Garmin Edge 305 Question

[SadieKate]

I've dealt directly with Garmin but you should read the Garmin site for the best source of info. Register the product on their warranty page.

[Jiffer]

I love my Garmin! I use the same one on both my single road bike and the back of the tandem (while Dh has his own on the front of the tandem).

Someone mentioned it was like a guilty pleasure, since she doesn't go very fast, but I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. It tells you how many miles you've gone, your cadence, how long you've been riding, pauses the timer when you stop if you program it to, etc. Why should only "fast" people get to know all that information?

At a rest stop on the century we did a week ago, Dh said he was asked why we had two computers on the bike. Why does the stoker (me) need a computer? Hello? Do I not get to know how far we've gone and still have to go? Do I not get to know how fast we're going? Should I have to ask Dh all this information every time I want to know it ... or just stay in the dark wondering? We also use it to try to stay at a certain cadence. Dh will say "let's try to keep it at 85 cadence" or "let's try to stay at 25 mph" ... and I can watch my computer and know how hard I need to pedal. Also, as the official directions giver on the century, I was able to know when our next turn was coming up based on how many miles we had gone, and let Dh know.

When I switch mine from one bike to the other, I have to reset it to read the cadence differently, but that's easy.

GET ONE!!!!!!!!!!!

[jobob]

Before you buy the 305, check out the newer models!

Eh, I looked at the 605 & the 705, but it'll be a few weeks before they come out & then there are bound to be software quirks to work out. And I hate paying top dollar for electronics.

[easterbird]

I can get it to display while I ride? perverse,yes? AND I can get it to show up as a graph that is barely readable vs elevation in GTC. Is there any way to get the data in tablular form. I know there's a lot of data in there but it doesn't seem all that easy to find istructions(Ha) on how to retrieve it.

Suggestions(other than that I am braindead in retirement )are welcome!

[SouthernBelle]

Are you using Garmin Training Center or MotionBased? I find the info easier to find and understand on MotionBased.

[Mr. Bloom]

I can get it to display while I ride? perverse,yes?

Yes, you can display it and NO, it's not perverse (Silver says "obsessive, but not perverse")

I think this is what you're trying to do:

Hit MODE until you come to Main Menu

Hit SETTINGS /enter

Hit DATA FIELDS/enter

Choose the number of BIKE COMPUTER you want to program

Hit enter...I choose 8 fields here, but this makes all 8 smaller to read

Choose your fields...GRADE is one of the fields you can choose.

Motionbased is awfully cool. I didn't see the value at first, but now I'm hooked.

[7rider]

Beware of "TMI" with the Garmin display.
Sure, you can display 8 fields, but can you safely *read* 8 fields while you're riding down the road?
I used to have a bunch of fields open, but found I spent too much time looking at the display and not enough time looking at the road! I've whittled it down to - I think - 5: Speed, distance, cadence, HR, and Time of Day. It's still too much, really, but I'm a junkie and can't give up any more! I keep extra displays of all those cool things I'd LIKE to know on the 2nd computer display: average speed; ride time; grade; and something else I forget. I toggle b't the 2 when I can safely do so or at stops.

[easterbird]

I have been viewing it as I ride (that's what I meant about perverse ); however, I can't find out how to look at the % grade data in a table in either MB or GTC. I'm very new to this so may have missed it but I haven't found either site to be (my kind of) intuitive.

On the idea of too many screens(8 or whatever). I am using five but still had a problem because I have fine long distance but poor close distance. I bought a pair of those plastic magnifer thingies made to put on sunglasses(little half moons really that adhere via a little water and surface tension) and use ONE of them in my goggles for my right eye to be able to easily read the computer.Doesn't impact looking up the road or in my mirror

[Mr. Bloom]

I was just playing with motionbased and didn't see anything that showed maximum grade except the charts

[SouthernBelle]

Max grade is found on MotionBased by clicking on elevation on the left side and in the center column column it gives max % grade for both ascent and descent.

As far as the display on the unit, you have 2 pages of display and can put 8 things on each page. It's easy to toggle back and forth using the arrow keys on the side of the unit. So you can just put 3 or 4 things on each page.

[Mr. Bloom]

Thanks SB - I knew I had seen it before...right before my eyes

Here's mine from the Hilly Hundred

Ascent Grade Max 18.7
Descent Grade Max -16.8

[SouthernBelle]

Thanks SB - I knew I had seen it before...right before my eyes

Here's mine from the Hilly Hundred

Ascent Grade Max 18.7
Descent Grade Max -16.8

Maybe you should keep that triple!

[Tater]

You people are rotten! Rotten, I tell you!! I have been doing some looking around for a new bike computer, I love my wireless Cateye, but wanted something more. Did some research into the Garmin 305 and ended up picked one up last night. It so appeals to the numbers geek in me! I had a blast with it on this morning's ride.

So thanks for helping me spend some money. But hey, its for the bike, so its all good!

[OakLeaf]

If you're looking for more junk to hang off your handlebars, the Adventure Cycling catalog has a simple bubble level that displays grade in real time. It's bound to be way more accurate than any of the electronic gizmos, whether they use a barometric pressure altimeter or simply rely on GPS data. They're notoriously inaccurate on altitude, although once you import the data into your computer, some of the software will correct the altitude readings against known points on your route.

I have to say, the new Edge models are very tempting. It would be really cool to have access to road maps like we do on the motorized-vehicle GPS units.

[kelownagirl]

DH and I both have Garmins and our data is remarkably similar when we ride together. (Well, except that he goes faster. We upload to Motionbased and find the elevations and grade info pretty darn accurate. We ride the same routes a lot and the info is usually the same every time.