Any tips for a good bike GPS ?

anthony4

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good GPS system for bikes?

Thanks

Anthony

rogerthecat

Garmin 800

gaddster

depends on how much you want it to do I suppose!

The Garmin Edge 705 is a fairly nifty unit. Have a look here to compare the various features they offer. No I do not work for Garmin

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/compare.do?cID=160&compareProduct=69043&compareProduct=36728&compareProduct=10885&compareProduct=10884

Keith1983

If you want it to track where you've been and give you some stats theb an iphone with runkeeper is pretty good and cheap.

-steves-

Any smartphone with an app called Endomondo, the app is free and it tracks time, pace, distance, minute miles, av mph, gps route etc etc etc. Brill app

potters1863

rogerthecat wrote:

Garmin 800

+1 for the garmin 800, brilliant

Garryboy

-steves- wrote:

Any smartphone with an app called Endomondo, the app is free and it tracks time, pace, distance, minute miles, av mph, gps route etc etc etc. Brill app

+1 for endomondo, I use it with a Blackberry and its ace, alo links with facebook for staus updates and live tracking - if thats your thing. Think you can also upload a route to follow, but I aint treid that yet.

cloggsy

iPhone & CycleMeter App

bakerstreet

cloggsy wrote:

iPhone & CycleMeter App

Seconded

One of the best value apps I have bought. Not great for battery life though.

Richa1181

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how much detail you want to capture. The phone apps are pretty good for seeing where you've been but you won't get heart rate, cadence etc and they will kill your battery pretty quickly.

I've got the Garmin 705 but purely because I can pre plan routes and know I'm going to hit a certain distance and not get lost but you can get all the same info without the map on the screen for £100 less in the 500 model. Just depends what you want in the way of features..

Obviously if you've got loads of money get a Garmin 800 though

Peddle Up!

I use Sports Tracker on a Nokia, but battery life is rubbish so I carry a spare. Not ideal, as is the lack of weatherproofing on the phone (I know - put it in a bag :roll: ).

The Garmin is nice, but so expensive. Why is this - sat nav units for cars have tumbled in price.

bikeboff

Garmin Edge - 800 is great, I'm sure, but when I looked a couple of weeks ago the 705 was on special offer on Amazon at a good price.

-steves-

Richa1181 wrote:

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how much detail you want to capture. The phone apps are pretty good for seeing where you've been but you won't get heart rate, cadence etc and they will kill your battery pretty quickly.

)

They won't do cadence to the best of my knowledge, but they certainly do monitor heart rates as long as you buy a bluetooth polar heart rate monitor or similar, adds it all to the graphs and charts for you so you can see where you really put your all into it on the route, elevation etc etc. Shame about the cadence though as been said :oops:

The battery life is around 5 hours or so for me on a HTC Google Nexus one (same as the HTC Desire). Best to carry a spare battery though as you never know when you need to make that urgent call.

mikeq

Just got an Edge 800 performance bundle with City Navigator Europe.

Absolutely brilliant.

Navigation is excellent on routes plotted on bikehike.co.uk
General routing to POI etc excellent
Large screen
Customisable information pages
Touch screen responsive and works with gloves on
Waterproof
Barometric elevation
HR and Cadence sensor

Used to use/have tried many apps for my Android phone, and the iPhone will be the same.

The applications are very good and comprehensive

but

Battery life is useless, no way does it last a 6/7 hour ride
Not waterproof, so in your pocket and therefore useless for navigation
Cant use the screens with gloves

So having used the phone option for couple of years I cant live with the limitations anymore. No substitute for a dedicated device

Kneesaway

+1 for the Garmin 800.

Got one a few weeks ago and it has exceeded my expectations by miles. I'm a bit of a numbers geek, so looking at my stats on Garmin connect after downloading a ride is just heaven.

Secteur

Garmin 800 here too.

Expensive but exceeded my every expectation - it's fantastic and make a joy out of downloading and analyzing the data!

anthony4

Thanks for all of the responses

For the edge 800, which package would you recommend to ensure that all UK roads for road rides are covered ?

Thanks again

Anthony

Legshaver

Just get the performance package, (HRM and cadence). You don't need to buy any maps. Visit talkytoaster for the free OSM ones.

HiMoz

+1 for the OSM maps.

The city navigator nt maps are unlocked and so can be downloaded and installed easily for a considerable discount if you know where to look

Omar Little

Garmin 800 is a superb bit of kit - expensive but easily amongst the best cycling related purchase i've ever made that isn't a bike

Jamie Mullen

Anthony, have a look at the Wahoo Fisica bike pack 2 if you're an iPhone user. I've just bought one and will get my grubby mitts on it on Friday. I've been using Runkeeper as others have mentioned and really liked it but I want more data. Hopefully in future Runkeeper will be able to utilise the cadence and speed data. It already supports HRM's.

bobtbuilder

Could someone explain the main differences between the Edge 705 and the 800??

Thanks.

mikeq

Edge 800

Bigger screen
Touch screen
Quarter turn quick release mechanism
Custom maps

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_Wo8yCZ1eTVw/THXyz ... 5B5%5D.jpg

bobtbuilder

Thanks! Is it worth the upgrade from a 705?

mikeq

bobtbuilder wrote:

Thanks! Is it worth the upgrade from a 705?

Only you can answer that one, if the minor differences mentioned above are worth the extra cash then sure.

Secteur

consider this first;

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopi ... 5#16970655

ai_1

If you don't want to spend much I reckon the Garmin Forerunner 305 is about the best value going.
It's a watch rather than a a bike specific unit but there's a bike mount and cadence sensor available that makes it very convenient and capable. The watch is available for about £100. If you want the cadence sensor and bike mount that would add about another £50. I've had mine a couple of years - initially for running and recently got into cycling. It's great for both.

robdaykin

If you have a smartphone, you can use that, and there are ANT+ adapters (or even phones with ANT+ built in) that will do cadence and heart rate.

If you are prepared to put up with a little quirkiness, then I've ditched Garmin for Bryton. The 50T was very reasonably priced, and so far it has outperformed the Garmin it replaced in every way. There's a thread around here somewhere talking about the Bryton units, so check that out too. Can't find the link in my inbox off the cuff (sorry).

I believe the 500 and 800 were developed with the Garmin team, and are better designs than previous generations (205, 305, 605, 705) which seem to have design faults. Opinions are polarised. I've had 6 305s since they came out, the latest one I sold without even switching it on, because I'd had enough of them breaking, other people seem to have no problem. Bryton are too new really for anyone to have any great experience with them, so long term they may be no better. I'm prepared to take a chance though

Whichever way you go, decide whether you want a clear real time display with lots of fields, whether you need maps and route planning, or whether you're just data logging for analysis. That will help you decide which unit to go for.

Butterd2

bobtbuilder wrote:

Could someone explain the main differences between the Edge 705 and the 800??

Thanks.

From what I can make out the key difference is the bigger screen, I have a 705 and decent eyesight so I would not spend the extra as there are some good deals on the 705 now.
However if you struggle to see the detail on the 705 screen then it's £200 wasted and you should get the 800.

Big +1 to the Open Source Maps (OSM) I have used UK and Belgium maps and both have worked perfectly.

Be aware that all Garmin's have some history of being a little temperamental, mine has crashed twice since Dec however Garmin have now sent me an email showing how to reformat the unit and bring it back to life where as last time I had to send it back for replacement. I still think it is a fantastic bit of kit though, teamed up with Bike Route Toaster to plan Courses (.tcx files) and then follow.

alfablue

Could someone explain the main differences between the Edge 705 and the 800??

As far as I know, the 705 can't use the GB Discoverer (Ordnance Survey) maps, the 800 can (though you will probably find OSM adequate)

Dmak

Nokia 5800 or similar. OK it's not waterproof or designed for biking but I love mine. Free maps worldwide and turn by turn navigation. Free workout tracking with endomondo. And it's a phone too!

I'll be using this saturday to get me to a friends house in London.