Anyone else really love their Garmin?

[snorri]

I can rely on memory for route planning day or even two day trips from home so I've never felt the need for anything more sophisticated than my basic model Garmin . If I'm going further afield then I may take a map.
Perhaps I need more roads.

 

[Aravis]

I'm totally in love with being able to record rides. How I wish I could review in minute detail my rides from 30 or more years ago.

Having watched this thread develop, I haven't noticed anyone preferring a Bryton or similar over a Garmin - apologies if I've missed any. The debate seems to be over the respective merits of Garmins and phone apps, or nothing at all. Since nearly every ride I do is longer than 8 hours, and Garmin seems to be the unchallenged market leader for dedicated devices, there wasn't reallly any contest when I bought my first Garmin (a 200) about a year ago.

When I upgraded, I went for a 520, not particularly for its feature set, but for its battery life (better even than the 200 so far) and, from anecotal evidence, better reliability than models which on the surface seemed to match my requirements better, the Touring and the 810. So far both my devices have been rock solid.

So I'm in love with the concept, not necessarily with Garmin, but from what I've seen so far, they deliver.

One thing I always liked about the 200 was the fact it doesn't have a barometric altimeter. I can't see why, given time, elevation based on map data can't be made accurate enough for all purposes, and whilst for the moment I do see the case for using barometric data, ultimately it seems like a flawed concept. A world where everyone is using the same elevation data is my principal hope for the future.

 

[huwsparky]

Garmin 520 Edge user, I really like it not let me down yet, I had issues with the BT dropping to the phone but it was a phone issue not a Garmin one.

How did you get it sorted? Mine has done this a few times.

 

[Jenkins]

Started with a 605 and then upgraded to a Touring for the clearer & more detailed maps. I've had a 500 for a couple of years and this gets used almost all the time nowadays, although the Touring still gets an outing when I do an unknown planed route. The 605 still works, but isn't used at all.

 

[Tojo]

I have three, 200 - MTB, 500 + HR, cadence - Road, 25 - CX the only gripe I have is with the 25, on the whole it does exactly what I want except you cannot resume your ride if you power it down when you stop for an extended break, you have to start a new ride and string them all together on Strava.......

 

[broady]

@Tojo that sounds a proper pain with the 25.
I like the 200 and 1000 as I can do all my commuting miles as one ride per day. Or even the whole week as I have in the past.

 

[steveindenmark]

[QUOTE 4681832, member: 9609"]I guess it is yet another screen to stare at rather than looking upwards and enjoying being in the great outdoors[/QUOTE]


I dont understand that.

It beeps when you come to a turn. You look at it to see which way to turn and you turn.

You dont have to stare at the screen.

Are the people who dont like them. The people who dont use them or have never had one?

This sounds a bit similar to electric bike threads.

 

[Dogtrousers]

A world where everyone is using the same elevation data is my principal hope for the future.

I think you'll be waiting a long time I've been gathering information on this subject. I might start a thread sometime.

 

[psmiffy]

I think you'll be waiting a long time I've been gathering information on this subject. I might start a thread sometime.

coming to you soon - unfortunately everybody will have to unlove their garmins et.al. and buy a new one

 

[Smithbat]

I have a 200 which I got second hand on Ebay and I love it although I am hoping to upgrade to one that has maps at Christmas. I have an original Etrex 20 and a Legend HCX which we use for geocaching and the satnav that came with the car is a Garmin, I find them very intuitive to use and really like them.

 

[smutchin]

I've had my Edge 510 since 2012 and it has been a real asset. I was tempted to go for an 810 but I've heard lots of negative stories about them - I think Garmin got it wrong with that model but the 510 is excellent.

The first Garmin I owned was a second hand ForeRunner 405CX, which I initially used for both running and cycling until I got the Edge. Limited battery but otherwise a superb bit of kit - extremely reliable, easy to use, excellent range of features. I've recently upgraded to a ForeRunner 620, which is great but I don't find it as easy to use. The 620 is possibly overkill for my needs - I would have gone for the 220 but it doesn't have the virtual pacer, which is one of my favourite features of the 405CX.

Next upgrade will probably be an Edge 1000 but I'm still happy with the 510 for now so there's no real impetus.

 

[psmiffy]

They have to get it to work first...

I believe it is actually working at the moment - despite problems with the clocks - SAR is up - and for the ordinary Hoi toi it is visible on the newer smartphones

 

[Drago]

Galileo's free service is no better than GPS. You only get the extra resolution if you're a paying customer. It's still not fully operational, and with the EU suffering it's own problems the funding may never be forthcoming to make it so, or if it does to continue to maintain it. The Americans have also stated they'd resort to shooting them down if an aggressor nation is ever found to he using it in a conflict against them.

 

[mattobrien]

I have had a 510 since early 2013 and it has proved to be very good. I have had a couple of small issues, but always resolved quickly by the excellent customer service from Garmin (and I am sure I contributed to the issues myself).

Since getting the 510, I have started to plan and organise more routes for our group which meant I had to send the route to someone with mapping on their GPS to make sure we didn't go the wrong way, either that or memorise the route. Over Christmas I upgraded to get mapping so got an 820. Overall I am very pleased with it and have had not issues with it to report.

 

[smutchin]

The Americans have also stated they'd resort to shooting them down if an aggressor nation is ever found to he using it in a conflict against them.

Presumably the same goes for GLONASS?