Garmin durability on trails?

[Miranda]

Thanks, those are great responses. I was not aware of the wrist dummy strap. Plus, it did not occur to me to put the unit on my person, or in the CamelBak. Thus why I need my TE friends... two heads are better than one.

After almost losing my cell phone off the top tube of my road bike before I got MacGyvr creative for security. I dug out some velcro strips from my sewing basket and stitched it on with waxed dental floss permanently (modified ladies cell purse holder). Looks a lil Fred, but that bad boy has never come off since. Btw, my kids' school RN has her own ring tone for my accident prone students--too hard to hear in the saddle bag. It's fallen out of the jersey pocket too. Thus, my Fred velcro and dental floss rig wins.

My CamelBak is the ladies Charm. It only has one small pocket. But, one bungee cord for storage (jacket or extra shirt goes nicely there under the bungee). But, I bet I could sew up some type of sealed net pocket that the Garmin could get a signal through fine if I decide to get it. My compass is staying in the CamelBak for sure too.

[Aggie_Ama]

You should just get a bigger camelbak. I were the ladies MULE or as we discovered they call it something else (LUXE?). Holds everything but the kitchen sink comfortably and I am relatively small. Never run out of water either in sweltering Texas summers.

[tzvia]

I use the Garmin Vista HCX on a RAM mount on my MTB. The RAM mount is a heavy duty cradle that mounts solidly to the handlebar; I don't worry about loosing it. I also have a Cateye cyclecomputer along with a Polar HRM watch. The combo works well together. My MTB looks like a electronics geeks heaven as I mount the watch, Cateye and Vista together on it if I a not familiar with the trails. I can use the Vista on hikes or on the Road bike with the street maps (which I added to it), or off road with the TOPO maps (more detail than the basemaps). I use the Polar HRM when exercising or hiking, and can leave the Garmin at home on familiar trails and use the Cateye. I thought about the 705, but it's not the best for offroad trails or when I use the HRM for exercising.

[OakLeaf]

+1 on the RAM mounts. DH uses them on the motorcycles (what they're actually made for IIRC). Nothing falls out of those babies!

[pinkbikes]

I must just be as lucky as all get out then. I have the Edge 705 and I use it every time I ride whether on the roadie, the MTB, the commuter or the tandem. I have a mount on each and I haven't had one break yet! And DH had the Edge 305 before that without any dramas either. We've both used them extensively to MTB.

I ride with it on single track all the time, especially when I'm racing so I can track my stats (HRM, speed, elevation, lap times etc). Despite my habit of going over the bars usually at least once per race I have yet to damage the Garmin (keeping fingers firmly crossed now)!

The race I did this last weekend was a 6hour enduro and it was VERY muddy but the Garmin was very weatherproof and I just washed it off later. The one thing I have done though is buy those PDA screen protector films and put them on both my Garmin and DH's so we don't scratch up the screens.

As for getting lost, we are pretty fortunate that some enterprising person has mapped all of our local forests and uploaded them to the net and so we have downloaded them to the Garmins. So now when I go to one of the forests that I don't know too well, instead of taking a paper map that I will disintegrate with my sweat in my back pocket, I just take the Garmin and I can find out where I am and how to get back to the car as easily as looking at the map on my screen.

Good idea about putting it in the backpack though - I will give that a whirl if the weather turns foul on me.

[crazycanuck]

I was going to ask if the trails in the states had been mapped out. I certainly wouldn't rely on a GPS if I didn't know the trail system & if there were mountains around!!!



Ian has a Garmin & puts it in his hydration pack.As in Qld, WA has all of its trails mapped & can be downloaded. I know we have all of them on our GPS.

I don't use a GPS but seem to have a clue about where i'm going on the trail. I just memorize it & seem to know which way is downhill. That's only in the hills though.

We don't need to worry as much on other trail networks. Forsyth's Mill & Turner Hill are perfect examples as they've been marked by the DEC & there is only one wonderful trail.

[Miranda]

This is really interesting about RAM mountings...

I asked Mr. Google and came up with this home page link below...
http://www.ram-mount.com/Home/tabid/37/Default.aspx

Anyone that has one, how to you have it set up? Looks like these peeps make a lil of everything.

OH!... btw, I think I read that in an old thread here once... you know your a female mtb when you own more CamelBak's than you do purses... funny, I just finally got myself a new purse and I can't stand carrying the thing... maybe I do need another CamelBak instead.