My Garmin 705 is C**p (probably)

portuguese mike

Decided to actually dowload a route that i planned on the Topo GB mapsource software that came with my 705 for the first time. It was basically a route that i've done before with 10 miles added to it that i wasn't familiar with.

For the first 8 or so miles it worked brilliantly (apart from getting a bit confused when i passed a complicated junction including motorway access roads) beeping just before junctions and the screen changing to indicate where to go.

Then it started to go a bit doolally. it thought i should be turning right off the road i was on even though there was no road (or even track, path or driveway) to turn down and i was a good mile and a half from the junction i had actually programmed. Things really went haywire when i went around a roundabout and came back the way i'd come for about a mile before then turning off. It had no idea where i was and kept 'recalculating' the route, every now and again, for most of the rest of the ride to no avail. I did notice that after every route recalcualtion when it showed a map of where i was there were loads of roads highlighted purple - suggesting that that's where it thought i had been, bizzare :?

Interestingly, though, for the rest of the ride the actual data regarding speed, distance and heading worked perfectly (by the end of the ride i had covered the exact distance the mapsource software had calculated).

It didn't start working again until i was about 2 miles form home so basically it was completely useless as a navigational tool for 59 miles :evil:

the only thing i can think of, by way of explanation, is that a) it doesn't like routes that double back on themselves and that perhaps i didn't put in enough way points when i plotted my route; i generally only put them in whenever there was a major junction meaning that were often many miles between them.

i'd be grateful if anyone couild shed any light on this because it wasn't exactly cheap and route navigation was the principal reason i got it and not a 305 or other computer.

thank you if you got to the end of this post still concious

popette

Hiya,
I don't have a 705 but I have noticed on my 305 that if I do a there and back route, it get's confused and as you look at the screen as you approach a waypoint (particularly if you've used the same waypoint on your way out and way back), you can look like you're approaching the junction upside down iyswim.
If I'm doing there and backs now, I create two routes, one for outbound and one for return journey.
jealous of all you lot with your 705s. I was hoping for one for christmas but they took so long to release that I got a 305 instead. I have also just bought a polar cs400 as I thought teh HR data from my garmin was wrong - having tried the polar now and I think that perhaps the Garmin was giving me the right data after all, it's just that the data is weird. My HR stays pretty much constant when I do ramp test going from 100w to 300w in 20w ramps. Weird and a little worrying. :?
HTH - don't give up yet with it.

portuguese mike

thanks for the reassurance - i think i'll just have to experiment a bit with it.

interesting about your heart rate. Does it always stay the same or is it just when you do ramp tests? what happens when you climb hills?

popette

On the flat it stays around 125 - even when I'm powering along in top gear. On hills it goes up - probably to about 145/150 ish. However the garmin was showing spikes up to 236! And on intervals, it stayed around 123 on really hard efforts and then as soon as I stopped my effort interval, it went up! Well, I tried some intervals using the polar today and it showed the same thing.

I'm still not sure of the equipment though so will probably do a few more tests using both HR monitors.

Siechotic

Portuguese Mike:

How do you find the 705 other than it's dodgy behaviour you've experienced so far?

I have a 305 with HR/CAD, and wondered if an upgrade to the 705 would be worth the money?

Cheers

Simon

hazychris

Hi Mike,

I have a 705 and am very happy with it. However the Garmin PC software is not great.

To create a "ride" I use BikeRouteToaster, using course points, and the option to create a course that is offset from the centre of the road to ensure that it doesn't get confused when on an out-and-back.

Seems to work fine - courses are more like a breadcrumb trail that you follow - there is no dynamic routing, which gives the unit little opportunity to get its knickers in a twist. The maps on the unit are good enough to get back on course, but BikeRouteToaster is fantastic in that it will create an alarm before each junction to tell you which way to go in advance.

Feel free to ask any other questions...

Cheers,
Chris

portuguese mike

Siechotic - everything else has been fine but i haven't had a play with the virtual partner or advanced training options yet which, apart from the suposedly superior navigation, are the only things i can think of that the 305 doesn't do. Rest assured however that should these other functions play up i'll be having a whinge on here almost immediately

Hazychris - thanks for that i'll give it a go; is it something i can download off the internet or do i have to buy it?

MegaCycle

I only took my 705 out for the first time at the weekend and so far have only used it as I used to use my old cateye - as a recorder of my route. It also picks up my heart rate, which is rather nice. However, I can't seem to get it to record my cadence. I have attached the magnet to the crank and the pickup to the chainstays, but nowt happens.

I find the "lap" thing a bit annoying. Each trip I make has the information stored as "lap 1" as well. Given that I don't do any track cycling, I have no use for lap functionality and I find it confusing. When you finish, do you have to press "lap" as well as "start/stop"?

Haven't even tried using the navigation yet though. I find the map it comes with is a bit basic, so I may need to invest in this European jobby everyone's talking about. Pretty expensivo though!

popette

hi megacycle,
as mentioned above, I've got 305 but with that, you just press start/stop to end - don't bother with lap button. I occasionally use the lap button if I'm doing a familiar hill which I want to time myself up - just press lap at bottom and top and I can see if I'm getting quicker.
pretty expensive? I reckon you can stretch to it after all that bling you've recently bought for your bike young man.

blorg

MegaCycle- you need to pair the cadence unit with the main display. There are instructions in the manual but IIRC you need to go into the "settings" menu, then "accessories" and select that you own a cadence sensor and press "re-scan." Then get down to the cadence sensor and press the sort of transparent button on it. When you press it it will glow briefly (difficult to see in the light.)

To test the cadence pickup independently, press this button and then spin the cranks past it (eg. backwards.) If it is working it will flash each time the crank goes past (it is different colour flashes for the crank and the rear wheel magnet.)

I think the cadence sensor may also need to be paired up with the right bike profile although this may just be related to the rear wheel sensor.

hazychris

portuguese mike wrote:

Hazychris - thanks for that i'll give it a go; is it something i can download off the internet or do i have to buy it?

Have a look at http://bikeroutetoaster.com/

Just for info, here's a ride I rode tonight on Garmin Connect: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47204. I built the course here http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=6044, and from the Summary tab used the Download and TCX link to save it locally, and then copied it to the e:\garmin\Courses\ directory on the 705, and followed it from the Training, Courses menu on the 705. Took 5 minutes to all put together, and it worked pretty well!

One mapping option I've just read about but not played with, which may be a cheap (free) alternative to spending money on maps is to us the open source OSM Map at http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/OSM_Map_On_Garmin/Download, I'll report back when I've had a play with this (will be a few days as I have to get another memory card first).

Cheers,
Chris

oldwelshman

popette wrote:

Hiya,
I don't have a 705 but I have noticed on my 305 that if I do a there and back route, it get's confused and as you look at the screen as you approach a waypoint (particularly if you've used the same waypoint on your way out and way back), you can look like you're approaching the junction upside down iyswim.
If I'm doing there and backs now, I create two routes, one for outbound and one for return journey.
jealous of all you lot with your 705s. I was hoping for one for christmas but they took so long to release that I got a 305 instead. I have also just bought a polar cs400 as I thought teh HR data from my garmin was wrong - having tried the polar now and I think that perhaps the Garmin was giving me the right data after all, it's just that the data is weird. My HR stays pretty much constant when I do ramp test going from 100w to 300w in 20w ramps. Weird and a little worrying. :?
HTH - don't give up yet with it.

And I thought I was the only one with this weird HR behaviour
I do not take any notice of HR training zones for this reason, I would be dead or knackered if I did.
I am similar to you, I get to 125 and my hr does not move much unless I really go for it.
On fast club runs I stay between 115 and 130, and only when climbing at high effort do I get above 150.
I have reached 170 in a race but personally I believe adrenalin adds 10 to your HR during such events, I have not reached 170 training, club runs, climbs or anything else.
For a race I ususlly get evrage 155.

Basically Popette I believe we have a HR graph that is non linnear

popette

oldwelshman wrote:

popette wrote:

Hiya,
I don't have a 705 but I have noticed on my 305 that if I do a there and back route, it get's confused and as you look at the screen as you approach a waypoint (particularly if you've used the same waypoint on your way out and way back), you can look like you're approaching the junction upside down iyswim.
If I'm doing there and backs now, I create two routes, one for outbound and one for return journey.
jealous of all you lot with your 705s. I was hoping for one for christmas but they took so long to release that I got a 305 instead. I have also just bought a polar cs400 as I thought teh HR data from my garmin was wrong - having tried the polar now and I think that perhaps the Garmin was giving me the right data after all, it's just that the data is weird. My HR stays pretty much constant when I do ramp test going from 100w to 300w in 20w ramps. Weird and a little worrying. :?
HTH - don't give up yet with it.

And I thought I was the only one with this weird HR behaviour
I do not take any notice of HR training zones for this reason, I would be dead or knackered if I did.
I am similar to you, I get to 125 and my hr does not move much unless I really go for it.
On fast club runs I stay between 115 and 130, and only when climbing at high effort do I get above 150.
I have reached 170 in a race but personally I believe adrenalin adds 10 to your HR during such events, I have not reached 170 training, club runs, climbs or anything else.
For a race I ususlly get evrage 155.

Basically Popette I believe we have a HR graph that is non linnear

Welshy - thank god it's not just me. I was starting to worry that my heart was wrong :? . When I do intervals, my HR stays constant on the interval - around 123-125 and that's top gear and really pegging it - goes up to about 129 when the interval has finished and then drops back down to 120 over the course of the rest interval. Like you, the only thing that makes it go up is going up a hill and I get to about 150 as well.
I'll be at 125 whether I'm cruising or pushing on, and I usually try to go as hard as I can - so I think I may soon wear myself if I carry on. I'll have a chat with Coach Joe about it today.
thanks for replying - good to know I'm not alone

portuguese mike

thanks Hazychris - i'll give it a go tonight.

BTW how do you reply with a quote using only a selected section rather than the whole post?

blorg

portuguese mike wrote:

BTW how do you reply with a quote using only a selected section rather than the whole post?

You just edit the text within the "quote" tags.

portuguese mike

blorg wrote:

You just edit the text within the "quote" tags.

I see, many thanks

oldwelshman

popette wrote:

oldwelshman wrote:

popette wrote:

Hiya,
I don't have a 705 but I have noticed on my 305 that if I do a there and back route, it get's confused and as you look at the screen as you approach a waypoint (particularly if you've used the same waypoint on your way out and way back), you can look like you're approaching the junction upside down iyswim.
If I'm doing there and backs now, I create two routes, one for outbound and one for return journey.
jealous of all you lot with your 705s. I was hoping for one for christmas but they took so long to release that I got a 305 instead. I have also just bought a polar cs400 as I thought teh HR data from my garmin was wrong - having tried the polar now and I think that perhaps the Garmin was giving me the right data after all, it's just that the data is weird. My HR stays pretty much constant when I do ramp test going from 100w to 300w in 20w ramps. Weird and a little worrying. :?
HTH - don't give up yet with it.

Dont forget to tell him I am the same
Last year I was in a gym on a cross trainer, level 16 absolutley going for it, a guy next to me, lower level, going slower, I was sweating like hell and almost out of breath and IMO at aboiut 95% effort (not hr!!) the instructor looked at my hr and it was 130 she asked how HR was so low, the other guy was on about 190!!

I wish he wasn't next to me, I get too competative, even on a cross trainer 8)



And I thought I was the only one with this weird HR behaviour
I do not take any notice of HR training zones for this reason, I would be dead or knackered if I did.
I am similar to you, I get to 125 and my hr does not move much unless I really go for it.
On fast club runs I stay between 115 and 130, and only when climbing at high effort do I get above 150.
I have reached 170 in a race but personally I believe adrenalin adds 10 to your HR during such events, I have not reached 170 training, club runs, climbs or anything else.
For a race I ususlly get evrage 155.

Basically Popette I believe we have a HR graph that is non linnear

Welshy - thank god it's not just me. I was starting to worry that my heart was wrong :? . When I do intervals, my HR stays constant on the interval - around 123-125 and that's top gear and really pegging it - goes up to about 129 when the interval has finished and then drops back down to 120 over the course of the rest interval. Like you, the only thing that makes it go up is going up a hill and I get to about 150 as well.
I'll be at 125 whether I'm cruising or pushing on, and I usually try to go as hard as I can - so I think I may soon wear myself if I carry on. I'll have a chat with Coach Joe about it today.
thanks for replying - good to know I'm not alone