Garmin Edge 705 Recommed??

07Lapierre · 05-02-2009 11:47am #1

Hi guys
Anyone have a Garmin Edge 705? Im thinking of getting one. Would you recommend it? are the maps accurate in ireland? and where do you recommend I buy one? I'm looking at Wiggle.co.uk at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any comments

TinyExplosions · 05-02-2009 11:59am

A few people have 'em, and by all accounts they're pretty damn good!

BaBiT · 05-02-2009 12:12pm

07Lapierre wrote: »

Hi guys
Anyone have a Garmin Edge 705? Im thinking of getting one. Would you recommend it? are the maps accurate in ireland? and where do you recommend I buy one? I'm looking at Wiggle.co.uk at the moment.

Thanks in advance for any comments

I have one..Bought it last July on ebay from a shop in the UK (GPS direct or something I think)...Saved a lot that way...The maps are good with a fair amount of detail and the info uploaded into Garmin Training center is excellent if you're a data junkie like me!..I spent the winter training with the racing crew in my club which was a little bit too fast for me and I spent many a Sunday morning crawling home on my own, the 'return to start' function saved me a couple of times

blorg · 05-02-2009 12:29pm

Yes, it is a great piece of kit. The maps are excellent but you have to make sure you get them, the base unit is available with only a base map which is not so useful.

beans · 05-02-2009 1:17pm

The specs for the Edge 605 I was looking into say:

"Base map : yes
Ability to add maps : yes"

Is the adding of the maps as simple as downloading something to the SD card, or is there something more to be wary of? Don't want to be stuck with a non-updatable unit.

shapez · 05-02-2009 1:40pm

Definitely. Absolutely brilliant piece of kit once you get the hang of it. I got mine on Dabs.ie slightly cheaper at the time.

blorg · 05-02-2009 1:46pm

Yes, you can just get the maps on an SD card or the better option buy Mapsource and put them onto the unit yourself from there.

The 605 is limited however in not doing the Ant+ wireless stuff so it won't do cadence, heart rate or talk to a power meter. It also doesn't have an altimeter. Note you CANNOT add heart rate, cadence, etc., the head unit doesn't have the wireless. I would not go near it with a bargepole, stick to the 705.

beans · 05-02-2009 2:05pm

I have a Polar HRM, so I'm only after the GPS functionality. The Garmin 305 and lower don't appear to be too good on this front, but I'm sure there's other options.

All the reviews of the 705 have been glowing so far

Ghost Rider · 05-02-2009 2:17pm

Just came across this tip for extending the battery life of a Garmin:

http://www.roadbikerider.com/index.htm#Garmin

blorg · 05-02-2009 2:37pm

beans wrote: »

I have a Polar HRM, so I'm only after the GPS functionality. The Garmin 305 and lower don't appear to be too good on this front, but I'm sure there's other options.

The 305 etc. don't do mapping but they will show you were afterwards. The key benefit with the 705 over the 605 is having all the functions integrated into the one unit, logged in one place and viewable together afterwards- so you can see your heart rate was X going up that particular hill, etc. I read a review of the 605 from a blogger working on the same assumption, that they already had the Polar, and they got sick pretty quickly of working with two seperate data sets and bought a 705.

AstraMonti · 05-02-2009 2:50pm

I have the 705 (bought from handtec.co.uk) as well and i am really happy with it. Navigation is not that great though because it can get you preety weird routes, even if you say that you are a car but its handy when you are totally lost. I would say that its better to download a premade course on it rather than having the unit to find the way. But all the information that can give you is very valuable, even for a newbie like me

concussion · 05-02-2009 3:09pm

Ghost Rider wrote: »

Just came across this tip for extending the battery life of a Garmin:

http://www.roadbikerider.com/index.htm#Garmin

Would it not be easier to bring another pair of AA's? What am I missing here?

Raam · 05-02-2009 3:13pm

concussion wrote: »

Would it not be easier to bring another pair of AA's? What am I missing here?

The battery is internal.

blorg · 05-02-2009 3:19pm

I used something similar cycling Dublin-Galway-Athlone, a PowerMonkey (silver thing in the bottom left.) It's attachable to the bike using a Twofish Lockblock. Note with the 705 you would only need this for the really crazy long stuff, the battery is a lot better than the 305, you will get around 15 hours out of it.

concussion · 05-02-2009 3:28pm

Raam wrote: »

The battery is internal.

Ah right, cheers. Don't like that idea myself, AA's all the way, you can get them everywhere.

Raam · 05-02-2009 3:29pm

concussion wrote: »

Ah right, cheers. Don't like that idea myself, AA's all the way, you can get them everywhere.

It honestly works fine. The unit is probably too small to hold AAs anyway.

blorg · 05-02-2009 3:31pm

As Raam says, it wouldn't work with AAs, the thing would double in size if it was to go this route. The LiIon battery it uses has a far higher energy density.

Ryaner · 05-02-2009 3:53pm

I got mine from Handtec too. Very fast delivery but near impossible to contact Handtec. They didn't reply to emails or requests through Google checkout. When I called they said it hadn't been shipped but arrived the next business day.

The device itself is cool. Loads of data to look over after. I'd recommend sporttracks instead of the garmin software. SportTracks is smarter with imports and gives a few extra features.

concussion · 05-02-2009 3:56pm

Seems like a back up all right - I'm just saying I don't mind sacrificing weight in order to use bog standard easily obtainable batteries in things like GPS and cameras.

Raam · 05-02-2009 3:57pm

concussion wrote: »

Seems like a back up all right - I'm just saying I don't mind sacrificing weight in order to use bog standard easily obtainable batteries in things like GPS and cameras.

I dunno if you can get a GPS unit for the bike that takes AA or the like. Perhaps you can. The great thing about the 705 is that you don't have to worry about getting more batteries for it

Charging is quick.

07Lapierre · 05-02-2009 5:05pm

Thanmks for all the info people. Garmin 705 it is! cheers

concussion · 05-02-2009 5:07pm

Raam wrote: »

I dunno if you can get a GPS unit for the bike that takes AA or the like. Perhaps you can. The great thing about the 705 is that you don't have to worry about getting more batteries for it Charging is quick.

Garmin eTrex - no HRM, no cadence, no calories burned etc. It tells me where I am and where I've been and that suits me fine - I don't want to slow down while climing a fire road because I've exceeded x% max heart rate

:p

scottreynolds · 05-02-2009 5:15pm

07Lapierre wrote: »

Thanmks for all the info people. Garmin 705 it is! cheers

What exactly do you want is for. If is just GPS recording look at the new 600X from Polar. If its a nicely integrated unit with mapping the 705 is really the best option

blorg · 05-02-2009 6:21pm

@concussion- I find a HRM very useful for pacing yourself over extended climbs and distances. To be honest I find it's the other way around, I would go faster with the HRM as I can look at where I am and think, yes, I can sustain this for the next hour. I didn't have a HRM on my first climb of Alpe d'Huez and honestly missed it, I think I could have done it a bit faster with one.

Raam · 05-02-2009 6:59pm

I only use the HRM when doing interval training. I wouldn't normally take it on excursions into the hills. Mind you, I did a climb in Germany which has a similar profile to Alpe D'huez and it would have been interesting to see what my HR was over that. Especially the start, cos man that was steep.

Garmin Edge 705 Recommed??

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