( 21 reviews )
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Posted: Aug 16 2009
I purchased the 705 with heart monitor and 2010 City Maps DVD only a month ago. I have only used it maybe a dozen times and 4 of those times were in a car. First and foremost this is NOT a car GPS and one should not expect anything more than a very basic point-to-point GPS if using it in a car or motorcycle. The routing is way to slow and if you go off path you need to pull over and wait for it to re-route. Even when selecting the car/motorcycle routing feature (& unchecking the "avoid toll- roads" and "avoid highways" toggles) the device will auto route on less traveled roads. In fact, with my limited experience, I do not trust the device to auto-route yet. THis may be due to me not being familiar with the device yet but I simply asked it for the fastest route from Avalon, NJ to Flemington, NJ and the auto-route suggested I go west of Philadelphia (about 45min out of my way). But I bought this for the bicycle so on the bike it works as expected, although I am having a "challenging" time entering routes and using virtual partner. Like any electronic device, they all have their idiosyncrasies and I am simply learning how to use this device. Some things are intuitive and some are not but it generally works as expected and I am happy with it so far. Per the reviews I bought the 2010 City Maps on DVD instead of a Garmin card and that is what eveyone should do since I can use the maps on my computer and my Edge 705 (doesn't work the other way around). Getting authorization from Garmin was a little unclear but techsupport showed me what I needed to do fairly quickly. I am riding some centries and double centries soon so we will see how this unit works. I will update my review after those rides since I expect to push the limits of this device.
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Posted: Jul 21 2009
We bought the Edge 605 with the North America SD card for local bicycle safe roads. Without this card, you are directed to highways. My husband wanted a GPS so he could take random roads to find new routes and then be able to find his way home. His average ride is 50 - 70 miles. Being able to meander through country roads and then push "go home" and actually be dropped at your front door is great. He's not computer literate, so it's been a learning curve for him, but he loves it. He ignored a turn and wound up in a busy strip mall with a lot of traffic. He decided to trust the GPS unit, still thinking it would throw him on a highway. He was pleasantly surprised when it directed him across the hwy to local roads. The only negative comment I have is needing the SD card to be routed to SAFE roads for cyclists. It should be part of the package.
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Posted: Jul 13 2009
I have been using the Edge 705 for a month now. I download the data daily to the Mac version of the Garmin Training Center. Having all this information available helps you focus your training and you can see where improvements can be made by measuring your heart rate, cadence, pace etc. I have a few complaints. The release lever snapped. Having aerobars on the handlebars it leaves little room for sliding the Edge sideways - I'd have preferred to slide the Edge forwards or backwards; I don't have space on the handlebars for such a large device. I let Garmin know of this and apart from one unhelpful response from one of their "specialists", I am expecting a replacement to be sent to me. The distance travelled jumped by over 10,000 miles. The tracking map did not change from my usual route not did the Longitude or Latitude look wrong when I analysed the raw data (XML version for those people interested in reading raw data). I had been going under an underpass when the device beeped so was told by another "specialist" that the device got confused by the signals. With no other change in data, it sounds more like a bug rather than handling a known issue. Make of it what you will. It has only happened the once. And finally, the elevation. With GPS, I am not surprised that the accuracy is not down to the nearest foot having got other Garmin devices I use for Geocaching. However, I am quite surprised that the accuracy of elevation is quite off. I start my route from my house and I finish here also. I have yet to finish at the same elevation or even near it. I climb the same hill twice and again I have yet to see the same size hill on the route profile. It is a good indicator but it is not accurate. A good thing. One thing I was impressed with was the route tracking. I set up a route that repeated a section of road. If you veer off the route the device notifies you. Once back on route, you get confirmation of that too. I tested the logic of the device. On the second time of cycling the repeated section, I exited where I had done so the first time around. On the second I had set the route to continue straight rather than turn right. After thirty feet or so after turning right, I got notification that I had "lost the route". The visual map showed both the first route and second route but the device had worked out that I should have gone straight. I deviated through a parking lot and winded my way back to the original road and was notified that the route had been found again. Impressive. Despite the above, I like the device a lot and do recommend it. Don't expect perfection however as it not close.
