Garmin 810

jackk1992

Is it really necessary?

Really want one of these toys as they look cool as and look really clever. But £300 is the price of my bike so can i really justify it?

Is there anyone here with one, and if so, what do you think of them?

Jimbeam3678

I have a Garmin 800 which is very similar. I love mine however I love it due to its navigational functions as I get lost very very easily!!

You can pick up 800's fairly cheap now.

StillGoing

Yes I have an 810. Upgraded from a 705 which I had for years beforehand. Is it worth it? Only you know the answer to that, but given how you describe that your bike is only worth £300 I doubt very much whether you see the value of splashing out on one. They function on the latest high end bikes just as well as a bargain basement bike though if you convince yourself to splash out. For those that don't mind splashing out yes, they're worth it especially for longer rides where you don't know the roads/locality and for downloading the route of sportives. But they aren't just for mapping. The measurement of heart rate, cadence, speed and elevation are useful tools if you're that focused that way and the live track of the 510 and 810 is especially useful.

northpole

If you need navigation then I would suggest the 800. I regard the 810 as an interim upgrade which costs considerably more to buy and will quickly be superseded by the new 1000.

Peter

StillGoing

northpole wrote:

If you need navigation then I would suggest the 800. I regard the 810 as an interim upgrade which costs considerably more to buy and will quickly be superseded by the new 1000.

Peter

Can't agree with that. The 1000 is much larger (mobile phone larger) whereas the 810 is very discrete. The 1000 has a better screen quality but for me that's it. I don't look at the map page having the 810 sound alerts for turn by turn when following a course and at all other times displaying cadence, speed and heart rate. I don't need any better quality screen to do that. Considering the 1000 is going to cost more than the 810, I know where my money would go and but for the Live track and bluetooth connectivity of the 810, I'd have stuck with my old 705 or settled for the 800.

jackk1992

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of being able to swop it between bikes, as I do alot of mountain biking. My road bike is just for training on when I can't be arsed getting muddy. I use Map my Ride a lot on rides, but the app annoys me and would like to have it in front of me but my phone is too big to have on my bars, plus wouldnt really want it out while hurtling down a mountain, hence why I started looking at the Garmin 810. It would be mainly for trails on my MTB but also used for training on the road bike.

As well as navigation, does it record your route that you have cycled, like Map my Ride does? Might be a stupid question but nothing seems to say this in the specs anywhere.

wongataa

jackk1992 wrote:

Thanks for the advice. I like the idea of being able to swop it between bikes, as I do alot of mountain biking. My road bike is just for training on when I can't be arsed getting muddy. I use Map my Ride a lot on rides, but the app annoys me and would like to have it in front of me but my phone is too big to have on my bars, plus wouldnt really want it out while hurtling down a mountain, hence why I started looking at the Garmin 810. It would be mainly for trails on my MTB but also used for training on the road bike.

As well as navigation, does it record your route that you have cycled, like Map my Ride does? Might be a stupid question but nothing seems to say this in the specs anywhere.

Yes, all the Garmin bike computers can log your ride. The ride logs can then be uploaded to Strava etc. Why not look at a Garmin 800? They are cheaper than a 810.

jackk1992

What is the difference between the 800 and the 810? Its only really cheaper by about £50 isnt it?

northpole

One of the main differences between 800 and 810 is that the 810 can connect to your smart phone and allow people at home to track where you are on their computer. To me this is a pure novelty feature, but it may appeal to you?

As the 800 is now a superseded model, you should be able to get better deals than the 810 however, offers tend to pop up and you grab them when you can. You are correct, seems to be about £50 between the units price levels. Your call really as to whether the new features are worth the premium.

This link should help you decide:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/garm ... eview.html

Peter

jackk1992

I think i'm going to go for it and get the 810.

Thanks for all your advise.

jackk1992

Sorry another quick question, whats the difference between the trail and road models?

How Far is too Far

Probably the mapping it is supplied with, one is likely to have OS maps and the Other full Euro Road mapping.

I have an 800 trail with full UK OS mapping, also doubles up for walks and off road, bridal ways etc.

jackk1992

Ahh that is a good point. Is there no way you can have OS and Road mapping?

wongataa

You can always buy any Garmin maps you wish to separately. If you choose the download versions you can put more than one mapset on the SD Card. You would normally have only one map active at any one time but it is easy to switch. Personally I go for the free maps based on Open Street Map that are easily available. This has the bonus that if you find any errors you can fix them yourself. The coverage in the UK is very good in my experience.

jackk1992

Okay thanks! I'm sure when I buy one I will be making a thread asking how to do this map business! Haha thanks!

meanredspider

philthy3 wrote:

Can't agree with that. The 1000 is much larger (mobile phone larger) whereas the 810 is very discrete. The 1000 has a better screen quality but for me that's it.

and the Bluetooth standard
Segments
Di2 interface
Free mapping (not a big deal, I know)
More phone interfacing
Landscape format option
Route creation (tell it you want to do 60 miles and it will create some 60 mile routes to choose from)

and a bunch of other things I don't remember.
If you don't use the maps, then the larger screen is going to be less useful and the 810 might be plenty for you but I think there's a significant step to the 1000 (the clue is probably in the naming sequence). I have the 800 and a friend the 810 and there's not too much difference between those two except in the connectivity.

jackk1992

Has anyone managed to get a Garmin 810 with both Road Mapping and Off Road mapping on it? Is it as simple as swopping SD cards with the maps on it?

wongataa

jackk1992 wrote:

Has anyone managed to get a Garmin 810 with both Road Mapping and Off Road mapping on it? Is it as simple as swopping SD cards with the maps on it?

If you have a road map SD card and a off road map SD card, then yes it is that easy. If you have more than one map on a SD card then you go into the maps area of the system settings and make sure the map you want is active and the other ones are inactive.

jackk1992

I'd just go for the dual SD card idea I think. Cheers

jackk1992

Just went and got one from Evans! excited for my first ride with it now

jackk1992

Does anyone know where I can get an SD card with OS mapping on it so i can use it on off road trails?

wongataa

You can get OS mapping from the Garmin website. It looks like it is download only but you can put it on your own SD card.

SkyFlyboy

If you do a search in wiggle for "garmin map" they sell the gamin sd cards with maps either topo or city navigator. Don't know how competitive their prices are but I'm sure a quick google search would do the same