Garmin 705... who has one... experience?

30-03.-2008, 07:01 PM	#1
Powerful Pete Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 3,619	Garmin 705... who has one... experience? Hello there. With the start of the cycling season, I feel an attack of that wonderful, yet dreaded disease, Cycling Equipment Spenditis (CES) coming on. Can anyone tell us anything about their experience with Garmin's new GPS... how much were they able to purchase it for, how well does it work, etc. Oh, and send us a couple of pics of the thing mounted on your stem/handlebars. Preferably on Deda Newton OS stem/bar combo with red Deda tape so that I can visualize it... correctly. Mille grazie! __________________ De Rosa Planet Campagnolo Per Sempre! PAOLO BETTINI CAMPIONE DEL MONDO x 2!

31-03.-2008, 04:24 AM	#2
Felt_Rider Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,232	Re: Garmin 705... who has one... experience? I saw the 705 up close and in action yesterday with a friend that purchased the basic model for $500 us and then purchased the map program separate. I believe he mentioned that he had to also buy a memory card for the maps. It slightly larger than the 305, the screen is clean and crisp looking even in bright sunshine, but there seemed to be an issue with his first trip with the 705 on this particular ride. We were under a lot of tree canopy so it will be interesting to see if the 705 will do better on a different route. Even my 305 had a couple incorrect speed peaks because of the canopy and a couple of tunnels, but the program corrected the data. 40 mile ride My 305: 18.4 mph average speed / 40 miles (correct) His 705: 22 mph average speed / 48 miles (incorrect) At first glance I thought I might want to upgrade, but I think I will stick with the one I have. __________________ My Blog

31-03.-2008, 05:04 AM	#3
Powerful Pete Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 3,619	Re: Garmin 705... who has one... experience? Thanks Felt Rider, I thought that a wireless speed/cadence sensor was also available to 'correct' for those situations where GPS contact was lost. Do you know anything about it? __________________ De Rosa Planet Campagnolo Per Sempre! PAOLO BETTINI CAMPIONE DEL MONDO x 2!

31-03.-2008, 07:50 AM	#4
Felt_Rider Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,232	Re: Garmin 705... who has one... experience? I believe the cadence/speed sensor will act as a normal bike computer if the gps has no signal or if you turn the gps off, which is a nice option when using on the trainer. My 305 is pretty accurate on most roads, but on this particular route there is a lot of cover and though the gps still reads like it has good signal the speed reading is usually several mph slower than normal. When I come out from the tree cover or tunnel the speed jumps back up to the correct speed. During this time the cadence/speed sensor will not override the incorrect gps reading. I imagine that the 705 will be similar. I plan to start reading more on the Motionbased forum for the 705 and see what other users are experiencing. I know that at first there were bugs with the 305 and I have since uploaded several software upgrades. Overall I have been very pleased with the 305 and I hope the 705 will be just as good or better. __________________ My Blog

31-03.-2008, 09:22 AM	#5
Powerful Pete Registered User Join Date: May 2004 Location: Rome, Italy Posts: 3,619	Re: Garmin 705... who has one... experience? Thanks Feltrider, that is interesting that the sensor does not pick up in the presence of a weak signal. __________________ De Rosa Planet Campagnolo Per Sempre! PAOLO BETTINI CAMPIONE DEL MONDO x 2!

31-03.-2008, 11:06 PM	#6
Felt_Rider Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 1,232	Re: Garmin 705... who has one... experience? On the link below you can see that there were spikes and drops on this particular route when uploaded to Motionbase. It did give me the correct average speed on Motionbase. These spikes were not visible on the gps unit (max speed listed on the gps for a flat course was 30 mph, which seemed correct - not 56 mph as listed on Motionbase) and it the Training Center software filtered out most of the spikes and drops. The conditions as mentioned were heavy tree canopy, tunnels, and storm clouds. Link The following is how most of the rides are collected on the open road with some tree canopy, obstructions, and partly cloudy but there are not any spikes (the 49 mph looks like a spike, but that was coming off of a mountain and I was touching my brakes a little, else it would have been in the mid 50's) and the lows were actual stops at intersections or to regroup. About 95% of my rides are collected correctly so I believe we need to try the 705 on one of the better routes and then give you another report maybe after next weekend if we can get some better weather. Link __________________ My Blog

31-03.-2008, 11:11 PM

Powerful Pete

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