garmin edge questions

[terry_gardener]

i am going to get a new bike in the next couple of months and was wondering what is the best gps device to do the following.

track speed and distance and tracking where i have been.
dont really need HRM or cadence.

the 605 looks nice but have a question with the nav part of it.
can i route using cycle paths or does it have be only roads.
will it still track properly when using cycle paths.

mainly want to use it a motivational device to set distance goals for month/year and keep track of it.

keeping track of speed and other stats would be nice.

if there is a more suited device please suggest it, (with weblink if poss)

 

[Auntie Helen]

I have an Edge 205 but got an Oregon 300 for Christmas; it's a cracking piece of kit. It's much larger (which doesn't matte with my trike) but it has so many useful features including mapping (I'm using free OpenSource maps). I love it!

 

[jeltz]

The mapping doesn't seem to pick up the cycle paths for me but there may be some maps which do.

 

[fossyant]

Take a look at Handtec.co.uk - by far the cheapest. Just ordered a 705, with all the gubbins, 2 x SD Cards (one spare for Open source maps) and additional mounts/sensors (for other bikes) and the DVD City Navigator for a whole lot less than the main cycle retailers - saved in excess of £100 on the basic unit...and the DVD was almost half the price of many places....

 

[terry_gardener]

thanks for the replies with useful info

i have been looking around and looking at the lower edge scale ie 205 or 500 and they seemed to meet what i am looking.

ie speed, distance and track where i have been.

nav isn't that important to me anyway especially sice they dont use cycle paths.

properly at the moment out of the 205 or 500.

anyone had any experience with either of these and tell me what they are like.

 

[zacklaws]

I use a 305 and I can plan a route to use cycle paths, providing the cycle path is on the route planner to start with. The only problem with cycle paths though I find is that I ride a road bike the most of the time, so on the odd time that I do use a cycle path and its unknown to me, its not always tarmac and some can be a bit rough and predominently chippings or broken stone

 

[terry_gardener]

i will be buying a hybrid bike raleigh urban 2.

will this bike be ok for these types of cycle paths (ie ones that are not tarmac).

 

[zacklaws]

Just to confirm that you can use route planners to use cycle tracks, I find some of the online ones will not, but Bike route toaster will which I have always used till I switched to Bikehike. By changing the settings to "Auto Routing", "OSM" and "Bike" it will follow a cycle path. Other Route planners you have to disable Autorouting and just keep following the path, clicking on bends etc

 

[Madcyclist]

If you're looking at the the cheaper end of the scale and not looking to track HRM and cadence the Etrex units are worth a look. Main benefit for me was the routing functionality and they use standard AA batteries.