garmin edge talk!

[caligurl]

ok.... i'll make a thread to talk about the edge...

obviously... if you've read my other thread... you know i'm no longer that happy with the edge.... since i've had it i've been REALLY irritated with the HORRIBLE calorie count (they base it on speed... so if you are going 30 mph with a tail wind... according to the edge you burn a BIZZILION calories... but if you are going uphill with a headwind... working like a fool.... because you are going slow... you don't burn hardly any calories!) i have taken to wearing my polar f11 (fitness HRM) so that i can get a decent calorie count.... most especially when doing hills! (saturday... before my edge died... i was 2000 calories short of what the polar was reading... because there was LOT of climbing!)

my second issue is reliability.... at borrego.... the unit locked up mid ride.... i was able to get it back.... but after "loosing" a couple of miles of the ride.... saturday.... i lost it somewhere around the 94 miles mark.... the "sad" part... i probably could have made it to the end without my battery pack... but i decided to plug it in a the top of piuma.... i had tested the battery pack shortly after getting it... and it worked. fine... but for whatever reason.. plugging it in saturday... killed the edge and it will NOT come back... even with calls to tech support and their secret little button pushing combos... nothing... zilch... nada... so i have no data of the 1st of three VERY important rides! so ya... i'm TICKED! the only saving thing is i only had about 15 miles to go... you see.... i'm a "slave" to my computer.... i use the miles to motivate myself.... "X miles to the next stop" or "X miles to the top of the hill".... i shudder to think what would have happened to my motiviation had i attempted to plug it in sooner!... i'm a BIG proponent of the X miles to go! and you can tell me not havin the information/computer is no big deal... well maybe to you it isn't... but to ME it is!

garmin support has been good... they did send a new one out overnight.... i called monday... i had the new one yesterday... they are even sending a return label via regular mail so i don't have to pay return shipping.... (their warranty states the consumer pays return shipping)....

i have read a LOT of reviews both good and bad.... motionbased is full of complaints about locking up.... the calorie issue.. and dead edges... i'm sure just like anything... there are more complaints than praise because most people don't think to go praise a product.. they look for outlets when there are problems.... i always symapathized with those with problems.... even before mine broke.... now i know how they feel...

i'm not sure i would return it even if i bought it at rei or performance... only cuz when it does work... i LOVE it! i LOVE uploading to motionbased and seeing where i've been.... getting all the info.... but both times i've had issues.. it's been "rides" and not just neighborhood rides.. that's FRUSTRATING to me!

so now i'm doing the next best thing... getting a back up... that why if or when it dies or locks up again.... i will still have at least the mileage so i can continue to say "X miles to the next point i'm trying to get too!" and i'm leaning more and more toward a polar that i can get a good calorie count without having to wear another device (the f11) since garmin is in no hurry to fix the calorie issue!

any other edge owners..... your happiness... or frustration..... opinions... questions from non-edge owners... people who are thinking of buying edges?

let's talk edge!

[Susie]

I've been wanting to get a new computer and was considering the 305 since I read how much you loved yours. When I spoke with the Garmin folks about the Sea Otter about the calorie count issues, one thing really struck me: they really don't see what the big deal is. These folks are GPS folks through and through. I've used their products for years on my sail boat and have been happy, but really, that's just mapping functionality. They really have no idea about the needs of atheletes, nor do they care. They couldn't even give me a rough estimate about when they'd fix the calorie bug because they had so many "more important" bugs that they were going to address first. When I asked about the "more important" bugs, they spoke all about was mapping issues -- nothing else mattered. I'm holding off until they get your issues fixed.

Susie

[Googlie Wooglie]

Is yours the 305? Thinking of upgrading ... though I'm sorry to hear of your experience. Garmin is fantastic though, when it comes to problems ...

Anyway, love my Edge 205. Never paid attention to the calorie counter ... I guess I don' t care if it's accurate or not (and I wouldn't know either way!). I don't pay attention to the calories on my HRM either, now that I think about it ... I KNOW I'm burning plenty because I can feel it! I've never had it black out. I download and save my ride data, I can even map it on Google Earth ... very motivating to see your little track all over the planet! I'm a slave to mileage counters too ... I need to do that countdown in my head ... halfway there, only a third to go ... three-quarters done ... 11/12ths of the way (maybe doing the math in my head distracts me enough from the total distance.)

Love it as a GPS unit as well ... very nice to be able to go down those roads you don't know where they lead to, and know you can find your way back!

[caligurl]

and that's the "funny" thing... i could care less about mapping! around here... i know where i'm going... on rides.... that's what i pay for... to get a routse slip (and good, yummy junk food!!)

they do irk me with their stance on the calories! even on the phone with me... they were like "it's only calories"... uh... ya... DUH! i'm 5'3" and can only eat a lousy 1200 calories a day if i don't exercise.... i started riding to BURN caloires... you bet your sweet buns i want to know how many caloires i'm burning... so i know how much more i can eat! that's why i wear a HRM in the morning when i workout... heck... even when i do weight work... i wear my f11... so see how many caloires!

i know there are the shiznits of GPS..... we even have one of their handhelds... and it works good (don't use it often enough)....

if they would only fix the calorie issue and whatever is making a LOT of edges out there lock or die! (even hubby has had a couple locking issues.. but not in a while... *knock on wood* and it survived his crash saturday! we think we were able to pinpoint the crash (he forgot to turn it off.. so was still on while he was being sagged! and of course, recorded that info!)

[caligurl]

googlie.. yes... mine is a 305! oh... i LOVE uploading it to motionbased and then playing the map player to see my ride! and it's way cool to see the roads i've ridden on.. especially ones not in our area!!!! (which is why i'm so dissapointed i lost the data from saturday! i was soooooo looking forward to map playing it and seeing the names of the roads, etc!)

as i said above... i've been a slave to the calorie count since i've been working out and then riding! (i even complained to the eliptical folks cuz their calorie count was based on some 180 man!) there again.... i wore my polar which is set up to my age, weight, height, fitness, etc! now i do understand that even polar has a +/- accuracy... but it's always been mostly under what is shown on most sites or programs... including the one where i log my food and exercise.... i always have to manually adjust down.... but that's ok.... cuz i'd rather err on the low side than the high side (like the edge does!)

i'm NOT trying to talk anyone out of buying the edge.... just know you MAY have a freeze up... and not get your info! which is why i'm taking precautions!

[Running Mommy]

I just got my 205, so far so good. If it locks up though I'll be one piszed puppy as well! I'm like you Cali- the miles are my motivator. And yeah, I'm a slave to my gadget. Whatever, it's me...
Now as far as the calories go. I have never had much faith in gadgets telling me how many calories I've burned. Because you can say that running for 10 minutes burns 100 calories, and that may be true for some people, but it really depends on the persons size, metabolic rate, terrain, etc. IMO unless you are in a lab hooked up to a machine measuring it, I don't think there is any super reliable way to tell. I think you just need to do a rough average. But like I said, thats just MY opinion...
I just plug my training data into fit day to get a rough average on how much I've burned. And believe me, I'm like you! 1200 cals a day is my set point- as sucky as THAT is! So it does matter to me how much I'm burning. I guess I just like to err on the side of caution, so I don't tend to trust gadgets.

As far as the reliability.... I had heard that people were having problems w/ the unit after about 6-7 hours, so long distance stuff. It sounds like you are running into that problem, no?? I think they said that the unit was not made for rides over a certain time (I think 6-7 hours) and then it would lock up. Something about only being able to store so much data or something?? That is a big time flaw that they need to address!!

[caligurl]

i think it can hold the data.... cuz it holds a lot of history (my original one still had all the rides from the first day i got it)

i did buy the battery pack for longer rides.... and did test it at home.... didn't charge it... and after a few days... plugged in the pack and rode with it.. it charged and recorded the ride...

i did find AFTER saturday... that people were getting freeze ups and dead garmins when plugging it in to the usb or power supply WHILE ON.... i did that saturday! was at that last 15 miles of my ride and erring on the side of caution... purposely stopped to plug it in... that's when it died... i didn't turn it off first.. just plugged it in.... SO..... what i need to do now... is a retest... but not til after this weekend's ride! but soon enough before next weekend that i can get another replacement if it dies again!

cuz ya... if i can't use the battery charger... then it's kinda no use to me on long rides! so far i've gone 10 hours with it... it's got life of 12 according to garmin.... but i'm sure that's pushing it! i did get the "low battery" signal... but it will go a while after getting that!

the bugs just frustrate me!