Good sat-nav devices? Garmin Edge 800?

Gabbo
Gabbo Posts: 864
edited April 2013 in Road buying advice
Any good sat-nav devices out there that are good bang for buck? Currently have a Garmin Edge 500 but it can only follow a designated route that you upload to the device.

Was thinking something like Edge 800 or 810, but know little about these devices. Any help?
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Comments

  • earth
    earth Posts: 934
    I got an 800 recently. I did not need the extra features of the 810.

    The standard cycle computer features are good but the sat nav is very disappointing. The user interface is badly thought out and the additional maps are full of mistakes. Consider other brands and try to borrow one.
  • Gabbo
    Gabbo Posts: 864
    What additional features does the 810 have? I've noticed that you can sync your device to a pc or phone and enable someone else to track your whereabouts.
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    earth wrote:
    I got an 800 recently. I did not need the extra features of the 810.

    The standard cycle computer features are good but the sat nav is very disappointing. The user interface is badly thought out and the additional maps are full of mistakes. Consider other brands and try to borrow one.
    What maps were yopu using? If the free OSM maps you can correct them yourself. If Garmin maps you can always report map errors.
  • earth
    earth Posts: 934
    Internet connectivity via a smart phone appears to be the biggest new feature. Things like weather reports and uploading to strava on-the-fly or should that be on-the-wheel?

    They seem like trivial additions really that I could not justify spending the extra money for. Apparently some UI improvements as well but unless the sat nav UI is improved then I think they are not worth it either.

    The maps I am using are the Garmin additional maps that you pay for.
    I haven't tried the free maps but they may be better.
  • g00se
    g00se Posts: 2,221
    I know a couple of folks who bought an 810 specifically as it allows others to track you in real time on a garmin website (it uses bluetooth to upload the location via a phone). However, if the signal is lost ( not sure if bluetooth or phone data) then it never carries on - just 'leaves' you in the middle of nowhere. Seems to have happend on 90% of all their trips.
  • flasher
    flasher Posts: 1,734
    earth wrote:
    The user interface is badly thought out and the additional maps are full of mistakes. Consider other brands and try to borrow one.

    I've not found this at all, it's very customisable, maybe to many options.
  • BigTK
    BigTK Posts: 47
    I agree with you flasher
    Bought mine yesterday. A garmin 810. Absolutely loving it. Very very very customisable. And synchronises all the session data to my phone. And I share that info on What's app to rub it in some friends faces! Lol
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    If you have problems with the Edge 800 (or 810) then have a look at my website: http://www.forgot.co.uk/edge-800/

    I've got some good info on there about what maps to use, how to pre-plan a route, how to follow that pre-planned route reliably etc.

    Can't get excited about an 810 over the 800. The only feature that'd slightly appeal is the live tracker on long solo rides, but I can achieve that with my iPhone anyway.
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    Oh, just to add. I've only ever used the Edge 800 as a "sat nav" (i.e. give it a destination and letting it plan the route for me) a handful of times. It works but I much prefer planning my own route in advance as I can better chose what roads I want to go down.
  • freezing77
    freezing77 Posts: 731
    forgotrafe wrote:
    Oh, just to add. I've only ever used the Edge 800 as a "sat nav" (i.e. give it a destination and letting it plan the route for me) a handful of times. It works but I much prefer planning my own route in advance as I can better chose what roads I want to go down.

    Use garmins basecamp to create a route, this way you can have as many via points (course points) as you choose. The 800 will always plot your course through these points.
    The outcome of this is that the course will be as you have chosen rather than the 800.
    Mapping sites such as bikely, bikeroutetoaster, mapmyride and http://ridewithgps.com/ will also allow you to put in many via points.
    For example a normal route created by basecamp may have 2000 via points in it for say a 20 mile course.
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    freezing77 wrote:
    Use garmins basecamp to create a route, this way you can have as many via points (course points) as you choose.

    Sorry, I meant I'd only used it in "Sat Nav" mode a few times because I was out and about and wanted to go somewhere that I hadn't thought of previously.

    Normally I plot all my routes in advance using the excellent RideWithGPS (see my first reply above) because I like to stick to the little back roads.
  • freezing77
    freezing77 Posts: 731
    forgotrafe wrote:
    freezing77 wrote:
    Use garmins basecamp to create a route, this way you can have as many via points (course points) as you choose.

    Sorry, I meant I'd only used it in "Sat Nav" mode a few times because I was out and about and wanted to go somewhere that I hadn't thought of previously.

    Normally I plot all my routes in advance using the excellent RideWithGPS (see my first reply above) because I like to stick to the little back roads.

    I don't know of a way with the 800 with the etrex you can choose as many points on the device as you like. i.e. when you plan a route on the device it asks you for a map point, you move the pointer to choose and then add, there is then an option of choosing the next point.
    I have been rather disappointed with the navigational capabilities of the 800 when compared to the older etrex models such as the legend and vista. i.e no compass pointer, no multiple points in go to.
    6864662496_d8c0d6bbfa_m.jpg
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    I miss the compass screen too (I've had various other Garmins prior to the 800).

    By "sat nav" mode, I mean pick a destination on the 800 and leave it entirely up to the 800 to route you there.

    I don't know a way of picking multiple routes on the 800, but then I've never tried!
  • northpole
    northpole Posts: 1,499
    I suspect the 800/ 810 are as good as it gets right now.

    I find the whole logic completely counterintuitive - I've been spoiled by Apple.

    Looking forward to the day Garmin take on board some of the features of TomTom/ Apple for non IT people like me.There's quite a journey for them to embark on before that happens.

    Peter
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    northpole - I am exceptionally computer literate, and I struggled to get the Garmin to behave how I expected! Hence I produced the guide on my website. Started off as a reminder to myself but soon realised lots of people were also struggling.

    I agree re usability of TomTom/Apple, but perhaps not use Apple maps eh? They are still absolutely shocking, failing to name my village or many of those around me.
  • alihisgreat
    alihisgreat Posts: 3,872
    Judging by the lads leading the club runs with them... I wouldn't recommend it as a navigation device :lol:
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    Haha. They are quirky out the box, hence I wrote a guide. But I've probably done thousands of miles in places I don't know, and not got lost, following a pre planned route on the Garmin.
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    Judging by the lads leading the club runs with them... I wouldn't recommend it as a navigation device :lol:

    Tell them to read my website ;)
  • freezing77
    freezing77 Posts: 731
    forgotrafe wrote:
    Judging by the lads leading the club runs with them... I wouldn't recommend it as a navigation device :lol:

    Tell them to read my website ;)

    Or attend a Garmin for beginners tutorial. :wink:

    http://www.meetup.com/RichmondPark/events/98268482/
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    Haha, that shows how unintuitive a product is when clubs start organising training courses for them. Good idea though.

    Love the comment about safe indoor parking for bikes.
  • cattytown
    cattytown Posts: 647
    If considering an 800, they are currently £270 0n Sportpursuit or £315 including HR/Cadence gizmos. Delivery will be a couple of weeks though.

    I'd not recommend the Mio Cyclo - there are some nice things like the pre-loaded cycling related POIs and the surprise me function - "I'd like to do 30 miles - gimme some routes" but the mioshare website doesn't give you the detail you get with the likes of stava, and the 305 is not directly supported by strava - it can be made to work, but the best I have so far involves editing the gpx file to change tags and using a utility to convert to TCX...

    Paul.
    Giant Defy 2
    Large bloke getting smaller :-)
  • loismustdie
    loismustdie Posts: 127
    I've been using a Garmin 800 for a couple of years now - I've found it excellent for navigation - I have both the Europe and UK OS maps and almost exclusively use the latter. One or two things I have noticed though:

    1) The battery life diminishes greatly when navigating over just recording a ride. I get maybe 11/12 hours normally, but barely 8 if navigating. I carry a Duracell external battery now.

    2) When making up routes in Basecamp, you can copy the map file from the MicroSD card on to your computer for route planning - it's much quicker. I think this is obvious to most people, it took me ages to realise this! :oops:
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    1) The battery life diminishes greatly when navigating over just recording a ride. I get maybe 11/12 hours normally, but barely 8 if navigating. I carry a Duracell external battery now.

    I've no idea why that'd be the case, obviously I don't know the ins & outs of the design, but with my limited knowledge I can't see why there should be any difference.

    Except maybe the backlight? That takes (relatively) a lot of power. If you're navigating a course and have turns switched on then each time it gives you a direction/turn prompt, the backlight comes on. This could be enough to have a dramatic effect on battery life.

    There are options to control the backlight brightness and how long it stays on for. If you wound these right down, you might get an increase on your 8 hours.

    Of course if you don't have direction/turn indicators switched on then I'm talking nonsense ;)
  • loismustdie
    loismustdie Posts: 127
    When I googled this (it happened on a 150 mile ride last year, I was left in the middle of nowhere with about 40 miles to go!) the processing of the route/redrawing of the screen as it navigates apparently drains the battery more quickly. Additional sensors also affect battery life too (typically for me HR/power). I don't use the backlight at all, so it's not that.

    Either way, I get three four hour rides when I'm just using the 800 to record/display ride data, but as I say it went just before the eight hour mark when navigating. Perhaps it makes a difference the ride I was navigating was in one go(?)

    Edit to say - The battery life also seemed worse in the very cold weather we've had recently, although I didn't monitor it closely enough to be sure. Anyone else found this?
  • Found my 800 to give about 12 hours life - had it since they were launched and battery still seems to keep great charge.
  • northpole
    northpole Posts: 1,499
    The battery life also seemed worse in the very cold weather we've had recently, although I didn't monitor it closely enough to be sure. Anyone else found this?

    I'm not out long enough when it's cold to confirm this however, it has been widely reported in the press that electric powered cars suffer significant range reduction problems when the temperatures plummet. Stands to reason that a Garmin wouild be similarly affected.

    Setting aside temperature issues, my old 705 lasted significantly longer than my 800. It's a pity battery technology seems to be lagging behind.

    Peter
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    The battery life also seemed worse in the very cold weather we've had recently

    I believe that's a downside to LiIon batteries of the sort used in the Edge. I also believe that they don't 100% recover from being really cold - though it's only minimal long-term damage so it's not an excuse to stay indoors (though I have loads of them if you want!).
  • earth
    earth Posts: 934
    I've found mine forgets the indicators I have selected for training pages. Today it replaced my HR with distance remaining and replaced heading with odometer. Other times it has changed almost all of them. It is a very random device. Sometimes it will pop to the satnav screen when approaching a junction to tell you where to go then later on in the ride it does not.

    However I cannot get it to change the colour of the course when I am on it - always pink. If I configure it to ask if I want to start the timer when motion is detected then it pops up the question. If I select no then it it just keeps asking. While the question is on the screen you can't see anything. Therefore you have to answer yes whether you want to or not.
  • i bought an edge 800 a month or so back, but with OS maps as i wanted them and find them easy to use. its good, but i dint think the user interface is that well thought out and i have expereinced a few issues.

    i seems once you have started a course you have created, you cannot subsequently turn on the turn by turn instructions whilst on the course. i may be wrong, but have found no way to do this, and have had to reste and sart the course again this time flagging turn by turn on the course overview, and starting the course from where ever i am. thats annoying.

    likewise it occasional says im off course, whwn i know for a fact im not and then subsequntly finds the course again a minute or so later.

    finally if i do go off course and click reclaculate it seems to just take me in a straight line back to my destination, without turn by turn instructions. i assumed it would recalculate to get me back on the course and then continue to give me turn by turn once i was. this doesnt happen for me. am i doing something wrong?
  • forgotrafe
    forgotrafe Posts: 637
    You do have to stop the course, turn on (or off) turn-by-turn, then restart. I don't really see the problem with this though as it'll pick up from where you are.

    The off-course is down to a discrepancy in the map vs. your route (made worse if you plot your route using one map e.g. Google, then use a different map on the Garmin e.g. OS) or a weak GPS signal.

    I never use recalculate as I don't like it. If I stray off course, I just zoom right out and navigate my own way back to the course.