morgan1590
new member
Reged: 11/19/06
Posts: 10
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Has anyone mounted a true GPS device on their bike? Looking at the edge 305 it seems basically an overpriced HR monitor. I'm interested in a GPS for navigation. Garmin makes many small GPS devices that track speep, altitude, and have maps for navigation. However, not bike mount???
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Darby
sage
Reged: 08/03/06
Posts: 441
Loc: Orange County California
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Quote:
morgan1590 wrote:
Has anyone mounted a true GPS device on their bike? Looking at the edge 305 it seems basically an overpriced HR monitor. I'm interested in a GPS for navigation. Garmin makes many small GPS devices that track speep, altitude, and have maps for navigation. However, not bike mount???
I don't think that the Edge 305 will give you turn-by-turn navigation. I believe that it will give you elevation and allow you to set waypoints so you can find your way back to a starting point.
Bruce
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Jeff
friend
Reged: 01/29/04
Posts: 68
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I use the Edge and enjoy it. It does not have maps or turn by turn. You can mark your starting position and then have the "bread crumb" line recorded to find your way back (limited use IMHO as most needed off road and screen is too small to separate twisty paths from each other). I use on the road and MTB and works well both places. I like the virtual partner that you can race. It has cadence, HR and all the other bells and whistles. Mounts to stem which I like. If you are not using a power meter it seems like the best computer to me. Also it has a rechargeable battery which is nice.
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Umlungu
contributor
Reged: 03/04/05
Posts: 189
Loc: Plano, TX
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I haven't mounted on my bike, but I have used my Garmin 60CSx many many times while riding. I usually throw it in a rear jersey pocket and take off. I find it interesting to see where I've been, what it thinks of my speeds and elevation changes, etc.
/begin gps product plug
One great thing about the 60CSx is that it has a MicroSD expandable memory outlet. This means if you throw down an extra $100 for a SanDisk 2GB MicroSD card you can get the entire US map will all local points of interest on a single GPS with no loading/unloading of maps each time you go someplace different! Pretty cool!
/end gps product plug
I believe the Garmin 60CSx does have a handle bar mount but to me mounting something that big on my bars would be too distracting.
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tall_jason
new member
Reged: 08/15/06
Posts: 13
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I've carried my Garmin eTrex hand-held a couple of times before I found gmap-pedometer.com to get distance and route maps, but it was a drag as I didn't mount it on the bike, I only put it in a jersey pocket.
A guy I ride with used his Garmin 305 until he lost it on a ride. He liked it except for:
- battery life: Fine for local rides but not enough for a double century. He'd get maybe 10 - 11 hours out of the battery and eventually found a cheesy battery pack to use with it to extend the life, but had a few problems with the 305 resetting.
- gradient: The software gradient function on the device is crap. It jumps around every second and seldom gives you the actual current gradient when you're climbing. He'd watch it bounce around: 6% 9% 5% 12% 10% 5% 16%... within a 10 second period. He took it up with some of the Garmin software guys in the motionbased.com forums but they said that they wanted to provide the best most-updated data to the user. When you're going up a steady 7% hill, it's no good if your gradient jumps around between 4% and 16% every second or two. So far HAC4 and VDO are the only computers that I've seen that do gradient well.
Other than that he had no complaints and said that for a first try the device was pretty good.
It doesn't do any on-screen mapping from what I've seen/heard though. It works well with Google maps through motionbased.com though.
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64cm Dragonfly custom geometry
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Montaque
new member
Reged: 09/14/04
Posts: 24
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The Garmin Edge 305 is first and foremost a full feature GPS. With accessories, which include a heart rate monitor and cadence the 305 is an outstanding training device. as well as a ?history? resource when used with the included software, and a trip/ individual ride planning device for locations any where in the world
The only issue I with the Garmin 305 - after almost 11 months use - is the 305 has too many features. On the other hand, to accommodate the vast amount of features, the 305 does offer two customizable screens.
For more information: http://www.garmin.com/products/edge305/
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Umlungu
contributor
Reged: 03/04/05
Posts: 189
Loc: Plano, TX
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The only thing that has really kept me away from the Garmin 305 is the lack of a power meter. I realize that perhaps asking that a single unit be a GPS, heart rate monitor and power meter is a bit too much, but that's the only thing that has kept me away from it thus far.
I wouldn't even mind if they offered something similar to Polar in the form of a secondary connectible unit which can add power tracking if desired.
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