Garmin Edge Touring

munkster

Addendum: I just fired up my Elemnt pressed "Start" and plugged in an Anker portable charger. Screen unchanged and when soft click on the power button (which pulls up the settings page) the battery icon has the telltale "lightning bolt" symbol so I guess it is OK to charge on the go...

meanredspider

ugo.santalucia wrote:

As I understand some settings are changed via the app... one of them being backlight... this is what I gathered from YACF. Being able to operate backlight settings over a long ride is critical.
Not sure why that would not be something you can do on the unit itself.

It always pays to check these things.

http://uk.wahoofitness.com/instructions ... -bolt/#gtk

Backlight is in the settings menu of the device and can be set to on, off or 5secs through the device's own interface. It may be replicated in the app (a nice feature - I find that so useful for my GoPro - where you aren't limited by physical buttons) but can be done on the device itself.

My Edge 1000 seems to be OK with being powered externally. In fact, annoyingly, plugging it in to power automatically switches it on (as does unplugging it). The only issue I see with this is that micro USB ports will probably not resist water very well.

ugo.santalucia

munkster wrote:

Addendum: I just fired up my Elemnt pressed "Start" and plugged in an Anker portable charger. Screen unchanged and when soft click on the power button (which pulls up the settings page) the battery icon has the telltale "lightning bolt" symbol so I guess it is OK to charge on the go...

That's very good news... does it stay like that or it gets rejected after a few minutes?

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

My Edge 1000 seems to be OK with being powered externally. In fact, annoyingly, plugging it in to power automatically switches it on (as does unplugging it).

That's probably because you use a normal USB cable, an OTG cable is required for the unit not to think it is being connected to a PC.

munkster

That's very good news... does it stay like that or it gets rejected after a few minutes

I didn't leave it on for ages maybe 5 mins but it stayed like it in that time at least.

meanredspider

its a shame you don't have a smartphone, Ugo, else I'd suggest (funds allowing) buying the Bolt and the eTrex and trying them both out - sending back the one you don't get on with.

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

its a shame you don't have a smartphone, Ugo, else I'd suggest (funds allowing) buying the Bolt and the eTrex and trying them both out - sending back the one you don't get on with.

If it's a case of "home fiddling" it's not an issue, my wife has all the latest gadgets and I can easily pair it to her phone...

meanredspider

ugo.santalucia wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

My Edge 1000 seems to be OK with being powered externally. In fact, annoyingly, plugging it in to power automatically switches it on (as does unplugging it).

That's probably because you use a normal USB cable, an OTG cable is required for the unit not to think it is being connected to a PC.

Yup but it's a prime PITA to have different USB cables kicking around. The point of USB is that Universal so as soon as you start messing that about, it becomes messy. It should be beyond the wit of man to have the device check the comms pins and realise that it's not communicating with a computer and not fully fire itself up. The 1000 will sit there beeping at you as it finds and loses various BT or wifi connections.

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

My Edge 1000 seems to be OK with being powered externally. In fact, annoyingly, plugging it in to power automatically switches it on (as does unplugging it).

That's probably because you use a normal USB cable, an OTG cable is required for the unit not to think it is being connected to a PC.

Yup but it's a prime PITA to have different USB cables kicking around. The point of USB is that Universal so as soon as you start messing that about, it becomes messy. It should be beyond the wit of man to have the device check the comms pins and realise that it's not communicating with a computer and not fully fire itself up. The 1000 will sit there beeping at you as it finds and loses various BT or wifi connections.

Technology sucks... :-)

meanredspider

ugo.santalucia wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

its a shame you don't have a smartphone, Ugo, else I'd suggest (funds allowing) buying the Bolt and the eTrex and trying them both out - sending back the one you don't get on with.

If it's a case of "home fiddling" it's not an issue, my wife has all the latest gadgets and I can easily pair it to her phone...

That's what I would do then. All the recommendations in the world can't beat trying it out for yourself.

I know how frustrating tech can be if you're doing an event and it doesn't do what you need it to. I did the London to Cambridge night ride with my Edge 800. I loaded the route and, when I arrived on the train in London, I fired up the 800 and the route and, as expected, it said "Navigate to the start of the route?". For whatever reason, I mistakenly hit "No" and then cursed myself because, other than this, I really wasn't sure where the event started. Could I get the Garmin to ask me again? Of course not. I tried everything. I then had a stressful ride through an unfamiliar part of London at night, in the rain, holding my iPhone for navigation. I arrived just in time to join the last group leaving of the night.

meanredspider

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Technology sucks... :-)

Done badly, nothing is worse

timothyw

Honestly Ugo, from all you have said the GPS you already have (Edge 200) sounds perfect to me - you just need to work out how to manage the space on it better.

RideWithGPS seems to create enormous TCX files where other sites don't, but either way it's a two minute job to run the file through GPSies with track simplification turned on.

For the sake of £100/£200 you might as well make do if you don't want all the other features. Battery life is so immense I can't see why you'd need to recharge on the go.

Moonbiker

OS maps work



Seems bike sat nav isn't a big market hence the lack of any decent products, and the big expense.

ugo.santalucia

TimothyW wrote:

Honestly Ugo, from all you have said the GPS you already have (Edge 200) sounds perfect to me - you just need to work out how to manage the space on it better.

RideWithGPS seems to create enormous TCX files where other sites don't, but either way it's a two minute job to run the file through GPSies with track simplification turned on.

For the sake of £100/£200 you might as well make do if you don't want all the other features. Battery life is so immense I can't see why you'd need to recharge on the go.

I agree... however, battery life is an issue... best I have managed is 200 miles, need more than that to do a long Audax. If the baxtard did charge on the go as it should, it would not be an issue, but it doesn't... :evil:

I also don't understand where the memory has gone. Technically it has around 3 Mbytes, but 2.3 MBytes are occupied... not sure by what, looking at every folder and file, there is hardly anything big at all. Dark matter? Dark memory?

The main problem is that once I upload a route (even a small one) it becomes really slow to get a GPS signal, sometimes it can take 10 minutes... as I remove the file, it gets the signal in seconds

timothyw

That does sound strange. There's an excellent program called 'WinDirStat' which will let you have a look and see what is using up the disk space (similar mac app called Grand Perspective is also good) although I don't have my 200 to hand so can't tell you offhand what is normal - I do remember only really hitting issues when uploading huge route files to it (which the garmin would then shrink to tiny sizes once given the chance).

There is a possibility that your computer has been scanning your garmin for errors and recovering lost file fragments - which helpfully it leaves in hidden folders. You'll need to tell your computer to show hidden and system folders to be able to see them (and delete them) they'll be called something like 'Found.000' - I do have three of them on my garmin although they're only using 200kb.

I'm now mostly using a 500, which has a few little niggles that make it not quite so good for routing, although it does relatively speaking have buckets of storage (64mb).

How many hours is 200 miles? Presumably less than 20 hours? Might be worth looking at a new battery for the garmin as that ought be well within it's capabilities (assuming you aren't leaving the backlight on at max brightness).

ugo.santalucia

Moonbiker wrote:

OS maps work



Seems bike sat nav isn't a big market hence the lack of any decent products, and the big expense.

They do if you know the area and need to find out where that lane goes... if you are in an unfamiliar area, you'd find yourself pulling out the map every 5 minutes... it is impractical in an Audax context. I like to have one with me, but I don't use it

meanredspider

Moonbiker wrote:

Seems bike sat nav isn't a big market hence the lack of any decent products, and the big expense.

On the contrary, it's a huge market but the audaxing crowd are a tiny proportion and need a battery life that would make most products bigger and more expensive than they need to be. Garmin have had it sewn up for years which has prevented any serious competitors entering. But, over time, many of us long-term customers have become sick of all the quality issues (especially those on new products) so the time is ripe for someone like Wahoo to come along with a decent product.

What Ugo needs is a product that is designed to have an extended-life battery piggy-backed onto it (Go-Pro do something like that) to give the range he needs.

ugo.santalucia

TimothyW wrote:

How many hours is 200 miles? Presumably less than 20 hours? Might be worth looking at a new battery for the garmin as that ought be well within it's capabilities (assuming you aren't leaving the backlight on at max brightness).

The battery is rated for 14 hours and I was not far off that figure when I decided to save the file. I then continued (another 3 hours) with the USB charger attached, but it kept giving me the "lost power" signal, including beeping, it was the most annoying thing ever, mind you, it kept charging in the process and as I got to the end it was pretty much fully charged... but it was the most annoying thing ever... 3 hours of beeping every 30 seconds

munkster

if you are in an unfamiliar area, you'd find yourself pulling out the map every 5 minutes...

Just checking: you do realise that the Elemnts have actual (and useful) maps on them not just a breadcrumb trail don't you? I have had mates used to the simpler Garmins assume that the Elemnt is similar in that regard due to its apparent simple appearance and monochrome screen.

ugo.santalucia

munkster wrote:

if you are in an unfamiliar area, you'd find yourself pulling out the map every 5 minutes...

Just checking: you do realise that the Elemnts have actual (and useful) maps on them not just a breadcrumb trail don't you? I have had mates used to the simpler Garmins assume that the Elemnt is similar in that regard due to its apparent simple appearance and monochrome screen.

Yes, I have read that... I was referring to the previous comment about using an OS map to navigate

ugo.santalucia

TimothyW wrote:

You'll need to tell your computer to show hidden and system folders to be able to see them .

How do I do that?

EDIT: found it, in control panel

meanredspider

ugo.santalucia wrote:

TimothyW wrote:

How many hours is 200 miles? Presumably less than 20 hours? Might be worth looking at a new battery for the garmin as that ought be well within it's capabilities (assuming you aren't leaving the backlight on at max brightness).

The battery is rated for 14 hours and I was not far off that figure when I decided to save the file. I then continued (another 3 hours) with the USB charger attached, but it kept giving me the "lost power" signal, including beeping, it was the most annoying thing ever, mind you, it kept charging in the process and as I got to the end it was pretty much fully charged... but it was the most annoying thing ever... 3 hours of beeping every 30 seconds

Garmin have solved that on one of their mounts (the one for their new front light): the mount effectively muffles the beeping (so you can't hear any of them :roll:)

But I know exactly what you mean, Ugo - I used an external battery on my 1000 when I did AD6 and it beeped continually. You could see other riders looking around. I think you can mute the device or, at least, stick some tape over the tiny speaker port.

ugo.santalucia

meanredspider wrote:

But I know exactly what you mean, Ugo - I used an external battery on my 1000 when I did AD6 and it beeped continually. You could see other riders looking around. I think you can mute the device or, at least, stick some tape over the tiny speaker port.

For once I was hoping for a more high tech solution...

Nice to know the top of the range has exactly the same issues... back to square one... :roll:

ugo.santalucia

So here were we are

Upgrades don't solve my problems

1)looking for hidden files or folders might free up some space on the 200

2) muting the tones might make it more livable when charging on the go

I think I have solved all my problems at zero cost... thanks guys...

meanredspider

I think you can mute the beep (I thought I'd somehow done that when I tried the Garmin light - but it turned out to be the dual mount). Trouble is, as I say, you then mute all the beeps and the "off course" beep and the turn warning beeps are useful, especially when you're tiring and you don't want to be staring at the screen all the time.

meanredspider

Anybody else get the Garmin RideOut invitation?

Love the closing line

Limited spaces available. Filled on a first come first severed basis

stevie63

Just to throw my hat in the ring. First I am glad that you have managed to sort the 200 without needing to resort to spending any money. However in my experience the Elemnt is a great Audax computer. It will charge from an external battery pack without any issues. The mapping is clear and easy to follow, and if you create your own route in ridewithgps you get turn by turn. Other than using a phone to set things up you do not need a phone whilst riding, in fact to conserve my phone battery on longer rides I always switch off bluetooth. This does mean no live tracking or alerts however but as you're not using that currently that is not an issue.

Given the choice between the Wahoo and an edge touring I know which one I would pick.

StillGoing

ugo.santalucia wrote:

And I still think that Wahoo and others only offer products to monitor performance rather than guide you through a journey. Reliance to smartphones is a big no-no for me, firstly because I don't use one, but even if I was to get one, I wouldn't want it to be the interface to unlock a GPS functionality.

If you want navigation and not interested in performance monitoring, then eTrex or Magellan are the way to go. I wouldn't want one for cycling but your needs seem to be more for audax where battery life and navigation is important.

Wahoo have recently released a firmware update that makes it an even bigger threat to Garmin's Edge devices. Live Track that now provides a full trace with live performance data for third party monitoring and from A to B routing changes. And re the Edge mount being able to be butchered to take Wahoo devices; only the stem mounts will work as it has to be rotated through 90' otherwise the Wahoo mounts sideways and it doesn't have landscape screen orientation.

meanredspider

philthy3 wrote:

And re the Edge mount being able to be butchered to take Wahoo devices; only the stem mounts will work as it has to be rotated through 90' otherwise the Wahoo mounts sideways and it doesn't have landscape screen orientation.

I think quite a few "out-front" mounts have the ability to turn the mount plate through 90deg for the very reason that the 1000 (at least) does have landscape capability.

StillGoing

meanredspider wrote:

philthy3 wrote:

And re the Edge mount being able to be butchered to take Wahoo devices; only the stem mounts will work as it has to be rotated through 90' otherwise the Wahoo mounts sideways and it doesn't have landscape screen orientation.

I think quite a few "out-front" mounts have the ability to turn the mount plate through 90deg for the very reason that the 1000 (at least) does have landscape capability.

The standard out front that came with last 2 Garmins I had (810 & 820) didn't have that ability. I know that the K Edge ones do but buggered if I was going to spend £45 on one. Maybe it's the 1000 that comes with a mount with that option? My Wahoo came with an out front mount as standard and one for the second bike was only £14.