Where to buy a Garmin Edge 305 - Page 3

Mine hasn't arrived yet (hopefully tomorrow or Friday) but, my stupid mobile battery does the same. After a few hours, it will tell me it's at 50% but 3 days later it is still going. Best bet would be to simply run it down and count the hours....

Scotty

Found a forum at the MotionBased web site. One guy said that he started a ride with 1/4 left. After an hour it started to complain with "low battery", but it lasted another 4 hours. That sounds promising.
Another guy talked about using 4 x AA batteries to make a recharger, which is an alternative. Like that idea, I asked for more details about that one.
I'll do some battery testing over the next few days...

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Road: Felt F70
Commute: Raceline Comp LX

Hi all. Got my Edge 305 at last. Good fun to play with
Here's a warning. If you update the GPS Chipset firmware make sure you do it with the WebUpdater. The CommandLine updater from the Garmin website will fail and render the GPS chipset non-functional. If this happens to you you can fix it with the WebUpdater (after you get your heart rate back under control!!!).
Updating the Unit firmware with the c/l updater worked just fine, but if you have installed the WebUpdater then you may as well use it since it is a lot friendlier.
The latest versions are 2.70 for the Unit and 2.70 for the Chipset (mine was supplied with 2.40 for the Unit and 2.30 for the Chipset). The Chipset firmware upgrade is worthwhile since it adds coordinate displays to waypoints and goto locations.

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Jealous,

Still waiting for mine.

How long did your's take to arrive? Damn postal services

Will heed your advice - thanks.

Scotty

I,ve got a prototype pcb job going in in a couple of weeks for a customer so I'm going to add a row of small pcb's to the panel which will implement an auxilliary power management circuit for the Edge.
Problem with the Edge is the limited run time - 11 1/2 hours - which is ok for training rides but not for long rides, such as Audax. It's not very practical to stop for 2 hours at a control waitng for the Edge to get charged.
The best approach is a buck/boost SMPS as this will enable the unit to "suck the external batteries dry" as well as enabling a wide input voltage range to match any desired chemistry.
The supplied wall wart is good for 400mA which aint much, so a low power smps shrink wrapped into the power cable is easy to achieve. Power cables are available from WES for about $8 - mini usb one end and type A other end - cut off the big end and connect to the smps - simple!!
I'll let you know when it's ready. If it works to spec then anyone handy with smt assembly is welcome to buy pcb's until I run out - I only need two for myself.

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Everything is ssssllllooowwwwwww when you are waiting for your "self administered" christmas present
I ordered and paid by direct bank transfer on Monday and received it Wednesday of the following week - ordered in Oz but shipped by USPS from o'seas. Only one irate email because they did not answer all my questions in the first email, which is something of a record for me, so that has to be good

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Yeah, I know that feeling.

I ordered it last Friday (today thurs) so I guess I may have a few more days to wait.

I can imagine it is sitting at the International Mail Centre at Granville while Aust Post staff contemplate their weekend at the footy (I used to work for parcel post, so I have a good idea about it).

Scotty

I've looked at Mapsource. Seems a bit of a minefield of options and barely defined features. The help file for the Training application bundled with the Edge is brief to the point of useless - says to use Mapsource - end of story!!

All I want is the Oz maps, not the other dozens of features to support gps's with map memory, voice prompting, route optimisation, etc (at $400++) What product did you purchase?

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Have a look at the free one people talked about earlier in this post.
I got MapSource for $170. Integrates well into Training center. Used outside of training center, you can search for any street or feature in Australia. It has a lot of businesses, parks, schools, etc in the map detail. It's actually better than it looks...

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Road: Felt F70
Commute: Raceline Comp LX

Hi guy's

I"ve been looking at this GPS for a couple days, and have some concerns whether it will do what I would like. I'm thinking of using it on the GVBR, would it be able to record the whole ride or would it have to be saved some how. The other concern is the battery life, where to recharge batteries or use spares.
Any suggestioins would be of help. I klnow it will be of some hel;p preparing for the ride.

Ron

It will run for 11 1/2 hours on a single charge then you get to rest for 2 hours while it charges. For longer times you will need to purchase an external power lead - mini usb connection. At the other end you will need a power source which must *never* be appreciably over 5V for any length of time. Safest bet is a regulated source. You can buy these (do a google search - I've got the link somewhere but can't lay my hands on it just now) or make one yourself if you can (cheaper).

For the latter I would suggest a 2.5 to 5AH LiIon pack in a small bag velco'ed to the top tube and a reg shrunk into the lead. Mini USB leads are $9 from WES.

For long rides you can dump this 11 hours before the end of the ride.

The adapter that comes with the unit is a 5V regulated switch mode wall wart rated at 400mA. A ready solution to the reg is a switch mode DC converter made by Duratech. It's rated at 5V 600mA with an input voltage range of 9 to 18V. Use 3 Lion cells and this reg will suck them dry!!. Be warned. You may need a low voltage cutoff to prevent cell damage.

The model number is SCW03A-05. Distributor is Electus, ph 1300 738555. They are retailed by Jaycar, cat number MP3204, $32.95.

I use these to power Bluetooth transmitters in earthmoving equipment and they have been quite reliable so far, so I expect them to be fine for bicycle touring.

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Thanks ozbiker2,

I will check out what you have given.
The other query was does the GPS store up to 10 days of data or will it have to be downloaded. The GVBR is a 9 day event, of probably 4-5 hrs each day.

Ron

It will have to be downloaded. Using Smart Recording it will record 15-20 hours. Apparently you can save some of the data off as courses which uses other memory. This may give you another 15-20 hours. However the data has to be massaged before importing back into Traning Center. Not sure how hard this is, or even if it works (found this on a forum somewhere, can't find it now). Even so, this only gives you 30-40 hours which is still not enough.
The other issue is to download data, you need Garmin's software. This may not be possible in an internet cafe as they usually don't let you install software.
Other Garmin products (non cycling ones) have the ability to change memory sticks (and batteries). Hopefully this will appear in future versions of the Edge.

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Road: Felt F70
Commute: Raceline Comp LX

I just checked one of my history files. A training ride of 53km using "smart recording" recorded 1221 trackpoints and the ride took about an hour and a half. Garmin says the unit can record for 3.5hrs at 1s intervals, so that's about 12000 trackpoints. I would therefore expect a memory capacity, in smart recording mode, of about 500km or 15 to 20hrs, consistent with what peterlip says.

There is discussion (and pressure) on forums to have the firmware modified to enable the unit to appear as a usb drive. This would solve many problems but is not yet available. Meanwhile, you are not stuck with Garmin software. SportTracks is freeware and will download the unit's history, with the added advantage that it will also export it in .gpx format. You could run this on a laptop and download at checkpoints - each leg of the ride could be a lap, which is no problem since the unit's (addressing) capacity is 1000 laps.

Another useful (free) product that works with the Edge is
GPS UTILITYVersions 4.20 - "GPS Utility can be used to manage lists of waypoints, routes and tracks and to transfer this information to and from various GPS receivers". I've used this to enter a bunch of waypoints without wearing out the Edge's buttons - entering waypoints on the Edge is like texting on a mobile phone - the most inefficient method of communications yet invented by man - I'd rather use morse code

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"Live today as if it is your last, plan for tomorrow as if you will live forever"

Thanks peterlip, ozbiker2,

Nothing seems to work the way you would like it to.

It would have been great to have the whole ride, with graphs, especialy Tawonga Gap and Powers Lookout climb.
But then Edge might not record walkimg speed .
I might just hold off for a bit and see what developes, Garmin might change the design and make me happy.

Ron