Another one about Garmin

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  • Bar Shaker
    Bar Shaker Posts: 2,313
    northpole wrote:
    Ugo the only two sensible options now seem to be the Touring or the 1000.

    That's what I call weird logic - the 1000 is still finding its feet in terms of reliability. The 800/ 810 have reached a stable point (at least my 800 has after months driving me nuts) and I'd leave the likes of the 1000 well alone for the best part of another year to give Garmin a chance to complete their pre-launch product development - a concept which always seems to cause them no end of confusion.

    Peter

    As a 1000 user for just over a month, I can tell you that you are seriously miss informed.

    I have had no reliability issues, so the product is not 'finding its feet' at all. The latest software update has given a significant improvement in battery life and I am now using around 5% per hour, when navigating a course. This is as good as my 800 ever was.

    The really weird logic is buying 5+ year old technology, for any reason. In computing/electronics, 5 years is a lifetime. But then I am sure that some people are holding off buying flat screen tvs... just to make sure the bugs are ironed out.
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,312
    Agree, in electronics 5 years is like buying a bike with downtube shifters and cage pedals... I do have one already... :mrgreen:
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  • diy
    diy Posts: 6,473
    I use an external mobile phone USB powerpack for my edge 800 as mapping/routing and data recording do take its toll on longer rides. My edge 800 is about 3 years old and it will go about 8 hours (data) and about 5-6 hours routing and data.

    There are plenty of 18650 based boosters on ebay which will extend the life by about 5 or 6 times. all you need is a 5v USB powerback. probably doesn't even need 1A, though most of them are.
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  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Another eTrex 30 user here.

    On new Duracells I ran it for 5 x 6 hour touring rides (i.e. 30 hours) before it conked out, although that was with the backlight switched off. As I do actually use it for touring, having the option of just wandering into a mini-mart and purchasing a set of AAs is much more attractive than mucking about with lots of chargers and other gubbins.

    It is bulky compared to the dedicated cycling units. But seriously tough; mine got run over by three cars once and it is still ticking.

    I don't know how good it is at routing, I suspect it depends somewhat on how good your maps are. I use the TalkyToaster free OSM-based maps. The Garmin ones are absurdly expensive.

    Software's not that good (both the PC and the software on the unit itself). Sometimes when loading a track it will just hang up. The Garmin Basecamp software is pretty crude; not really intuitive to use. I usually compile my routes on MapMyRide and then download the GPX, but the MapMyRide routing is not particularly clever either and has got me into a few (not very problematic) pickles. You can store multiple routes in there and then load them up as needed.

    HTH
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  • freezing77
    freezing77 Posts: 731
    For online routing I have found http://ridewithgps.com to be one of the better sites.

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