Bike computer for route maps

FSR_XC

I am away a lot with work and take my bike with me, so get the chance to ride in lots of different places.

Problem is knowing where to ride.

I am looking for a bike computer that will allow me to plot & follow a route when I'm away. I already have a Garmin Forerunner 735XT, which I use for training.

Narrowed it down to 3.

Polar V650 (£129) - no experience of Polar & seems to get mixed reviews. Cheapest, does route mapping but doesn't connect to my existing Ant+ HR or cadence sensor. (but I can use the 735XT for this)
Garmin Edge 1000 (£270) - most expensive and an older model. Does mapping and connects to all existing Ant+ kit. Also 3" screen.
Garmin Edge 820 (£234) - middle for price, newest model, same spec as Edge 1000, but smaller screen.


Can anyone share experiences of the Polar?

Which one is best for me?

wongataa

Don't forget considering the Elemnt/Elemnt Bolt.

Mapaputsi

It seems fashionable to bash the Garmin 520 these days but I have always used it for navigation. It takes doing it a few times to get the maps loaded on it (dc rainmakers guide on his blog), but when you have the correct map and route I have always found it very good.

lostboysaint

The venerable old Garmin 800 keeps going very strong on the front of my bikes. Have a look at the Garmin Edge Touring. Great package prices, works out of the box.

StillGoing

If you travel around a lot and ride in different places, forget the 520. Its memory restriction means you'd need to keep installing and uninstalling different maps.

Definitely look at the Wahoo ELEMNT and ELEMNT Bolt. Wahoo have overtaken Garmin in the reliability and "get the job done" stakes.

ricardito62

I have an Elemnt Bolt and can recommend it.

The one thing that may be an issue in your use case is that route planning is not done "on device" - the norm is to create routes on a platform such as Komoot or RideWithGPS and then sync them down. For you, that may mean advance planning or access to WiFi for the sync process.

HOWEVER, there are apps available that allow routes to be created on your phone and synced directly using the Wahoo app (e.g. EasyRoute for iOS). There's an article explaining this at

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/01/quickly-creating-devices.html

(Just looking back at that article, it seems you may need to do the same for at least some Garmin devices too) .

w00dster

If the routing / mapping is important I’d also not bother with a Bolt, 520 is also pretty useless for this.
I do a fair bit of touring and bikepacking where mapping is important, I use an eTrex 35t. Has Western Europe TopoActive maps as standard, takes a MicroSD card and allows you to download your own maps.

For ease of simplicity the eTrex is in my opinion the most convenient mapping device. If battery life isn’t overly important (you can charge daily) then the Garmin 1000 explore would be worth a look.

As an aside I found the Edge 520 and 810 to be completely unreliable for genuine wilderness excursions. Actually the 520 was useless for normal road riding due to powering off mid ride. I’ve found the eTrex to be reliable and stable.

davebradswmb

If you need to plot routes on the device then w00dster's advice is on the money. If you don't mind plotting routes on a pc, tablet or phone then you can use a simpler device. I have an elemnt bolt which I am very happy with, and although I usually plot the route on a pc to take advantage of a decent size screen, I have in an emergency plotted a route on my phone using ridewithgps.com using the WiFi in a cafe when I realised that my original route was a bit ambitious for the amount of daylight I had available. Getting the route onto the Elemnt bolt is simplicity itself.

jimmocrates

lostboysaint wrote:

The venerable old Garmin 800 keeps going very strong on the front of my bikes. Have a look at the Garmin Edge Touring. Great package prices, works out of the box.

I've been using my trusty Garmin 800 for 5 years now. Uk/abroad. On road/off road, day+night, sun and rain. It's great - worth every penny of the £250 or so I paid for it at the time. I've used it for similar situations when I was on holiday in Scotland/Wales. Never had any issues with reliability and battery life was never a problem. Navigation is easy, even if Garminconnect can be temporamental from time to time.
You could do a lot worse than to pick one of these up.

jimmocrates

lostboysaint wrote:

The venerable old Garmin 800 keeps going very strong on the front of my bikes. Have a look at the Garmin Edge Touring. Great package prices, works out of the box.

I've been using my trusty Garmin 800 for 5 years now. Uk/abroad. On road/off road, day+night, sun and rain. It's great - worth every penny of the £250 or so I paid for it at the time. I've used it for similar situations when I was on holiday in Scotland/Wales. Never had any issues with reliability and battery life was never a problem. Navigation is easy, even if Garminconnect can be temporamental from time to time.
You could do a lot worse than to pick one of these up.

FSR_XC

Thanks for all the input.

Gave in to the Edge 1000 in the end. Too good a deal at the price: http://www.halfords.com/cycling/cycling-technology/cycle-computers-gps/garmin-edge-1000-gps-bike-computer-performance-bundle?_br_psugg_q=garmin+1000

Especially with British Cycling discount.