buying a new bike

[Catrin]

It is interesting to read that two Garmins on the same ride would be so different from each other regarding elevation. I've considered getting one, but am holding off to see if my body can be encouraged to accept longer rides again....and I get over my current unease over riding in Indianapolis traffic.

As far as average speed, these days I fall just over 13mph and you know what? I am happy with that Neither my bike, nor I, am designed to be one of the fast gals. It IS encouraging that I no longer have to work really hard to get it up THAT high, which leads me to assume that if my body would accept a more traditional road bike that I would likely be faster - but that isn't my goal in riding.

[Crankin]

Garmins always will be variable a bit. It's all just an approximation. We do look on Topo maps if we are really interested in how steep something is. I do better if I know ahead of time what kind of climb is coming up, if I am on a ride I haven't done before. While I seriously don't like doing the same route over and over again, I am always slightly "off," if I am on a new route, mostly in unfamiliar areas/cities. Not so much if I am just exploring new roads in the general vicinity of where I live. I am really not much of an explorer, though. When I first started riding, DH and I did a lot of the exploring together, and we've just enlarged it.
I had difficulty finding groups to ride with when I started riding, but I found two. I don't ride with groups very often anymore, though. These groups also provided good routes that I shared with other friends. Now they put the routes on Ride With GPS, so even if I don't ride with them, I might download a cue sheet and do the ride with just a couple of friends.

[OakLeaf]

+1 on the barometric altimeters being the most accurate. GPS-only elevation is typically way off just because of the physics of the signals and the geometry of the triangulation from the satellites. Still, you're going to have some variation. They'll be the most accurate if you start from a known elevation that you've programmed into your GPS, and let the signal settle for 20 minutes or so before starting out. If you have a lot of steep grades, then one-second recording will help with elevation accuracy as well.

[kajero]

+1 on the barometric altimeters being the most accurate. GPS-only elevation is typically way off just because of the physics of the signals and the geometry of the triangulation from the satellites. Still, you're going to have some variation. They'll be the most accurate if you start from a known elevation that you've programmed into your GPS, and let the signal settle for 20 minutes or so before starting out. If you have a lot of steep grades, then one-second recording will help with elevation accuracy as well.

I guess I have to figure out even MORE things with my Garmin Edge 500.