Advice on bike computer.

The Noble Nudge

Looking at buying a Garmin 500 any advice would be appreciated.

twaimkit

HI,
I bought a garmin edge 500 earlier this year and find its great and helps with setting goals. It may work out cheaper if you can get the heart rate monitor and cadence sensor in a bundle if you dont have them already. The only other thing which may be worth considering is if you plan to do touring or longer distance to go for a garmin 800(i think) which can hold maps etc. With cycling it gets adictive and thinking about the next upgrade is never far away . There have been another couple of threads here on garmins so they are worth a look also for alternatives to garmins

Beasty

Moved from cycling adverts

Seve OB

bought one in wheelworx a few weeks ago for €288 for the Bundle which came with the premium HR strap. I don't think you will get it much cheaper even on the Web.

Raam

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Looking at buying a Garmin 500 any advice would be appreciated.

When tasting a wine, swirl the glass to throw the wine up onto the side of the glass, thus increasing the surface area of wine in contact with the air. It is at the interface between wine and air that aromas are released, and thus increasing the surface area helps to make the aromas more apparent.

07Lapierre

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Looking at buying a Garmin 500 any advice would be appreciated.

Buy the 800 with Speed/cadence sensor and HR monitor.

dingdong1234567

Got my hands on the Cateye Strada double wireless. Appears to be quiet good. Although i only have it less than a week. I needed something with Cadence and this does the job for me so far without the wires.

I have a HRM BT already so this is used with Endomondo and the likes. So this takes care of the GPS and HRM side of things.

mcgratheoin

07Lapierre wrote: »

Buy the 800 with Speed/cadence sensor and HR monitor.

Why the 800 over the 500 with speed/cadence? I'm thinking of getting a gps computer and the Garmin 500 is where I'm leaning at the moment. I had thought about a Bryton, but I'd like to have a dual spped/cadence sensor and the Bryton only does one or the other. (I have no interest in having a map on screen btw.)

@stevieob - did that bundle have the sensor and is that the price they had it on display for, or do I need to get my haggling boots on? I have limited potential for discount as I'll be using a one4all voucher so the shop won't get the full price in the first place.

Seve OB

mcgratheoin wrote: »

@stevieob - did that bundle have the sensor and is that the price they had it on display for, or do I need to get my haggling boots on? I have limited potential for discount as I'll be using a one4all voucher so the shop won't get the full price in the first place.

Na they don't do haggling at all, but this is how it works.
The price on their web page was €350. I would not have paid that, but I was just looking around and had to get some de-greaser so was in the shop anyway later on and asked for info on GPS computers and the Edge was pretty much the only one he recomended (which suited me). In store price on the box was €320.

If you don't already have one, they do a store loyalty card which gives you 10% off all purchases, so make sure that you just sign up for one and they will give you the discount there and then.

It was a pleasant surprise then to get home and realise it was the Premuim HR strap that came in the box, which made the €288 even better value

The Noble Nudge

07Lapierre wrote: »

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Looking at buying a Garmin 500 any advice would be appreciated.

Buy the 800 with Speed/cadence sensor and HR monitor.

Have the iPhone so don't see the need for the 800 maps plus I more or less know where I am going in Ireland anyway.

The Noble Nudge

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Looking at buying a Garmin 500 any advice would be appreciated.

How weather resistant are they and would I better off just buying a waterproof phone mount for my phone to fix it to my handle bars with map my ride app on it I won't have cadence. Ah my heads melted.

Raymzor

i had a polar 200 which had heart monitor and cadence sensor for two years-no pc capability. i upgraded to edge 500 and im really pleased to have spent the money on it. it really depends on what you want to use it for. go or the edge 500-its worth it-next step after that is a power meter which the edge 500 has compatibility with some brands.

The Noble Nudge

Raymzor wrote: »

i had a polar 200 which had heart monitor and cadence sensor for two years-no pc capability. i upgraded to edge 500 and im really pleased to have spent the money on it. it really depends on what you want to use it for. go or the edge 500-its worth it-next step after that is a power meter which the edge 500 has compatibility with some brands.

Just seems to be endless but its a good sign I'm upgrading all the time......I thought I had finished buying gear after the bike guess I'm on the merry go round now.

doozerie

For what it's worth I have the Garmin Edge 705, the version with maps that preceded the 800. Perhaps if I rode abroad at some stage (part of my reason for opting for the 705 at the time) then the maps would prove more useful but just cycling in Ireland I find them mostly annoying and only very rarely useful on the odd occasion when I refer to them. Mine has the full set of Europe maps, which seem to give poor coverage of Ireland, with some not-so-minor roads missing entirely, and it is slow to zoom in.

Perhaps the 800 has better maps (which are an extra cost by the way), and perhaps it is a lot faster when accessing the maps, but if it is anything like the 705 I would consider it a poor choice versus the 500 unless you really felt you needed to use the maps regularly regardless of how tedious this might prove to be.

jimzy

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

How weather resistant are they and would I better off just buying a waterproof phone mount for my phone to fix it to my handle bars with map my ride app on it I won't have cadence. Ah my heads melted.

I was in the same situation as you last year, using my iphone as a GPS. Couple of issues with the iphone I found were the gps signal seemed to drop a lot and the battery only lasted around 3 hrs max so any longer spins never got recorded in full.

After losing a couple of rides with the iphone i bit the bullet and got a garmin 500. Would really recommend getting one if you are looking to do any longer spins, I've never had any issue with signal loss over the past year with it, really solid piece of kit. The 800 might be a good option if you are looking for maps but the 500 has been perfect for me.

ednwireland

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

How weather resistant are they and would I better off just buying a waterproof phone mount for my phone to fix it to my handle bars with map my ride app on it I won't have cadence. Ah my heads melted.

waterproof IP66

IP = Ingress Protection

6 Totally dust tight.
6 Protection against string water jets and waves

my cracked case doesnt seem to leak either

smacl

doozerie wrote: »

For what it's worth I have the Garmin Edge 705, the version with maps that preceded the 800. Perhaps if I rode abroad at some stage (part of my reason for opting for the 705 at the time) then the maps would prove more useful but just cycling in Ireland I find them mostly annoying and only very rarely useful on the odd occasion when I refer to them. Mine has the full set of Europe maps, which seem to give poor coverage of Ireland, with some not-so-minor roads missing entirely, and it is slow to zoom in.

Perhaps the 800 has better maps (which are an extra cost by the way), and perhaps it is a lot faster when accessing the maps, but if it is anything like the 705 I would consider it a poor choice versus the 500 unless you really felt you needed to use the maps regularly regardless of how tedious this might prove to be.

I hadn't realised the default mapping coverage was weak, was tempted by a 2nd hand 705 until I picked up a new phone with decent mapping. You can also load open street maps onto most garmins and other GPS, though it can be fiddly. I like the OSM cycling maps, though don't have space for them on my old 76CS gps.

The Noble Nudge

jimzy wrote: »

I was in the same situation as you last year, using my iphone as a GPS. Couple of issues with the iphone I found were the gps signal seemed to drop a lot and the battery only lasted around 3 hrs max so any longer spins never got recorded in full.

After losing a couple of rides with the iphone i bit the bullet and got a garmin 500. Would really recommend getting one if you are looking to do any longer spins, I've never had any issue with signal loss over the past year with it, really solid piece of kit. The 800 might be a good option if you are looking for maps but the 500 has been perfect for me.

Thanks Jimzy I've been out most weekends over 4 hours so its long distances I am at. My other speedo did the job but its time to move up. Ive used the iphone for shorter spins and the signal is not great around my area and its a bit dodgy after using the app and saving the spin its hit or miss so looks like the 500 is the job.

MajesticDonkey

stevieob wrote: »

bought one in wheelworx a few weeks ago for €288 for the Bundle which came with the premium HR strap. I don't think you will get it much cheaper even on the Web.

That's the most expensive I've seen to be honest.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Heart-Monitor-Cadence-Sensor/dp/B002O0QBN4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342694403&sr=8-2
Got this before Christmas for £189 / €210 at the time. Not too much more now.

The 500 is definitely a great training tool, there's no bout adoubt it.
The 800 isn't really worth it IMO, unless you're prone to getting lost and/or going on roads you haven't been on before. The only major difference is that the 800 show's a map of where you're going. But on the 500, you can plan your route before you go and load it onto the unit - it'll then tell you when you deviate of course, so it's pretty much the same thing.

mcgratheoin

Decryptor wrote: »

]
Got this before Christmas for £189 / €210 at the time. Not too much more now.

€270 now...

I'm restricted to one4all shops - so it looks like eurocycles may be the cheapest bet locally...

MajesticDonkey

Wiggle are the biggest shower of scammers going...they were selling the Edge 500+HR+Cadence for ~€265 before the Tour. It's now gone up to €295, and the TOUR10 voucher only brings it back down to €265. I've always noticed them doing this - anytime they release voucher codes, the price goes up.

Seve OB

Decryptor wrote: »

That's the most expensive I've seen to be honest.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Heart-Monitor-Cadence-Sensor/dp/B002O0QBN4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1342694403&sr=8-2
Got this before Christmas for £189 / €210 at the time. Not too much more now.

£209.99 now on special offer normally £249.99. those proces are sterling so convert them to euro
€265 & €315 so if you get the free shipping you could save about €20 but will have to wait on mr Postman

Also it doesn't state if you get the premuim HR strap with this one, so I can only assume it is the standard version. I got the premuim strap with mine

MajesticDonkey

stevieob wrote: »

£209.99 now on special offer normally £249.99. those proces are sterling so convert them to euro
€265 & €315 so if you get the free shipping you could save about €20 but will have to wait on mr Postman

You do get free shipping on anything over €25. But come on, you'll have to wait on Mr Postman where ever you end up ordering from.
I was only waiting about a week for mine, and that was 2 weeks before Christmas.

Seve OB

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

How weather resistant are they and would I better off just buying a waterproof phone mount for my phone to fix it to my handle bars with map my ride app on it I won't have cadence. Ah my heads melted.

I used to have one of these. Not cheap but a decent waterproof case for the phone. The only thing with it was my frame (a 2011 Felt Z6) seems to have chunky stem and handle bars so the attachment didnt really go on it properly (but I managed a work around). Maybe there are other alternatives.
If you want to display your maps all the time, it will eat your battery. I didn't, but found it would still drain the battery fairly quick.
Battery life is a big thing if you are using your phone, so make sure you go out with full charge, turn off bluetooth, wifi and all other un-necessary running apps. The problem here is half the time you don't know what is running or how to turn them off! and get one of these or similar

Now on to Phone and Satellites. Having the phone on the handle bars was better than when i had the phone in the pocket for the reason that it picked up the Satellites better. But it was still crap compared with the Edge 500. I found that a lot of the time, especially on fast decents, it would not pick you up properly so you would end up with a skewed map. The Edge doesn''t seem to miss a beat when it comes to picking up the Satellites.

That is really where the comparison ends. With the phone you can't really do much more than track your ride & speed.

With the 500 you can track everything, HR, Cadence, Temperature, Altitude, Grade of Incline/decline, add on a power meter (if you are minted) and loads of other stuff I havent worked out yet.

Then you can plug it into your computer and with one click upload to Strava or Garmin Connect, Runkeeper etc.
I like connect because you can "play" your ride again. That means it tells you how fast you were going, what the temperature was, what your Cadence was, your HR rate etc etc at any single point in your ride.

Battery life is great so far on mine. I was down to 52% after I did the ring of Kerry, so was still plenty of life left in her.

Only down side so far is that you can't set up a running profile on it (if you are that way inclined), but you can change it from a cycle to a run when you upload to web. Reading up on it tells me that the running ones are built differently to account for arm movement. I have used it a couple of times for running and haven't really had any issue with it. The only thing is it gives you kmph rather than mins per km, which most I think most people use when they run. You do however get these stats when you upload to web (unfortunately no use when you are trying to pace yourself)
I am carrying it in my hand which is a pain in the butt, especially if you are on a longer run. There is a strap you can get for about €20 which will go on your hand, but will allign the Edge in horizontally instead of vertically. I also seen some guy on youtube somewhere who made a homemade one which aligned properly by using the spare bike mount on an old strap.

You get 2 bike mounts with it and you can set up 3 bike profiles. As i have only 2 bikes, i set the third as my running profile.

I recomend getting one, you definately won't look back, but if you get the phone mount etc, you will eventually get an Edge or similar

Seve OB

Decryptor wrote: »

But come on, you'll have to wait on Mr Postman where ever you end up ordering from.

no you don't. I walked into an actual shop one afternoon and came out with a box full of tricks

MajesticDonkey

stevieob wrote: »

no you don't. I walked into an actual shop one afternoon and came out with a box full of tricks

Well obviously
Not many shops can compete with online prices for any consumer electronics though.

smacl

@Stevieob, nice review on the 500

Seve OB

Decryptor wrote: »

Well obviously
Not many shops can compete with online prices for any consumer electronics though.

I know. sometimes i get excited and just have to buy whatever i want there and then though so shops can be good for the impulse purchase.

I was actually prepared when I went into Wheelworx and had done my online research in regards to price and knew it was going to be close to €300 for an online purchase, so it was a no brainer when it worked out at €288 in the shop.

The Noble Nudge

Sound job Steveob you dont work for garmin by any chance you did that good a sales job mate:D:D
Sold Garmin edge 500,

Just one thing what colour is the one you bought just out of interest???
Im seeing a heart rate monitor with a blue and silver unit but the premium monitor seems to be in red and black..

Seve OB

The Noble Nudge wrote: »

Osund job Steveob you dont work for garmin you did that good a sales job mate:D:D
Sold Garmin edge 500,

Just one thing what colour is the one you bought just out of interest???
Im seeing a heart rate monitor with a blue and silver unit but the premium monitor seems to be in red and black..

na I don't work for Garmin or even in Sales

It is easy to sell something though if you really like it and I guess that is what is coming through in my comments.

Yea I know what you mean with the way they advertise it onthe web you would think only the Red one has the premium Strap, which is exactly what I thought. Mine is the Black and Silver one, so it was a surprise that the premium strap was in the box. The box was still sealed and the shop assistant wasn't going to open it up to show it to me, so it was not as if someone was playing with it in the shop and put the wrong item back.

The Noble Nudge

stevieob wrote: »

na I don't work for Garmin or even in Sales

It is easy to sell something though if you really like it and I guess that is what is coming through in my comments.

Yea I know what you mean with the way they advertise it onthe web you would think only the Red one has the premium Strap, which is exactly what I thought. Mine is the Black and Silver one, so it was a surprise that the premium strap was in the box. The box was still sealed and the shop assistant wasn't going to open it up to show it to me, so it was not as if someone was playing with it in the shop and put the wrong item back.

Grand job its blue and silver this one but again it doesnt have anything on the box to signify "Premium" how can you tell the premium V standard???
I'll do the last bit of googling tonight.....
i am not sure i was too pushed about the heart rate anyway handy if i had it and if im shelling out that much i want the premium one....

Seve OB

the premium has a soft strap as opposed to the standard one is more a big lump of plastic

as far as i can tell that is the only difference

out of curiosity, where are you buying? and how much?

Consey

If there's little difference between shop and online prices when postage/delivery and exchange rates are taken into account then surely we have to shop local. I always do unless there's something I can't get in LBS.

guym

http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php/2337/garmin-edge-500-heart-rate-monitor---speed-cadence--010-00829-01-/25b43be8d7131a00cd98ad4f4524596b

mcgratheoin

stevieob wrote: »

the premium has a soft strap as opposed to the standard one is more a big lump of plastic

as far as i can tell that is the only difference

Yeah, but any idea if there's a difference between the actual unit itself or is it just that they've decided to package the premium hrm with a red unit and the normal one with a blue unit?

Seve OB

mcgratheoin wrote: »

Yeah, but any idea if there's a difference between the actual unit itself

Not as far as I know

mcgratheoin wrote: »

is it just that they've decided to package the premium hrm with a red unit and the normal one with a blue unit?

I got a black one with the Premium strap

doozerie

smacl wrote:

I hadn't realised the default mapping coverage was weak, was tempted by a 2nd hand 705 until I picked up a new phone with decent mapping.

The default mapping that ships with the 705 is terrible, or it was when I briefly checked it before installing the Garmin Europe maps that I paid extra for. I expected the replacement maps to cover all of the significant roads at least, but during the Boards Evil 200 ride a few weeks back at one of the junctions I was trying to find where we were on the Garmin and basically it didn't show the road ahead at all and the only reference to the road we'd just traveled was the line it recorded for my progress. The road ahead was the one that led to Slieve Mann (or Shay Elliot, I can never remember which is which) so a road I would have expected to appear in any reasonable map. In the end someone else was able to check where we were more reliably and more quickly on their iPhone.

I've not looked at installing alternative maps on my Garmin, but I probably will at some point. Mostly I try to just avoid using the maps on it at all, it makes me feel too much like a cranky auld fella ("Look, I've pushed the button, now do something", "What do you mean you can't tell me where I am?", "Yes, this road does exist, I'm feckin' STANDING ON IT!", etc.).

mcgratheoin

Garmin 500 bundle (speed/cadence & HRM) picked up today from Eurocycles in town (S. William Street). Without a huge amount of prompting the price came down to €280 so I was able to use my one4all voucher to cover most of it.

Very friendly staff, good customer experience, one happy camper, here...

For the record, Wiggle have it at €295, CRC at €288, Evans at €289..

G rock

Just ordered an edge 500 bundle from handtec based on this thread after my two year old cateye finally died today....

I'm looking forward to you all helping me out with it considering my technological ineptitude!

Seve OB

Just thought I would add a few pointers to my earlier review on the Edge 500.
With reagrds to running, I noticed yesterday the afore mentioned movement of the arms making the speed jump a bit, when I was pretty much keeping a constant pace.
As you look back on it afterwards it is grand, but the speed you get whilst running, can be off a bit and does jump, so it makes it awkward to give accurate speeds as you run. However, if you just look at your average speen (lap speed) this will give you an idea of the pace you are setting, (if you are constantly tipping along at the same pace)

I have lap timing set at position, which means if you are doing laps, it will reset itself at the start point. I generally do not do laps so i will probably turn this off going forward. With my old Cateye, I could look at it and get an average speed for my current trip. You can only get average lap speed as far as I can tell with Edge 500, so if you are doing laps, you can only see the current lap average, and not the average of your overall trip. You do get to look at it after on the computer, but no use if you are out there slogging it trying to bring your average trip speed up and you don't know what it is. Maybe I am doing something wrong here though, so stand to be correct and shown what to do.

I don't like the screen layout. There are a few things I would like to have up, but I can't get what I want together, so it means I have to change views all the time.

You can't see your max speed hit for your current trip which I always liked on the Cateye. Again, wait till you get to your PC for this (or after you finish your trip on the unit itself under the trip summary)

When you upload to PC, I like all the free apps the way they show you your km splits. Don't get that with edge 500. I think to do this, I would have to set lap timing at each km. might try it next time out. Don't get it with Strava either, but you never did anyway, but it does give it to you for running, so thats's one up on Garmin Connect.

thats all for now, and I still love it, just could be tweaked slightly, but then what I want, might not be what everyone else wants!

loinnsigh

Wheelworx currently have 20% off everything in store (until next Monday), which means the Garmin Edge 500 bundle is now down from €320 to €256.
Handtec works out at ~€250 with shipping, and it's not a local Irish business.

I just picked up a black/grey one (to match the bike don't you know) and it has the premium HRM strap inside too. Well chuffed with my purchase, have been debating buying one for ages

Frere Jacques

Don't want to hijack the thread but can anyone recommend a good but cheap bike computer. All I want is wireless, waterproof with RPM/KPH, distance travelled and average speed. Need to pace myself on training runs to get the distance up for a few 160ks I want to do.
TIA.

subway

Halfords do one for about 30, you can get various % off easily enough.
I use it in conjunction with a garmin 105 to get everything I need

Frere Jacques

Cheers Subway. I'll check it out.

billyhead

Folks,

Just following up on this thread. As the previous poster said I am also looking for a bike computer that is obviously water proof, reliable for distance and speed and won't break down thus I am willing to spend a few bob on a decent bike computer. I am not sure if the cheap ones in Halfords are any good or are they. Or can someone recommend an alternative that is pretty accurate and will last

Surinam

billyhead wrote: »

Folks,

Just following up on this thread. As the previous poster said I am also looking for a bike computer that is obviously water proof, reliable for distance and speed and won't break down thus I am willing to spend a few bob on a decent bike computer. I am not sure if the cheap ones in Halfords are any good or are they. Or can someone recommend an alternative that is pretty accurate and will last

I have this Cateye which has been great so far. It has been brought out in plenty of heavy downpours with no issues. If you google it you'll see the reviews are pretty good and another poster on this page noted how you can always see your average speed (this is a good motivator to make you go faster!) whereas on the edge 500 you can't unless you're doing laps. You can also check what your max speed for the ride so far has been.

I picked it up for €60 in Halfords but that was before I was aware of the good online sites.

C3PO

Surinam wrote: »

.... you can always see your average speed (this is a good motivator to make you go faster!) whereas on the edge 500 you can't unless you're doing laps.

That's nonsense .... you can display average speed, actual speed, lap speed and max speed .... all at the same time .... on a 500 if you want to!

Surinam

C3PO wrote: »

That's nonsense .... you can display average speed, actual speed, lap speed and max speed .... all at the same time .... on a 500 if you want to!

Apologies but I was basing it on what this post said above - none of you corrected him so I presumed he was telling the truth?

You can only get average lap speed as far as I can tell with Edge 500, so if you are doing laps, you can only see the current lap average, and not the average of your overall trip. You do get to look at it after on the computer, but no use if you are out there slogging it trying to bring your average trip speed up and you don't know what it is. Maybe I am doing something wrong here though, so stand to be correct and shown what to do.


....You can't see your max speed hit for your current trip

Seve OB

Surinam wrote: »

Apologies but I was basing it on what this post said above - none of you corrected him so I presumed he was telling the truth?

I will correct myself now The book they give you only has the basic info in it. You have to go online and look at the full manual to figure most of the other stuff out, so the other day I figured out how to do it.

I had the default layout set up on my Edge, which gave me 40 different options displayed. 5 pages with 8 different displays per page. I didn't realise you could pick and move them from a list of loads of options. I was able to set it up nicely the way I like it (giving me avg speed and max speed) and have similar items now set up on each page. I was able to set a page up also which is more geared towards running also, and found it much better the other day when I did a 10k.

For me, the Edge 500 just got soooo much better... go and get one!

The Noble Nudge

I finally bought it Wheelworx €320 on the box ask for discount and youll get the token 10% €288.
Now to work out how to use it.