Which GPS?

[Blair512]

I've been looking at buying a Garmin Edge Touring. Has anyone got any experience of using this for navigation or is there a better option out there around the similar price?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Usual answer .... Dakota 20 / eTrex 20 or 30 / Oregon

All use AA batteries so are well suited to multi-day trips. All pretty rugged and robust.

[johnnystorm]

I borrowed a Touring from a friend to try the "route generator" feature. I had a Dakota 200 at the time and have since bought an 810.

I met up with Chicken Legs to do Dave Barter's Norfolk Ride. Using the Garmin to get to the start point took me on a route of over 50 miles. Taking the "cycle friendly" route I knew covered under 35 miles. Obviously it depends if you want it to take you on a ride for the sake of it, or as the "quickest" way to get somewhere. It was about a year old when I borrowed it and the battery was flat after about 9hrs riding/navigating/following a GPX.

In summary, the Dakota is better for long rides as Lithium AAs have double the life and are of course easily replaced mid ride, I'm finding my 810 lasts longer than the Touring did and can also connect hrm, cadence, etc and the touring's maps are essentially "free" OSM maps so I can add them to the 810 for nothing anyway. All I can think of in the touring's favour is that it's ready to use out of the box and can randomly generate rides of a certain distance. I don't find that worth the premium over a Dakota and the 810 isn't too much more and does loads more (uploading rides through my phone as soon as I finish is great!)

[Justchris]

I borrowed a Touring from a friend to try the "route generator" feature. I had a Dakota 200 at the time and have since bought an 810.

I met up with Chicken Legs to do Dave Barter's Norfolk Ride. Using the Garmin to get to the start point took me on a route of over 50 miles. Taking the "cycle friendly" route I knew covered under 35 miles. Obviously it depends if you want it to take you on a ride for the sake of it, or as the "quickest" way to get somewhere. It was about a year old when I borrowed it and the battery was flat after about 9hrs riding/navigating/following a GPX.

In summary, the Dakota is better for long rides as Lithium AAs have double the life and are of course easily replaced mid ride, I'm finding my 810 lasts longer than the Touring did and can also connect hrm, cadence, etc and the touring's maps are essentially "free" OSM maps so I can add them to the 810 for nothing anyway. All I can think of in the touring's favour is that it's ready to use out of the box and can randomly generate rides of a certain distance. I don't find that worth the premium over a Dakota and the 810 isn't too much more and does loads more (uploading rides through my phone as soon as I finish is great!)

With the 810 can you not create a route home via a garmin app and upload it? I was under the impression you could.

[StuartG]

I have a Garmin 605, which is a similar creature to the Tourer. To be fair all the GPS units are pretty good nowadays, all depends on what feature you are prioritising.

My 605 also has the route generator, which can be useful, but never is the quickest way to get from A to B. Benefits are the charge comes from a USB so I can connect is to a dyno hub. However, the charge only lasts around 8 to 10 hours so it needs to be connected to something!!

etrex battery lasts longer (up to 20 hours I believe) and runs on replaceable batteries, so you can carry them with you. The screen is also bigger.

Both are pretty water resistant.

If you have an 810 etc then you can put on a cadence meter, if you are into counting how fast you can pedal.

[johnnystorm]

With the 810 can you not create a route home via a garmin app and upload it? I was under the impression you could.

Yes you can. The feature I badly referred to was the Touring's ability to take you to a place using it's maps just like a normal car sat-nav, i.e. just put in a place name or a postcode. I expect the 810 would do this as well if routable maps were installed (OSM freebies are available as well as garmin city explorer's etc). The touring also has a random ride generator, i.e. you can ask it to create you a ride of 30 miles and it'll generate 3 options for you to pick from and take you out on a 30 mile loop back to where you started.

Back to the 50 mile meander it took me on, it was a nice quiet route and took me on roads I'd not used before but it certainly wasn't direct. Of course, that only matters if you have to be somewhere on time....like meeting Andy at the start of a 130k ride.

[ScotRoutes]

If you have an 810 etc then you can put on a cadence meter, if you are into counting how fast you can pedal.

Dakotas and Oregons support cadence and/or HRM too.

[Justchris]

If you have an 810 etc then you can put on a cadence meter, if you are into counting how fast you can pedal.

Dakotas and Oregons support cadence and/or HRM too.

Can a Dakota oregon or etrex 30 show a track to follow on a map and show your heart rate at the same time?

[ctznsmith]

If you have an 810 etc then you can put on a cadence meter, if you are into counting how fast you can pedal.

Dakotas and Oregons support cadence and/or HRM too.

Can a Dakota oregon or etrex 30 show a track to follow on a map and show your heart rate at the same time?

Oregon definitely can. You can select 2 or 4 fields to show on the map screen.

[ScotRoutes]

If you have an 810 etc then you can put on a cadence meter, if you are into counting how fast you can pedal.

Dakotas and Oregons support cadence and/or HRM too.

Can a Dakota oregon or etrex 30 show a track to follow on a map and show your heart rate at the same time?

Oregon definitely can. You can select 2 or 4 fields to show on the map screen.

And you'd likely want a screen the size of an Oregon if you want to have multiple data fields on view along with your map.

[StuartG]

I used to use a cadence sensor when I was doing road TT, it was a good training aid.

Is there any benefit for off-road? Having just come back off the trails tonight, there is no way a Garmin sensor would have survived.

[Taylor]

Are you sure about the Oregon supporting the HRM facility.
I read somewhere recently that it wouldn't.

[ScotRoutes]

Positive.

I've just done it again to make sure

[Justchris]

Thanks scot routes. Now does anyone know if you can do exactly the same with an etrex.

Cheers

Chris

[johnnystorm]

Heart rate on show in a screenshot on this page:

http://www.takeadventure.com/index.php% ... temid%3D45

[ianfitz]

Thanks scot routes. Now does anyone know if you can do exactly the same with an etrex.

Cheers

Chris

I've recently started using an etrex 30x. picks up ant+ HR strap easily. displays 2 or 4 data fields on the map page (or 0) I have HR and either trip distance or distance to go. theres a page you can arrange with any number of data fields thats easy to scroll between

[Blair512]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I think I might go with a Dakota. I'm not fussed for HR or cadence etc. Just want something I can plumb a gpx into and get away out. The replaceable batteries are also a bonus, I thought about getting a dynamo hub to run the touring but that's an expense I could do without right now!

[Justchris]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I think I might go with a Dakota. I'm not fussed for HR or cadence etc. Just want something I can plumb a gpx into and get away out. The replaceable batteries are also a bonus, I thought about getting a dynamo hub to run the touring but that's an expense I could do without right now!

Sorry hijacked your thread a bit Blair. But thanks everyone.

Chris

[johnnystorm]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I think I might go with a Dakota. I'm not fussed for HR or cadence etc. Just want something I can plumb a gpx into and get away out. The replaceable batteries are also a bonus, I thought about getting a dynamo hub to run the touring but that's an expense I could do without right now!

I have connected an HRM to my Dakota , pretty sure cadence is possible as well if the mood takes you!

[Mariner]

Re HRM on etrex 30.

I specifically got a separate HRM as my etrex runs in battery saving mode ie off unless arriving at WP but I do need to see my HR fairly continuously.
Polar monitors are so cheap now that the whole thing costs less than a Garmin HRM band and I can use it in the gym.
I suppose someone is going to tell me the etrex will run only displaying HR and switch off nav thereby saving battery.

[Blair512]

Sorry hijacked your thread a bit Blair. But thanks everyone.

Chris

Don't worry about it Chris, everydays a school day! I never knew they supported all those things, useful info for the future

Blair

[johnnystorm]

Re HRM on etrex 30.

I specifically got a separate HRM as my etrex runs in battery saving mode ie off unless arriving at WP but I do need to see my HR fairly continuously.
Polar monitors are so cheap now that the whole thing costs less than a Garmin HRM band and I can use it in the gym.
I suppose someone is going to tell me the etrex will run only displaying HR and switch off nav thereby saving battery.

I used my Dakota just as a trip computer at the Bonty 24hr race so I could see the HRM reading.....

If the polar monitor is ANT+ compaticle then it should talk to a garmin anyway, doesn't need to be garmin branded. Having said that the £18 Garmin ANT ipad adaptor won't speak to trainerroad but the £50 Wahoo one does....handy that.

[MidgeMagnet]

Another hijack, but also been looking out for one recently.

The new etrex touch 25 and 35 look decent, sort of a mix of the oregon, dakota and etrex. They are fairly new so I'm kinda looking around for reviews. One thing I am concerned about is that the touch screen and use with gloves. Anyone had any experience of it?

[Pirahna]

I've got an 810. With gloves I can swipe between the different screens but take them off if I need to do anything else with it, zooming in and out on the map for example.

[johnnystorm]

Another hijack, but also been looking out for one recently.

The new etrex touch 25 and 35 look decent, sort of a mix of the oregon, dakota and etrex. They are fairly new so I'm kinda looking around for reviews. One thing I am concerned about is that the touch screen and use with gloves. Anyone had any experience of it?

Garmin's are old tech resistive screens so are fine with gloves. Just make sure you fit screen protectors as muddy finger tips wreak havoc!