Looking at getting a Garmin to use on both my road bike and my Warbird 3. I don't want the bare minimum, entry level version - but I don't need anything with every whistle and bell on it. I am most intrigued by the Edge 500, but it doesn't appear to have the ability to load maps which is a necessary feature for the Dirty Kanza 200 this year. Anyone have any experience with their bike GPS systems? Suggestions?
you can load routes onto the 500/510, but you will not have an on screen map. i run the 810, had the 705 before it. very nice units. i was unsure about upgrading, now i am so happy that i did. the 810 is amazing. the ability to search for things while on the ride, ease of use, and battery life are the big 3 things for me right now........what ever you do, i do suggest buying as a package group with the maps, heart-rate strap, and the speed/cadence sensor. then buy another speed/cadence sensor for a 2nd bike, if you have one.
I have the 510 and in addition to what was said about courses and stuff another cool feature is that it communicates with your smart phone, updates weather, uploads or downloads courses and workouts wirelessly, etc. It also has live tracking through your smart phone so your support crew or family at home can see your progress in real time.
My biggest concern is loading the map and straying off course during the Dirty Kanza 200. How good is the 510 at keeping you on course? I won't have pedal strokes, or time, to waste on race day.
I have been running the 810 on 3 different bikes and it works flawlessly. As stated above about performance I agree, plus buying the bundle plus extra cadence/speed sensors is the way to go.
My biggest concern is loading the map and straying off course during the Dirty Kanza 200. How good is the 510 at keeping you on course? I won't have pedal strokes, or time, to waste on race day.
I am still using an old Edge 305 but it appears the course option is very similar to the 510 in the course features. I used RideWithGPS.com to generate a tcx file and loaded it into my Garmin. The screen would display little turn indicators and would show the course and your current position on the screen. It does not show roads or give any kind of "distance until turn" type of information. But if you pay attention to the screen it was not hard to follow the course. Complications do come up if the course intersects itself as it is not obvious which direction is intended to follow the full course.
The 800/810 units appear to have mapping features similar to auto navigation units and similar GPSes.
I have the garmin edge 500 and use it quite a bit when I am doing a new longer route. I use Ride With GPS to create a tcx file. It shows distance to the next turn and I believe the next few turns.
That being said I have run into problems where the names of the roads arent quite right or the way you created the map on Ride with GPS does something screwy. there are times where I would like a visual.
What about the Garmin eTrex series? Specifically, the eTrex 20 unit. Hand-held. I attended a gravel grinding event in September (my first exposure to gravel riding) and riders there indicated that there was greater flexibility / utility with a hand-held, then with a bicycle-specific unit. They also indicated that the battery life of hand-helds was better with hand-helds than with the bike-specifici Garmins. I have an Edge 500 already. Thoughts?
I bought the Garmin Touring Plus a couple of weeks ago and love it. It has all of the map functions of the 810 without the cadence and wattage info. The ability to create my own courses as well as download other people's courses and upload them to my unit gives me turn-by-turn instructions and time and distance to turn. Saved me many miles when I made a wrong turn this weekend!
What is the best source of maps for the 810? Is is necessary to buy maps on a mini card or can they be loaded by some other means? Actually, what is the best source for a computer dummy? Thanks
Another question about the 810. Has anyone tracked cell phone data useage with LiveTrack and/or the bluetooth connection? I did my first ride with the 810 today, my wife "absolutely adores" the LiveTrack!! I thought the unit was pretty slick. I am not a person who likes to read instructions but the Quick Start Manual was pretty good. Also, videos on the Garmin Connect site were helpful. I use Map My Ride and syncing my workout to it was a cinch!
RogerC wrote:Another question about the 810. Has anyone tracked cell phone data useage with LiveTrack and/or the bluetooth connection? I did my first ride with the 810 today, my wife "absolutely adores" the LiveTrack!! I thought the unit was pretty slick. I am not a person who likes to read instructions but the Quick Start Manual was pretty good. Also, videos on the Garmin Connect site were helpful. I use Map My Ride and syncing my workout to it was a cinch!
I have the 810 and ended up giving up on live track. When it worked it was great. My wife also liked it. My problem where I ride is I lose cell service and then the 810 quits tracking. I ended up with getting a SPOT tracker and it's been great. Note: I switch to the Spot about a year ago so I haven't tried with the new software revs.
