New Garmin Edge 500

Diarmuid

Nice new Garmin Edge 500. Similar features to the 705 minus the big screen and mapping function. Substantially cheaper and lighter than the 705.

Murph100

Lets hope this one is actually ready for market, the 705 still isn't ready.

blorg

Battery life looks very good (18 hours.) Barometric altimeter too. Half the price of a 705, but they seem to have deliberately hobbled it in some respects related to the older 305- they have removed the virtual partner and ability to create workouts as well as the pace alerts. These are all pure software so pity they seem to have done that (presumably to force people wanting them to go with the 705.)

@Murph100- the 305 still isn't ready, in fact the 705 is now more stable than that one I reckon. They are great devices but as with many things that are an actual computer there is flakiness... The 705 is now pretty solid in my opinion, other than ongoing issues I am having with the barometric altimeter.

Lumen

It's 48.2g lighter than the 705.

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

It's 48.2g lighter than the 705.

That dancing banana is incredibly hypnotic

Lumen

In all seriousness, since I never use the navigation capabilities of the 705 I'd be quite happy with this one.

Half the weight and a redesigned mount could well make it more robust (it could hardly be less so), and the thermometer is an added bonus.

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

In all seriousness, since I never use the navigation capabilities of the 705 I'd be quite happy with this one.

Half the weight and a redesigned mount could well make it more robust (it could hardly be less so), and the thermometer is an added bonus.

Weight? Seriously, are you that concerned by the weight of the 705?

Diarmuid

Raam wrote: »

Weight? Seriously, are you that concerned by the weight of the 705?

probably more to do with the look and size of the 705. Lot to be said for a small computer on the handlebars.

Diarmuid

blorg wrote: »

but they seem to have deliberately hobbled it in some respects related to the older 305- they have removed the virtual partner and ability to create workouts as well as the pace alerts.

At least it retains the course feature, that's about one of the few advanced features I use. (download from bikeToasterRoute)

fletch

blorg wrote: »

Half the price of a 705, but they seem to have deliberately hobbled it in some respects related to the older 305-

Where do you see the price?

Diarmuid

fletch wrote: »

Where do you see the price?

In the link above
Suggested Retail Price: $ 249.99 USD

compared to the 705
Suggested Retail Price: $ 499.99 USD

Bunnyhopper

This mentions $250 for the unit, or $350 with HR and cadence sensors.That compares with a retail price of about $550 for a 705 with HR and cadence. So maybe not quite as low as half the price of a 705 but still a fair bit cheaper.

http://www.velonews.com/article/97300

It also says it should be on sale for xmas.

(Dear Santa...)

fletch

Diarmuid wrote: »

In the link above
Suggested Retail Price: $ 249.99 USD

compared to the 705
Suggested Retail Price: $ 499.99 USD

strange...doesn't seem to be appearing for me......anyways....thanks for that...could be my xmas pressie

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Weight? Seriously, are you that concerned by the weight of the 705?

Mostly just because it makes it more likely to break the mount.

50g may not seem much, but then if every component on your bike was half the weight, your bike would be half the weight overall. This is lighter and cheaper, so if I didn't have a 705 already I'd probably go for this.

Raam

Lumen wrote: »

Mostly just because it makes it more likely to break the mount.

50g may not seem much, but then if every component on your bike was half the weight, your bike would be half the weight overall. This is lighter and cheaper, so if I didn't have a 705 already I'd probably go for this.

Hmm, I'd rather some components were not half the weight they are now

Lumen

Raam wrote: »

Hmm, I'd rather some components were not half the weight they are now

OK, then you can spend the extra 50g where you want more durability. Chainstays, perhaps

lukester

Snapped steerer tube for Jose Ruiz Sanchez the other day in La Vuelta, and reading about a Tiernan's rider who was unconscious for several days after his steerer tube snapped in a race has made me wary of carbon in certain components.

I now apply the Tackleberry rule to these when considering a potential purchase.

Murph100

I'm pretty happy with my 705 but I still dont trust it to operate flawlessly. Its still got a lot of bugs, my buddy's one went crazy around Mahon Falls and then went blank, came back on again and then started a new lap. File was corrupted but thankfully he was able to rescue it, but it shouldn't have happened in the first place. Makes me glad I left mine at home for the SK, I had enough to do without having to sort out a 705 having a hissy fit as well.

Also the waterproofing on the USB port is a joke, especially when you live in this permanently raining part of the world. The cadence sensor has a mind of its own, you never really know when its going to decide to work. The mount as we have seen is prone to failure, and I really cant see why Garmin cant take the altitude from the GPS data, its going to be more accurate than the barometric altimeter.

Hmmmmm did I say at the start I was happy with my 705 ?

blorg wrote: »

@Murph100- the 305 still isn't ready, in fact the 705 is now more stable than that one I reckon. They are great devices but as with many things that are an actual computer there is flakiness... The 705 is now pretty solid in my opinion, other than ongoing issues I am having with the barometric altimeter.

Nietzschean

one interesting thing i noticed in the specs there is that calorie computation is now based on the HR...though why they haven't enabled this on the other devices via s/ware? dunno...

Lumen

lukester wrote: »

Snapped steerer tube for Jose Ruiz Sanchez the other day in La Vuelta, and reading about a Tiernan's rider who was unconscious for several days after his steerer tube snapped in a race has made me wary of carbon in certain components.

Hincapie might disagree with you on that one.

If you spend too much time thinking about fork failure you'll never get on the bike at all.

Nietzschean

Murph100 wrote:

Also the waterproofing on the USB port is a joke, especially when you live in this permanently raining part of the world.

has yours suffered water damage?

The mount as we have seen is prone to failure,

that i have experenced, though have to say garmin's replacing of it was top notch. So given pretty much every piece of technology i've owned has had issues at some point, 98% uptime + very good replacement service is a pretty solid result imo.

and I really cant see why Garmin cant take the altitude from the GPS data, its going to be more accurate than the barometric altimeter.

it uses the gps to calibrate the altimeter, after that you'd end up with all strange spikes in height due to the inaccuracy of the gps, certainly suffer alot of it on the forerunner 405 i have(gps w/o barometric altimeter). Though at times I do wish it would have an option to tell it is altitude estimate is terrible and attempt a good fix from gps....


On your m8's problem does he have the latest s/w there was that issue with the old update....if your m8's garmin is going that nuts maybe it does have some water damage or something inside it? might be worth sending it back to garmin..... there ceraintly was alot of mist/moisture in the air on sun, if the seals weren't good it could cause all sorts of funkyness. As you said it shouldn't happen.....

lukester

Lumen wrote: »

Hincapie might disagree with you on that one.

If you spend too much time thinking about fork failure you'll never get on the bike at all.

I don't lose sleep worrying about my forks. I'm thinking more of steerer tubes, seatposts, bars.

Hell, anything can break, and sure, alu can fatigue or fail catastrophically too, but I'm still wary of carbon for specific components.

Murph100

No, it hasn't got water damage yet, but that rubber cap just doesn't like staying shut, resulting in some water drops hitting the port, needs some gentle drying before it will connect at times.

Yeah I'd like to have the option altimeter wise.

As for me mates 705, he's already on his second, first one was bonkers and Garmin sent out a replacement. Its completely up to date firmware and software wise, and has been pretty solid, until of course he goes and does the SK

Nietzschean wrote: »

has yours suffered water damage?

it uses the gps to calibrate the altimeter, after that you'd end up with all strange spikes in height due to the inaccuracy of the gps, certainly suffer alot of it on the forerunner 405 i have(gps w/o barometric altimeter). Though at times I do wish it would have an option to tell it is altitude estimate is terrible and attempt a good fix from gps....


On your m8's problem does he have the latest s/w there was that issue with the old update....if your m8's garmin is going that nuts maybe it does have some water damage or something inside it? might be worth sending it back to garmin..... there ceraintly was alot of mist/moisture in the air on sun, if the seals weren't good it could cause all sorts of funkyness. As you said it shouldn't happen.....

Diarmuid

Murph100 wrote: »

I and I really cant see why Garmin cant take the altitude from the GPS data, its going to be more accurate than the barometric altimeter.

It's not even close to being as accurate as the barometric altimeter. The absolute values in the barometric need to be calibrated (some gps using calibrate it against the gps data or manual entry) but the cumulative altitude gain is far more accurate than using gps figures

Murph100

I'm just a little skeptical about the 705s altimeter readings, is there any info as to how often it calibrates with the GPS data ?

Nietzschean

Murph100 wrote: »

I'm just a little skeptical about the 705s altimeter readings, is there any info as to how often it calibrates with the GPS data ?

pretty much when you turn it on till it settles down, don't think it does it after that because once calibrated it should be better than the gps data....

Bunnyhopper

Handtec now has a listing for "Garmin Edge 500 Heart Rate Monitor & Speed Cadence" -

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/2337/garmin-edge-500-heart-rate-monitor---speed-cadence

- with a sterling price of £333.49, which doesn't make a lot of sense. I certainly hope the actually selling price is a lot less than that.

blorg

Murph100 wrote: »

Also the waterproofing on the USB port is a joke, especially when you live in this permanently raining part of the world. The cadence sensor has a mind of its own, you never really know when its going to decide to work. The mount as we have seen is prone to failure, and I really cant see why Garmin cant take the altitude from the GPS data, its going to be more accurate than the barometric altimeter.

I have had problems with the little rubber cover coming off the USB port on two 705s now which I think may be what has led to my barometric altimeter failing. Specifically what fails is the thermometer (yes the 305 and 705 have hardware thermometers but the temperature is only available from the service menu, they could enable the function through a firmware change if they wanted.) I think it is on the way out again now, had the ___% grade appear again during the Sean Kelly although altitude was being recorded apparently from GPS.

I had water damage on the 305 before it, it was perfect but was out in one particular deluge, water just got in and it was fecked, again the altimeter in particular.

As others have said the barometric altimeter is a lot more accurate than GPS- when it is working.

paddy's hill

I love the 705. A brilliant bit of kit. The only problem I have had is the mount is not strong enough for the weight of the 705, and I now have to use cable ties to keep it on. It fell off a few times but still works perfectly. I have it since March 2008.

Murph100

I get the ___ % grade very frequently, ya reckon its not a good sign ?

blorg wrote: »

I think it is on the way out again now, had the ___% grade appear again during the Sean Kelly although altitude was being recorded apparently from GPS.

blorg

Murph100 wrote: »

I get the ___ % grade very frequently, ya reckon its not a good sign ?

If you get it when the unit is actually recording then I think it is a sign the barometric altimeter is on the way out. It will always say ___% grade when the recording is switched off, that is normal.

Tau

There's a massively in-depth review of this here:
http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/2009/11/garmin-edge-500-in-depth-review.html

I think it looks pretty cool, although I think you have to look at it as an upgrade to the edge 305 rather than an update of the 705.

What I'd really like to know is if it works with bikeroutetoaster after they've striped some of the map functions - does anyone have it? Can they confirm?

Home:Ballyhoura

Thanks for that Tau but christ almighty...I didn't realise what an "in-depth" review was until today! My god, that is one seriously lenghty test and one of the biggest web pages I have ever come across, it gives the term a new definition really!. Fair play to him, but seriously...who would go to all that time and effort? I mean it must have taken hours and days and what does he get out of it for himself? I presume he wasn't paid to do it (didn't actually read it all, the pictures were intersting enough!), so I think someone has way too much time on their hands (and money on his hands, just look at that collection of Garmins and the lucky guy has Cervelo TT bike with a Quark Cinqo). Man, interesting stuff to say the least! Haha, jaw dropping stuff.

CheGuedara

Tau wrote: »

There's a massively in-depth review of this here:
http://dcrainmaker.blogspot.com/2009/11/garmin-edge-500-in-depth-review.html

I think it looks pretty cool, although I think you have to look at it as an upgrade to the edge 305 rather than an update of the 705.

What I'd really like to know is if it works with bikeroutetoaster after they've striped some of the map functions - does anyone have it? Can they confirm?

Just tried it with TCX/GPX files exported from Garmin Connect - TCX files no dice but GPX seems to give no problems and you've the choice of talking your recorded elevation data or the bikeroutetoaster route elevation.

Home:Ballyhoura

CheGuedara wrote: »

Just tried it with TCX/GPX files exported from Garmin Connect - TCX files no dice but GPX seems to give no problems and you've the choice of talking your recorded elevation data or the bikeroutetoaster route elevation.

You've got one already I presume? Where did you get it, any places you know of selling it cheap?

CheGuedara

Home:Ballyhoura wrote: »

You've got one already I presume? Where did you get it, any places you know of selling it cheap?

Yup, the jolly fat man set me right for Christmas - amazing piece of kit though I'm still learning to use it to hopefully make the best of it. It was a wiggle purchase but I believe CRC are doing it cheaper (if they ever get it into stock)

buffalo

I've found Handtec to be cheaper than CRC or Wiggle for Garmin stuff.

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/2336/garmin-edge-500 - £176.13, plus £20 for shipping, IIRC.

Evil Twin

Hi All,

I bought an Edge 705, used it for 2 months then had it break from the stem in a race on roads that were not particulaly bad. The scren had come off the unit and the main control button no longer functioned.
I sent the item along with the broken mount back to Garmin.

4 months later they returned the unit THAT NO LONGER WORKS back to me without the broken mount claiming they were not responsible !

My advice is DO NOT do business with a company who do not stand over their products. You will only end up out of

Home:Ballyhoura

For anyone interested, I did a quick search of a few of the main online cycling retailers to see who is cheapest for the Garmin Edge 500 bundle (with heart rate & cadence) at the moment including delivery and using any vouchers/sale codes I know of.

1. Evan Cycles £202.49 (€225.09) using SAVE10
2. ProBikeKit (Not in Stock) £206.89 (€229.98) using XMAS
3. ChainReactionCycles (Not in Stock) £224.99 (€250.10)
4. HandTec £242.99 (€270.11)
5. CycleSuperStore (€287.00)
6. Wiggle £264.12 (€293.60)
7. Bike 24 (€309.00)

Home:Ballyhoura

I'm not sure what prices the rest of the shops in the previous post are charging at the moment but HandTec have gone ahead of those prices at the moment with £198.62 (€220.42) for the bundle delivered.