them invaluable. They allowed me to explore lots of new routes both here in Ireland and indeed in continental Europe that would have been impossible to navigate without it.

You can upload to Garmin's website which is now free but was pay in the past. Personally I use a piece of desktop software, Sporttracks. Garmin also have a desktop application, Training Centre.

pprendeville

Lumen wrote: »

If you need navigation/mapping get the 705. Otherwise get the 500.

Don't expect it to be reliable, then you might be pleasantly surprised.

If you get the 705, make sure you change the mount at the first visible signs of any kind of stress. The old mounts broke regularly, the new ones are much better.

Do you mean the 500 or 705 is unreliable?

blorg

pprendeville wrote: »

Do you mean the 500 or 705 is unreliable?

Garmins in general are unreliable, compared to your standard bike computer. They are of course also far more complicated. My own experience is only with the 305 and 705 but from the look of forums, etc. I am not sure the 500 is any better. The reliability tends to improve markedly as the release new firmware; the 705 at this point is pretty good IMO, certainly better than when it was first released.

07Lapierre

blorg wrote: »

Garmins in general are unreliable, compared to your standard bike computer. They are of course also far more complicated. My own experience is only with the 305 and 705 but from the look of forums, etc. I am not sure the 500 is any better. The reliability tends to improve markedly as the release new firmware; the 705 at this point is pretty good IMO, certainly better than when it was first released.

I must be very lucky so. I have my 705 for just over 12 months. do 300klm approx per week and it hasn't skipped a beat!. I have the cadence sensor on two bikes and HR monitor. I love the Mapping (great when cycling abroad) I'm off to Spain in two weeks and I've already mapped out a few rides. The "Virtual Partner" feature is great motivation on my morning commute and when you combine all this with Sporttracker software (free), A great piece of kit if you ask me.

jwshooter

i bought a 500 bundle a few months ago for E 285 in altitude in waterford . i cant fault it .

Lumen

CheGuedara wrote: »

Get the 500 - great wee device.

Light, small, gives all the info you need, easy to use, grand battery life (never come close to doing a 16hr+ ride to have it leave me down).

Hrm & Cad very handy training aids to have, just keep an eye on the cadence sensor as a dodgy one can be a bit of an annoyance

Previously on your training log...

CheGuedara wrote: »

Only spoiler was having another issue with the Garmin 500 - seems to have eaten the data files again (this is getting old now), trying data recovery but suspect the f*cker has done a number on it again. Seems to happen when I use the cadence sensor so I'm gonna chuck that for a while and see if it makes a difference.

So it was the cadence sensor?

DirkVoodoo

The 500 has a few niggles:

- Depending on the number of fields you have (I find more than 4) the screen can be difficult to read on sunnier days. I never really had this issue with my polar, it had a curved screen over the LCD.

- If you have the older launch firmware, uploading courses can cause it to crash.

- The mounting. It was already mentioned on the Orwell forum but the mounting is a little dodgy. It's VERY easy to unlock it. My polar had a reassuring level of resistance, I almost felt I was going to tear the mount apart, with the Garmin I've managed to unclick it while pushing buttons on the bike (didn't fall off, thank God!).

Other than that it's fantastic and I love it, great price as well (used to be better with exchange rates) from handtec.

pprendeville

jwshooter wrote: »

i bought a 500 bundle a few months ago for E 285 in altitude in waterford . i cant fault it .

what do you think of the mount?

CheGuedara

Lumen wrote: »

So it was the cadence sensor?

Yup - dodgy sensor, reed (read?) switch was damaged in it and Garmin were very good in dealing with me when I emailed them. They didn't contest my claim or ask to see the unit just took my address and (after initially sending me out a foot pod in error which I now don't know what exactly what to do with) sent me out a new sensor!

Since then it's been grand and evidently the issues I'd had up to that were either to do with the sensor or my slightly lax following of the user instructions

(when they say press start when you start, stop when you finish and then reset they mean it - press start when you start, stop when you finish, pop off to get a shower/cup of coffee and allow the unit to power down before then resetting and you can find your data disappear into the digital ether)

mtbireland

Would you consider something different? Having previously used a Garmin 205 I'm now using my phone which is a HTC desire to log all my activity. There is an app called Cardio Trainer which is free and which you can use to log all types of activity including cycling, running, turbo trainer work, walking, kayaking etc.. As it is recording your spin you can get audio updates with pace etc if you want. At the end of the activity you get your usual info such as time, distance, speeds, climbing etc.. you also get a graph showing your distance/time/speed... Another neat set of statistics are the km splits. It also has a map on screen showing you your route... all in all very accurate and in most cases you are carrying your phone with you anyway on spins so it saves you having to charge/bring a second bit of kit.... There are other apps on the phone which also record info such as google tracks which gives better information but the cardio trainer gives you an overall total and can automatically upload your tracks to it's website... all this for free.... you can then export your gps info if you want for use on other websites such as mapmyrun....

http://www.worksmartlabs.com/products.php

ednwireland

mtbireland wrote: »

Would you consider something different? Having previously used a Garmin 205 I'm now using my phone which is a HTC desire to log all my activity. There is an app called Cardio Trainer which is free and which you can use to log all types of activity including cycling, running, turbo trainer work, walking, kayaking etc.. As it is recording your spin you can get audio updates with pace etc if you want. At the end of the activity you get your usual info such as time, distance, speeds, climbing etc.. you also get a graph showing your distance/time/speed... Another neat set of statistics are the km splits. It also has a map on screen showing you your route... all in all very accurate and in most cases you are carrying your phone with you anyway on spins so it saves you having to charge/bring a second bit of kit.... There are other apps on the phone which also record info such as google tracks which gives better information but the cardio trainer gives you an overall total and can automatically upload your tracks to it's website... all this for free.... you can then export your gps info if you want for use on other websites such as mapmyrun....

http://www.worksmartlabs.com/products.php

you can buy adverts you know

plenty mor e that are free as well, i used to use nokia sporttracker
but just bought an edge 500 so i can have gradients etc on the screen dont really want a phone sized lump on my handlebars (esp. not an android)

mtbireland

I keep it in my pocket as it's impossible to see the screen anyway in daylight..!! but you can as I mentioned have it give you audio updates as you cycle along... you can also play music at the same time.. As a pure logging device it's great but if you want to see your progress as you cycle the Garmin or something similar is the way to go. I know in long MTB races (100km+) the Garmin is a life saver when used with some pace notes on the top tube with peaks and distances on it.

ashleey

Got a Garmin Edge 500 due to arrive from Handtec (best price). Got fed up with my wireless VDO going awry next to electric fences, low esb poles etc. You don't need wheel magnets, so no more worries about bumpy roads knocking sensors out of line. Nokia sports tracker is discontinuing soon (and my old nokia 5800 took ages to get a gps fix)and I wouldnt trust my iphone battery to last a 100k ride in the wet (using imapmyride app.). You can upload to garminconnect for free (tcx format), or mapmyride.com (various formats) or use pc based garmin training centre (rubbish). You can move files between these sites using tcx converter to change formats from kml or gpx etc. Mapmyride.com looks like the best and will take direct downloads from the garmin 500 when plugged in

ednwireland

ashleey wrote: »

Got a Garmin Edge 500 due to arrive from Handtec (best price). Got fed up with my wireless VDO going awry next to electric fences, low esb poles etc. You don't need wheel magnets, so no more worries about bumpy roads knocking sensors out of line. Nokia sports tracker is discontinuing soon (and my old nokia 5800 took ages to get a gps fix)and I wouldnt trust my iphone battery to last a 100k ride in the wet (using imapmyride app.). You can upload to garminconnect for free (tcx format), or mapmyride.com (various formats) or use pc based garmin training centre (rubbish). You can move files between these sites using tcx converter to change formats from kml or gpx etc. Mapmyride.com looks like the best and will take direct downloads from the garmin 500 when plugged in

not quite been spun out to a seperate company

ashleey

That should have said ridewithgps.com is a great site. Sorry

ashleey

I just felt that I was ending up with an old nokia for gps tracking, an iPhone for calls and music and a normal bike computer for speed. Mental. A garmin 500 will tidy things up a bit. The big fear is that these sites start charging so if your data is precious keep a local copy.

ednwireland

ashleey wrote: »

I just felt that I was ending up with an old nokia for gps tracking, an iPhone for calls and music and a normal bike computer for speed. Mental. A garmin 500 will tidy things up a bit. The big fear is that these sites start charging so if your data is precious keep a local copy.

gone down the same route myself edge 500 replaced the nokia

pprendeville

mtbireland wrote: »

Would you consider something different? Having previously used a Garmin 205 I'm now using my phone which is a HTC desire to log all my activity. There is an app called Cardio Trainer which is free and which you can use to log all types of activity including cycling, running, turbo trainer work, walking, kayaking etc.. As it is recording your spin you can get audio updates with pace etc if you want. At the end of the activity you get your usual info such as time, distance, speeds, climbing etc.. you also get a graph showing your distance/time/speed... Another neat set of statistics are the km splits. It also has a map on screen showing you your route... all in all very accurate and in most cases you are carrying your phone with you anyway on spins so it saves you having to charge/bring a second bit of kit.... There are other apps on the phone which also record info such as google tracks which gives better information but the cardio trainer gives you an overall total and can automatically upload your tracks to it's website... all this for free.... you can then export your gps info if you want for use on other websites such as mapmyrun....

http://www.worksmartlabs.com/products.php

Cheers for that man. I never thought of that tbh. I have a HTC Hero and actually have the cardio trainer but just never realised it had all those functions. think I'll give it a try so and just retain the blackburn delphi. Save me a few bob. Thanks a million.