Which Garmin GPS?

Sbeszant
Sbeszant Posts: 2
edited July 2018 in Road buying advice
Hi all,

I'm looking to invest in a Garmin gps computer but keen to get some feedback on which models people would recommend.

I'm essentially looking for something that has pre loaded maps and can get me home if ever I'm lost on a long ride! I've also got a Garmin watch so anything I can sync to that would be useful. Stats wise I'm just looking for the basics, distance, speed and elevation are a few that spring to mind.

I'm not looking to break the bank but any feedback on which model would be most appropriate would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

Comments

  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    As you want the navigation you will need to look at the Edge 520 plus, 820, 1000, or 1030 units. They are the ones with the navigation features you want. The Garmin website will give a breakdown of what functions each model has. DC Rainmaker has reviews. Many people will suggest a Wahoo Elemnt/Bolt instead. They do navigation but you will need a paired mobile phone for it to work on a Wahoo device. Garmin devices don't need anything else to calculate routes.
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    wongataa wrote:
    As you want the navigation you will need to look at the Edge 520 plus, 820, 1000, or 1030 units. They are the ones with the navigation features you want. The Garmin website will give a breakdown of what functions each model has. DC Rainmaker has reviews. Many people will suggest a Wahoo Elemnt/Bolt instead. They do navigation but you will need a paired mobile phone for it to work on a Wahoo device. Garmin devices don't need anything else to calculate routes.

    That's being a bit economical with the truth about Wahoo devices. You don't need a paired phone at all. You create your routes with either the free version of Ride with GPS or on Komoot for turn by turn signals. Do it on a computer and send it by wifi to the device. You don't need to take a phone out with you on a ride, but most sensible people do, simply for emergency needs. The latest Wahoo firmware updates allow you to select points of interest to ride to them if you have the phone with you. Not really a bind to get your phone out of your rear pocket if you suddenly find the urge to find a restaurant, garage, cafe, battle site etc etc.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • mamil314
    mamil314 Posts: 1,103
    If you won't be needing power sensor support, it sounds like Edge Explore is right up your alley. Bigger screen than 520 Plus and supports map browsing.
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    philthy3 wrote:
    That's being a bit economical with the truth about Wahoo devices. You don't need a paired phone at all. You create your routes with either the free version of Ride with GPS or on Komoot for turn by turn signals. Do it on a computer and send it by wifi to the device. You don't need to take a phone out with you on a ride, but most sensible people do, simply for emergency needs. The latest Wahoo firmware updates allow you to select points of interest to ride to them if you have the phone with you. Not really a bind to get your phone out of your rear pocket if you suddenly find the urge to find a restaurant, garage, cafe, battle site etc etc.
    With the OP saying they would use the navigation function when lost on a long ride suggests they would want to create a route home at the point they realise they are lost. At that point a pre loaded route could be no good as you may well not have a suitable one and you would indeed need a phone to do the route planning. It is perfectly sensible to mention this point that route planning on the fly needs a paired phone with a Wahoo device. I was not saying it is bad, just different from the Garmin way.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    oxoman wrote:
    Currently own Garmin Edge Touring, that does everything you want. The get me home function and auto route function and also diversion functions are useless, I would get away with the basic edge because all bells and whistles functions are pretty much useless add to the fact it's as about as reliable as a chocolate fireguard. They either work ok or have issues with powering off, the auto diversion or wrong turn function will take you so far off the route it's unreal or it will get you totally lost. Personally I wouldn't have another Garmin even if I was given one. I currently use my android phone which lasts longer than a Garmin and records to Strava as i go. Had 2 edge touring and and edge 25 plus a walking GPS60 walking one and the walking one was brilliant as was the 25 but regretted the touring ones.

    I too have a Touring Plus, and sadly I have to agree the bad points outweigh the good.
    If you carefully plan a ride on RidewithGPS and upload it to the device, it usually will give you reliable turn by turn directions. And if you just use it to record a ride it's fine.
    But sometimes it will just randomly shut down mid ride, and you just have to pray the route's still there when you restart it. Or it will tell you it's suffered a route calculation error and give up completely. Then if you encounter a closed road or you need to bail and head home, it's bloody useless. I just cannot stop it sending me down farm tracks, or routing me miles out of the way just to use 50 feet of the National Cycle Network. I usually end up using the Garmin's compass or the position of the sun to ride in the general direction of home till I'm on familiar roads. And the much-vaunted suggested ride function is seriously flawed. Sounds great; you tell it how far you want to ride and it offers you 3 routes, you check their maps and profiles and choose which to ride. Except 99% of the time at some point it will send you down an entirely unsuitable track or footpath, and a few times into farmyards with no means of escape. I hoped that the last map / firmware update would have fixed it so I gave it another chance. Within half a mile of leaving the house it wanted me to take a footpath through the allotments rather than use the adjacent road.

    For the same kind of money the TomTom I bought for the car is flawless, and it gives me live traffic. Why can't they squish that into a bike GPS?
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    Some of those issues will be map errors. Some of them Garmin's software. The new touring model just announced would be better hopefully.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    wongataa wrote:
    Some of those issues will be map errors. Some of them Garmin's software. The new touring model just announced would be better hopefully.

    I've taken the trouble to check on Open Streetmap. The tracks it sends me down are correctly marked as private roads or unsuitable for cycling. I even once got a snotty response from one of the OSM mods suggesting I take it up with Garmin. So it's problems with both Garmin's maps and the routing algorithms.

    I'm not sure I want to gamble another £200 on 'would be better hopefully'...
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    keef66 wrote:
    wongataa wrote:
    I'm not sure I want to gamble another £200 on 'would be better hopefully'...
    I completely understand.

    Of course the extreme solution is to create your own maps with all the unsuitable roads/tracks removed but that really is lot of work!
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    wongataa wrote:
    philthy3 wrote:
    That's being a bit economical with the truth about Wahoo devices. You don't need a paired phone at all. You create your routes with either the free version of Ride with GPS or on Komoot for turn by turn signals. Do it on a computer and send it by wifi to the device. You don't need to take a phone out with you on a ride, but most sensible people do, simply for emergency needs. The latest Wahoo firmware updates allow you to select points of interest to ride to them if you have the phone with you. Not really a bind to get your phone out of your rear pocket if you suddenly find the urge to find a restaurant, garage, cafe, battle site etc etc.
    With the OP saying they would use the navigation function when lost on a long ride suggests they would want to create a route home at the point they realise they are lost. At that point a pre loaded route could be no good as you may well not have a suitable one and you would indeed need a phone to do the route planning. It is perfectly sensible to mention this point that route planning on the fly needs a paired phone with a Wahoo device. I was not saying it is bad, just different from the Garmin way.

    I believe the latest firmware update for the Wahoo devices has the get me home function.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • Poppa Wheelie
    Poppa Wheelie Posts: 95
    I too have got fed up with Garmin and now use a Wahoo Elemnt. to me this device is exactly what you are looking for. Do not be swayed by the colour screen of a Garmin v's the monochrome of the Wahoo.

    Your route and track on the Wahoo is crystal clear whereas I sometimes found it hard to work out what I was looking at on my old Garmin 800 in very bright sunlight and whilst wearing polarized sunglasses as both of these flatten the colour differential.

    There are two versions, the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt at £200 and the bigger Elemnt at £250. Both work the same exactly the same, the only differences being the bigger Elemnt has two rows of LEDS, the bolt has only one.

    The Wahoo has a built in world wide map thus you can use it on holiday as well as in the UK. You can get full turn-by-turn navigation like the Garmin 820/1000 or the more basic breadcrumb trail of the Garmin 520.

    However there is one feature the Wahoo can do that NO Garmin can do yet. Using your mobile phone and the power of Google maps to pick a point on the map and the Wahoo will create a route and navigate you to that point. So if you have a mechanical issue during a ride, or just simply fancy a coffee, you can find a bike shop or coffee shop using Google maps then instruct the Wahoo to take you there. Or you can simply find your house on the map and again it will plot a route there.

    Whilst you might able to drop a pin on the map of a £500 Garmin it is not the same as a Google search and then your GPS navigates you there.
  • BikerGroveish
    BikerGroveish Posts: 183
    I’ve recently bought a Garmin edge 1030 bundle. It’s very good as far as I can tell so far. It hooks up to lots of different sensors with no fuss. And it does all sorts of stuff I probably don’t need. I reckon it’s better to have stuff and not use them than not have stuff you might need.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Poppa Wheelie wrote:
    However there is one feature the Wahoo can do that NO Garmin can do yet. Using your mobile phone and the power of Google maps to pick a point on the map and the Wahoo will create a route and navigate you to that point. So if you have a mechanical issue during a ride, or just simply fancy a coffee, you can find a bike shop or coffee shop using Google maps then instruct the Wahoo to take you there. Or you can simply find your house on the map and again it will plot a route there.

    Whilst you might able to drop a pin on the map of a £500 Garmin it is not the same as a Google search and then your GPS navigates you there.

    If your café is on your Garmin map (eg via OSM) then you can select it and navigate to it on Garmin irrc. I'm not sure of the effectiveness of this though as it isn't something I've ever needed to do but the point is that you can do it and without using a mobile phone!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • vpnikolov
    vpnikolov Posts: 568
    Clicked on the topic with the hope a wahoo discussion has been initiated. Was not disappointed.

Categories