Garmin for MTB - or stick with iPhone/runkeeper?

[Tiggsy]

Last year I used MTB routes I found online, converted the GPX files into RunKeeper routes then used my iPhone6 to show the route while out in the bike. Downsides:

Bit of a faff getting the route on there
phone in the MTB case doesnt work great with gloves
on a 4hr+ ride I had to take a portable charger


So - stick with it, or will a Garmin 1000 (or similar) do the job better?

My concern is the map side cant possibley be as good as the iphone map through run keeper can it?

[Craikeybaby]

I'm happy with an iPhone in my pocket with Strava and memory map running. I like my handlebars to be as uncluttered as possible and prefer an OS map for navigation.

[vwsurfbum]

I use a Garmin 810, the maps are far better (assuming you get the downloaded satellite maps online for free) and the battery will last all day and half way into the next following a route.
this way not only is it safer for your phone, its safer for you if you have an accident as your phone will have charge in it!
Plus its much more accurate for strava

[Kermit power]

I don't know about the Edge 1000, but even before my crappy 800 broke terminally, I'd reverted to using my phone if I actually needed to use maps, as the screen on the 800 was hopeless! Tiny, and crap resolution.

[E65Ross]

Edge 1000 is much better than the 800! Definitely would have it (and do) over using a phone.

[SixtySpeedTwin]

My brother in laws got a 1000 and he loves it, really rates the mapping.

but my 2p....

Personally i just pre-plan a route on my Garmin Edge 200 and use its bread crumb mapping guide which works really well providing a virtual trace and arrows for directions if you need guiding back to the track. I only referr to my phone if i want a big scroll-able map.
The advantage of a 200 is its cheap as chips at under £100 and much more accurate than an iphone and youve not soaked up your phone battery.

Cheers
C

[breamster]

Well - my tuppence worth. I've just bought a Garmin 810 primarily for the navigation offroad.

I've now used it once on a family ride for a whole 4 miles to try it out.

Before we went I logged onto Garmin connect on my desktop and quickly plotted the short route which took a couple of minutes and synced it to the 810. On the ride the navigation was really very good. It would give a countdown in seconds to the next point to turn accompanied by a little beep. The map was clear enough to be honest and it really was very easy. The stem mount was good although I've bought another to position it better. The touchscreen works in my cycling gloves although I didn't really need to touch it.

What else...it had synced via bluetooth (and mobile) to the internet so I can look at the ride stats when I got home. Fun to look at the elevation Vs speed Vs temp Vs hrm etc. As I was with the kids we stopped part way round for them to have a play int he woods so we ended up being out for around 90 minutes and I had 94% battery remaining.

My wife also has the 920xt and I very easily shared the route to her before we left.

I used to use my android phone and I wouldn't want to go back partly because of the awful battery life and partly because I felt like I was risking my mobile too much.

I also had downloaded the freebie maps which despite my reservations only took a few minutes to sus out.

Anything else you want to know from a rookie user?