GPS Advice

Notnormal

Hopefully someone can help me with some GPS advice. I'm rubbish at remembering where I've been on group rides. What I would like to be able to do is have a device which enables me to check I'm going the right way when riding the same route solo on subsequent occasions. I'd also like to be able to download other peoples routes from t'internet and put them into the device so I can benefit from 'local' knowledge when riding if I go visiting other parts of the country.

I've been looking at the Garmin range, basically can I do all the above on the Edge 205? Is the extra cash worth the 305 or even 6/705? I'm not sure I take my riding seriously enough to benefit from the heart rate monitor (other than it would be interesting to see) and I definitely don't need to monitor my cadence (I ride single speed most of the time).

Any help gratefully received. I've found the 205 new for £90 and the others are quite a bit more.

clwydian_rider92

Ive got an edge 305. Its excellent! However I have never I don't know wheter you can download other peoples map. What I do is take an OS map and do a route and then it automatically saves it on the unit. Therefore on your next ride you know where you are going (via the compass direction and onscreen map). I also have got an eTrek Legend HCx and for that I bought an OS map (for the computer) for Wales. Its so easy to use on the comouter, where you can plan a route and check its profile and view it in 3D! If you are doing different routes every week and don't know where you are going, I'd go for the eTrek series and buy a bike mount for it.

plasma_man

I have a 205. Same as a 305 without heart monitor I think??

I use it on every ride and upload the routes to motionbased website. From there I can look at all sorts of graphs. If I have done a run 3 or 4 times I can playback all my runs together to see when I was fastest.

I also use it to repeat runs I do. Upload the run to the 205 then follow the line, it also shows where the rider was on the uploaded run to compare your pace. If its your run uploaded then you can race yourself.

You can upload any run on to it. There are a few moutain bikers in my area and one stays a few doors away from me but I have never meet him. I look at his runs and upload some of them, then I go out and do the run and can race him on it.

I often make up a route on the net and upload to the GPS. I usually do this for new territory so I can be sure where I'm going. A lot of this are is forest so its not easy to make the route through the trees accurately but if you just make a turnpoint somewhere you recognise then you won't stray of your path really.

Your runs can be views on street map, satallite map or google earth.

Speckled Pants

Well i highly recommend the satmap http://www.satmap.com/

I looked at the garmin edge, but it doesnt use proper os maps like i wanted, the screens too small and it has a load of training features that i'd never use.

The satmap however does use os maps, it has a really big and clear screen and is really simple to use. Ive been using mine for a couple of months now, wether it be tracking and recording rides im doing or downloading somebody else's off the net, as a gpx file and then transfering it over to the unit. Theres loads of sites you can download routes from, tbh this is the main reason i bought mine as ive always been a sheep when it comes to riding, so when it comes to going out alone i have no idea where im going lol.

It takes a few mins to track where you are on the inital start up, but after that it stays locked on and mines never lost the tracking, even under heavy woods etc. I really cant recommend this enough.

The only downside to it is the screen scraches REALLY easily and ive had to change one already, and it is a little expencive once you've bought the maps and power pack.

Billy...

I've got the Garmin Edge 705 and it's great. I'm not exactly sure what the differences are between the 205 and 705 but I agree the price difference is fairly significant.

I can say though that I love having the GPS. It's already enabled me to repeat a couple of single track rides where previously I'd forgotten where I'd been. It also helps us to track roughly which way we're going so we can head off through the forest without ending up somewhere totally different than we thought we were.

In terms of reliability and robustness the Garmin so far has been very good. I've been off a couple of times and so have my other friends who have one and they've all come away unscathed. The signal seems to remain strong too even under heavy tree coverage.

I can't compare to any others as the only other ones we've used are a Pocket PC and a Mobile Phone with satnav software. Both were rubbish. I would recommend the Garmin as for me it's been a great machine and everything I was hoping for.

clwydian_rider92

Yes the edge 205 is the same as the 305 however with the edge 305 you get a heart rate monitor and optional cadence. To be honest I hardly use the heart rate monitor!

yoohoo999

if you have a PDA?/smartphone you can use Memorymap with OS maps.

no need for a separate device. i've used it for years for climbing and hiking (where accuracy is crucial) and its never let me down

rudedog

Speckled Pants wrote:

Well i highly recommend the satmap http://www.satmap.com/

I looked at the garmin edge, but it doesnt use proper os maps like i wanted, the screens too small and it has a load of training features that i'd never use.

The satmap however does use os maps, it has a really big and clear screen and is really simple to use. Ive been using mine for a couple of months now, wether it be tracking and recording rides im doing or downloading somebody else's off the net, as a gpx file and then transfering it over to the unit. Theres loads of sites you can download routes from, tbh this is the main reason i bought mine as ive always been a sheep when it comes to riding, so when it comes to going out alone i have no idea where im going lol.

It takes a few mins to track where you are on the inital start up, but after that it stays locked on and mines never lost the tracking, even under heavy woods etc. I really cant recommend this enough.

The only downside to it is the screen scraches REALLY easily and ive had to change one already, and it is a little expencive once you've bought the maps and power pack.

you do know you can get screen protectors for these?

Dirtydog11

Forget Garmin get a satmap. No question!

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12623528

This is why

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38378636@N04/sets/72157618301602619/

Speckled Pants

rudedog wrote:

Speckled Pants wrote:

Well i highly recommend the satmap http://www.satmap.com/

I looked at the garmin edge, but it doesnt use proper os maps like i wanted, the screens too small and it has a load of training features that i'd never use.

The satmap however does use os maps, it has a really big and clear screen and is really simple to use. Ive been using mine for a couple of months now, wether it be tracking and recording rides im doing or downloading somebody else's off the net, as a gpx file and then transfering it over to the unit. Theres loads of sites you can download routes from, tbh this is the main reason i bought mine as ive always been a sheep when it comes to riding, so when it comes to going out alone i have no idea where im going lol.

It takes a few mins to track where you are on the inital start up, but after that it stays locked on and mines never lost the tracking, even under heavy woods etc. I really cant recommend this enough.

The only downside to it is the screen scraches REALLY easily and ive had to change one already, and it is a little expencive once you've bought the maps and power pack.

you do know you can get screen protectors for these?

You mean the cover that comes with it? if so thats what im talking about, you couldnt use it without it and it must be made of the cheapest plastic possible. I bought another pack of 3 for £10, but they wont last 5 mins at this rate.

valheru

I have the Garmin Vista hdx, and it really has improved my rides. There are loads of places you can download routes ie this site but also Bikehike.co.uk and many more. Its great being able to concentrate on riding and not having to stop and read a map.

The actual Garmin maps seem abit poor (in the SE anyway), however the most important thing really is for the GPS to be able to follow routes that either you or someone else has created. A word of waring I think some of the cheaper Garmin units have a limit on the no of way markers for a route (the 205/305 I think?).