Garmin Edge 705

Bunnyhopper

There's an interesting discussion of protechstore here

http://www.avforums.com/forums/lcd-televisions/1024410-protechstore-legit.html

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

I have a sneaking suspicion that the 705 stores my ride data on the SD card.

It doesn't, it stores the ride data in it's internal memory. You can check this by simply looking at where the files are when you connect it to a computer- it comes up as two seperate drives, the first one being the internal memory, the second the SD card. The ride .tcx files are all in \Garmin\History on the first drive.

No way is that Protechstore legit, the domain was only registered a few days ago.

Lumen

Wiggins on Twitter. :pac:

bradwiggins wrote:

Getting agro from team about how I'm handling the press, got to big up the 705 edge more
6:34 PM Jul 16th from mobile web

bradwiggins wrote:

Worth getting a 705, good little gadget, better still hang around our bus at the finish and steal one off of the bikes
7:07 PM Jul 16th from mobile web

bradwiggins wrote:

Just got a consignment of 9x 705's, any offers
7:27 PM Jul 16th from mobile web

Dr_Colossus

Hi, just a few questions for all you that have the Garmin 705. Half thinking of purchasing one but given the price have a few concerns.

1) How good are the maps in terms of detail and showing your location. ie can you zoom in to street level detail like on mapmyride etc? Also can you input a desired location and the device will track out a route for you keeping you away from motorways etc like some of the gps devices for cars giving you pointers or directions along the way? Can you search for a place by name or location and it'll direct you towards it and does it show you on the map where you are currently based? I've read from reviews etc that you can track out routes on mapmyride before hand and download them so that sounds great but what if you don't follow the route half way in or you get lost.

As it stands I like to take random spins ranging from 40-100km and hopefully longer when I get used to it, trying different routes each time. I do out a rough route on mapmyride before hand and take down general directions etc but usually after a few turns and the unbelievable lack of signposts and signposts with conflicting information around Ireland I usually end up taking a totally diff route and guessing my way around. I'm hoping the garmin will alleviate this and when I want to take a direct route to a particular spot it will give me the shortest and quickest method?

2) As a general cycling computer and hrm how do you generally find it? For instance in measuring speed I hear gps devices aren't very accurate for realtime information due to the satellite delays but is there a separate speed sensor with this which works off a censor on the spokes? How accurate in general do you find the altitude meter and gradients of hills? I have a Polar hrm as is which I use for running but wear it also for spins to get an idea of how hard I'm working and find the altitude meter very accurate once calibrated at the start.

I'll probably have a few more questions at a later stage so thanks for reading my long rambling post and I appreciate any responses.

Ryaner

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Hi, just a few questions for all you that have the Garmin 705. Half thinking of purchasing one but given the price have a few concerns.

1) How good are the maps in terms of detail and showing your location. ie can you zoom in to street level detail like on mapmyride etc?

Almost. Some of the detail gets removed as a small device has only so much space. All the roads are there however.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Also can you input a desired location and the device will track out a route for you keeping you away from motorways etc like some of the gps devices for cars giving you pointers or directions along the way?

If by input a location you mean copying a gpx file then yes. It has the usual settings for off motorways/main roads although sometimes it can be a bit too "safe" in its directions. It usually won't direct me along the main road into town. Also, unlike the car ones, when it picks a route, that is the route it wants you to take. Doesn't matter if you know a shortly part to begin with, it'll annoy you with make U-Turns for a while until it finds another, probably longer route than you had in your mind.
I generally find it easier to plan the routes on mmr and then drop the whole gpx file onto the device. Gives the proper turn by turn navigation that way and goes where it should.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Can you search for a place by name or location and it'll direct you towards it and does it show you on the map where you are currently based?

Not sure about searching by name. It will show you where you are on the map. Full map view screen used for the navigation.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

I've read from reviews etc that you can track out routes on mapmyride before hand and download them so that sounds great but what if you don't follow the route half way in or you get lost.

You can't really get lost if you are following the route? If you don't follow it, the map will show you your current position and also if you zoom out, you'll see the route you'd planned in pink.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

As it stands I like to take random spins ranging from 40-100km and hopefully longer when I get used to it, trying different routes each time. I do out a rough route on mapmyride before hand and take down general directions etc but usually after a few turns and the unbelievable lack of signposts and signposts with conflicting information around Ireland I usually end up taking a totally diff route and guessing my way around. I'm hoping the garmin will alleviate this and when I want to take a direct route to a particular spot it will give me the shortest and quickest method?

It usually isn't the shortest / quickest way although maybe if you disable the avoidances. If your planning out your routes before hand, you should be able to drop the whole route on as above.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

2) As a general cycling computer and hrm how do you generally find it?

Probably the best cycle computer I'd ever seen. Enough information to keep you busy during the longest and most boring of climbs, which really is why most of us would want it all there. The ability to download all the rides to something like SportTracks afterwards is also really cool.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

For instance in measuring speed I hear gps devices aren't very accurate for realtime information due to the satellite delays but is there a separate speed sensor with this which works off a censor on the spokes?

Sensor is usually pretty accurate, as is the GPS side of it. It'll do some smoothing of data when saving the ride too.

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

How accurate in general do you find the altitude meter and gradients of hills?

Altitude is pretty close when you exclude the weather differences which only knock it out by a few meters at most. The gradients are accurate enough unless your going slow on a hill and I mean really slow. Then it starts helping the ego by showing higher grades at times. I've only once seen it stop reporting a grade and that was after it was reporting 25%+ for a short period.

Overall, the device is great. You won't reject getting one. There is enough of them between boards users to keep someone in Garmin employed.

Dr_Colossus

Great, thanks for the detailed replies Ryaner, I really appreciate it. The devise sure does sound fantastic, just have to start saving for it now.

Nietzschean

Ryaner wrote: »

If by input a location you mean copying a gpx file then yes. It has the usual settings for off motorways/main roads although sometimes it can be a bit too "safe" in its directions. It usually won't direct me along the main road into town. Also, unlike the car ones, when it picks a route, that is the route it wants you to take. Doesn't matter if you know a shortly part to begin with, it'll annoy you with make U-Turns for a while until it finds another, probably longer route than you had in your mind.

might be the maps you have with that, while mine avoid motorways it tends to give me the most direct route(also it beeps once, twice at most, much like a car one before re-planning the route[which previously has tended to be the new most direct route])

kemase

I used to work with GPS chips etc., and when I asked the research guys about speed accuracy of GPS I was told it is very accurate. I use the car/motorbike GPS as my true speed in preference to the car speedometer.

Delays to the various satellites in view are in fact how it works out where you are by measuring them down to sub-millisecond resolution.

The software on the device have some bearing on the accuracy of what's displayed on screen, i.e. how often it updates info etc..

blorg

You have to make sure you buy the maps, e.g. the base maps are useless, but the City Navigator maps are very good, they have _everything_ down to the smallest of roads. How much detail you see depends on the zoom level but you have everything displayed from 300m scale smaller. I have used it here but also in France, Italy and Spain and it has been excellent in all of them.

If buying the maps for Europe get them on a DVD, not a SD card- you then get Mapsource with them which is by far the best way to plot routes beforehand on the computer. It is 100% accurate down to the metre which the Google Maps hacks are not, if you plot on Mapmyride, etc. it will constantly have you up to 50-100m off the actual road and it is annoying.

GPS speed is perfectly accurate, I have a Cateye as well and they pretty much keep up with each other. The Garmin will NOT use the speed sensor at all unless it loses the satellites entirely, it is really designed for use indoor on a trainer. I have the cadence gadget but don't bother putting a rear wheel magnet on most of my bikes as it really doesn't do anything.

Elevation is generally pretty good, the best you will get I think (it uses a combination of barometric for detail and GPS for calibration.) If elevation is important best leave the device for a few minutes after you turn it on, it can sometimes take a while for the elevation to correct itself after you switch it on. It is occasionally flaky.

Dr_Colossus

Ryaner wrote: »

Got mine from Handtec too. They don't reply to emails but were very quick and sending out the device.

Also, don't update the device when you buy it.

In the process of trying to purchase one of these and Handtec seems to be the cheapest for an online UK site. Device plus speed/cadence sensor is £255.90+£40.92 VAT for a total of £296.82. Postage varies depending on location but for EU it's £16.90 bringing it up to £313.72 or roughtly €365.

My question however is that when trying to purchase it says it will only accept Credit/Debit Card and Paypal for UK customers with everyone else having to pay by Cheque, BACS or Google Checkout whatever that is. Have those of you that have purchased from Hardtec experienced the same problems? It seems ridiculous that they won't accept credit card or paypal from an international base. I emailed them on the matter but from reviews could be a while before I get a response.

Cyclesuperstore is doing the same for €440 excluding postage and was in Arnotts yesterday and their price is €478. Amazon.co.uk have it for £322.99+£14 postage so total would be £336.99 or roughly €392 but had problems before with them unwilling to ship electronic items due to the recycling charge in Ireland.

There's also sellers on ebay selling new European models for £289 with postage inclusive. The item location is listed as Belgium with the seller originally registered in the US. There's also another seller on ebay located in Israel selling new items for €339. Have yet to see a second hand or refurbished item for sale and can't imagine I'll see one either for quite some time given the solid reviews these are getting. However my question regarding ebay follows reviews from here where I think Blorg advised getting a seperate receipt as Garmin won't accept ebay receipts in case of problems and you need to use the warranty? As such how willing would you be to purchase from ebay and how much would you trust the ebay sellers?

I've used ebay in the past and bought some great products on it including my Polar S625x which I have for a few years now and find great for general running and fitness work. Given the hassle with Hardtec I'm inclined to go the ebay route and purchase there instead and save a few euro and hassle in the process but then don't want to be stung down the road if I've to send the product back to Garmin for repairs etc.

Thanks

blorg

My 305 I bought from someone claiming to be a British seller but it shipped from the US and was a US model. Garmin wouldn't warranty that.

I bought my Edge 705 from direct_web_retail on eBay for €349. They are a registered Garmin dealer and provided a seperate receipt.

Note even if you buy without a warranty and it breaks Garmin will replace for a fixed fee, I think around £60 for the 305 and £100 for the 705. I've had to use this twice- once for the 305 that was not under warranty and once for the 705 when I flipped my bike over and landed on the computer. Apart from that they have been back to Garmin a fair bit for free replacement which they do very quickly, they have also sent me out stuff like a free replacement HR strap when that went (didn't require the old one back.) Their warranty system is excellent... which is good, because you will probably need it

penexpers

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

Cyclesuperstore is doing the same for €440 excluding postage and was in Arnotts yesterday and their price is €478. Amazon.co.uk have it for £322.99+£14 postage so total would be £336.99 or roughly €392 but had problems before with them unwilling to ship electronic items due to the recycling charge in Ireland.

Amazon now ship electronics to Ireland.

Jumpy

I notice the maps are extra, unless you get a specific pack.

Wiggle have a nice orange one, but in the meantime I have managed to sort of make one out of a blackberry and trekbuddy and a few hours sucking maps from googlemaps to make an atlas.

Now I have to figure out how to attach it to my bike.

Dr_Colossus

blorg wrote: »

I bought my Edge 705 from direct_web_retail on eBay for €349. They are a registered Garmin dealer and provided a seperate receipt.

Thanks Blorg, I have to commend you on your quality posts, regardless of the topic or how complex or simple the question you continuously give detailed and accurate responses and views. You're a credit to the boards cycling forum.

I'd previously searched the ebay.co.uk site for Garmin suppliers and hadn't come across direct_web_retail so thanks for the advice. I just checked their ebay shop now but unfortunately they don't see to have any Edge 705s. Will send them an email and keep searching anyway.

Blowfish

Somebody linked this here before, but there's one on Pixmania for €390 with €7 shipping.

[edit] Typically enough, as soon as I post it, I spot they are out of stock.

Flankerb

blorg wrote: »

I bought my Edge 705 from direct_web_retail on eBay for €349. They are a registered Garmin dealer and provided a seperate receipt.

I bought my 705 of these guys aswell. I think I got mine for about £279. Very quick delivery good service.

Dr_Colossus

They've the device without the speed/cadence sensor now for £289.97 or £319.99 with it and postage is £8.69 to Ireland. Hardtec.co.uk is slightly cheaper but not markedly so.

blorg

Note the speed bit of the cadence sensor is utterly unnecessary unless you want to use the computer on a trainer, it DOES NOT USE the wheel speed reading unless it loses the satellite completely, and even then to be honest it doesn't seem to unless you manually set the GPS off. It does not increase accuracy or anything like that, the head unit literally ignores the speed reading from the wheel in normal use.

If you want cadence of course get it.

Ryaner

Had anyone noticed the speed on their 705 drop to 0 at times on the display?

doozerie

Dr_Colossus wrote: »

My question however is that when trying to purchase it says it will only accept Credit/Debit Card and Paypal for UK customers with everyone else having to pay by Cheque, BACS or Google Checkout whatever that is. Have those of you that have purchased from Hardtec experienced the same problems? It seems ridiculous that they won't accept credit card or paypal from an international base. I emailed them on the matter but from reviews could be a while before I get a response.

Google Checkout is essentially just like Paypal. You'd have to check to satisfy yourself that Google Checkout provides sufficient protection for your needs, of course, because their protection may well differ from that provided by the likes of Paypal.

I've only used Google Checkout once, and been happy with it, I know of others that use it often and are equally happy with it. My reason for using it was that I was faced with the scenario that you have of an online retailer (www.ebuyer.com in this case) that would only accept payments against credit cards issued in the UK despite the fact that they advertised their products as being available to non-UK shoppers. They refused my payment through Paypal too as they claimed not to be able to validate my card. Paying through Google Checkout got past their annoying restrictions (though I'm not sure why), and what's more I was able to change the delivery address through Google Checkout to the correct address rather than the garbled horrible address that the retailer insisted on trying to use for me and which I wasn't sure would ever reach me.

If you already have a Google account, for Google Mail or the like, then you can use the same credentials for Google Checkout, otherwise I think Google let you register easily enough.

Dr_Colossus

Thanks Doozerie, yea I bit the bullet and used the google checkout. Seemed very flexible and offered the option of shipping to my work address rather than just my billing address which was great. Hardtec I have to say were quite good and quick in replying to my queries explaining that the google checkout was the only method they had of verifying non UK addresses. I don't see why exactly and what it does ever paypal but however, maybe it's just another step in google's internet monopolisation.