Garmin edge 500

[NotFabian]

I'm hoping to get one, for Christmas but maybe earlier if swmbo allows. I've been surfing for best prices til I'm blue in the face, and roughly £150ish seems to be common. My query is, on eBay there are quite a lot for sale from Taiwan at really good money...£130ish +p and p(new), for the bundle, has anyone here bought from these eBay 'stores', any good/bad reports??

Thoughts please...

 

[Will1985]

I read somewhere that the grey import Taiwanese versions are not quite the same - some parts of the display are limited to their characters and you can't use the same firmware. If it broke I doubt you would get support from Garmin Europe either.

I would suck up the extra £20 and use handtec.

 

[NotFabian]

Ok, ta, the £130 ish is for the bundle, ie cadence and HRM, it's quite a bit cheaper than uk providers, but I suppose it ain't much use if some of the display is in Taiwanese.

 

[Edge705]

I'm hoping to get one, for Christmas but maybe earlier if swmbo allows. I've been surfing for best prices til I'm blue in the face, and roughly £150ish seems to be common. My query is, on eBay there are quite a lot for sale from Taiwan at really good money...£130ish +p and p(new), for the bundle, has anyone here bought from these eBay 'stores', any good/bad reports??

Thoughts please...

Any reason why you want the 500 over the 705 or 800 apart from cost that is

Remeber the 800 has been out a while so expect a new model soon and the 800's will drop in price. Ive just bought a brand new 800 with maps hr and cadence for £260 of fleabay so there are some bargains out there. IMHO you can get a 705 for 150 'ish if your patient the HRM straps are only a tenner of you shop around so dont restrict your search to one with HR as you only need the strap

The 500 seems a backward step for the £150 mark anyway these units are a cracking bit of kit whichever model you choose

 

[rockyraccoon]

handtec.co.uk was selling the 500 with hr & cadence for £150 but the price has gone up recently.. I'm sure it'll fall again. The 500 is excellent piece but doesn't provide real map. However it smaller than 705 and 800 and apparently the mount is more securely. As said whichever model they are all excellent.

 

[ianrauk]

The 500 has a well documented flaw. The GPS mapping (bread trail Courses) do not work for any courses over 40 miles. Garmin are well aware of this but have not done/will not do anything to rectify it. Check out the Garmin forums for more information.

If you are happy enough without the working course function then it is a cracking piece of kit.

 

[NotFabian]

Any reason why you want the 500 over the 705 or 800 apart from cost that is

Remeber the 800 has been out a while so expect a new model soon and the 800's will drop in price. Ive just bought a brand new 800 with maps hr and cadence for £260 of fleabay so there are some bargains out there. IMHO you can get a 705 for 150 'ish if your patient the HRM straps are only a tenner of you shop around so dont restrict your search to one with HR as you only need the strap

The 500 seems a backward step for the £150 mark anyway these units are a cracking bit of kit whichever model you choose

you're right, the main reason is cost, ideally i'd love the 800 or the 705. Food for thought and re the HRM and cadence, they arent essential at the minute, and can be added later if the price for the unit only is attractive.

Thanks

 

[rockyraccoon]

@ianrauk (about the bread trail course) it is something to do with the number of track points. I believe it has been fixed with the latest firmware (2.8). I'm not 100% sure. I've used mine for a 62 miles without any problems or crashes. However because I knew well the first 40 miles I did not use any track points or turn indication therefore there was a relative small number of track points in the route.

One day I decided to do another unknown 70 miles. Worried about the software crashes and getting lost I created 2 routes 35 miles each one for going out and one for coming back. When I got to my destination at 35 miles I pressed the stop bottom ( without save it or reset) and opened the other course (return). When I got home after 70 miles ride I pressed reset/save. I uploaded it to Garmin Connect without any problems.

An 2 course ride shows on Connect as 1 single ride. This is because I changed courses half way without saving the first one.

Like I said I haven't tried it as a single course but some people from garmin forum are using the 2.8 version and haven't had any problem on long rides.

 

[Rohloff_Brompton_Rider]

The 500 has a well documented flaw. The GPS mapping (bread trail Courses) do not work for any courses over 40 miles. Garmin are well aware of this but have not done/will not do anything to rectify it. Check out the Garmin forums for more information.

If you are happy enough without the working course function then it is a cracking piece of kit.

simply not true. i use the 500 over 50 miles no probs. i do clear my memory out regularly.

 

[martint235]

What's the battery life like on the 800? I used to have a 605 that had a battery life of around 15-16 hours. In my experience as soon as you add a touch screen to something, battery life drops significantly. Admittedly this isn't too bad if you're only riding 50 - 100 mile rides but I switched to the Garmin Etrex as it takes AA batteries which you can swap en route.

 

[rockyraccoon]

@bromptonfb

what software's version are you using?

 

[Garz]

The 500 has a well documented flaw. The GPS mapping (bread trail Courses) do not work for any courses over 40 miles. Garmin are well aware of this but have not done/will not do anything to rectify it. Check out the Garmin forums for more information.

If you are happy enough without the working course function then it is a cracking piece of kit.

Very true. I managed a few successful trail rides but had a couple of crashes - very annoying. I would opt for the 200 that's getting released as the courses will probably work fine.

 

[Garz]

@bromptonfb

what software's version are you using?

I am on 2.6 but hear 2.4 is equally if not more stable. The newer versions offer no benefits except more problems I hear.

 

[ianrauk]

simply not true. i use the 500 over 50 miles no probs. i do clear my memory out regularly.

No you're right it's not true. I made it all up and the people on the Garmin site complaining of the problem simply dont exist and are figments of everyones imagination.

 

[ianrauk]

Very true. I managed a few successful trail rides but had a couple of crashes - very annoying. I would opt for the 200 that's getting released as the courses will probably work fine.

I will probably do the same thing. I will flog the 500 as I don't use HRM or Cadence features.