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bikeman66
Senior Member
- Location
- Isle of Wight
My son has the 500. Not entirely sure it does give gradient, but will try to confirm tomorrow when we're out riding. My 510 does have this feature, but I'm not convinced it's all that accurate to be honest. Used it riding up Mont Ventoux last year, and in certain sections where I thought it should have been showing 9% it was often showing 11%. To be fair, by the time I'd reached the top, the most important figure was that magical 1,911 metres. The 8's, 10's and 12%'s became a by-product of a totally knackering bike ride. Good fun on the way down though!
huwsparky
Über Member
- Location
- Llangrannog
Yes it does, not sure if trust the reading 100% though!
AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
Yes it does and from my experience its pretty accurate too, well on mine it is. However, if its anything like the temperature reading than it could vary from unit to unit?
AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
On another note and not wishing to hijack this thread, but the Edge 500 truly is a brilliant piece of kit isn't it? Excluding the fact that it has no mapping for a basic GPS unit, I have no idea why Garmin have chosen to drop it from the range?
Mine is a good few years old now and I am amazed that the battery hasn't given up yet? Annually I do in the region of 15k per year and the unit has been used on every ride so I have been looking at a possible replacement unit.
The "new" Edge 20/25 are both sort of good but are to small to see the display and with a battery range of 6 hours is pretty rubbish. I had the "25" for a week or so and it had to go. The options for the data to be displayed is also pretty crap to be honest as well.
So the next option is maybe the 520 which is double the price and is more data training focused and only has a base map, so neither one thing or the other really. Okay yes you can load OSM maps if you remove the base map, but only a select amount. So if your gonna want full mapping then the 810 (soon to be replaced with the 820 maybe?) is the way to go, and even more money!
Or maybe the Edge Touring/Plus, both great units (I have the Plus version) but much bigger than the Edge 500.
So to me the Edge 500 is just about perfect size, great battery range, good options for display and functions etc
Mine is a good few years old now and I am amazed that the battery hasn't given up yet? Annually I do in the region of 15k per year and the unit has been used on every ride so I have been looking at a possible replacement unit.
The "new" Edge 20/25 are both sort of good but are to small to see the display and with a battery range of 6 hours is pretty rubbish. I had the "25" for a week or so and it had to go. The options for the data to be displayed is also pretty crap to be honest as well.
So the next option is maybe the 520 which is double the price and is more data training focused and only has a base map, so neither one thing or the other really. Okay yes you can load OSM maps if you remove the base map, but only a select amount. So if your gonna want full mapping then the 810 (soon to be replaced with the 820 maybe?) is the way to go, and even more money!
Or maybe the Edge Touring/Plus, both great units (I have the Plus version) but much bigger than the Edge 500.
So to me the Edge 500 is just about perfect size, great battery range, good options for display and functions etc
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bikeman66
Senior Member
- Location
- Isle of Wight
Agreed, about the 500. Great little piece of kit! I bought one for my son when Aldi had them for £80 in October. Does pretty much everything my 510 does............but with a couple of notable exceptions. Personally, I really appreciate the fact that the 510 uses both the American GPS and the Russian GLONASS satellite systems, as this makes positioning exceptionally accurate and supremely reliable. Never lost a satellite fix on a ride yet, even when under heavy cloud cover, under cover of trees or in built-up areas! Also like the crystal clear TFT screen. Never used the live tracking feature yet, but I suppose it's worth having! The £195.00 I paid for the 510 does seem a bit excessive I guess, just to gain those few features mentioned, but I'm very happy with it, and reliability has been fantastic so far.
I want to agree with you but after having used my Edge 500 for a few months now I have experienced GPS dropping maybe once every few rides. Have you ever had the GPS loose signal? I'm talking about it dropping signal in the outskirts of Belfast, clear skies, no tree cover and after having signal for say 10 minutes or so already then it's gone and struggles to find it again. Then other days I'll do the exact same ride and it's fine.
ColinJ
Puzzle game procrastinator!
- Location
- Todmorden - Yorks/Lancs border
I was given a 500 recently and tried out the gradient feature. I have turned it off now because it was annoying me. It must work by calculating elevation changes over a certain distance, which means that it always lagging behind slightly. I had it telling me that I was on a steep climb when I was already on the descent from the summit! It also indicated that steep slopes were easy and gentle slopes were tough. Useless!
Maybe it would be better on long, steady climbs or descents but on undulating roads, no!
Maybe it would be better on long, steady climbs or descents but on undulating roads, no!
AlanW
Guru
- Location
- Not to sure?
I must admit that it in the best part of 100k miles its not a problem that I have ever encountered to a degree that has caused me an issue?
400bhp
Guru
Do you run anything close to the Garmin that uses a battery?
I have found interference from my camera located underneath the Garmin means that i lose GPS signal. I have to turn on and locate a GPS signal firat before turning on the camera.
Yea, I've a Mobius camera on the handlebars. If I was to wait to locate GPS signal before switching on the camera, some days I will miss the first (and most dangerous) 10 minutes of my commute.
I will try it though sometime to see if this makes a difference. Thanks
I will try it though sometime to see if this makes a difference. Thanks
