Recommend me a bike GPS

rflook

Hi,

Am giving serious consideration to getting a bike GPS, mainly because when I go out on a new route, I am fed up of having to pull my phone out every x miles to check where the hell I am and if I am on the right route. I don't really care about heart rate monitoring or whether or not it can connect to cadence sensors etc as I have a Garmin Forerunner watch which can do that for me. The most important consideration is that the device needs to display a map, have enough memory to hold a map of a large area - e.g. central london down to the south coast of kent, be able to tell me when I have gone off route and be able to allow me to upload a route to it.

Looking forward to hearing people's opinions

Anonymous

I recommend that you learn some manners.

Your thread title sounds like a command :roll:

FishFish

I've had a Memory Map gps with OS 1:50,000 OS Maps of the UK for 5 years and it does all you want. I'm going to upgrade to the discounted Memory Map TX4 which has good write ups and has a camera and dual sim phone built in too. Comes with the 2016 OS Maps. Stick to the 1/;50,000 scale as the 1:25,000 is really for walking or being bad mannered.

rflook

Hmm, didn't mean to be bad mannered. Apologies if you guys thought I was, but defo wasn't.

gethinceri

Garmin Edge 520 will give you what you want.

gsk82

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

Anonymous

Apology accepted

Your title is still awful, and the content of the post seems very pro phone and anti decent Garmin.
No one is forcing, or cares less if you buy one. It also sounds as if you are poo pooing features that a lot of the people you are asking advice from, use.

Personally I would have said the Edge Touring is more suitable for you.

Its a bigger screen with (I think) better detail, and it will not only tell you that you are off course, but also re-route you back onto it.

I would leave the 520 for people who want connected features and live starva segments etc.

gdcfc1

+1 Edge Touring

MisterMuncher

Garmin 520. DC Rainmaker has a complete guide to replacing the base map with better, local maps. It's a great unit, and worth the premium over most of its direct competition.

Failing that, there's probably a deal to be had on higher end Bryton yokes, but if you're already used to the much nicer Garmin online experience, the minor inconveniences will soon start to grate.

Anonymous

The 520 is 100% a fantastic Garmin, but not sure its the best option for the OP.

He sounds far more Touring Edge to me.
I don't know of a usb port issue with the Touring models (maybe google it) so I would not let that put me off.

Let us know what you get OP

kleinstroker

Mio 505 is an amazing bit of kit and very ease to add rides to

StillGoing

gsk82 wrote:

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

Not entirely true. The 810 has been plagued with a bug ever since Garmin used the platform for the 520. The issue is with Bluetooth/Livetrack. As long as you don't use bluetooth on the device during a ride, the device works fine. You can get livetracking through other applications if you want it such as Cyclemeter for IOS phones. Not having Bluetooth activated also prolongs the battery life of the 810.

If you want genuine mapping ability, it's a choice of the 705, 800, 810 or 1000. If you just want a breadcrumb trail map, the 500, 510 or 520. Before anyone states the 520 is full mapping, it isn't. It is a breadcrumb trail over a map background, but yes it will do turn by turn warnings.

horizon

You haven't indicated a budget.

In my view, at the top for your needs would be a Garmin Edge 1000 Explore. Cheaper than a 1000 and skewed to navigation with a simplified interface. Touch screen. Garmin's version of Open Street Map cycle mapping (but you can add you own).

I've tried the 520, for navigation its ok, but forget about zooming or friendly things like that - the amount of button pushing required is ridiculous. You can add your own Open Street Map mapping.

Earlier Garmins - 800, 810, Touring, Touring Plus, are ageing and the screen quality is awful.

The Mio 505 is tremendous at mapping and navigation - its turn by turn is near faultless. However development and bug fixing has slowed to a halt and the long term future is in question, although Mio/Magellan deny it.

There is also a Mio 315, which concentrates on navigation alone, with few additional metrics. Bigger 3.5" screen. Cheaper in theory, although in practice the 505 is more heavily discounted (at Wiggle anyway). Could be a good option for you.

Careful with Mio - they come with preloaded maps which are locked - you can't add more countries or change them, so make sure you get the right one (unlocking was promised, but it hasn't happened yet). They are updated via their web portal.

Bryton have abandoned the market, hence some very cheap models on offer - their support was non-existent.

Lezyne don't do any mapping, although it was promised at launch, it has never materialised.

Memory map are vehemently anti-Mac, so nothing more to say about them!

Wahoo have just launched the Elemnt, but a lot of promise has not been delivered yet, particularly mapping and navigation. Could be useful in 6 months time.

Polar v650 - promised a lot but has been very slow to deliver. Now has colour Open Street Map mapping which you can alter, and some navigation, but not sure how useful this is yet - bit vague on this one as I lost interest in the slow development, lack of wireless connectivity and no temperature gauge.

There is a good forum at http://www.cyclogps.com - started by Mio/Magellan users, but it expanded to cover all cycle gps's.

gsk82

philthy3 wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

Not entirely true. The 810 has been plagued with a bug ever since Garmin used the platform for the 520. The issue is with Bluetooth/Livetrack. As long as you don't use bluetooth on the device during a ride, the device works fine. You can get livetracking through other applications if you want it such as Cyclemeter for IOS phones. Not having Bluetooth activated also prolongs the battery life of the 810.

i don't use bluetooth or live tracking. the problem isn't the battery, it's the unit crashing and shutting down for no reason. garmin have acknowledged the problem and claim to have rectified it with their latest update, but it hasn't worked.

StillGoing

gsk82 wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

Not entirely true. The 810 has been plagued with a bug ever since Garmin used the platform for the 520. The issue is with Bluetooth/Livetrack. As long as you don't use bluetooth on the device during a ride, the device works fine. You can get livetracking through other applications if you want it such as Cyclemeter for IOS phones. Not having Bluetooth activated also prolongs the battery life of the 810.

i don't use bluetooth or live tracking. the problem isn't the battery, it's the unit crashing and shutting down for no reason. garmin have acknowledged the problem and claim to have rectified it with their latest update, but it hasn't worked.

If you haven't deactivated Bluetooth on the device, it will still crash irrespective of whether you're actually using Bluetooth or not..

rflook

Wow, thanks for all the feed back guys (and gals?). I have to admit I am veering towards the Garmin 1000. Need to do some research on the key differences between the Edge and the Edge Explore.

gsk82

philthy3 wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

gsk82 wrote:

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

Not entirely true. The 810 has been plagued with a bug ever since Garmin used the platform for the 520. The issue is with Bluetooth/Livetrack. As long as you don't use bluetooth on the device during a ride, the device works fine. You can get livetracking through other applications if you want it such as Cyclemeter for IOS phones. Not having Bluetooth activated also prolongs the battery life of the 810.

i don't use bluetooth or live tracking. the problem isn't the battery, it's the unit crashing and shutting down for no reason. garmin have acknowledged the problem and claim to have rectified it with their latest update, but it hasn't worked.

If you haven't deactivated Bluetooth on the device, it will still crash irrespective of whether you're actually using Bluetooth or not..

Bluetooth is disabled. I've used in on commutes and noticed it drain the battery so turned it off.

teebs_123

I'm hoping were due something new from Garmin pretty soon. My 1000 is great apart from screen resolution, speed and battery life.

rolf_f

Horizon wrote:

Earlier Garmins - 800, 810, Touring, Touring Plus, are ageing and the screen quality is awful.

Is that awful in that the screen quality isn't fit for purpose or awful in the same way that you'll be telling everyone that the Garmin 1000 has awful screen quality when the next generation of bike GPS comes along?!

(ps Garmin 810 screen quality is perfectly adequate for the job! )

keef66

I have a Garmin Touring Plus. Only went for the Plus because I wanted to display HR too. Does pretty much all you want and comes with detailed maps for the whole of Europe pre loaded and endlessly updated via Garmin's website (but very slowly)

If you're doing a circular route, turn off Recalculate though. Otherwise if it loses sight of the satellites it instantly starts calculating the quickest way to your destination, which is usually back the way you've come :roll:

earth

I have a Garmin 800 and all I can say is I would not recommend one even though they are probably no longer available. Too many bugs. If I bought one again I would consider a Mio (Magellan).

earth

gsk82 wrote:

Don't get a garmin 810. They're atrocious! There's a bug that they seem unable to fix that means at certain points they just shut off. A kid i know was in a group with four of them in Majorca recently and all four shut down at the same time. Once it shuts down once it keeps doing it.

If they were in a group then they would all receive the same GPS signal. My guess is that there is a fault in the processing of that signal. If they all have the same code and the same stimulus (GPS signal) then they will all fail for the same reason at the same time.

rflook

So went for a Edge Explore 1000 in the end. Was slightly cheaper and seemed to do everything I needed from it. Managed to blag a 10% discount as well to make the final cost a little less painful on the wallet