What Garmin do I want?

Moominman2

Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade from my cateye computer to a garmin. I was set on the 500 but when I looked at the 705, the mapping looked much better.

I'm after speed, distance and all the basic things, but mapping will be a big selling point for me.

What do you think I should be looking at? If money wasn't an issue...

Thanks
Luke

t.m.h.n.e.t

800

MattC59

800

If you're looking at the mapping of the 705, but like the touchscreen of the 500, then bite the bullet and go for the 800 !

Moominman2

Ahh I was afraid of this happening haha.

I've just got serious about cycling, so would feel if I bought an 800 that I'm jumping into it too fast with a lack of cycling experience.

mamba80

i had a 500 and very quickly gave it back.... A it was rubbish - speed kept jumping about & HR was so variable to be useless. and B i spent far too much time on a laptop looking at where i d ridden, which was daft as i d just ridden it

imho unless you need a head unit for power, i cant see the point over an app like strava, a Lidl HR and a cateye.

MattC59

Moominman2 wrote:

Ahh I was afraid of this happening haha.

I've just got serious about cycling, so would feel if I bought an 800 that I'm jumping into it too fast with a lack of cycling experience.

Don't worry about it. The 500 has the same features as the 800, bar the mapping, so if you're considering the 500, the additional navigation features are great. Initially, I thought that it was a bit if an extravagance but use it all the time now.

Worth the extra £££

Moominman2

Thanks Matt. It does make sense. I mean, of you're gonna spend all that money on one, make sure you do the best you can!

I'll look into the 800 then

Also Mamba, I see your point but...I am upgrading my phone in a month so can then get strava, BUT...I want to see where I'm riding, make sure I'm on the correct route, have a dedicated gps actually mounted on my bars. The cateye is great but I want the mapping now. I wouldn't want to mount my phone, and wouldn't want to use the battery on 60+ mile rides in the future and when I've used up 2 spare tubes, then need picking up or to find the nearest bike store, to realise I have no battery.

Cheers
Luke

amaferanga

MattC59 wrote:

800

If you're looking at the mapping of the 705, but like the touchscreen of the 500, then bite the bullet and go for the 800 !

The 500 doesn't have a touch screen.

amaferanga

mamba80 wrote:

i had a 500 and very quickly gave it back.... A it was rubbish - speed kept jumping about & HR was so variable to be useless. and B i spent far too much time on a laptop looking at where i d ridden, which was daft as i d just ridden it

imho unless you need a head unit for power, i cant see the point over an app like strava, a Lidl HR and a cateye.

Do you know what GPS is? Do you know that speed with an app like Strava also jumps about? Do you know that you can get a speed/cadence sensor for the Edge 500? Do you know what causes erratic HR readings? I guess not....

Moominman2

Pretty brutal response haha.

But I also know little about this so would like to know if you don't mind explaining?

...obviously not the obvious ones though

MattC59

amaferanga wrote:

MattC59 wrote:

800

If you're looking at the mapping of the 705, but like the touchscreen of the 500, then bite the bullet and go for the 800 !

The 500 doesn't have a touch screen.

My mistake, thought it did. Another good reason to get the 800 then

MattC59

Moominman2 wrote:

Pretty brutal response haha.

But I also know little about this so would like to know if you don't mind explaining?

...obviously not the obvious ones though

Use the sensor and wheel magnet for speed / cadence, you'll get more accurate readings. GPS can be effected depending on where you are. Eg, I got very odd readings when riding thought Canary Wharf recently, as the signal can be reflected off, or shielded by the tall buildings. To be honest though, other than that, I've never had an issue with it.

Mikey23

Had this decision to make a few months ago. Decided I didn't need navigation and went for the 500. So pleased I did because it's a brilliant bit of kit. And I don't need navigation and can't think of a situation where it might be remotely useful. But why not if you have the money

StillGoing

Mikey23 wrote:

Had this decision to make a few months ago. Decided I didn't need navigation and went for the 500. So pleased I did because it's a brilliant bit of kit. And I don't need navigation and can't think of a situation where it might be remotely useful. But why not if you have the money

Can't think of a situation for you maybe, but I ride distances and into counties i've never been or don't know the roads, a Garmin with mapping and route plan is invaluable. Also the signage for many sportives is a bit sparse, so having the route on your device saves many miles of missed turns.

OP I have the 705 and see no advantage in the 800 other than touch screen if that floats your boat.

Gizmodo

philthy3 wrote:

OP I have the 705 and see no advantage in the 800 other than touch screen if that floats your boat.

The 705 was discontinued at least a year ago (maybe more) so any stock you see for sale is going to be really old.

thefd

I have the 500, and as said above it is great. You can always make the course and upload it and although it doesn't show a map - it would alert you if you go off course.

I generally take my iPhone with me in the back pocket, and I have Tomtom on it - so if needed to check the route it could always be whipped out to check.

rolf_f

amaferanga wrote:

mamba80 wrote:

i had a 500 and very quickly gave it back.... A it was rubbish - speed kept jumping about & HR was so variable to be useless. and B i spent far too much time on a laptop looking at where i d ridden, which was daft as i d just ridden it

imho unless you need a head unit for power, i cant see the point over an app like strava, a Lidl HR and a cateye.

Do you know what GPS is? Do you know that speed with an app like Strava also jumps about? Do you know that you can get a speed/cadence sensor for the Edge 500? Do you know what causes erratic HR readings? I guess not....

Except that the speed doesn't tend to jump around on my Bryton GPS. It can lag slightly on quick speed changes but you don't really notice anything significant. Maybe Mambas 500 was defective.

I have a GPS with mapping and a GPS without. 99% of the time I use the one without as it is much smaller and neater than the mapping one. I'd get one of the cheaper alternatives to the 800 for mapping and something like an Edge or Bryton 40 for the same money and therefore always have a backup unit incase one goes faulty.

Donkeywings

The Garmin 800 is a cool piece of kit! I coupled it with the HR strap from my old 305, and a new cadence sensor that you can get from Amazon for £25. All the data you will ever need :-)
Find the cheapest place online you can buy the 800 with 50k OS maps - even better if you can get a voucher code to make it even cheaper. THEN, go to Go Outdoors, show them the discounted price you are about to buy it for THEN they sell you it for 10% less than that. I got mine with the 50K OS maps for £280, which at the time was less than the second hand price on Ebay. Me and BrindleScoops (on this forum) did the same.

If you can pick one up without maps, you can get free maps from OpenStreetmap, as well as create your own, or convert them from loads of other different formats. Actually if you look hard enough, you can download any maps for anywhere for it.

I have a 90mm stem - the 800 sits nicely on top of it. Unless for some reason you need a clear view of your stem, then the 800 is no more obtrusive than a Cateye.

I was a bit worried about the random readings of GPS location myself for a while (while not moving the device will show you travelling at a low speed). This is just an anomoly of GPS in general. The devices that show you stopped when you actually are are either sampling the GPS loc less than the Garmin, or the software is compensating for it (and ignoring the slight differences). If you add the cadence sensor, then ride about quarter of a mile, the device calibrates itself to your wheelsize and it is then properly accurate.

StillGoing

Gizmodo wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

OP I have the 705 and see no advantage in the 800 other than touch screen if that floats your boat.

The 705 was discontinued at least a year ago (maybe more) so any stock you see for sale is going to be really old.

And consequently cheaper than a 800.

springtide9

Moominman2 wrote:

Hi guys,

I'm looking to upgrade from my cateye computer to a garmin. I was set on the 500 but when I looked at the 705, the mapping looked much better.

I'm after speed, distance and all the basic things, but mapping will be a big selling point for me.

What do you think I should be looking at? If money wasn't an issue...

Thanks
Luke

Look a the two highlighted parts of your question. I don't think anyone can argue that the 800 isn't currently the best all in one device on the market for what you are asking for.

Yes there are cheaper solutions, but the 800 is the best. I personally found the 705 slow and hated that joystick and much prefer using the touchscreen on the 800, but that's my opinion (from owning both).
If you don't need nav, then the 500 is also a great device and is also a little smaller.

DCRainmaker (http://www.dcrainmaker.com/) has reviews of most GPS's, so well worth a visit and a read.

We all have different requirements, so there is no right or wrong answer tbh

iampaulb

i got a 500 with cadence and hr monitors. it suits me just fine. Dont really need mapping, you got road signs and sence of direction, if you kinda know where your destination is.

mamba80

amaferanga wrote:

Do you know what GPS is? Do you know that speed with an app like Strava also jumps about? Do you know that you can get a speed/cadence sensor for the Edge 500? Do you know what causes erratic HR readings? I guess not....

Is it the wrong time of the month for you dude?

Bac to the 500, why would i want a speed device that constantly resets to zero when i go under a few trees or a passing lorry? or a HR that says im dead every few miles? BUT regardless of any of that and maybe my 500 was faulty (i did have the 500 and the GSC unit replaced) or has been fixed in f/w upgrades, the point is i ve manged perfectly well without a 500, my timex hr never says im dead, Strava just works and i dont spend hrs on a pc trying to get the G 500 to work.

springtide9

mamba80 wrote:

Bac to the 500, why would i want a speed device that constantly resets to zero when i go under a few trees or a passing lorry? or a HR that says im dead every few miles? BUT regardless of any of that and maybe my 500 was faulty (i did have the 500 and the GSC unit replaced) or has been fixed in f/w upgrades, the point is i ve manged perfectly well without a 500, my timex hr never says im dead, Strava just works and i dont spend hrs on a pc trying to get the G 500 to work.

I think you had a faulty device or devices :roll:

I can only comment on the FR 310XT, FR 610, Edge 705 and Edge 800 - all of these devices have just worked.

The only Garmin I had an issue with was a very old FR 301, but I did buy it secondhand and it was rather old (GPS wasn't great in it).

I have some nice plots of a MTB event which is pretty much 50% under tree cover, but the 310XT did amazingly well plotting the same route, lap after lap, after lap (12 hrs of it to be exact!). Like many many other people, I've also never had an issue with the newer HR monitor.

You seem to have some bad luck with your Garmin, which appears to have tarnished your view of all of their products.

baldwin471

Ordered the 800, coming tomorrow. Went for the pack with Cadence/Speed/HR/Europe maps.

mamba80

Springtide : couldnt agree with you more... thats life! just as i dont drink DoomBar anymore after ... well wont go into that.

Rulebritania

baldwin471 wrote:

Ordered the 800, coming tomorrow. Went for the pack with Cadence/Speed/HR/Europe maps.

How is it? and might I ask how much it was? :?:

I prefer to ride in the sticks and have gone wrong on a couple of routes I therefore am looking at getting navigation device.

Dorset_Boy

Had an 800 since the start of the summer with the Europe maps. Used it in France where I didn't know the local geography and so the mapping was really useful. Not had any problems with it (so far, touch wood!), and found downloading a route in an area not known to me very helpful.

Living rurally, many junctions aren't signed, so again mapping can help!

Only criticism is that though you can set up multiple bikes, you can't (as far as I'm aware) set up multiple users - my wife uses it when she rides during the week, and we have to constantly change the user settings. Being able to have 2, or 3 user profiles would be a big improvement.

AchillesLeftKnee

Dorset Boy wrote:

Living rurally, many junctions aren't signed, so again mapping can help!

Have also got an Edge 800 (with UK 1:50k OS) and live and ride in a pretty rural area, so agreed totally and utterly with the above. A lot of my road riding involves finding precisely that sort of road, and for that the unit's a godsend! The map might only get looked at for 10 seconds on a trip, but those 10 seconds are often the bit that invovles finding the road I came out to ride, so they're pretty important. For those who venture off road, that all counts double.

BlakeysFC

Need to get a GPS soon, the routes I do are quite intricate so would need the navigation of the 800 I think. Stupid using a bit of paper with road-notes on it that I've shoved into the back pocket of my jersey.]

Is the Garmin Edge 800 pretty much the only GPS unit out there with navigation? Or are their others that have it too that I should consider?

Gizmodo

Bryton Rider 50 I have a friend who had an early one and didn't get on with the navigation, but I'm sure they've improved the firmware by now.

Mio Cyclo 305 HC but I've not seen a review of that one.

BlakeysFC

Gizmodo wrote:

Bryton Rider 50 I have a friend who had an early one and didn't get on with the navigation, but I'm sure they've improved the firmware by now.

Mio Cyclo 305 HC but I've not seen a review of that one.

Thanks