Garmin 705 on a long tour

CyclingBantam
CyclingBantam Posts: 1,299
edited May 2010 in Tour & expedition
Has anyone used a 705 for navigation on a long tour (say 2 weeks or more)?

For my trip through France this summer I am planning on doing just that. Now I am getting used to adding routes on and getting the turn by turn directions right but I am still a little nervous.

As the tour will be quite long I will not always be able to stick to my planned daily distances. How do you manage re-joining you route if you have had to go off course to find a campsite for example?

What maps should I take for back up incase I lose power?

Anything else I should know about touring with a garmin?

Thanks

Ben

Comments

  • gbs
    gbs Posts: 450
    Good questions. I would like to see some answers before I take the plunge and buy.
    vintage newbie, spinning away
  • andymiller
    andymiller Posts: 2,856
    It's a nice piece of kit if you also want something to use as a training aid. But if you just want a GPS for touring then I'd look seriously at a Legend or Vista HCx which are better adapted to the needs of a touring cyclist.

    I tried using the routing for touring last year, and in all honesty I don't think it's worth the hassle. It's much simpler to simply use waypoints at important junctions.

    If you deviate from the route, the GPS should ask you if you want it to recalculate the route - simply click on 'no'.
    Italy Cycling Guide
  • sbaywatch
    sbaywatch Posts: 17
    Just come back from an 8 day tour in France. My 2penath

    In summary great bit of kit and really helped me out.

    You will deff need a map to refer too to compliment the 705.
    I pre-programmed routes for each day and as you may know it doesn't direct you to the start of the routes so that was a case of either knowing or zooming out until you can see the start and then heading in that direction.
    If you go off course it gives you sometimes the most stupid of ways to get back on track. I turned recalculate off after a while and found my own way back on track.
    If you go off course it sometimes took me 1 mile down a straight road and then said do a U turn.
    I had it set to the quietest road settings and that was a mistake as it tried to take us up some tiny dirt tracks
    On some days rather than use my pre-programmed routes I just chose some points on the map between my destination and asked it to get me to them and that worked a treat.
    Knowing miles to go was really useful to plan food stops etc.
    Feature to search for and direct to hotels etc was also very good

    Overall it was a great aid which you shouldn't rely on on its own but it did really help.

    Battery life was great (we were doing 100 mile days each day)
    It coped really well going through busy town centre and recalculated in plenty of time
  • dbmnk
    dbmnk Posts: 217
    battery-life rather short. garmin says 15 hours, but as usual it will be less. means you have to recharge everyday.
  • sbaywatch
    sbaywatch Posts: 17
    yep agreed with that you do need to recharge every day , but I got 8 to 9 hours and still had a 1/4 left.

    I don't do any tours where there isn't electricity so no worries for me

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