Bike computer w/ GPS?

[roguedog]

Does anyone have a bike computer that has GPS? I've been reading about the Garmin products and today being out with only me and the cows (who don't give very good directions and stubbornly won't even tell you if your compadres passed thru) made me think about this more.

I see the Garmins have a GPS chip but I don't see that it has mapping functions. It would have been nice to have it tell me that my next turn is 2.6 miles away or something. Or at least give me some function to tell me how far I was from civilization...

Doesn't have to be Garmin. It's just the brand that I know...

[Veronica]

We have a Garmin 60CSX. It does map for you and tell you about turns. It is not small like a bike computer. If you look on our website in the DMD photos you can see it mounted on my bike. It's like the last photo I think.

V.

[roguedog]

Hey V. Tks for the reply.

Um.. what is DMD?

Does it do the HR and Speed stuff? Not sure i need cadence.. but maybe in the future..

[roguedog]

NM.. figured out DMD...

Hmm.. don't see the GPS stuff tho...

[Blueberry]

I believe the only one that does HR, Cadance and all the other stuff is the Garmin Edge 305 - but, it's lacking in the way point department (and in the battery life department from what I hear...)

I'm in the market for something to track altitude (the polar I had which did altitude just didn't track very accurately - I'd come back from a ride, and it would tell me -400 cumulative climbing even though I always calibrated it).

So.....I've been looking at GPS units which track altitude, so I'm interested in what others have to say too

[SadieKate]

CA_in_NC, I've found my Polar to be pretty accurate. Start and stop altitude may be different but that is a factor of barometic altimeters which, from what I've read, are always more accurate than waypoint-based measurements (that's why Topozone, routeslip, etc., are always off).

Have you called Polar? Mine is very consistent with reading I get from a Ciclosport. However, maillotpois has commented that her Ciclo is always low. I have the luxury of two barometric altimeter readiings from the Polar and Ciclo so I get a better idea of real altitude gain/loss.

Roguedog, V's GPS is just that, a GPS, not a cycle computer. I'm with you on the lack of route info. Their advertisements are confusing because they state that "you always know where you are." But Thom and V told me yesterday that they don't think the 305 has traditional GPS functions the way we all think of GPS functioning.

[maillotpois]

I just took my new Garmin Edge 305 out on its first trip. I didn't use my "main" bike on which the cadence sensor is installed, and we found out later that I had a bum battery in the HRM strap but the good news is it worked great on the whole map and data part. It is very cool to come back and download to the training center they have, and you see a map of what you did.

I have a friend who downloads all his Garmin rides into Motion Based, so you can see his routes. I could then download one of his routes into my computer and "race" against him or simply follow his route, as it would give me directions. He's truly geeky and then loads them into Google earth... I am not worthy.

[maillotpois]

Oh - and on the battery life concern (no small concern as I do long rides), it was suggested that I buy a little separate charger that runs off AA batteries and charges the unit beyond the 7 - 12 hours it runs on its own. Have not tested that out yet but will before the end of the month. Caligurl uses this and it seems to work for her after she got over a learning curve with it.

[maillotpois]

And more - according to my UberGeek friend, you can also export the rides off of MB as a gpx file and then import them at RouteSlip.com, add turn cues and voila, route slip without having to draw it out. That's cool! Probably easier to ride a route than draw it out!!!

[SadieKate]

Would you please ask Mr. UberGeek how to store more data without a PC available? Anyway to download to a USB drive?

On the battery, how many double AAs to recharge the unit?

I need to store 9 days of data (many of them long days) and 6 will be without power available.

So, does the unit tell you to "turn here, stupid" or do you have to be looking at the screen? How do you use it to follow a new route?

Please tell Mr. UberGeek thank you.

[tygab]

The most recent addition is a Forerunner 305. The Edge 305 is very similar in functionality, but is designed with a bigger display and is more bike centric. It does have barometric altitude which is more accurate than the Forerunner's GPS based altitude. So, if that's a feature you are keenly interested in, the Edge is a better solution.

Both have cadence options.

The HR strap is very comfortable, it's a bit softer than the hard polar strap (Polar makes a soft fabric strap also, I have no experience with it). Both it and the wristband on the Forerunner are just adjustable enough that they fit me (smallest possible on both). The watch part does look big, but it does not flop around (which would drive me crazy and be a deal breaker).

As mentioned, data's uploadable to MotionBased, which is pretty cool, and it also comes with a Garmin app if you don't want to use MB. I use TrainingPeaks so I just send it to that. Anyway, it's really neat to see the graphs of your HR data, visual course etc. But I am a geek so playing with computers and data is in my nature.

You'd be able to set the fields, there are a couple of display pages you can tinker with. You give it your HR profile, bike profile, etc and it will let you tweak the zones it creates if you so desire. In all, it seems to be very robust functionally. I have had mine for a week and used it outdoors 2ce running and indoors 2ce biking (trainer).

Battery: is said to be ~8 hrs for Forerunner, 12 for Edge. I will be using mine this summer on some multi-day events so I will find a battery pack to charge it overnight. I got the Forerunner over the Edge because I wanted to use it for multisports.

Also, the Garmin appears to store indefinitely old data, and the manual says it stores like 2 yrs of data. Of course, you may not want that much. You can go in and delete it if you want, or just let it fill up and it'll overwrite the oldest when full.

You can see the manual here:
http://www.garmin.com/manuals/967_OwnersManual.pdf

I don't think you'll be disappointed. Garmin is a great company and they have (from what I've heard via others) excellent tech support. I've never needed it for any of mine, but I'm glad they have that reputation.

It will take a minute for your GPS to acquire tho, so be sure to turn it on while you're still organizing and getting ready to go.

Edit: I should add that it is not at all like a car GPS in terms of Nav - think of it more as a training tool that allows you to know a lot about where you went rather than where you're going. If you do a usual ride you can use this as a measurement of your progress over time. As far as nav, you can mark waypoints (locations) and build routes from them, but it won't really tell you how to get to the nearest Starbucks. Hope that helps a bit.

[SadieKate]

2 years of data????

Here are direct quotes from two 305 owners:

GW --

The Edge 305 can store 13,000 track points. You can configure it to sample once every second, or use "smart recording", where it only stores a track point when triggered by a change of direction, speed, etc. In once per second mode, it will run out of track point storage in about 3.5 hours. In "smart recording" mode it will depend on how often a change triggers a track point store, but I've found it averages about one point store every 5 to 6 seconds on my rides, so I expect I could get around 20 hours of riding in before it would begin overwriting.

Certainly could be a problem on multi-day trips if you don't have access to a laptop.

Rob--

Hmmmm, now I can't remember how many days worth of data it'll store before over-writing. It's a lot, but I think after 4 or 5 days you'll have to download it. With my HAC4 I could only get 5 days, so had my wife meet me at the end of day 5 with my laptop. I just can't remember how much ride storage is there. (And part of that has to do with sampling, as well.)

Don't know how you'd upload to Motion-based without a pc.

[Veronica]

The black thing sticking up from my handlebars is a GPS. This thing will keep you from getting lost, which I believe was the original poster, roguedog's, question.

V.

[roguedog]

Thanks, V. Ahhhh.. I see now. I was looking for something a bit more in plain site.

[Blueberry]

CA_in_NC, I've found my Polar to be pretty accurate. Start and stop altitude may be different but that is a factor of barometic altimeters which, from what I've read, are always more accurate than waypoint-based measurements (that's why Topozone, routeslip, etc., are always off).

Have you called Polar? Mine is very consistent with reading I get from a Ciclosport. However, maillotpois has commented that her Ciclo is always low. I have the luxury of two barometric altimeter readiings from the Polar and Ciclo so I get a better idea of real altitude gain/loss.

I gave up after working with the tech gurus at REI - they took it back (gotta love REI). I'd get back from a ride that had lots of climbing, and my computer would say that the cumulative elevation gain was -400. They had no explanation for it. I highly suspect it was a defective unit, but didn't want to fiddle with getting another one. I'll be looking for something else in the near future, but want to get something that's easily transferable between bikes - with 4 main bikes, it's pricey.

Carrie Anne