Garmin

[tlittlefield]

I vote for the 500 as well (-;

Gives you everything that you are looking for and you can get them at a geat price now that they are being discontinued.

[Mr. Pink]

I'll just chime in here about the Garmin devices since I am an owner of an 801 since May.

Nice little device that records almost anything and then quickly uploads that data to the cloud through my phone at the end of the ride. There is a problem about one quarter of the time uploading the data, though. A quick fix is to turn bluetooth off and then on on the phone, and then they are communicating. I also live in a place with awful cell service (NIMBY cell tower residents), so, that may be an issue.
But, I didn't spend nearly 400 dollars for a fancy bike computer. I wanted the navigation feature, so that I could download rides from Ride with GPS and other sites, but, mostly Ridewithgps, and then follow the directions it gave me. I just moved to a new riding neighborhood, and am discovering new routes, and I have also read that 801s are commonly used in Europe on self guided bike tours, so I wanted to be familiar with the thing before I took off on a lonely Italian road expecting it to get me home, eventually.

Well. The navigation function is quite, em, quirky. When it works well, it's awesome. Just discovered an nice new ride that a local bike shop has a link to on their Facebook page. This ride is particularly difficult to follow on a paper map, because it crosses state and county lines three times. Worked like a charm. Other times, eh, not so good. It misses turns, but, that isn't as bad as it seems, because, as soon as you miss the turn, it tells you you're off course, and then you have to figure out the right turn, which isn't too hard. Tends to miss the same turns, each time, but there are only a few per 40 mile ride. Also, sometimes, it tells you to turn straight on straight segments. Weird. You're cruising along, and get an alert to go........straight. But, the one thing it does that really bugs me, and, it did it yesterday, is freeze up. Just locks up. Have to power down to get it back functioning. fortunately, the data from the ride is still there when powering up. It's as though the Garmin engineers anticipated power downs, and wrote that in. I have not had a lock up in non navigation mode.
I went to the Garmin forums to see if there is any info about this, and there is a whole thread of people complaining about the lock up issue, with no response from Garmin. Not cool. Oh, and, btw, yesterdays's lockup was with the latest 4.2 software update, so......

All that said, I have to admit, I like this thing a lot. As I said, when it works well, it's is very cool, and has a very long battery life, relative to the phone, and, of course, it's a nice size for the bars. Just be ready with backup in case the thing decides to act up. Always carry a map in new places, and, if you are planning rides on RideWithGPS, download and print the cue sheets with maps (nice feature, there). Unfortunately, I do not own a printer, so I have to hit the library to print the cue. I also have the phone with Google maps, which is a backup, too, sort of.
What the world needs is for the Android people to make a device like this with their expertise. Just trimmed down to bicycle essentials so that the size and battery life is better than my Samsung phone. I'm afraid the Garmin engineers are working in the stone age, it seems, but, they're the only game in town. They really should get their game up.

BTW, another cool feature is, when I upload my rides, they go to three different sites in the cloud - Garmin Connect, of course, but also MapMyRide, which I have been using for six years, and RideWithGps.

So, that's my review. Buyer beware. Navigation has a long way to go. It ain't your Android phone, for sure.

[benb]

Just wanted to echo some of what Mr. Pink says.. he is discussing specific problems with software and navigation on a specific device but my impression is many of the devices have the same issues.

Garmin Connect itself (and the iphone/android app) don't function real well when internet connectivity is spotty. The traditional way this kind of software works would be a 3 way sync (device <-> phone <-> servers). The Garmin Connect mobile apps don't really keep a master copy and so stuff can get really wonky when the connection to the servers gets wonky. You can't actually go use these devices away from internet and expect to then review the results on your android or iOS devices.

I don't have an Edge, I have a Fenix 3, but the problems with software and navigation sure sound familiar, even the version #s on the software are about the same, which is a good thing as it hopefully means garmin is sharing a lot of code between all these devices.

Overall though these things are awesome compared to a notebook you write your rides in.

[Avincent52]

What about the Garmin Edge 25?
I've never used a Garmin of any kind but they all strike me as kinda big.
I like the form factor of the 25 quite a bit.

That said, what about a $50 Specialized/Cateye/whatever on the handlebars for current speed/trip distance.
And Strava on your smart phone in your jersey pocket?

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

I'll just chime in here about the Garmin devices since I am an owner of an 801 since May.

Nice little device that records almost anything and then quickly uploads that data to the cloud through my phone at the end of the ride. There is a problem about one quarter of the time uploading the data, though. A quick fix is to turn bluetooth off and then on on the phone, and then they are communicating. I also live in a place with awful cell service (NIMBY cell tower residents), so, that may be an issue.
But, I didn't spend nearly 400 dollars for a fancy bike computer. I wanted the navigation feature, so that I could download rides from Ride with GPS and other sites, but, mostly Ridewithgps, and then follow the directions it gave me. I just moved to a new riding neighborhood, and am discovering new routes, and I have also read that 801s are commonly used in Europe on self guided bike tours, so I wanted to be familiar with the thing before I took off on a lonely Italian road expecting it to get me home, eventually.

Well. The navigation function is quite, em, quirky. When it works well, it's awesome. Just discovered an nice new ride that a local bike shop has a link to on their Facebook page. This ride is particularly difficult to follow on a paper map, because it crosses state and county lines three times. Worked like a charm. Other times, eh, not so good. It misses turns, but, that isn't as bad as it seems, because, as soon as you miss the turn, it tells you you're off course, and then you have to figure out the right turn, which isn't too hard. Tends to miss the same turns, each time, but there are only a few per 40 mile ride. Also, sometimes, it tells you to turn straight on straight segments. Weird. You're cruising along, and get an alert to go........straight. But, the one thing it does that really bugs me, and, it did it yesterday, is freeze up. Just locks up. Have to power down to get it back functioning. fortunately, the data from the ride is still there when powering up. It's as though the Garmin engineers anticipated power downs, and wrote that in. I have not had a lock up in non navigation mode.
I went to the Garmin forums to see if there is any info about this, and there is a whole thread of people complaining about the lock up issue, with no response from Garmin. Not cool. Oh, and, btw, yesterdays's lockup was with the latest 4.2 software update, so......

All that said, I have to admit, I like this thing a lot. As I said, when it works well, it's is very cool, and has a very long battery life, relative to the phone, and, of course, it's a nice size for the bars. Just be ready with backup in case the thing decides to act up. Always carry a map in new places, and, if you are planning rides on RideWithGPS, download and print the cue sheets with maps (nice feature, there). Unfortunately, I do not own a printer, so I have to hit the library to print the cue. I also have the phone with Google maps, which is a backup, too, sort of.
What the world needs is for the Android people to make a device like this with their expertise. Just trimmed down to bicycle essentials so that the size and battery life is better than my Samsung phone. I'm afraid the Garmin engineers are working in the stone age, it seems, but, they're the only game in town. They really should get their game up.

BTW, another cool feature is, when I upload my rides, they go to three different sites in the cloud - Garmin Connect, of course, but also MapMyRide, which I have been using for six years, and RideWithGps.

So, that's my review. Buyer beware. Navigation has a long way to go. It ain't your Android phone, for sure.

We've talked about the T-B-T crash issue in another thread. My unit crashed once with the new firmware, but I wasn't navigating at the time and was in the process of resetting the Bluetooth connection with my iPhone. I have since used the Edge to navigate a couple of short routes without incident.

[Keith A]

Don -- Don't know if you seen this site before (http://www.dcrainmaker.com/), but he does some very in depth reviews of cycling products, including several Garmin units. Check it out when you have a minute.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by djg21

We've talked about the T-B-T crash issue in another thread. My unit crashed once with the new firmware, but I wasn't navigating at the time and was in the process of resetting the Bluetooth connection with my iPhone. I have since used the Edge to navigate a couple of short routes without incident.

Best I can say is that it locks 30 mile plus rides. The recent lock happened after I added 8 miles to a 26 mile ride, so, in effect, I was 8 miles off course. I guess I confused Hal, although it's more like R2D2.

Edit: link to that thread?

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Best I can say is that it locks 30 mile plus rides. The recent lock happened after I added 8 miles to a 26 mile ride, so, in effect, I was 8 miles off course. I guess I confused Hal, although it's more like R2D2.

Edit: link to that thread?

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showth...stomer+service

[drewellison]

I think the Garmin Edge 25 looks like a great little mostly basic GPS. The only thing that turns me off is the short battery life, something like 8 hours, when their bigger units are easily twice that.

Another line worth looking at are the new Lezyne GPS units. A small one similar to the Edge 25 and two larger ones. They don't have tons o' features but look capable for most needs, as long as you're not doing power meters and such.

Personally, I've been an Edge 500 user for a coupla years now and I'm thinking of moving to a 520 unit.

[Mr. Pink]

Fascinating. Has you unit locked up since the reversion to old firmware?

Garmin sucks, I guess. You'd think they'd be savvy living with social media and responding to their own forum, let alone here.

[djg21]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Fascinating. Has you unit locked up since the reversion to old firmware?

Garmin sucks, I guess. You'd think they'd be savvy living with social media and responding to their own forum, let alone here.

The old firmware (vers. 3.40) seemed to fix the problem. I just upgraded to the newest firmware (4.20) about a week ago, and it has been relatively problem free, but I've only used navigation a couple of times for short rides to test it. The jury still is out.

[bobswire]

I just purchased one of these two days ago and paid $10 more on sale.

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/product/garmin-edge-500

[don compton]

So, I bought an Edge 510 at REI. Get home and the battery is dead. No big, just charge it up.
4 hours later I start the setup process. The manuals in the box are total ····.
So, I go to the Garmin site and they offer no support for the 510. I am out of here. Back to REI for my refund.
I think I will just enjoy riding my Riv Roadeo forget all this crap.

[Geeheeb]

I bought a topeak iPhone 4 case with mount on clearance, then cut out the mount and JB welded it to a cheap bumper case for my Sony phone. Does everything an android can do right there. I'm already going to have my phone with me so why not? Has held up on single track too. I can post a pic tomorrow.

[Keith A]

Don -- I'm using regular bike cyclometer (Shimano FlightDeck) on my bike to see the speed, distance and time. I also carry my phone with me and use Strava to record my ride. I have used "Map My Ride" in the past and I actually like this application a little better, but all the guys I ride with use Strave and it's nice to see what your riding pals are doing.

I too have been interested in a Garmin like device, but haven't seen one that really tickles my fancy.