Mio, Garmin or Bryton?

samg123

I'm looking into a cycling GPS, as my route planning has always been a bit dodgy and I have to lead rides for my club next year.
I've obviously looked at the Garmin 800, but there are also the up-and-coming competitors of Bryton and Mio. I'm not too keen on the Bryton, as I've had some poor reviews from friends. The Mio (305) is definitely interesting however- I'm very interested in the 'Surprise me' feature, as I have a habit of riding the same routes all the time. The fact it also includes maps free is good too, and it's only £200 with HR and Cadence, compared to £260 for the Garmin.
My only issue is the fact that I'm somewhat lacking on stem space (I only run an 80mm) and as far as I'm aware there are no out-front mounts for the Mio, although this claims to fit.
Does anyone have any experience with the Mio? Any drawbacks I'm ignoring?

turnerjohn

IMOA Garmin are the best...you just pay that bit more for them but I think their worth it and user friendly.

BarFly (who do a superb out front Garmin mount...I've got one) are bringing out a universal out front mount...check bikeradar news.

I read a review of the Mios "surprise me" function which lead the tester on the dual carriageway and "roads from hell" so personally I wouldn't bother ....its a gimick !

samg123

Thanks for the advice, interesting what you say about the Surprise Me feature- I read a review that said they updated the software (in October last year?) to allow you to choose small roads/ main roads etc, so that may have ironed out the issue. By universal mount do they mean the ones that pretty much give you a bit of bar out front to attach the normal mount to?

EPO Delivery Man

samg123 wrote:

Thanks for the advice, interesting what you say about the Surprise Me feature- I read a review that said they updated the software (in October last year?) to allow you to choose small roads/ main roads etc, so that may have ironed out the issue. By universal mount do they mean the ones that pretty much give you a bit of bar out front to attach the normal mount to?

The surprise me function is not a gimmick and works fantastic. Ive had the Mio305hc since lauch and its been faultless.

The post above who said he read about it being a gimmick is quoting a year old post by some d*ck head who wasnt even a cyclist, he was a tech nerd who couldnt even ride a bike. Im guessing the reviewer above probably hasnt even used a Mio.

The recent Mio software upgrade has ironed out any niggles from launch and i use mine everywhere. The only downside i would say is that its not mac compatible, other than that you can do everything the Garmin does and a hell of a lot cheaper too.

grim168

Bought a bryton 50 a few weeeks ago but couldn't get the mapping to work. All other features worked fine. Took it back and will be buying a garmin 800.

stealf

HI Samg123, Lets see if i can help out a bit.
I got myself a MIO 305 with cadence and HR sensors back in May, After very simple set up process I was riding and using the sat nav as intended. Recorded the journey and measured all heart rate, speed cadence etc = then displayed it okay on their linked software. It's a great bit of kit, you can create your own journeys, or let it make one for you. The Surprise me! function is great as long as you don't mind waiting 5 minutes for it to work and it only once gave me three routes, normally it only gives me two. I Live in North London so there is no shortage of choice when it comes to routes, Though no trouble with it sending me on the risky roads such as 406, (north circular road) it has always been manageable roads and routes. The programmable display screens actually works well and is easy to see and operate.
I too am in the market for a mount to place it in front of the bars, but my 100mm has plenty of room for it there
If your a science or ride by the numbers man then the software is not for you, it does not show the graphs and data tables, though you get an idea form what is does show but it is messy and needs refinement. I just got back from Feurterventura where the mapping failed to show the roads. I downloaded someone else's ride from their software but a warning message saying mapping failure, meaning it could only record my journey not navigate me around. I stress this has happened abroad only.
Overall a great bit of kit that does everything you need it too, perhaps not as well as other names but then it is half the price of the 810.....

cattytown

Note: Things could have changed since I sold my 305HC.
1. The MAC bit - it's the Mioshare application that's not Mac compatible. Having said that, compared to Garmin connect or Strava the Mioshare site is poor. It's not bad, it just doesn't do much - want to look at HR along the ride? no chance. You also need the Mioshare application to upgrade firmware.
The unit itself could plug into a MAC to allow you to copy off a GPX file to strava.
2. Things like HR and cadence are extensions to the GPX format. Mio chose to use different labels to armin - that means HR/cadence info isn't imported to Strava. I did have a workaround, but I hear the recent Strava API changes have blocked that.
3. The Mio doesn't work as a computer on a turbo - it insists on GPS to actually record distance/speed.

I found the Mio a little more intuitive than the Garmin, but the garmin works better with Strava and the like.

HTH,
Paul.

Grill

Garmin with RaceWareDirect mount. Done.

rolf_f

I have some Bryton units and they are all excellent. The 50 (with full mapping) is a bit of a clumpy looking thing but works excellently. They now do their answer to the 800 with touch screen and all that but I don't have any experience of those. The 40 and 20 are excellent little units - better in some ways than the Garmins, not so good in other ways but generally usefully cheaper. Garmin is a bit better in communicating to Strava but that is down to Strava rather than Garmin. And Strava is a crap company and we'll probably soon all be going somewhere else anyway! I think the Brytons are compatible with the Garmin barfly type mounts though confirmation would be useful.

Personally, I see no reason to go Garmin and prefer slightly less obvious products anyway.

Another one to consider is Holux - cheaper still but less neatly packaged.

StillGoing

In order of function, compatibility and value for money, I'd certainly put the Bryton over any Mio device. Personally I'd go Garmin though with Bryton a close second.

Downward

samg123 wrote:

I'm looking into a cycling GPS, as my route planning has always been a bit dodgy and I have to lead rides for my club next year.
I've obviously looked at the Garmin 800, but there are also the up-and-coming competitors of Bryton and Mio. I'm not too keen on the Bryton, as I've had some poor reviews from friends. The Mio (305) is definitely interesting however- I'm very interested in the 'Surprise me' feature, as I have a habit of riding the same routes all the time. The fact it also includes maps free is good too, and it's only £200 with HR and Cadence, compared to £260 for the Garmin.
My only issue is the fact that I'm somewhat lacking on stem space (I only run an 80mm) and as far as I'm aware there are no out-front mounts for the Mio, although this claims to fit.
Does anyone have any experience with the Mio? Any drawbacks I'm ignoring?

£153 at Halfords currently - Use code B13CM01 for 10% discount

samg123

That would've been a really useful tip if you'd let me know yesterday

Downward

samg123 wrote:

That would've been a really useful tip if you'd let me know yesterday

Return it reorder

dfriel2

Downward wrote:

samg123 wrote:

I'm looking into a cycling GPS, as my route planning has always been a bit dodgy and I have to lead rides for my club next year.
I've obviously looked at the Garmin 800, but there are also the up-and-coming competitors of Bryton and Mio. I'm not too keen on the Bryton, as I've had some poor reviews from friends. The Mio (305) is definitely interesting however- I'm very interested in the 'Surprise me' feature, as I have a habit of riding the same routes all the time. The fact it also includes maps free is good too, and it's only £200 with HR and Cadence, compared to £260 for the Garmin.
My only issue is the fact that I'm somewhat lacking on stem space (I only run an 80mm) and as far as I'm aware there are no out-front mounts for the Mio, although this claims to fit.
Does anyone have any experience with the Mio? Any drawbacks I'm ignoring?

£153 at Halfords currently - Use code B13CM01 for 10% discount

The discount code doesn't seem to work. Have you successfully ordered one??

dfriel2

Use this "B13BP02" instead... just ordered for £153.

samg123

Hmmm the cheaper one is for UK only and I was hoping for the Europe maps too- is there any way to install opensource maps onto the device?

RDW

From the discussion here (last year), it sounds like Mio are/were 'working on' a method for swapping out the installed maps:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/08/an-e ... w-ant.html

I wonder if the UK only version has the same internal memory as the EU version (supposedly 4Gb)? Mio uses OpenStreetMap, so it's not like it costs them any more to source the whole of Europe. Of course with a Garmin, you can stick whatever you want on there, which will generally be some version of OSM. This makes the basic (no included maps) Garmins more competitive than they might seem. The Mio does seem to have a nice big screen, which I guess has pluses and minuses. The Garmin 800 fits on my 80mm stem with the standard mount, but the Mio looks substantially larger, more like a smartphone.

EPO Delivery Man

stealf wrote:

HI Samg123, Lets see if i can help out a bit.
I got myself a MIO 305 with cadence and HR sensors back in May, After very simple set up process I was riding and using the sat nav as intended. Recorded the journey and measured all heart rate, speed cadence etc = then displayed it okay on their linked software. It's a great bit of kit, you can create your own journeys, or let it make one for you. The Surprise me! function is great as long as you don't mind waiting 5 minutes for it to work and it only once gave me three routes, normally it only gives me two. I Live in North London so there is no shortage of choice when it comes to routes, Though no trouble with it sending me on the risky roads such as 406, (north circular road) it has always been manageable roads and routes. The programmable display screens actually works well and is easy to see and operate.
I too am in the market for a mount to place it in front of the bars, but my 100mm has plenty of room for it there
If your a science or ride by the numbers man then the software is not for you, it does not show the graphs and data tables, though you get an idea form what is does show but it is messy and needs refinement. I just got back from Feurterventura where the mapping failed to show the roads. I downloaded someone else's ride from their software but a warning message saying mapping failure, meaning it could only record my journey not navigate me around. I stress this has happened abroad only.
Overall a great bit of kit that does everything you need it too, perhaps not as well as other names but then it is half the price of the 810.....

+1 totally agree, its a great bit of kit.
For European mapping you need the European 305HC, as there are two versions, one if GB and Ireland the other is full western Europe.

Downward

Collecting My Mio 305 - It does look big but then I found my old Garmin Edge 305 too small

EPO Delivery Man

Downward wrote:

Collecting My Mio 305 - It does look big but then I found my old Garmin Edge 305 too small

You wont regret it. Also you can make rides up in Mapmyride, save the file, plug in the Mio then copy the file into the Mio tracks folder.

Downward

Picked it up fitted the cadence speed unit sorted the hrm and fitted the mount. Has all the data I need just charging it and ill be testing it out on the commute. Screen is much clearer than my old garmin 305 and Qstarz bt2000 GPS and I've set up the data on the screens.

Downward

What program's are out to upload data ?

tc3nitro

Bryton rider 50

dfriel2

Have had the Mio 305 for a week now (from Halfords, so there was a typical cock up but for £150 I can't complain too much and I was expecting it).

For the money I've paid, it's a great bit of kit. Mapping is clear and the software upgrades seem to have resolved any bugs that have been mentioned previously. The "surprise me" feature works well, but you need to allow the major roads for the search to pick up multiple routes - guess that depends on where you live.

But, it's not a Garmin and there's no direct link with Strava (not a huge problem but an inconvenience). There's also no way of downloading HRM / cadence data, which is more frustrating. So for local routes I'll definitely still be using the Garmin watch to record the rides, but the Mio will definitely make me change my habits, help in unfamiliar locations and increase ride length. For £150, yes. For £300, no.

cattytown

It might be worth doing a little investigation. In the gpx file replace all instances of heartrate with gpxtpx:hr and cadnce with gpxtpx:cad and look at the utilty mentioned at https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/21542886 to see of that will upload the result.

Downward

dfriel2 wrote:

Have had the Mio 305 for a week now (from Halfords, so there was a typical fool up but for £150 I can't complain too much and I was expecting it).

For the money I've paid, it's a great bit of kit. Mapping is clear and the software upgrades seem to have resolved any bugs that have been mentioned previously. The "surprise me" feature works well, but you need to allow the major roads for the search to pick up multiple routes - guess that depends on where you live.

But, it's not a Garmin and there's no direct link with Strava (not a huge problem but an inconvenience). There's also no way of downloading HRM / cadence data, which is more frustrating. So for local routes I'll definitely still be using the Garmin watch to record the rides, but the Mio will definitely make me change my habits, help in unfamiliar locations and increase ride length. For £150, yes. For £300, no.

You can still view Cadence and HRM on the Mioshare which uses Googlemaps so you can see where your busting a gut. Also if you download your data to ridewithgps it also shows your HRM and cadence.

dfriel2

Many thanks for the link to the gpx utility app, works a treat! Latest Mio recording converted perfectly.

rolf_f

tc3nitro wrote:

I'd stay away from a Bryton especially the rider 50 as i've had quite a few issues with mine & Bryton have now stopped uploads to strava via the website meaning you have to download the tracks to your computer and upload the .tcx file.

My Rider 50 often tells me ive done over 100 miles on a ride when i know i've only done 30ish, any uploads to strava are 1 hour out ( a known problem that they still have not fixed ) and sometimes it refuses to charge.

You have a faulty unit - no matter what unit you buy from what manufacturer, some will be faulty. No point whining about yours until you've tried to get it replaced. My 50 is very reliable though the strava time issue does apply - but I can't see why anyone would really care that much about that. I've logged probably 25000 miles on Bryton units and found them largely reliable.

And no, Bryton haven't stopped uploads to Strava. It is that rather nasty, control freaky organisation Strava (reminds me a bit of Apple...>) that did that. They have, with no notice, stopped loads of apps (including BikeRadar training) from synchronising to Strava. But they do have a neat little deal to sell 'Strava versions' of Garmins in their shop. Coincidentally, you still can synch directly from Garmins. Funny that.....

Of course, that does give Garmin another little extra benefit but it seems a bit mean to hold an oily little deal between Strava and Garmin against Bryton, Mio, Holux etc.

I am looking forward to a nicer alternative to Strava appearing.

PK1

I've got / had the following

Garmin Edge 200 faultless for 2 years
Bryton 50 has turned itself on a few times and run the battery out. Owned for 2.5 years
Bryton 35 died after water ingress ( 18 months) -- Replaced with Bryton 21
Bryton 21 died after 6 months -- bits rattling inside. -- Replaced with Bryton 40
Bryton 40 faultless so far after a few weeks. Waiting for it to break.

Brytons are definitely poorer in build quality compared to Garmins.

Austin316

I've never had a Garmin bike unit, but have had their top of the range running GPS watch and it was absolute garbage. Battery malfunctioned within a few weeks, sent it back to Garmin and got not a new one but a reconditioned one, which developed the same fault. So I say both build quality and customer service is rubbish, based on my experience.

Marsey76

I have also just picked up the Mio form Halfords but only paid £135 due to a 15% discount.

There is an option to link to Strava through MioShare under my account. I have only just done this so not 100% sure what data gets uploaded and when linking it does not ask for your strava account details so I not even sure if it uploads data to your account.

Also used the java app mentioned in other posts which worked really well but I lost over 300ft in ascent due to Strava doing the ascent profile rather than the built in altimeter in the Mio.

It is a shame that Strava only really cater for Garmin devices and despite asking them numerous times about other devices through twitter and the like I have never had a response.

Overall really pleased with the Mio though.