I got a Garmin!

[JennK13]

For those of you who have it, how accurate is the GPS? Any problems with it dropping? Overall it got great reviews, but I read quite a few that mentioned issues with the GPS tracking in mountains, around tall buildings, with cloud cover.....while DH is getting more into fitness and tracking his HR, the GPS is the main reason I purchased that particular model (I have SUUNTO watch/heart rate monitor).

[zoom-zoom]

I haven't had issues with clouds, but it can be flaky if one is in a steep ravine, between tall buildings, or under heavy tree cover (I mean REALLY heavy--I run in pretty dense forests sometimes and it's still good as long as I'm not in a ravine). Most of the time it's pretty good, though. And on a bike with the cadence/speed sensor it will also track distance from rear wheel revolutions, just like a standard bike computer, so there is always that measurement if the GPS craps out on the bike.

[OakLeaf]

I don't think any of Garmin's sports computers are WAAS enabled, which means none of them are going to be able to receive much in the city. I don't know about other brands, but I suspect it's the same thing.

Satellite reception is line of sight. If there's no WAAS and no view of the sky (like in the mountains), then no GPS will work.

I've never had trouble with clouds, and the newer "high-sensitivity" receivers (I'm pretty sure the 305 has the same receiver as my 705) do quite well under porous cover like wet trees. I do have trouble with power line interference ... that's where the cadence/wheel sensor comes in handy.

[surgtech1956]

I bought myself a Forerunner 305 for Xmas and was just thinking about the cadence/speed sensor. Does this come with the handlebar mount too or is this separate? Thanks

[MCAP]

The handlebar mount is separate. It comes in the quick mount kit which is around $20-$25 on Amazon. The quick mount kit has a velcro wristband and the bike mount. The face of the watch clips into either the wristband or the bike mount.

[KimmyC]

I have an edge 500 and I am glad I got it. Along with the cadence sensor, it has everything I will ever need. Most if not all of the time, it is is super accurate. It evens says how accurate it is, like 10 ft or 17 ft accuracy. And it has never dropped a signal!

[zoom-zoom]

The handlebar mount is separate. It comes in the quick mount kit which is around $20-$25 on Amazon. The quick mount kit has a velcro wristband and the bike mount. The face of the watch clips into either the wristband or the bike mount.

There is also a mount that I like that is sorta a pseudo wrist. I use this most of the time, since the quick-release mount is sorta reputed to not always hold the unit well. I only use the quick-release for races.

[MCAP]

Well I used my new Garmin at the trainer group session last night. The heart rate monitor read just fine. I couldn't get the speed/cadence sensor to work because it kept picking up everyone else's wireless sensors. I'll have to sync it before everyone gets there today. It's pretty neat to see the heartrate graph afterwards. Now I just need to figure out what all this thing does!