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Garmin Edge reliability

Yeah it does look good, but I would keep my power meter at the crank so I can change wheels
 
The PITA, at least with my 705 is that after it pukes and requires a full reset (unfortunately more often than is humanly convenient) , it will pair w/other rider's gear. So, to correct this I need to split off from the group far enough to do a re-start (again) and a re-scan (again) to lock my devices.

Again, the biggest problems I have with the Garmin is:

1) Moisture sensitivity. The 500 and 705 are just too sensitive for anything other than fair weather riding. Like you, I'd often put it into my radio pocket. But then, it's not much good as a course navigator or data feedback.

2) Unintended reboots. Typically when off course slightly or trying to calculate a new course whilst on the fly. The most sensitive part, btw, is the microSD card slot. Which, generally has the data for the map... DOH! That gets a bit of mist into it and the whole unit pukes out.

It sounds like everyone hasn't donw the setup of thier Garmin's correctly - 90% of the JCF peloton use Garmins and we have no issues with all the GSC10's, HRM, Power Meters and other Ant+ devices even in a race of 140 riders!

It sounds like that you haven't done a fixed pairing and that you garmin has all the accessory functions set to on and just picks up the nearest accessory rather than being fixed to one uniue ID.

Also if you are doing a unit search you need to be well away from other units as the Garmin device is unable to work out which i your unit or that of another riders.

In regards to moisture issue - the Garmin 500 is utterly crap! When racing Cyclocross I put mine in the radio pocket on my skin suit as it was the only place where it would get any sort of protection from the elements.
 
IT's weird that the Edges are so sensitive to water. For navigation I usually use a Garmin Dakota 20, which is a bit of a chunky beast compared to the Edges (I've got a 500 for when I don't need navi). However, I've regularly had the Dakota virtually swimming in water - the screen is recessed so it fills up like a lake on rainy rides - with no ill effects. Before I learned how loose fitting the handlebar mount was it also did 2 or 3 "bail out" manoeuvers at 35+ km/h onto hard tarmac and got a few scratches, but continued to work flawlessly. It's also a lot more accurate in deep forest etc. I would have got the Edge 800 if it had been available when I bought the Dakota, but quite glad I didn't!
 
IT's weird that the Edges are so sensitive to water. For navigation I usually use a Garmin Dakota 20, which is a bit of a chunky beast compared to the Edges (I've got a 500 for when I don't need navi). However, I've regularly had the Dakota virtually swimming in water - the screen is recessed so it fills up like a lake on rainy rides - with no ill effects. Before I learned how loose fitting the handlebar mount was it also did 2 or 3 "bail out" manoeuvers at 35+ km/h onto hard tarmac and got a few scratches, but continued to work flawlessly. It's also a lot more accurate in deep forest etc. I would have got the Edge 800 if it had been available when I bought the Dakota, but quite glad I didn't!

Agreed, the Dakota series is great and it's a little tank!

I had a one on my MTB, but I guess I'm a style weeny with the roadie and I don't like something that big on my Tarmac.

Wish the Edge series had the same great rep (at least from us)
 
The Dakota lacks the ANT+ interface of the Edge, which means no support for HRM, cadence sensor, speed sensor or power meter for training.
 
FWIW my Edge 800 has never had water ingress problems. It was underwater, upside-down for about 20 mins last Sunday, but came up right as rain. I always take care that the rubber USB port cover is fully inserted - it's still a bit fiddly after 2 years. And I put a ZAGG Invisible Shield on the screen to protect against scratches.

It would be nice if Garmin would not fragment their market so much. But I guess they're in business to please their shareholders. We the customers still buy their stuff, even though it's rarely exactly what we want or need.

My backup GPS (in addition the the iPhone, of course) is an eTrex Vista HCx. Primarily a hiking/general use model, this has no cycling or fitness features other than a handlebar mount. But it does what it does really well - more flexible mapping than on the Edge 800, takes AA batteries, and it doesn't stroke out after 400-odd km. This also has spent some time unintentionally swimming, with no ill effects.
 
Nothing wrong with that. It's how they continue to develop and R&D new prdts. I just wish the cycling specific models would be a little more ruggedized as far as firmware and moisture are concerned. I really like the 705 , as a whole , I much prefer button to 'touch' and the batt life is acceptable. I rarely, if ever ride more than 300km at a shot - so the 400km barrier is not a concern.

Well said; surprise surprise Garmin is in business to make money ;)
 
Tho I'm not generally a wet-wx rider, and protect it when I am out in the wet, my edge 500 has never had any moisture issues.

I don't use the cadence or HRM functions.
 
Nothing wrong with that. It's how they continue to develop and R&D new prdts. I just wish the cycling specific models would be a little more ruggedized as far as firmware and moisture are concerned. I really like the 705 , as a whole , I much prefer button to 'touch' and the batt life is acceptable. I rarely, if ever ride more than 300km at a shot - so the 400km barrier is not a concern.

I agree that they are falling short of expectations for the Edge products, and this is probably also attributable to the type and knowledge of the users (newbie riders who want the "pro look").

I still feel that some real competition would result in better products, and possibly prices, for the consumer.
 
The Dakota lacks the ANT+ interface of the Edge, which means no support for HRM, cadence sensor, speed sensor or power meter for training.

That is true of the Dakota 10, but the 20 has ANT+ support for HRM and cadence (and temperature, bizarrely). And the native output from the device doesn't include HR; the only way to get the data is to export a GPX and import manually into Connect or Strava.
 
I didn't see ANT+ mentioned anywhere on the specs page for the Dakota 20 in the Garmin online shop, but the accessories page has all the optional ANT+ sensors, you're right! To me as a potential customer it seems crazy that they leave out the UI for heart rate if the firmware supports logging the data. But I can also see that if they did show HR on screen on a navigation-capable device, it might cannibalize sales of the much more expensive 800. Like Apple, Garmin want to sell you their hardware to run with their software. One protects the margins of the other.

I would much rather use an open source based solution running Android or Linux, where you can add or replace software to realize the potential of the hardware, as I do with commodity broadband routers running DD-WRT (310 days uptime and counting!).

There are too few smart phones out there that include suitable hardware yet (such as ANT+ or BTLE) and and even then, their LCD displays usually draw too much power to permanently keep them on for a HRM display.

With low cost developer boards like the Raspberry Pi credit card size ARM boards and USB GPS receivers and ANT+ adapters, an open source solution seems not beyond reach.
 
I didn't see ANT+ mentioned anywhere on the specs page for the Dakota 20 in the Garmin online shop, but the accessories page has all the optional ANT+ sensors, you're right! To me as a potential customer it seems crazy that they leave out the UI for heart rate if the firmware supports logging the data. But I can also see that if they did show HR on screen on a navigation-capable device, it might cannibalize sales of the much more expensive 800. Like Apple, Garmin want to sell you their hardware to run with their software. One protects the margins of the other.

I would much rather use an open source based solution running Android or Linux, where you can add or replace software to realize the potential of the hardware, as I do with commodity broadband routers running DD-WRT (310 days uptime and counting!).

There are too few smart phones out there that include suitable hardware yet (such as ANT+ or BTLE) and and even then, their LCD displays usually draw too much power to permanently keep them on for a HRM display.

With low cost developer boards like the Raspberry Pi credit card size ARM boards and USB GPS receivers and ANT+ adapters, an open source solution seems not beyond reach.

To somewhat answer the open source thing; you can use Open Source Maps on the edge 800, so you get the maps for less, can use on android or iOS, and add/modify places etc. thereby building your own maps, or at least helping to build the OSM community.
 
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