Garmin Edge 305 - advice

il_principe

I'm thinking about getting myself a Garmin Edge 305 with cadence and HR add-ons and I have a few questions:

1. Does anyone have one of these and is it any good?
2. Does it have a route planner function - showing me which way to turn at junctions?
3. Is is Mac compatible?

i really like the idea of being able to plot a route and be guided by GPS. I live in central London and getting out for rides into the counrtyside can be difficult unless I take a map with me which is hardly practical especially as I like to push myself and don't appreciate having to stop to check where I am etc. Also really like the idea for seeing how far I've climbed etc. I currently own a Polar CS200 cad which was ok till my pc broke, but has no GPS function. Any help/advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers.


My Best Bike

Unknown

I have one and love it, much better than the Polar 720 I had. I actually don't use the navigation function that much, but it's great if go a bit off piste and get lost, used it at the weekend, simply click return to start of route and it guides you turn by turn back to where the ride started.

There are a few programs you can use to plana route and then download it, but I've never tried them. Heres a link to a specific forum which might help

http://forums.motionbased.com/smf/index.php?board=55.0

My bikes - http://flickr.com/photos/82587774@N00/

Garybee

1. Yes and yes, if i broke mine i would buy another tomorrow.

2. Sort of, you can preplan routes and and display them as a track to follow on the map page. It doesn't navigate like a sat nav though as it doesn't know where the roads are.

3. Don't know, sorry.

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Hypocrisy is only a bad thing in other people.

Mister Paul

I have the 205, which doesn't have the cadence and heart rate functions. It's great.

It does give you a route, but doesn't show you a map. You just get a line on the screen, but if you zoom in enough you can see the turns at juctions and it will tell you as soon as you go off course.

I did a 60 mile route with it on Saturday with no problems. If you use this

http://www.bikeroutetoaster.com/

You can plot points and it will work you a route out on the roads. It's fantastic.

And then when you get home you can lay your ride over Googlemaps.



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<font size="1">What we need is a new, national <b>White Bicycle Plan</b></font id="size1">

il_principe

I'm very tempted. How much did you guys pay for yours, cheapest I can find is œ215 with delivery (in CAD & HR)

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Unknown

I bought mine from Royalsdeal on Ebay œ156 but that was for HRM only, don't think I'd use the cadence sensor

My bikes - http://flickr.com/photos/82587774@N00/

andywgg

Would just chip in that I have a Forerunner 305 that I think has exactly the same functionality but you can wear it on your wrist and use it for running too.

They're mac compatible in that Garmin's own software works, but Memory Map, which is probably the best software for route planning and works with the Garmin is PC only.

may the dawes be with you...

andy

il_principe

Well I've taken the plunge and bought one from ebay œ201.95 all in including delivery which seems pretty good value I reckon. It looks a great bit of kit, just be tightening the belt for the rest of June now!

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AcademicX

Jashburnham, I realise this might be too late but given you've got the same Wilier Mortirolo frame as me I thought I'd better mention that I couldn't find a way to fit the speed/cadence sensor (GSC10) onto the chainstay in a location that would allow the cadence 'sensor' (which has to be fitted to the crank arm - for obvious reasons) to work. This is due to the rakish sweep of the Wilier Mortirolo chainstay [:)]

My GSC10 is located to the rear of the chainstay (near the dropout) with the speed magnet on a spoke tight-up against the wheel hub.

I'd also add that I didn't find the cadence sensor that useful (when it was fitted & working on my 'old' bike). The sensor kept falling off the crank arm and I had to superglue it on in the end (not something I'd be keen to do with my Chorus carbon crank arms).

il_principe

Thanks for the "heads up" Academic, I'll look forward to fiddling with it. I really like to be able to keep an eye on my cadence so hopefull I cn get it working ok, not to bothered about gluing the crank as I have Centaur and not spangly Chorus! Not looking forward to wrestling my fulcrum wheel magnet off the front Zero though, IME once those magnets are fitted they are a bugger to remove.

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bobbyp

Is the shape of the unit the only difference between the edge and forerunner? I've been thinking of getting one to replace an aging S720 and can;t make my mind up. 98% of its use would be on the bike but I'm keen to up my running so something I can use for that would be good, I just don;t want to lose any bikey features.

jonathan r

Jashburnham and AcademicX although I don't have the same frame as you, for similar reasons I found it imposable to fit the cadence censor onto the chain stay. After a lot of head scratching, the best workable solution was to place a thick piece of rubber, (4 - 5mm) under the sensor prior to securing the cable ties. This allowed the angle of the sensor to be adjusted in relation to the wheel and crank magnets.

richa

bobby,

I have experience of both. If 98% is for the bike then get the Edge.

- Screen size is vastly superior.
- The Forerunner is also fiddly to mount on the bike.




Rich
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bobbyp

Thanks Rich. That's pretty much what I expected. Besides which, I'm bound to get bored of running when I could be cycling instead :-)

Gary D

jashburnham,

Another "just too late post" I'm afraid, but I too have just bought one off Ebay and got it for the princely sum of œ148 including P&P and that was for the HR and Cadence add-ons.

The seller was ghamash and is US based. However, don't let that put anyone off, as I would like to say that the service was incredible. Paid for it via PayPal on Wednesday 6th and it was delivered to my door via DHL at 12:40pm on Friday 8th!!

I too had a little difficulty positioning the Cadence sensor on my Tricross, but I put this down to having a Deore chainset and crank arm which I think has a greater offset than a road version so the arm was quite a long way from the chainstay. Anyway, got it to work eventually - but it just sticks out a bit and doesn't look too pretty. With regard to the sensor magnet, it is designed to be cable tied in place and I would be very suprised if it fell off if that method was used. However, again it doesn't look pretty!

Unfortunatley, I haven't actaully had chance to try it out yet as domestic duties prevented me from throwing a leg over the bike last weekend.

I am just evaluating all of the after market route creation packages, so please keep this thread going and report back on which you find the best and I will do the same. Haven't looked on the forum that ColinT mentions yet, but I have seen it referred to a number of times so will be worth a look.

The one I have tried so far is mapmyride.com which uses google maps, and importantly, will allow you to click on either end of a road and it will follow the meanderings of the road. When I tried bikely, it wouldn't do that and I had to plot out hundreds of points - or maybe I was doing something wrong?
The good thing is that it is free - the downside is that it seems to run directly from a server and as you start to build the route up, it gets slower and slower and slower to the point of frustration. I have created one route, but again, haven't had chance to load it on the Garmin and try it for accuracy.

Keep us posted!

Gary.


Must try harder....

md81544

Another route planning option for the Edge is the Marengo Route Planner at

http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map

Help is at http://www.marengo-ltd.com/map/help.html


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Martyn

nashcom

I also use Marengo. It seems pretty good, but I've not used anything else...

I've only recently got my 305, and haven't really digested the manual...

Is there a way to reset a trip distance to zero, but maintain the overall trip distance? I'm thinking along the lines of an Audax where I want to keep track of total distance covered, but would like to be able to reset a distance counter between each section on the route-sheet.

The other question I have is, is there a way to maintain a sum of all distance cycled? (So I can record distance cycled in a year, for example).

il_principe

RE Mac compatibility, here's an email I received from Garmin today:

<i> Thank you for contacting Garmin Europe LTD

In short the answer is yes, the latest version of Garmin Training Centre
is Mac compatible, if you go to www.garmin.com/trainingcentre you can
download the Mac variant, you can also download the mac version of
webupdater, which updates the unit software and Gps chipsets,
www.garmin.com/webupdater

Kindest regards,

Andrew Stead
Product Support Associate Garmin (Europe)Ltd </i>

Good news then.

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harrywolper

All

The 305 is an excellent prducut and the service from Garmin is very good (mine broke, they replaced unit and sent extra HR/CAD and bike mounts!).

I've used Marengo (and many others) but he has recently introduced a pay for service (which has very little extra features) so take care! Also, it's very slow (esp. for longer rides). A very quick look at the www.bikeroutetoaster.com site looked absolutely superb (quick, auto fill of routes and dead easy download to Garmin).

Apologies for the number of (brackets) in the above.

Regards
Harry (aka Al)

veryslowtwitch

Motionbased will store your rides on their server. First ten free then about œ50/year.

I like it and paid up because I couldn't find anything similar for Mac users. The Training Centre is a not great.

Edge 305 is an excellent product. Have fun.

Regards

Alan

Cunobelin

œ164 at Amazon

This is a training aid and not a GPS, hence it's use is limited, but no more so than some of the basic GPS systems. If it is a record and backup for (paper) map based navigation then it is fine, but if you want to use it as a sole navigation device, reconsider.

Even with paper maps, the biggest failure is not to use Ordnance Survey grid data. This means points are difficult to enter adhoc, or from the most common descriptor, and does not allow easy correlation between the GPS data and an OS map.

Apart from this you will find it invaluable.

For full info on the system download the manual

You can also look at the software here

As you can tell - I am a little "sad" about these things - I like to know the facts and make an informed decision

NOt to influence you, but.................



















My 305 with heart rate should be here Wednesday or Thursday.

<b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
He that buys flesh buys many bones.
He that buys eggs buys many shells,
But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
(Unattributed Trad.)

Mister Paul

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by jashburnham</i>

I'm very tempted. How much did you guys pay for yours, cheapest I can find is œ215 with delivery (in CAD & HR)

My Best Bike
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I got my 205 in the states for œ79.

Do you know anyone over there?

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<font size="1">What we need is a new, national <b>White Bicycle Plan</b></font id="size1">

MarkMcp

Sorry for the thread hijack, but I just need to know two things before I take the plunge and buy a 305 myself. I've got a Mac and I want to get this right. Am I right in thinking that you can't actually put a route into the 305 but once you actually ride the route once the 305 will navigate you when you ride it again ???? Also does it display % of Max Heart Rate ????
Cheers for any help.

Mister Paul

you can put a route in, as a course to follow, and you just follow the turns and keep your bike on the line.

It doesn't show your course on a map on the screen. you just get a wobbly line. Which means that if you happen to get way off course there's no road/trail map there to get you back on. You just have to aim towards the line and hope for the best.

So yes, you can follow a route. Just not like with a car sat nav. As I said, I use this option a fair bit, and you can see within 5 metres of taking the wrong turning at a junction that you have gone off course (you can zoom right in on the line). And the thing bleeps if you do.

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Simon Notley

Another hijack here, how accurate is the speed from the 305? I've heard it's not that great, although apparently the cadence sensor also does speed by the traditional method of counting revs - is it worth getting the cadence sensor just for this reason?

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If I had a baby elephant, I'd fit right in here.

richa

Simon,

I don't believe cadence sensor calculates speed unless gps is off. No worries though speed is more than accurate enough. Very little difference between my polar & my edge. (I'd expect that the edge is more likely to be correct anyhow)


Rich
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Simon Notley

Cheers Rich. In that case, I just have to decide whether I'm interested in knowing my cadence or not... any thoughts on whether it's worth paying the extra for the cadence? I think I've goy my cadence sorted, but i guess it would be worth knowing to analyse TT performance and such...

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If I had a baby elephant, I'd fit right in here.

Cunobelin

Only to a certain extent.....

Due to memory limits, old data is rewritten, so if it is a constant "route" then yes you can follow it, and the Training Partner allows you to compete against yourself

<b><i>He that buys land buys many stones.
He that buys flesh buys many bones.
He that buys eggs buys many shells,
But he that buys good beer buys nothing else.</b></i>
(Unattributed Trad.)

richa

Simon,

I assume you are already going for HR?

How much are we talking to add cadence at wherever you are gonna buy it from?


Rich
<font size="1"><font color="green">Etape2007.Blogspot.Com</font id="green"></font id="size1">

veryslowtwitch

.. is it worth getting the cadence sensor just for this reason?

Not really. I have not lost a signal riding out of doors in the UK. You might lose the signal in an Alpine tunnel or a deep canyon or Wall Street. My Edge picks up a couple of satellites in my office, 2m from a window.

I bought two cadence sensors which are unused.It is so simple to transfer it from bike to bike that fitting extra stuff just becomes a pain.

My Edge read the same speed as my old computers (now removed) and within 1kmh of my friends while riding. Repeatability over the same commuter route is about 0.05% for distance. ie 10m difference door to door over 23 km. Assuming the internal clock is accurate then the speed is very accurate, some kind of rolling average, updated every second.

Highly recommended, you can always get a cadence sensor later.

regards

Alan

Speck

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... WLIST#LIST

œ195, ordered it Sunday, arrived Tuesday

I'll be 60 on July 4th, must be mad!