705, 500 or CPU?.......

Bronzie

Rokkala wrote:

I read on the 500 u can also setup a course, then when you ride it each time you can race against yourself from previous efforts. What does the Virtual Buddie do other than that?

Virtual Training Partner = same thing. On any course you've ridden before and saved you can see how far you are in front or behind your virtual self from the last time. Handy if you are prone to just drfiting along.

One other +tve I forgot about the 705 (and presume 500 also) is that you can enter training programs based on power, HR, time, speed or distance.

The power one is pretty handy if you have a PM - you can enter simple workouts like 2x20 or more complex one's and the unit will tell you if your power is outside the targetted zone, time to go to end of interval etc. All you have to do is pedal. 8)

doyler78

Bronzie wrote:

Rokkala wrote:

I read on the 500 u can also setup a course, then when you ride it each time you can race against yourself from previous efforts. What does the Virtual Buddie do other than that?

Virtual Training Partner = same thing. On any course you've ridden before and saved you can see how far you are in front or behind your virtual self from the last time. Handy if you are prone to just drfiting along.

One other +tve I forgot about the 705 (and presume 500 also) is that you can enter training programs based on power, HR, time, speed or distance.

The power one is pretty handy if you have a PM - you can enter simple workouts like 2x20 or more complex one's and the unit will tell you if your power is outside the targetted zone, time to go to end of interval etc. All you have to do is pedal. 8)

Do you get any sort of audible or visual cues if you go out of zone?

hopper1

Bronzie wrote:

Rokkala wrote:

I read on the 500 u can also setup a course, then when you ride it each time you can race against yourself from previous efforts. What does the Virtual Buddie do other than that?

Virtual Training Partner = same thing. On any course you've ridden before and saved you can see how far you are in front or behind your virtual self from the last time. Handy if you are prone to just drfiting along.

One other +tve I forgot about the 705 (and presume 500 also) is that you can enter training programs based on power, HR, time, speed or distance.

The power one is pretty handy if you have a PM - you can enter simple workouts like 2x20 or more complex one's and the unit will tell you if your power is outside the targetted zone, time to go to end of interval etc. All you have to do is pedal. 8)

That's me! :shock: ... Not anymore
I'm all excited, now... So much so, that I'm now planning on selling my 'old' PT (wired) and buying a new SL+ earlier than planned! Just so I can play with my new 'virtual' friend :oops:
I don't get out too often... :oops: :oops:

APIII

Bronzie wrote:

Rokkala wrote:

I read on the 500 u can also setup a course, then when you ride it each time you can race against yourself from previous efforts. What does the Virtual Buddie do other than that?

Virtual Training Partner = same thing. On any course you've ridden before and saved you can see how far you are in front or behind your virtual self from the last time. Handy if you are prone to just drfiting along.

One other +tve I forgot about the 705 (and presume 500 also) is that you can enter training programs based on power, HR, time, speed or distance.

The power one is pretty handy if you have a PM - you can enter simple workouts like 2x20 or more complex one's and the unit will tell you if your power is outside the targetted zone, time to go to end of interval etc. All you have to do is pedal. 8)

Someone mentioned that the 500 doesn't have the advanced workouts or intervals function, and looking on the Garmin site this looks the case. Can any owners confirm? I use this feature all the time on the 705. I also set up auto alerts, so if I'm doing a 2x20, I set an alert for 4 minutes so I can count off the 4 minute blocks within the interval. Seems to make it more manageable!

Bronzie

doyler78 wrote:

Do you get any sort of audible or visual cues if you go out of zone?

You get both - it beeps and you get a message on screen "Power too high / low" with another beep and a "Back in zone" message when the power goes back in zone.

Only downside is that they can be pretty annoying if your power is fluctuating between levels a lot (less so on the turbo than road obviously)

doyler78

Bronzie wrote:

doyler78 wrote:

Do you get any sort of audible or visual cues if you go out of zone?

You get both - it beeps and you get a message on screen "Power too high / low" with another beep and a "Back in zone" message when the power goes back in zone.

Only downside is that they can be pretty annoying if your power is fluctuating between levels a lot (less so on the turbo than road obviously)

Yeah I get what you are saying as my Polar CS600 does much the same thing. You get slow beeps when you are too low and fast beeps when you are too high. No beeps when you are on target. I find though at times it can be hard to hear anyway if there is much passing traffic. Nevertheless I do like it alot.

chrisw12

doyler78 wrote:

Bronzie wrote:

doyler78 wrote:

Do you get any sort of audible or visual cues if you go out of zone?

You get both - it beeps and you get a message on screen "Power too high / low" with another beep and a "Back in zone" message when the power goes back in zone.

Only downside is that they can be pretty annoying if your power is fluctuating between levels a lot (less so on the turbo than road obviously)

Yeah I get what you are saying as my Polar CS600 does much the same thing. You get slow beeps when you are too low and fast beeps when you are too high. No beeps when you are on target. I find though at times it can be hard to hear anyway if there is much passing traffic. Nevertheless I do like it alot.

How do you hear it over the pumping music from the ipod?


<anyone>
Out of interest can you hear the beeps with an aero helmet on?

hugo15

I took the plunge and went for the 705 with HRM from Foot Steps last night.

Glad I did as the price has gone up to £321 today!!!!

hopper1

hugo15 wrote:

I took the plunge and went for the 705 with HRM from Foot Steps last night.

Glad I did as the price has gone up to £321 today!!!!

Whooooo!!!! You just made my day... Perfect timing
I almost slept on my decision to buy :shock:

hugo15

hopper1 wrote:

I almost slept on my decision to buy :shock:

Me too. Was trying to decide between the 500 and the 705.

They put the price up this morning by about 30 or 40 quid, then later in the day it went up to £321! Have you had aything from them to say it is on it's way? I haven't had anything yet.

hopper1

I had an email to confirm payment, qiuckly followed by another to confirm that order had been processed, nothing sinc.....

Maybe a phone call later...

haggisinlondon

Euro looks stronger today, will that bring the price down, tempted to get either of them, do not have power but new to cycling in my area of South London / Surrey and worried about getting lost so perhaps the 705 is the way to go....

hopper1

hugo15 wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

I almost slept on my decision to buy :shock:

Me too. Was trying to decide between the 500 and the 705.

They put the price up this morning by about 30 or 40 quid, then later in the day it went up to £321! Have you had aything from them to say it is on it's way? I haven't had anything yet.

I called them, yesterday. There new stock was just arriving, so should have been sent yesterday, too.
Evidentally, they were wrongly priced, hence the sudden hike!
Lucky, lucky, lucky...

ridgerider

Handtec still have them well under the £300 barrier...

hugo15

hopper1 wrote:

I called them, yesterday. There new stock was just arriving, so should have been sent yesterday, too.
Evidentally, they were wrongly priced, hence the sudden hike!
Lucky, lucky, lucky...

Excellent, thanks for the update. Can't wait for it to arrive .................. I'm worse than my kids were waiting for Santa to arrive

ridgerider

I've just bought the Carrying Case to putmy 705l in, that is a nice bit of kit as well.

£16 from Wiggle

GavH

Bronzie wrote:

705 disadvantages:
- data issues seem pretty stable now I'm running firmware 2.9, but still get the odd file corruption (as above). Still get the odd occasion where the unit just switches off for no apparent reason.

I had the same problem which 2 seperate firmware updates did not fix. Doing a simple 'soft reset' cured it. Apparantly it needs to be done after every firmware update but didn't affect any of my data.

GavH

hopper1 wrote:

but I gather with my Virtual Buddie, I'll have someone to chase during my ride, once I've done the ride once, so I can set it up.

You can create rides as a .tcx using the like of bikeroutetoaster and bikehike. By entering into those sites your usual flat and climbing speeds it'll create a virtual partner for you based on those speeds, so you don't actually have to do the ride first.

hopper1

GavH wrote:

hopper1 wrote:

but I gather with my Virtual Buddie, I'll have someone to chase during my ride, once I've done the ride once, so I can set it up.

You can create rides as a .tcx using the like of bikeroutetoaster and bikehike. By entering into those sites your usual flat and climbing speeds it'll create a virtual partner for you based on those speeds, so you don't actually have to do the ride first.

Great!
Thanks for that, Gav.