Garmin Edge 605.

[Brandane]

I have searched the site for this, but most threads are 1 or 2 years old, so presumably the technology has now moved on a bit.

I think the time has come when I can justify getting a sat-nav for the bike as the prices have come down to a more realistic level, and it would be very useful for a few long distance rides that I am hoping to do over the summer (e.g. Way of the Roses, Scotland end to end, London to Portsmouth, etc.).

The one thing that concerns me is while reading reviews of the 605, there seems to be a recurring theme regarding the mapping systems used. The base maps would appear to be useless. Evans are offering the 605 with TOPO mapping; but I found this review on the Evans website....

"The unit may well function as a navigation aid, but I found that if you do not have a specific route loaded into it the topographical maps are as good as useless to help locate yourself. The roads shown on this are few and far between, and the straight line nature of roads displayed bears little resemblance to the layout in front of you! This makes comparison with OS maps impossible. In addition to this, extra OS maps are not available to display on the unit. The TOPO basemap is as good as it gets."

My intended use of the unit would be to navigate long distance routes using quiet "B" roads or even cycle tracks, while avoiding busy "A" roads like the plague!

I am sure there will be plenty of CC'ers who can advise me on the suitability of the Garmin 605 (with or without TOPO maps) .

 

[400bhp]

The map that comes with the unit (i.e that built into the unit) is absolutely useless and just has major roads, exactly the type you want to avoid whilst on a bike.

I bought the City Navigator Europe edition. IIRC I paid about £50 for it (Sept10). There is a cheaper UK city navigator map available too.

 

[Saundie]

I purchased one of these earlier this week, and I found the map that comes with it to be exactly as 400bhp describes; i.e. utterly useless. I tried it with a free openstreetmap map, which was significantly better, as it includes all of the roads, not just motorways and A roads. In the end I purchased the UK & Ireland City Navigator map that 400bhp mentioned for £34 directly from the Garmin site.

My first proper use of it as a sat-nav was yesterday, when I cycled from Croydon to Brighton. The map itself was absolutely fine, however the directions were rubbish. I think the mistake I made was grabbing a GPX file of the route I wanted to take from cycle-route.com, copying it to the GPS and telling it to create a route for me. It kept sending me over roundabouts, then telling me to do a U-turn and then take another exit on the roundabout. It also sent me on a big loop around Pound Hill and Worth, adding at least 10 miles to the journey. Apparently you can map out the route on bikehike.com and similar sites, then save it as a course instead of a route; that way the GPS will simply show you the course rather than doing any route calculations itself. I will try this next time I use it and see if it's any better.

 

[Brandane]

Thanks for the replies. I had a look on the Garmin website and had a play with the TOPO maps on their "try before you buy" option. Wasn't impressed! Even on a larger display than what you would have with the unit, trying to tell the difference between contour lines and minor roads was difficult.

The city navigator europe maps are coming in about £70 or so these days, which is taking it out of budget for me. Looks like I'll be sticking with pages torn out of my old OS road atlas for now, as I'm still not convinced by the reviews I am reading, and the replies on here!

 

[HLaB]

My brother has got a 605, I've got an older 305, which is pretty pants for navigating. I'd plotted a route on the 305 but wasn't 100% sure up the top of Sheriff Muir as to which road to take (both led to the A9 but only one to a nice crossing), so he said he'd confirm it on his 605, none of the quiet roads (smaller than B roads) we were taking were shown! If he had downloaded the route they would of but that doesn't seem ideal for adhoc routing. I've no idea what mapping he was using though.

 

[fossyant]

Get a 705 or a 605 and get the free openstreetmaps... if you don't want to pay.

I've got the garmin nt maps for my 705, but the open maps are catching up very fast. For off road use, get the open mtb maps...

Search on the web for the maps - no need to post a link as it's open source.

 

[potsy]

Just recently got myself a 605 with the City Navigator maps, early days but I am impressed so far.
Did myself a little route today using Bikely(28 miles) and downloaded it to the Garmin, didn't put a foot wrong and was very easy to stay on course.
Not so sure I'll ever use it's own route planning though, I imagine it would take you on some wild and wonderful joy rides

Used it on last weeks SITD Audax and I went wrong a couple of times, mainly thru missing a subtle turn but quickly saw I was off course and doubled back.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Used it on last weeks SITD Audax and I went wrong a couple of times, mainly thru missing a subtle turn but quickly saw I was off course and doubled back.

With help from a piece of laminated paper, you can't beat these laminated paper GPS systems you know

 

[Saundie]

Just recently got myself a 605 with the City Navigator maps, early days but I am impressed so far.
Did myself a little route today using Bikely(28 miles) and downloaded it to the Garmin, didn't put a foot wrong and was very easy to stay on course.
Not so sure I'll ever use it's own route planning though, I imagine it would take you on some wild and wonderful joy rides

Yes, I think the key is using it to follow a course, rather than generate a route for you. I wanted to follow this route, so I downloaded the GPX and transferred it to my 605 and told it to generate a route. The worst part was this;

The loop was so big that I didn't realise what had happened until I saw that we were going north again - it added at least an hour to the journey. As long as you map the route you want to do first and then transfer it to the device as a course instead of a route, it should be fine.

 

[Piemaster]

I've been pondering buying a gps and having a play with bikehike. I'm a little confused over the different options for saving a track though. Whats the difference between a gpx route and a gpx track?

 

[potsy]

I've been pondering buying a gps and having a play with bikehike. I'm a little confused over the different options for saving a track though. Whats the difference between a gpx route and a gpx track?

I've only tried plotting a route on Bikely and it just saves as a gpx file which seems to work fine for me.
Not sure what the difference is between a track and a route, sure others will.

Will try bikehike and see which is best, used bikely as that is what Colinj uses to let people download the forum ride routes.