On Tue, 18 Apr 2006 18:14:22 +0100, "Skippy" <
[email protected]> wrote:
>
>"peter" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Skippy wrote:
>>> "Ken" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>> > "Kendall" <[email protected]> wrote in
>>> > news:[email protected]:
>>> >> Any opinions on the Garmin Edge 305 would be appreciated. Have their
>>> >> been software updates that have improved it? I ride some remote
>>> >> country
>>> >> roads and would like to be able to use GPS for orientation, navigation
>>> >> and finding my way back
>>> >
>>> > Garmin Edge does not display your location in real-time, so it is not a
>>> > good
>>> > choice for navigation.
>>>
>>> Well that depends on how good you are at navigating! I bet you can get
>>> lat/lon or local grid coordinates out.
>>
>> Not clear to me that it displays either of those. I think it will show
>> you graphically which way you went and guide you back out the same way,
>> but it won't help you find a shortcut back.
>>
>>> GPS is very handy and the the 305 looks like a great little box (saw one
>>> at
>>> the weekend). Like most 'outdoor' GPS units it isn't about built in
>>> route
>>> planning or pretty picture maps.
>>
>> These days most of the outdoor GPS units do support mapping. There are
>> still a few basic models that don't like the yellow eTrex and the Geko
>> models, but higher models like the 60C/S/x and LegendC/x or VistaC/x
>> can display detailed maps and let you see alternate paths.
>
>Owning the older Legend, and having looked at the Legend C, the mapping was
>far from detailed enough for navigation away from classifed roads (UK). I'm
>happy to stand corrected if the other units do have such maps. It seems
>unlikely that a handheld unit would store anything like the detail of a
>paper map: that was my point.
>
>>
>>> It's about positioning and recording. It
>>> uses a SirfStar 3 chipset which is as good as it gets. I'd be tempted by
>>> the HR recording. Lots of lovely data to play with.
>>
>> But the tracklog data is available with the other models that also
>> support mapping as well - just without the HRM. The hiking-oriented
>> models seem much more versatile than the 305.
>>>
>>> The main drawback with it seems to be the internal battery. It's flat...
>>> you're lost... no easy way to turn it back on again.
>>
>> Pretty easy solution - get one of the little holders that take 4 AA
>> cells and use that to recharge when needed.
>>
>
>Not sure that's a great solution. A replaceable battery, as most older
>units seem to have, seems a lot easier to me.
>
Forgive my lack of N/G protocol, but thought that I'd jump from the
balcony as a kibitzer and into the fray by adding my .02$ worth about
the Edge 305. I gave my wife one last month and she has had the
occasion to use it frequently. As was previously mentioned, the
little gizmo is just great for collecting and displaying information,
but shouldn't be considered as a navigation device. As one poster
noted, Lat/Long is continously available but not many riders are going
to bring along the 1/50,000 topo map to find their location. Sextants
fall into the same catagory. The thing that the Edge does extremely
well is collect accurate data. The unit itself is very small, light
weight and does not require a wired connection to the sending unit,
located on the rear non drive chainstay for cadence. The display can
be customized for up to 8 data fields with some interesting choices.
Bersides the obvious HR, speed and distance, it also shows %grade.
This is often of interest when recalling data and judging percieved
exertion and climbing speed. The data can be downloaded via USB cable
to your PC and displayed in normal graphic style that many with
Polar's are familiar with. What is absolutely wonderful about the
Garmin is that the information can be dumped into a third party (free)
site called MotionBased. The MotionBased info can be saved on their
server and be manipulated, edited and then overlayed onto Google
Earth. This where the oooohs and ahhhhh's come out. The device was
put to the acid test on a recent (wonderful) ride in Chattanooga
Tennessee, the 3 States 3 mountains ride. When the data was dumped
into MotionBased and overlayed on Google Earth the entire 100 mile
route was perfectly displayed and by tilting the image, the relief of
the map gave a great idea of the vertical challenges of the ride. Of
interest to all was the %grade of the infamous Burkhalter Gap at the
84 mile mark of the ride. The plot showed a brief spike to 22% before
reaching the summit. (whew!) All in all it is a wonderful display of
the route. On previous out and back rides, it even shows going out on
one side of the street and coming back on the other. Very cool. That
said, it is not without issue. As many have noted in the reviews on
Amazon, battery life is not terriffic. We were very concerned that
the battery would die prior to completing the 3S3M ride and to further
test the unit, she allowed the unit to run to exhaustion in the
parkiing lot at the finish. Total life was more than 8 hours. Quite
satisfactory for her. For others interested in longer rides, there is
a blurb going around that has detailed information on how to construct
a 4 AA unit from Radio Shack parts. I don't recall all of it, but
there is a disclaimer/warning not to use standard AA batts, rather use
rechargable ones to preclude an overvoltage problem. The other MAJOR
problem is with computer compatibility. One of our partners on the
ride is a very disgruntled Garmin 305 owner because he cannot get the
unit to work on a MAC. While the website states any pc, it does not
specifically include the non-pc machines. All in all, it's a great
little gadget. I hope this helps.
