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For the geek who has everything ...
Well, I'm a bit of a gadget geek, however hardly ever buy any. I
always think "but will I use it, and is it perfect?". So, I've just offloaded my old non-mapping GPS with cycle bracket for a fairly reasonable sum and just put in an order for a Garmin Edge 705. So, what's a Garmin Edge 705 I hear you ask, sell it to me. It's just a GPS, but it has a colour screen and you can load up maps onto it. In fact, Open Street Map are able to be uploaded too, which is quite cool. The things this thing does is pretty cool, including your cadence, heart rate etc. Also, a proper barometric height rather than a GPS guess. You can race yourself on regular rides too ... Anyway, I don't work for Garmin, just a tad excited. I have done some research, and in the end plomped for dabs.com who are selling this at £263.49 inc VAT + P&P (they give a £20 voucher during the buying process). Sigma sport have this at £359.99 .... So, just pretend its your birthday or something ... stock arrives on 6th March ... |
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#2
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For the geek who has everything ...
elyob said the following on 29/02/2008 14:33:
I have done some research, and in the end plomped for dabs.com who are selling this at £263.49 inc VAT + P&P (they give a £20 voucher during the buying process). Sigma sport have this at £359.99 .... Whereas an OS map costs, what, £7.00? :-) -- Paul Boyd http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/ |
#3
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For the geek who has everything ...
On 29 Feb, 14:33, elyob wrote:
So, what's a Garmin Edge 705 I hear you ask, sell it to me. It's just a GPS, but it has a colour screen and you can load up maps onto it. In fact, Open Street Map are able to be uploaded too, which is quite cool. I got a Garmin Vista for Christmas coz I'm a geek with a terrible sense of direction and I wanted a GPS for my bike but I'm not bothered about stuff like heart rate and cadance. The openstreetmap stuff is brilliant. In fact I've got really into contributing to it, filling in quite a few blanks near where I live and taking lunchtime walks near work to fill in all the little missing alleys and footways. It's a great way to find odd little places and cut-throughs you never knew existed and I've also got a much quieter cycle route to work now. I love the way you can easily fix the maps if they're wrong or stuff is missing. So I say: make use of it but also contribute back to the project. |
#4
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For the geek who has everything ...
In ,
Paul Boyd usenet.is.worse@plusnet tweaked the Babbage-Engine to tell us: elyob said the following on 29/02/2008 14:33: I have done some research, and in the end plomped for dabs.com who are selling this at £263.49 inc VAT + P&P (they give a £20 voucher during the buying process). Sigma sport have this at £359.99 .... Whereas an OS map costs, what, £7.00? :-) Before all these new-fangled electro-gizmos came along, the popular method among Audaxers was to buy a motoring atlas and cut out the relevant pages. My first lasted me three years before the most popular pages started to disintegrate... -- Dave Larrington http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk Pepperoni and green peppers, mushrooms, olives, chives! |
#5
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For the geek who has everything ...
On Feb 29, 2:45*pm, Paul Boyd usenet.is.worse@plusnet wrote:
elyob said the following on 29/02/2008 14:33: I have done some research, and in the end plomped for dabs.com who are selling this at £263.49 inc VAT + P&P (they give a £20 voucher during the buying process). Sigma sport have this at £359.99 .... Whereas an OS map costs, what, £7.00? :-) A gps isn't something you /need/, but following a complex route on a bike is so much easier with one, particularly if it's wet, windy, etc. I got an eTrex venture for Christmas, just been planning my first solo ride with it for tomorrow, across Dartmoor. (We've done one tandem ride with it, but it was on the stoker bars, so I don't feel I've used it properly yet.) Rob |
#6
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For the geek who has everything ...
On 29 Feb, 14:54, POHB wrote:
On 29 Feb, 14:33, elyob wrote: So, what's a Garmin Edge 705 I hear you ask, sell it to me. It's just a GPS, but it has a colour screen and you can load up maps onto it. In fact, Open Street Map are able to be uploaded too, which is quite cool. I got a Garmin Vista for Christmas coz I'm a geek with a terrible sense of direction and I wanted a GPS for my bike but I'm not bothered about stuff like heart rate and cadance. The openstreetmap stuff is brilliant. In fact I've got really into contributing to it, filling in quite a few blanks near where I live and taking lunchtime walks near work to fill in all the little missing alleys and footways. It's a great way to find odd little places and cut-throughs you never knew existed and I've also got a much quieter cycle route to work now. I love the way you can easily fix the maps if they're wrong or stuff is missing. So I say: make use of it but also contribute back to the project. I've not really figured out how to contribute. However, am off to Morrocco soon, and will be taking another GPS gizmo I have and will record some tracks. Is just walking them and uploading them without naming them considered bad practice? |
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For the geek who has everything ...
On 29 Feb, 15:24, elyob wrote:
I've not really figured out how to contribute. However, am off to Morrocco soon, and will be taking another GPS gizmo I have and will record some tracks. Is just walking them and uploading them without naming them considered bad practice? I'm pretty new to the scene so not best placed to judge. But IMHO just uploading the tracks would be better than nothing. Uploading them and then tracing and simply tagging them as roads or paths would be splendid, names would be icing the cake. Have a go near home before you go away, try out the Potlach online editor, it's really easy to use and only takes a few minutes to trace over a route. I bet there's a few minor streets or paths near you that you could contribute. |
#8
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For the geek who has everything ...
elyob wrote:
Anyway, I don't work for Garmin, just a tad excited. I have done some research, and in the end plomped for dabs.com who are selling this at £263.49 inc VAT + P&P (they give a £20 voucher during the buying process). Sigma sport have this at £359.99 .... So, just pretend its your birthday or something ... stock arrives on 6th March ... I've had the Edge 305 for about 18 months.... and I'm loving it. I use it more to tell me where I've been instead of where I'm going. In time-trials I have my previous tracks stored so that I can race against myself, and see in an easy to understand way how I am performing with the simple graphical interface. I like the fact that it's a simple unit and can change it quicjkly between any of my bikes. I have the cadence/speed sensor only on the bike on turbo... However... it's not without flaw. The unit powers off intermittently, without pattern. Sometimes it does it because of judder in the road surface, but often does it on evening time trials in the summer when it's just a bit warm. The battery on the 305 is not too hot either. 12 hours is advertised, but in reality it lasts about 6 hours. I hope they've engineered those faults out with the 705. Garmin customer service is "so-so", not the best but then again not as bad as some. I did get a replacement for one unit that was switching itslef off repeatedly... 21 day turn around. I use Memory Map with the OS Landranger 50:000 series maps. I have the 25:000 series too but hardly use them. I think Memory Map is expensive.. but "bittorrents" are cheap if you get my drift. |
#9
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For the geek who has everything ...
Whereas an OS map costs, what, £7.00? :-) Not for the whole country! Probably cost more than the GPS and you wouldn't fit them all into your panniers, and they'd need waterproofing - which means you have to take them out and re-fold them in strong winds and heavy rains. Out of interest, does the 705 do OS maps now? I thought is was more of a basic road-map/tomtom atlas style display - good enough for roads but not cutting it for the tracks. Alternatives available are smart-phones with memory-map/viewRanger and the SatNav A10. It'd be interesting to try the 705 as it's dedictaed for cycling - esp the virtual race bit - let us know how you get on with it.. Enjoy! Duncan |
#10
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For the geek who has everything ...
Before all these new-fangled electro-gizmos came along, the popular method among Audaxers was to buy a motoring atlas and cut out the relevant pages. My first lasted me three years before the most popular pages started to disintegrate... I still plan to do that in case the device gets knackered in a fall, or loses power, or stops working for any other reason. |
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