Are Garmins worth it?
Discussion
Are Garmin GPS computers really worth it?
I am doing more sportive events and general riding and am thinking about getting a Garmin 810, I think I will use it for route planning and a general cycle computer but are they really worth the extra £200 or so over a normal bike 'Speedo' and a route planned I'm my head from a map?
I want to get one so I want to hear that they are but I don't want to blow £260osh on something that I just won't use.
Thanks all pedal powered PHers
I am doing more sportive events and general riding and am thinking about getting a Garmin 810, I think I will use it for route planning and a general cycle computer but are they really worth the extra £200 or so over a normal bike 'Speedo' and a route planned I'm my head from a map?
I want to get one so I want to hear that they are but I don't want to blow £260osh on something that I just won't use.
Thanks all pedal powered PHers
The Garmin 200 has a basic 'breadcrumb' routing option. You pre-load your route and follow this on the screen. Really basic but works surprisingly well on roads. Wouldn't recommend for off-road routes as the resolution can make it tricky to identify the right trail when there's lots of trails in a small area.
I think you can find them for under £100.
We navigated from Blackpool to Paris using one.
I think you can find them for under £100.
We navigated from Blackpool to Paris using one.
I've just bought 1 for this very reason having had my Forerunner 305 for years. Teh 305 did breadcrumb trails, but you couldn't switch between them and the read out screens. So its the old Ferrari 458 problem again, you can see where you're going or what speed you're doing!
I live on the start of the fens and all my riding is solo, and as I now venture further afield following a sat nav affair for me on a predefined route (Plot routes in strava) for me is ideal.
How it works in reality, I'll find out next week.
I live on the start of the fens and all my riding is solo, and as I now venture further afield following a sat nav affair for me on a predefined route (Plot routes in strava) for me is ideal.
How it works in reality, I'll find out next week.
I have a 510 and so far I'm enjoying riding with it, I've downloaded courses (routes) to the unit and it shows position on the route but it's not a full on sat nav like the 810 or 1000 units. I believe it can give directions if the route was saved with the relevant information.....as yet all the routes I've used haven't contained the data so can't say how well that side of things works.
Cadence,weather updates,heart rate,speed,distance and time are all easily displayed.
Cadence,weather updates,heart rate,speed,distance and time are all easily displayed.
I've run a 800 for 4 years and found it to be an excellent piece of kit.
Garmin express is a great resource if your into your training but mapping your own route is clunky and there are better platforms for route planning.
I download routes and as long as you set the preferences on the Garmin it's pretty much foolproof and you can add capability and functionality to suit your needs. Ive recently added a cadence sensor which helps manage my energy and I'll add the heart rate monitor to aid winter training. For the first few years it was used purely for its off road capability but now I ride just on the road and its just a change of SD card which are easily found on ebay.
The views are customisable and it provides all the metrics you need to add structure to your rides and the bottom-line is I'd buy one again tomorrow if needed.
The screen switches in low light to night view which is great and I've used mine through minus 4 off road to 80 degrees on holiday and all the rain a British winter can throw at it and its never missed a beat. In short its a capable GPS but can be so much more as long as you have a need. My mate has a 200 and the GPS receiver seems weaker or the software needs updating as he loses signal where mine is fine.
The 1000 is a step up again with blue tooth capability but I hear the battery life isn't as long as the 810 but it may be worthy of consideration, dependant upon your needs?
Garmin express is a great resource if your into your training but mapping your own route is clunky and there are better platforms for route planning.
I download routes and as long as you set the preferences on the Garmin it's pretty much foolproof and you can add capability and functionality to suit your needs. Ive recently added a cadence sensor which helps manage my energy and I'll add the heart rate monitor to aid winter training. For the first few years it was used purely for its off road capability but now I ride just on the road and its just a change of SD card which are easily found on ebay.
The views are customisable and it provides all the metrics you need to add structure to your rides and the bottom-line is I'd buy one again tomorrow if needed.
The screen switches in low light to night view which is great and I've used mine through minus 4 off road to 80 degrees on holiday and all the rain a British winter can throw at it and its never missed a beat. In short its a capable GPS but can be so much more as long as you have a need. My mate has a 200 and the GPS receiver seems weaker or the software needs updating as he loses signal where mine is fine.
The 1000 is a step up again with blue tooth capability but I hear the battery life isn't as long as the 810 but it may be worthy of consideration, dependant upon your needs?
At the end of 2013 I bought a second-hand Edge 500 from ebay to get in on the Strava/GPS action.
I used the breadcrumb trail feature properly for the first time this weekend, on the Tour de Pistonheads Cambridge to London stage. I'm not sure I had it set up properly, because I couldn't seem to cycle through the menu screens to view the route as and when I wanted. The route following worked just fine out on open rural roads, where you could see the general shape of the route and work out where it wanted you to turn, but it did get us lost inside of the M25, when the roads on the outskirts of London started to get confusing (the unit only shows your route, not a map, so other roads and turnings are not visible on screen. If you want to know which of three closely spaced roundabout exits to take, the 200 and 500 won't tell you. You'll need the Edge 800 or 810 for that, with it's base maps.
The best part of the Edge 500 for me is the Strava trace at the end of a ride, because it records how well (or not) you did on a ride, and it measures any improvements to your fitness. I used to make do with a Cateye computer and kept a cycling diary, but the data the GPS unit gives you is far more detailed, and it automatically recognises when you've ridden a section faster than before. I probably wouldn't go back to a non-GPS computer now. I've got three bikes, and the Garmin swaps quickly and easily between all of them, unlike the traditional wired computers, or even the wireless ones which needed sensors moving across if you swapped them to a different bike. After the bike itself, I think the Garmin Edge 500 is the best cycling related purchase I've made. I'm generally a bit of a cheapskate, and they are a considerable expense, but definitely worth it in my opinion.
I used the breadcrumb trail feature properly for the first time this weekend, on the Tour de Pistonheads Cambridge to London stage. I'm not sure I had it set up properly, because I couldn't seem to cycle through the menu screens to view the route as and when I wanted. The route following worked just fine out on open rural roads, where you could see the general shape of the route and work out where it wanted you to turn, but it did get us lost inside of the M25, when the roads on the outskirts of London started to get confusing (the unit only shows your route, not a map, so other roads and turnings are not visible on screen. If you want to know which of three closely spaced roundabout exits to take, the 200 and 500 won't tell you. You'll need the Edge 800 or 810 for that, with it's base maps.
The best part of the Edge 500 for me is the Strava trace at the end of a ride, because it records how well (or not) you did on a ride, and it measures any improvements to your fitness. I used to make do with a Cateye computer and kept a cycling diary, but the data the GPS unit gives you is far more detailed, and it automatically recognises when you've ridden a section faster than before. I probably wouldn't go back to a non-GPS computer now. I've got three bikes, and the Garmin swaps quickly and easily between all of them, unlike the traditional wired computers, or even the wireless ones which needed sensors moving across if you swapped them to a different bike. After the bike itself, I think the Garmin Edge 500 is the best cycling related purchase I've made. I'm generally a bit of a cheapskate, and they are a considerable expense, but definitely worth it in my opinion.
Edited by yellowjack on Tuesday 12th May 23:51
OP, just as an extra incentive, if you regularly go places you don't know, the old-fashioned way of maps and/or memorising the route is quite frustrating on a bike. It's ok if you have loads of time and don't mind too much if you don't go to your destination or use the route you had planned, but if there are specific things you want to see or visit it can be maddening.
I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 which has a HRM and a cadence sensor, and is brilliant for logging your progress and does all the data stuff the other units do. I believe it does bread crumb type nav, but I don't use it.
Last year I got into the 100 Greatest climbs and wanted to do all 14 in the SE. Only 2 of them were easy 1 hr rides away, all the others involved hours on Google Maps and Garmin planning routes to try and combine 3 or 4 into one ride of around 4 or 5 hours. It was all great fun but could get very frustrating when you are out in the sticks and you come to another unsignposted junction and you don't know which way to go, so stop, get your map out, maybe get the satellite on your phone (I'm too tight to have it on all the time) and figure it out, only to go a mile down the road and there is another unsignposted junction you can't remember from your planning and have to do it all again.
The worst case was the final day of my challenge, to try and bag five in a day, which involved driving to north London for Mott Street and Swains Lane, then driving to Princes Risborough and attempting the one there, Streatley Hill and Coombe Gibbet, which sh/would have been an 80 mile ride, on top of the early start and the two London ones. The first two went quite well, and the navigation towards Coombe Gibbet (near Hungerford) wasn't bad, but I could not find the actual hill of Coombe G. I went up and down the ridge 3 or 4 times, and could see the actual Gibbet on the hill just off the road, but because I was tired and it was getting late, I couldn't work out the route I needed to bag the last climb. I gave up and the long ride back to the car was very frustrating because I knew I would have to drive the 90 odd miles back to the area some time to find the hill.
I have a Garmin Forerunner 305 which has a HRM and a cadence sensor, and is brilliant for logging your progress and does all the data stuff the other units do. I believe it does bread crumb type nav, but I don't use it.
Last year I got into the 100 Greatest climbs and wanted to do all 14 in the SE. Only 2 of them were easy 1 hr rides away, all the others involved hours on Google Maps and Garmin planning routes to try and combine 3 or 4 into one ride of around 4 or 5 hours. It was all great fun but could get very frustrating when you are out in the sticks and you come to another unsignposted junction and you don't know which way to go, so stop, get your map out, maybe get the satellite on your phone (I'm too tight to have it on all the time) and figure it out, only to go a mile down the road and there is another unsignposted junction you can't remember from your planning and have to do it all again.
The worst case was the final day of my challenge, to try and bag five in a day, which involved driving to north London for Mott Street and Swains Lane, then driving to Princes Risborough and attempting the one there, Streatley Hill and Coombe Gibbet, which sh/would have been an 80 mile ride, on top of the early start and the two London ones. The first two went quite well, and the navigation towards Coombe Gibbet (near Hungerford) wasn't bad, but I could not find the actual hill of Coombe G. I went up and down the ridge 3 or 4 times, and could see the actual Gibbet on the hill just off the road, but because I was tired and it was getting late, I couldn't work out the route I needed to bag the last climb. I gave up and the long ride back to the car was very frustrating because I knew I would have to drive the 90 odd miles back to the area some time to find the hill.
I started with a 200 then a 500 then a Touring and now mainly ride with a 1000 and have tried pretty much every other permutation / manufacturer.
50 mile rides with breadcrumb trails are possible (as YJ says its easier on country roads) but you really cant beat having full mapping.
Check out youtube searching by model name (eg Garmin Edge 1000) and you will find lots of demo videos showcasing navigation etc. You'll be able to see the difference between bread crumb trails on 200/500/510 and maps on the touring/800/810 and 1000.
I also like the livetrack feature which is available via a bluetooth link to your mobile on the 510, 810 and 1000 as it allows the family to keep an eye on where I am and when i'm likley to be home on solo rides.
The 1000 is the daddy IMHO - it beats all other hands down but is also the most expensive
50 mile rides with breadcrumb trails are possible (as YJ says its easier on country roads) but you really cant beat having full mapping.
Check out youtube searching by model name (eg Garmin Edge 1000) and you will find lots of demo videos showcasing navigation etc. You'll be able to see the difference between bread crumb trails on 200/500/510 and maps on the touring/800/810 and 1000.
I also like the livetrack feature which is available via a bluetooth link to your mobile on the 510, 810 and 1000 as it allows the family to keep an eye on where I am and when i'm likley to be home on solo rides.
The 1000 is the daddy IMHO - it beats all other hands down but is also the most expensive
I've got an Edge 200, as said above it is a good basic unit, I have used the breadcrumb routing a couple of times, first time off road trying to follow a previous club ride i'd been on (didn't work well), second was on road (last weekend) which worked well but I can imagine if I was in more built up areas then the junctions / turnings may get confusing.
The other slightly frustrating thing for me which I've noticed recently is at the end of the ride when uploaded - my climbing readouts are always low against the people I have ridden with who have a new unit (510 or 810).
At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
The other slightly frustrating thing for me which I've noticed recently is at the end of the ride when uploaded - my climbing readouts are always low against the people I have ridden with who have a new unit (510 or 810).
At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
tjdixon911 said:
The other slightly frustrating thing for me which I've noticed recently is at the end of the ride when uploaded - my climbing readouts are always low against the people I have ridden with who have a new unit (510 or 810).
At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
It may be that the 200 bases its altitude on GPS, whereas the 5XX/8XX use barometric altimeters. Perhaps shouldnt be that much difference but only thing i can suggest.At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
I started off with a 200 - for the price, weight and simplicity its brilliant. Only downside, for mountain biking, is the low GPS frequency, which means fast 180 degree berms are ignored and the device thinks you havent moved, so your distance is under-recorded.
Upgraded to an 800 when the 810 came out and there were some brilliant deals. The HR & cadence sensors have been really useful (i also have a road bike) and the turn-by-turn mapping are handy on longer rides. Off-road, the quicker 1-second GPS frequency gives a more accurate readout and mileage.
tjdixon911 said:
I've got an Edge 200, as said above it is a good basic unit, I have used the breadcrumb routing a couple of times, first time off road trying to follow a previous club ride i'd been on (didn't work well), second was on road (last weekend) which worked well but I can imagine if I was in more built up areas then the junctions / turnings may get confusing.
The other slightly frustrating thing for me which I've noticed recently is at the end of the ride when uploaded - my climbing readouts are always low against the people I have ridden with who have a new unit (510 or 810).
At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
When I upgraded my 200 to a 510 the climbing stats on Strava for identical rides jumped up by around 50%The other slightly frustrating thing for me which I've noticed recently is at the end of the ride when uploaded - my climbing readouts are always low against the people I have ridden with who have a new unit (510 or 810).
At the weekend over a 63 mile route my climbing was 1900 ft where a work colleagues was 2800ft and last night over a 30 mile ride mine read 115ft where the guy I rode with (for the same 25miles) was 250+
I've been thinking of upgrading mine, was thinking the 510 might be a nice step up but all the nav features of the 810 sound good..
Gren said:
When I upgraded my 200 to a 510 the climbing stats on Strava for identical rides jumped up by around 50%
This must be why I'm missing all my Climbing Challenges on Strava!Do you find the 510 a much better unit? I'm thinking for the very few times I'd use the NAV features of the others the 510 is the way to go.
I think some of the problems with the Edge 200/500 relate to the quality of the gpx file. If the author of the route didnt put in many waypoints, the route, and subsequently the garmin, seem to struggle. If I make a route, I try to ensurer that I plot a waypoint before and after junctions or roundabouts and it seems to be ok. Yellowjack is right though, it is often that you will be riding quicker than the edge 200 can present the correct route on multiple exit roundabouts so you will inevitbaly end up having to guess and hope for the best until it sorts itself out and tells you where to go! I just dont like the size of the bigger garmins llike the 800
tjdixon911 said:
Gren said:
When I upgraded my 200 to a 510 the climbing stats on Strava for identical rides jumped up by around 50%
This must be why I'm missing all my Climbing Challenges on Strava!Do you find the 510 a much better unit? I'm thinking for the very few times I'd use the NAV features of the others the 510 is the way to go.
The more flexible reporting on the screen (multiple screens with however much of whatever you want) is pretty handy too but not a dealbreaker
If you're into proper training it also allows you to connect a harm and speed/cadence sensor.
I went from nothing a few months ago straight into a Garmin Edge 1000 with speed/cadence sensors & HRM and I love it and couldn't do a long ride without it. It's really encouraged me to explore new routes locally and further afield and I've used plotaroute.com to devise some nice hilly rides that I never would have ridden trying to use iPhone navigation or printing out google map directions! Plus all the good data from the various sensors lets me geek out when analysing performance post-ride.
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