Will a Garmin 500 help me get back on track?

dinosaur

I've developed a nasty habit of missing turnings on sportives and it is driving me mental. I guess that a Garmin 705 would be perfect since it would keep me on track in the first place and, if I did stray off the route, it would tell me where I am which would help me get back to the route but it is quite a bit above my budget.

So, if I got a Garmin 500 (which is pretty much above my budget too ) would it stop me missing turnings by beeping at me after my mistake?

And if I did take a wrong turning would it be any help in recovering and getting back onto the route? Would it even tell me to retrace my steps?

And, finally, if I went off route and rejoined it at a later point would it recognise that I was back on the right track?

Cheers.

Wheelspinner

Who knows?? RTFM as they say...

I just bought one of these and have no clue whether it will do any of the above. Only thing I have noticed is that it occasionally beeps at me, flashes up about 400 lines of text in 0.003 point type then gets back to business. I have NFI what any of the messages are because I can't read them.

Love the download feature though, and the customisable screen display is good too. Plus, no wires, no wheel magnets and no fork mounted speed sensors to look ugly and collect road grime. I bought the HR and cadence model, but figured I can live without the cadence. My legs soon tell me whether I'm pushing the right gear!

magliaceleste

I believe the 500 now supports courses, so if you have the TCX course of the route loaded then I *think* it should. Basically works the same as the old 305.

dinosaur

Yeah, I think it has the same routing functionality as the 205 and 305 so I guess what I am really asking is: how good is it at keeping you on the right track and at recovering from human error?

amaferanga

If you're just worried about getting lost and need something to navigate with then a mapping GPS would be much better IMO. Non-mapping Garmins only give you a line to follow. Cheapest Garmin mapping units suitable for bikes are the 605 and the Etrex Legend HCx (the Etrex is not bike-specific, but you can buy a proper bike mount from Garmin and it has all the navigation features of the Edge devices).

If you want training functions, but not HR/cadence then you might want to consider the 605.

But if you get lost on sportives then I'd say you need all the help you can get so a mapping GPS is what you need

Hudster

But all you need is a line to follow. It's easy to see if you're deviating from that line and you can turn round going the way you came.
I believe the 500 now does this according to the manual which is on-line (initial early reports of it said that it didn't).

forward_loop

Don't buy a 500 to stop you getting lost.

There are other better options as already suggested. Also the software supporting the course options in the 500 is still prone to early adopters bugs. Works better for some better than others will also depend on signal etc etc so may vary throughout one journey.

Check out the garmin forums.

you couldn't retrace your steps using it.

I only use the data recording aspects of the 500 due to the above.

Perhaps you would be better off by having a much better pre-course look at the map and looking more intently for the yellow arrows !

ajb72

amaferanga wrote:

If you're just worried about getting lost and need something to navigate with then a mapping GPS would be much better IMO. Non-mapping Garmins only give you a line to follow. Cheapest Garmin mapping units suitable for bikes are the 605 and the Etrex Legend HCx (the Etrex is not bike-specific, but you can buy a proper bike mount from Garmin and it has all the navigation features of the Edge devices).

If you want training functions, but not HR/cadence then you might want to consider the 605.

But if you get lost on sportives then I'd say you need all the help you can get so a mapping GPS is what you need

Agree with above. I have a 305 model Garmin Edge and it is easy enough to follow but no way fool-proof. The lines displayed are not always obvious turns unless they are proper 90 degree changes of direction, but you'll soon know if you are off the course as it beeps to tell you so at least you can head back on track quickly.

I saw a 705 in action for the first time this weekend and I was very impressed, it even tells you how many seconds to go until your turn!