CAMPYBOB said:I usually prefer to stimulate wimmenz...
EVERYONE needs to refer to DC Rainmaker's website when it comes to fitness electronic devices. The kid is a genius, honest in his reviews and makes it easy for even a dinosaur like me to understand their features and how to use them. His comparison sections are logical and a great timesaver for the relatively uniformed and unfamiliar among us.
I've never really been a Garmin fanboi...having spent most of my adult life staring down at nearly data-less Avocet's and Cateye's before getting my first GPS computer a couple years ago...also a Cateye (Stealth 50). I will say this, Garmin is the devil everyone uses. They are decent devices for the money and I really use the [censored] out of my 510 (already obsoleted at a year old by the newer 520 model).
I still want full mapping functions, but I'm thinking in a smaller format than the 8xx-1xxx series. A 520 size device with the full mapping feature would be killer IMO. The Touring models are nice enough, but lack the boy-racer functions I need.
Last Saturday I went on an exploration ride...hitting an area I haven't ridden in decades. I prepped by printing out/trimming to minimum size with scissors and carefully folding a stack of Bing maps and stuffing them into a ZipLoc sandwich bag.
Do you KNOW what kind of fossil I looked like as I pulled over and checked my route at some deserted rural intersection that was devoid of any road signs? I was downright embarrassed and resolved to get a new smart Ipotato...someday. I mean paper? Paper? Holy [censored]! I felt like some Egyptian Overseer holding a papyrus drawing trying to figure out where the pyramid was going to be built.
Just as an aside, Scott crossed the country using his smart phone (a Droid) for navigation and communication). He did use a pair of external battery sources (one in his small handlebar bag hardwired to the in-use phone), constantly swapping them out and keeping one on charger in his support vehicle.
LOL.
The Garmin 810 I use is pretty good for most routes - except those that have a section that crosses somewhere. It's like Ghostbusters - don't cross the streams!!! If you have a route where the roads do cross then don't expect the navigation to work all that well until the later half of the route after you've ridden past that point. In those instances you have to leave the map on the page and follow the route manually. All the good stuff like "distance to next turn" and turn by turn instructions doesn't work until you've passed the cross point too.
The Garmin tools for mapping on the PC are [censored] too. Some knobscratch decided that having a plain Jane fully screen map wouldn't be fancy enough - just put the damn map in a letter box sized window and make all north south routes a pain in the ass to map out. My other beef is that the mapping tool finds all those pesky roads that are peoples driveways and tries to route you down those when you're mapping a route in the boonies - zooming in on the map is a must on the PC when plotting the route. It makes mapping a 600km brevet living hell - but it'd still better than standing at an intersection at 3:52am in the boonies holding Bob's map in-front of the bike light. Simple things like adding "points of interest" to your map would be nice - it could be a hill, a store to buy water/beer/food, a check point on a ride... But alas no - you have useless [censored] like Bluetooth weather from your iBone - like it'd work in the mountains (no cell service for the iBone) and shocker, it's not hard to see when it's going to rain when you're on a bicycle.
The other thing that bugs the [censored] out of me is the battery. It's good for a 400km ride but not a 600km - which is why I bought the damn thing. The out-front mount is preferred but there's no room for the USB cable, so the held on by "Bob's rubber cockring" top of the stem mount is required - then you end up with a $5000 bike with an expensive gadget held on by rubber bands and cables flopping all over the shop. Ass. Completely ass. Maybe the Garmin 1000 out front mount will give enough room for an 810 and a USB cable.
