Garmin 500

okeydokey79
okeydokey79 Posts: 89
edited October 2012 in Road buying advice
HI i have a garmin 200 which does just the job i need it to,but a friend who i ride with is after similar but 1 that he can use a heart rate monitor with , now i know the next 1 up is the garmin 500 and you can use a hr monitor with it,but they seem to priced around £200 with monitor. What i would like to know is there an equivilent make that would do the same job? at a slightly cheaper price or is the garmin the best kit?

thanks in advance Matt

Comments

  • kangarouge
    kangarouge Posts: 210
    I've just started using a Garmin 500 which I bought from Handtec and so far I am very impressed. I was thinking of buying a Bryton with similar features but the majority of postings on the forum regading this subject seemed to favour the Garmin. Even if the 500 is a little more expensive.

    The general view is that Garmin provide a better customer service and also a better user interface with Garmin Connect.

    I am happy with my purchase to date.
  • okeydokey79
    okeydokey79 Posts: 89
    yeah i do like the garmin connect, had no issues with it so far and does what i need!!
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Bryton 20 comes in about £126 with HRM. It's Brytons version of the 200 but instead of dropping the ANT+, Bryton drops the breadcrumb trail navigating.

    The 20 is barely larger than a traditional computer - very neat and far nicer than a 200 IMO.

    The 40 is a slightly larger version of the same thing with the full features of the Garmin 500. You can get one of those with HRM for £135 - tbh, that's almost a no brainer. The 40 is a great unit and, although larger than the 20, still a smaller and neater device than the 500.

    I think that the Garmin web interface is probably a bit better than the Bryton one (though the Bryton one does what it needs to) but the unit itself is much nicer than the Garmins. Depends what matters.

    Incidentally, Bryton are a bit slow to react to problems and don't tend to say what they are doing to resolve them - and then the roll out a patch which solves the problem but they still don't highlight their success. As a result they tend to get a lot of stick which, in the past has been partly justified. At the moment though the products (particularly the 40) are really top class. None of these units (Garmin or Bryton) are perfect though.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • okeydokey79
    okeydokey79 Posts: 89
    cheers will pass this on to him about the bryton range.

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