Garmon Edge 305 for Father's Day

[Mr. Bloom]

I was very pleasantly surprised with a Garmon Edge 305 GPS computer with Heart Rate Monitor for Father's Day.

My gadget addiction is sated ; this is going to be cool

Now, I don't have to enter all those dots on routeslip or bikely!

[HoosierGiant]

SWEET!

I got my Garmin Edge 305 with cadence sensor and heart rate monitor for Valentine's Day -- best gift in all the world!!!

[kelownagirl]

I loooooove my Edge. Have fun!!! Are you going to upload to Motionbased.com?

[SouthernBelle]

You'll love it. It's a great toy. Though there is one bit of bad news. There are occasions when when you'll want to do the dot thing. You can pre-plot routes and download them. Then it will guide you on your way.

I would assume that Silver is going to get one too?

[Mr. Bloom]

I would assume that Silver is going to get one too?

ahem, ahem hasn't mother's day already passed??

[7rider]

Yes, but the Summer Solstice is right around the corner!
What an ideal gift-giving opportunity, if I do say....

[silver]

ahem, ahem hasn't mother's day already passed??

don't worry, Mr. I don't really want the Garmin Edge. I think it would be info overload for me. I Don't like using a HRM. I don't ever plot my routes. I don't want to add any weight to my bike.

If I got a Garmin product I would rather have the running one. They say you can use one for both but it would be lacking some feature (I've already forgotten which one) that seemed important when I was looking at it. anyway, I already have a fitsense system for running with a HRM. I'd hate to keep throwing money at gadgets when new wheels are what I really want.

[Mr. Bloom]

Are you going to upload to Motionbased.com?

Sure, once I figure it out...

[gnat23]

Yay yay yay, new toy!!

I absolutely adore mine, and I credit it with rekindling my love for biking. Coupla things I've learned:

- Get into the habit of turning the power off when you're done riding. It will drain itself of batteries without warning and the next time you go to use it, it will be dead dead dead. Start a good habit NOW before you get frustrated with it.

- The altitude can be all over the place. Just standing in my living room, it will bounce around 80ft in elevation. It's not uncommon to bike in a big loop and find your home 150ft lower than you left it. Use the numbers as a rough guide, not as an absolute! (Garmin says it helps to have it warm up outside with a satellite lock, as it can take a good half hour to really sync well!)

- It can be kind of stupid on the road: it won't tell you how to get places or what your max speed was or what your total odometer is, but once you get to a computer, all the magic happens. I use the software that came with it to do the bulk of the tracking, but also use MotionBased to share rides, and I also keep an excel spreadsheet to keep track of how rides feel from day to day. But I'm a total numbers junkie that way.

Enjoy your new quantification!

-- gnat!

[Mr. Bloom]

thanks gnat. The power thing will be a big deal for me to remember and the other quirks may challenge my perfectionist tendencies...but alas...good problems to have, eh?

[kelownagirl]

Also, changes the settings so it stops recording data when you make a stop, rather than stopping it yourself. I forget to turn it back on when I do that.

Gnat - how many windows do you have open on the front screen? I have 7 - current speed,avg speed, distance, heart rate, grade%, total climbing, and time of day. There are many other choies you can have if you want something different to show. I haven't had much trouble with my elevation yet - minro discrepancies is all. A couple of times my HRM has been out of whack (232 max?! I don't think so..) Other than that, it's been awesome!

[gnat23]

kelownagirl, It wasn't until I saw someone else's that I realized that you could change the number of windows on the front! Hah! I instantly filled it with time, speed, distance, time of day (can't see my watch when riding), calories, cadence, elevation, and total ascent. DATA DATA DATA!

I've hit 212 max heart rate... but that was climbing 14% grade right when I started biking and soon after I quit smoking... not totally out of whack, I guess. Or I magically became 8 years old. Or am actually dead right now.

Oh! And I forgot a magic power backup plan: http://www.solio.com

This is a solar-or-wall charged portable battery pod that connects with just about every small electronic device out there. I used it on my Garmin this morning (stupid, after I just mentioned how easy it is to drain, too!), and it worked great!

I hate to sound like a convert, but the Garmin really changed how I approach biking. I now seek out the biggest hills just to get the numbers.

-- gnat!