Garmin 305 to 800.

golfergmc

I am thinking of upgrading from the garmin edge 305 to the 800 and have a few questions,
1. Will my cadence sensors on my bikes work with the new 800 unit( I have 2 sensors on 2 bikes and if I but the 800 I will get a sensor to go on the third bike)
2. Will the hr sensor work with the 800 or am I better getting performance bundle with the better hr sensor.
3. Is the ghost trainer on the 800 any good.
4. What map bundle would I be best going for, mostly roads but some mtb, UK only.
5. Is it just a case of plugging into my laptop and all my data from the 305 will not be lost.
6. Is it really that much better.
All answers greatly appreciated.

MCOK

I can only really comment on your point number 4 as my 800 is my first Garmin.
Was going to buy the performance bundle c/w HR & cadence sensor but after doing more and more research I opted for the Discoverer bundle with the full UK OS Landranger 1:50'000 scale maps and glad I did!!

The maps are perfect both on & off road and as you are similar to me (UK only use) they will suit fine.

rozzer32

I upgraded from a 305 to a 500.

You can use your current sensors fine.

Not sure about the rest of your questions though.

spokegeezer

I DOWNGRADED from the 305 to 500.

the 500 is just to unstable and totally rubbish at following courses and crashes even when not following a course

Why bother?

kettrinboy

1. The GCS10 cadence sensor works across the Edge range
2. The old style HR strap works fine, i,m using my old strap as my new one is already playing up, there have been a lot of failures of the new soft straps and i think mine is another one
3. The virtual partner works well enough
4. Sounds like you do what i do,mostly road with a few MTB rides, in that case the OS 50k GB maps will be more than good enough.I use the OS maps in Basecamp to draw my routes and export to the 800 as gpx files and they work fine,also lots of other ways to do this though.
5. When you connect to the computer and use say Garmin Training Centre, just give your 800 a different user name to your 305 and then you can load your 800 data alongside your old 305 data.
6. Just my take, but I think it is much better,the latest firmware upgrade seems to have cured some of the major bugs, just the OS mapping capability which works really well was enough for me to upgrade from my 305 which ive had for nearly 5 yrs,the only thing which for me anyway, didnt work as good as the 305 was the elevation reading accuracy, but since the 2.2 firmware upgrade apart from the odd day now and again its as good or better now,the screen is usefully bigger and so easier to read, and the touchscreen beats fiddling with the 305,s buttons,some of the training details have been lost from the 305 but its still more than adequate for most users,and it picks up satellites faster so you can get going sooner on a ride.

golfergmc

Thanks for all the answers, really helpful, this is pushing me closer to buying the 800 :?

DaveL

Just out of interest, what's wrong with the 305?

Only reason I'm asking is, I'm considering getting a road bike and putting a 305 on it, mainly for the virtual partner

Dave

golfergmc

Nothing, just want to be able to train against the ghost rider to try and always improve, also if I get lost the mapping will be useful.

bendertherobot

Just paid £224 for a 705 from Handtec with HRM and UK maps.

That would be £244 for the same with cadence.