Garmin 705 and a Mac?

speedy641

Thinking of buying a 705. Anyone have any experience of running one with a mac rather than a PC...any problems, issues, reasons why I should think again about buying this GPS?


Thanks in advance for any help on this.

WhiteHawk

I have a Mac and have been looking to get a 705 myself, will be in time for the summer I hope.

Software wise I do believe Garmin released they're own software for it for the Mac a while back now, but from what I heard it's not very good, but there are better third party applications anyway I'll be using at least one of these when I get my own, here are the links:

Trailrunner (free) http://trailrunnerx.com/

Ascent (about £29) http://www.montebellosoftware.com/

rubiTrack (about £26) http://www.rubitrack.com/

HonestAl

I've got a 705, and tried it both on a mac and a PC. Sad though it makes me to say, If you've got the option you should run it on the PC, there are a number of areas where the pc version of training centre is better. For example the opportunity to export your ride to Google Earth. (Maybe some other users can tell me I'm wrong?)

If there's anything specific you'd like comparing, let me know, I've still got it installed on both and could look into it for you.

Getting the 705 is a no brainer though, I've had one for nearly a year and wouldn't want to be without it. To the extent that when I cleverly dropped my first one (sans bike) into a river I just HAD to go buy another

speedy641

Thanks for the replies. Honestal - my questions are at a very basic level, ie will the Garmin work with a mac?! I don't object to buying third party software, so long as it allows me to use the thing...I'm after downloading premade routes from the net, planning my own routes, (not quite sure how this works - through a website and then download to the unit?)

Basic stuff really, just dont't want to get it and find alf of the functions don't work with a mac.

Thanks for your help.

Simon Notley

Yes, the Garmin should work absolutely fine with your mac. The training centre software is pretty crap (but that's true on both platforms) but there are plenty of mac friendly alternatives out there. For route planning I use internet sites such as Bikely or Bike Route Toaster and then use the training centre software to upload them. For tracking my rides, I use Ascent as linked above.

Simon

schlepcycling

I have a 305 and it works perfectly on my MacBook, as others have said training centre is pretty crap, so I use Ascent aswell.

Mastineo

Off road route planning = BikeHike
On road route planning = BikeRouteToaster
+1 For Ascent
705 is the best thing Ive bought for my bike, apart from a new inner tube when I got a puncture

pete600

works fine on my mac book

HonestAl

speedy, as everyone else has said, it works fine on both, just that the PC version of training centre (or however they spell it) has a few more features. As others more knowledgeable than I in these things have said, the function are limited on TC, but, for now at least, it does what I'm asking it to do. Both work.

HonestAl

oops, I missed the point that TC is pretty much solely about POST ride analysis. If you want to plan routes as suggested by Mastineo etc you get something called MapSource, which I've not actually tried on the mac - as the licencing on the maps is a pain in the proverbial and having installed it on a PC I suspect (but don't know) that I'd get problems with loading it on a mac too. When I lost my previous 705 the nice chaps from Garmin explained that I could load the maps into 2 satnavs only - I didn't explore whether I could load MapSource on both mac and pc - without licenced maps Mapsource is definitely poo. As noted above, there are plenty of websites let you plan routes.

gene.surgeon

Works just fine. Bike route toaster for planning (with a few quirks) and Motionbased after ride. Garmin connect (and I hate to confess this) actually works well too, but not quite up to motionbased functionality yet.

Anyway, Mac + Garmin not a problem.

Cunobelin

The problem withthe computer sofware is that it is restricted by the map Copyright, so you cannot update or often even run a new map.

I use Memory Map, but can no longer buy maps as the new mad data is only able to run on V5, it is not reverse compatible, equally riutes designed on V5 re also incompatible with previous versions.

To be quite honest, I would reccomend using a web based planner as it is cheaper and updateable.