Your Garmin custom displays?

CRAIGO5000

After loads of playing with my 800, I'm simply overwhelmed with the amount of on-screen data that can be displayed. I started to try a few temporary screens out but I always seem to be manually flipping around the displays as I'm riding - which I don't want to be doing ideally!

Personally for me, 10 screen data portions over 5 screens is too much. I like the idea of 6 portions as that makes the top two displays large and then leaves 4 smaller portions for less important data that you might not always need to be checking on.

The question is, what are you guys running in terms of displayed info and how many screens do you have switched on?

I'm now thinking of changing it all again over 3 screens of just 6 portions of data so that the two top displays are large and speed is always at the top on all three:

Screen 1 : speed, avg.speed, timer, distance, temp, clock.
Screen 2: speed, compass heading, heart rate, avg. heart rate, battery, clock.
Screen 3: speed, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?
Climbing screen: I have grade and total ascent along with the usual gradient chart set.

With data presented as above, I may turn on auto-scroll with GPS navigation set to interrupt the scrolling displays when I'm navigating a course.

This is more complex than programming custom built car ECU's!

redvee

Screen One
Speed, Ride Time, Distance, Time of Day


Screen Two
Disctance, Cadence, Average Speed, HRM


Screen Three
Elevation, Gradient, Temperature


Screen Four
Combo of screens one, two & three


Screen Five
Virtual Partner


Screen Six
Ascent Profile


The background in teh above pic is that of the Le Tour Devil. Grab an image and resize to 160x240 and save as jpeg to Garmin Edge 800/Garmin/Backgrounds.

Wrath Rob

Oooooo, nice. How do you get screen grabs?

My first page is 10 cells, lots of current ride data, next is also 10 but summary data e.g. total ascent, descent, avg speed, avg HR etc. 3rd page is the one I use most, 4 cells, speed, HR zone, HR and lap time. Map page has speed and distance to next waypoint. Haven't really used the others.

CRAIGO5000

Brilliant!

I've spent some time now setting up mine in a more uniform way with hope that now turning on auto-scroll will mean I never need to touch the unit once a ride has been started. Even with laps and letting auto-lap via gps position take over (which works great by the way)

Here it is:

1 - speed, distance, time, avg. speed, temp, time of day
2 - speed, distance, HR, Avg, HR, Battery, time of day
(my climbing page)
3 - speed, grade, elevation, temp
4 - sat nav
5 - VP with time ahead and dist. ahead
6 - Ascent profile screen with grade and ascent

We'll see how that fairs for a few days...

bianchimoon

very useful, you couldn't give me a dummies guide to setting up heart rate zones could you?

ddraver

I have somthing similar to redvee, basically each screen concentrates on Speed, HR and Cadence respectively. Elevation/gradient is pretty useless given where I live! I then change screen depending on what I'm working at (or not)

Bianchi - do a search for HR zones, there are many ways but it's a very personal thing really so you need to have a play and find what is best for you.

bianchimoon

ok thanks will do

ddraver

The add on in C+ recently had quite a good section on HR zones btw, I don't know if it's still out but that's worth a look...

bianchimoon

http://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/articl ... ics-28838/

is it this one? looks useful

ddraver

That's it, yep

richh

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

Brilliant!
....with hope that now turning on auto-scroll will mean I never need to touch the unit once a ride has been started.

That's true but what you will end up doing is instead of spending 2-3 seconds manually changing screens, you'll end up staring that the screen for 20-30 seconds whilst the screens auto flip round to eventually show you the info you want. Personally that's more hassle than manually changing it and I'd much rather spend my time looking where I'm going and not at a computer. Each to their own though.

ToeKnee

richh wrote:

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

Brilliant!
....with hope that now turning on auto-scroll will mean I never need to touch the unit once a ride has been started.

That's true but what you will end up doing is instead of spending 2-3 seconds manually changing screens, you'll end up staring that the screen for 20-30 seconds whilst the screens auto flip round to eventually show you the info you want. Personally that's more hassle than manually changing it and I'd much rather spend my time looking where I'm going and not at a computer. Each to their own though.

+1

CRAIGO5000

Okay so a quick HR zones question as I've added HR zone as a field too to help with training.

Mine was set-up via Garmin based on my MHR of 190 and my resting HR of 58.
Z1 - 90-111
Z2 - 111-130
Z3 - 130-148
Z4 - 148-167
Z5 - 167-190

Conversely, an online cycling HRZ calculator has given:

Z1-Restitution 58 144 <65%
Z2-Endurance 145 153 66-72%
Z3-Aerob Capacity 154 164 73-80%
Z4-Lactate Threshold (LT) 169 177 84-90%
Z5-MHR/Sprint 178 190 91-100%

You can see the differences are huge! I've a feeling the online calculator is correct - what do you guys think?

apreading

I still have my old speedo on the bike - shows Speed, distance and current time by default. So I decided that I didnt need these on the Garmin. But I do like to track Av Speed and time on the bike sometimes, or view the map. So rather than flicking screens, I just have one or the other of these. ALTHOUGH when training, doing my regular routes, I like to use the screen where you can race against your shadow and see how far in front/behind you are. If it is a new route I often set the av speed I want and race against that - I really like this and find it drives me on. I have the route set to interrupt this with turn by turn directions, which is sometimes too often on a twisty route but is OK - one use it does have is to turn the backlight on and I then wait for the unit to flick back to the shadow race screen before the backlight goes out.

rolf_f

I may not be eligible to respond here as my GPS is a Bryton 35 rather than a Garmin but, if it's OK, I'll proceed!

1) Main screen is MPH in large size, max speed, cadence, distance and HR or temp (in winter as an ice warning)
2) Temp, altitude gain, ride time, average speed
3) HR, HR zone, Cadence, Av Cadence.

Basically, screen 1 is the stuff I am interested in in terms of instantaneous values - what's happening right now.
Screen 2 is for things that have meaning over the course of the whole of the ride and screen 3 is for training purposes.

This approach means I rarely need to consult the other screens unless either wanting a trip progress update or maybe I'm wanting to do some mid route training on HR/Cadence in which case I'd leave it on that screen. I never use auto scroll.

I also have a Bryton 50 mapping GPS which is mostly set up in the same way except Temp in screen 2 is replaced by distance to next waypoint. Screen 3 is mainly distance or direction related or sometimes HR/Cadence. The map window has distance to next waypoint and turn.

siamon

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

I've a feeling the online calculator is correct - what do you guys think?

Since I measured my resting heart rate correctly (ie first thing when you wake up in the morning, without getting out of bed) it nearly HALVED the calories the 800 said I was using. It now reckons I only use about 520 per hour at around 140 average heart rate. I find the best way to do the HR zones is to put your REAL resting heart rate in Connect then send to device, I assumed measuring it after 10 minutes or so horizontal on the sofa would suffice, it didn't. You have to measure HR before you get out of bed. The connect zones are generalised at best, heart rates vary enormously.

I tend to leave mine on the navigation screen because since I had it I have been doing different routes all the time. However, I put mph and Hr on the Nav page.

I notice that grade often is often selected but this has to be the most inaccurate info ever, I can't understand why Garmin allow the option, no GPS can calculate elavation with any accuracy whatsoever. There is nothing more soul destroying than gasping my way up a hill I know to be 8%, to see the 800 is "claiming" it is a gentle 2%!

Cheers for the tip on the screen pics

CRAIGO5000

The link above mentioned doing that process for a week and then take the lowest figure during a ten minute rest. Record all those lowest figures and then take the median. Voila - your resting heart rate. I did mine more roughly by putting on my HRM after waking up and then simulating sleep with deep, slow controlled breathing for 10 minutes. I got an average of 55BPM.

Basing mine on 55BPM and my max as 190, I've now got a proper heart rate zone chart to help with training. I think I originally messed up on the Garmin and got my values all too low.

This is the new zone chart for me:
Z1 - 122-136
Z2 - 136-149
Z3 - 149-163
Z4 - 163-176
Z5 - 176-190

This chart makes much more sense because I spent way to much time in the upper zones of my old chart when I was just pootling about. It'll certainly help now with intensity training.

redvee

Wrath Rob wrote:

Oooooo, nice. How do you get screen grabs?

AFAIK you can only do this on an 800.

Menu --> Spanner --> System --> Display --> Screen Capture on/off is 3rd option down.When turned on you need to hit the power key to grab the screen.

Another little tip, you can personalise the bootscreen. When your 800 is connected to the PC, open the unit by right clicking then go into Garmin folder and open the text document, in notepad, called startup at the bottom then edit with a short piece of text. Instructions are in the text document.

CRAIGO5000

Which is great if you lose your 800. Put something like "please call 07*** *** *** for reward upon return"

ben16v

i tend to have a
current screen - speed cadence hr etc,
a historical screen - avg speed, avg hr, avg cadence,
route screen - elevation, +. - , %, temp
everything else screen - time, sunrise, sunset etc

Wrath Rob

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

The link above mentioned doing that process for a week and then take the lowest figure during a ten minute rest. Record all those lowest figures and then take the median. Voila - your resting heart rate. I did mine more roughly by putting on my HRM after waking up and then simulating sleep with deep, slow controlled breathing for 10 minutes. I got an average of 55BPM.

Basing mine on 55BPM and my max as 190, I've now got a proper heart rate zone chart to help with training. I think I originally messed up on the Garmin and got my values all too low.

This is the new zone chart for me:
Z1 - 122-136
Z2 - 136-149
Z3 - 149-163
Z4 - 163-176
Z5 - 176-190

This chart makes much more sense because I spent way to much time in the upper zones of my old chart when I was just pootling about. It'll certainly help now with intensity training.

Craig, where did you find the HR zone calculator? I've got the same max heart rate as you and I know that my LT coincides with 168-169bpm which suggests that your calculated ones are better than Garmin's, for me at least.

Redvee, thanks for the tips. Will try some tinkering tonight.

CRAIGO5000

I did it off the Garmin site again. I messed up the first time hence the incorrect chart that was very low. I wore my HRM today during my commute and added a HR and HR zone field on my Garmin and I spent a fair whack of time in Z3 and then Z4 when pushing on. This to me "felt" correct as I knew I was working when in Z4 and didn't even tip into Z5 at all. With this in mind, I think my HR chart is pretty much well dialled in now.

Here is a link. You'll have to select the "suffer score" tab to see my HR zones: http://app.strava.com/rides/3629813

GarryM

Great thread. May I ask some related questions? Just got an 800 so all new to me. As a test, I did a 2 mile loop from home this morning, first using a course I plotted on ridewithgps and then the same loop but a course plotted on garminconnect. The latter didn't warn me when I went off course (on purpose) even though it was set to do so. Is that typical or am I doing something wrong? Is there any disadvantage to loading a course from say, Ridewithgps instead of garminconnect?
Are there any traps to avoid when following a long course? (Doing a 75 miler tomorrow in an area I don't know at all.) I'm thinking I don't want to somehow mess up the course half way round when I tap the screen to look at other data screens. Any other tips about following courses?

GarryM

Ah, having now done a search of this site for advice - I see there's loads of it! (Note to self - always search first before asking questions!)

CRAIGO5000

I was going to say you shouldn't bother with connect for courses. It outputs gpx and those are lacking if you want good guidance. I now use ridewithgps. It means I can plot a route, save it as a tcx which gives me proper nav around the course and elevation charts. I can also export a kml if wish and send that to Google earth and literally watch a 3d run of the route to check out road quality, scenic views etc. After a course I can then go back to it and easily edit parts of the route by dragging sections of it to new roads of interest to me, or for example, if I wanted to make the route longer or shorter. It's far superior in every way to that of bikeroutetoaster or Garmin connect and its free!

GarryM

Craig, that's very helpful. I have been using ridewithgps in anticipation of buying the Edge. Do you use "Control Points" in ridewithgps? Do they help with navigation or are they just points of interest so you can see how far away they are?

CRAIGO5000

I've not used those. If they are similar to POI markers then no, they won't appear in the TCX file or subsequent .FIT file that the Garmin then generates from the TCX.