Garmin Edge Touring

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Somebuddy

Über Member
Location
Lanarkshire
This is not a GPS versus paper maps debate. I searched the site for navigation and got a 5 pages of opinion on that. It is for those that do use gps on their bikes. Will this new device be better?

Anyone looking forward to the release of the new Garmin Sat Nav's for cycle touring. The Edge Touring or Edge Touring Plus. They appear to give turn by turn directions like the sat nav some may have in their cars.
I haven't done a great deal of touring yet, but when over in USA, I purchased the ACA maps which I attached to the top of my handlebar bag. My big plan for the future is to return to the states and cycle across the country. The ACA maps for that journey are £85.
I do have a garmin etrex 20, with the transam route planned out on it, but am liking the look of the new Edge Touring. Also the turn by turn navigation would be nice......... Plan B is I have a handlebar mount for my smart phone and would look to purchase a New Trent carrier IMP120D, which is an external battery charger for smart phones and tablets. It can charge a phone 5 or 6 times ( less than £28 ). Smart phone looks big and clumsy on the handlebars. Sometimes google maps doesn't work overseas when no phone signal as well as gps signal......... Talking myself into the new gadget!
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Turn by turn navigation was available on the previous generation of etrexes (Vista HCX). Units are probably still available for not stupid money.
 

Simon_m

Guru
Hi there, would the maps on your smart phone be downloaded, or would you be using, for example, google maps, live. The phone bill would be huge if that was the case. Not seen the new Edge Tourer, but I imagine it is good and tailored for that job. i use the Edge 800 and that does have directions turn by turn - sometimes lol. Also if you have a smart phone on your handlebars via a mount, there is very little protection. I used this method and when the bracket broke after a few weeks and the iphone, still in its protected case, bounced down the hill on the way to Brighton, I scraped that idea straight away. Keep the smart phone in your bag and have it for emergencies, paper and Garmin combined will get you where you want to go.

Just googled the The Edge Touring or Edge Touring Plus and it looks just like the edge 800. FYI, my heart rate monitor which came with the Edge, stopped working in less than a year, rang up Garmin and they sent out a new one free of charge. Also, like Apple products, there are no instructions with the product. There are, however, lots of info online. I'm still stuck on some things myself btw.
 

Moda

Active Member
The Edge Touring IS an Edge 800 but with different firmware.

You can download a full manual for any garmin device from the Garmin website.

Am hoping some of the features from the Touring make it to the 810 which is a popular request judging by Garmin forums
 

binsted

Well-Known Member
I would stick with e-trex, I have had two Edges now and neither has lasted the warranty period, I think they are too temperamental and fragile. For the sort of money they cosy I would expect to use them daily and get 4-5 years without problems.

Sadly they offer a host of useful features just a pity their engineering is so fragile. I might be be a bit more impressed if Garmin gave a longer warranty period to show faith in thier product, I do not think supplying a replacement unit but only providing warranty for the unexpired period of the original product gives any sort of confidence for the consumer
 

beeblemaster

Über Member
Location
Walsall
Available now on Wiggle for £179. Soooo tempted! :biggrin:

My Edge 200 has been a fantastic bit of kit, but to have mapping at my finger tips as well. It would be useful for my group rides, when I sometimes feel the urge to separate and do my own thing, but don't really know where I am.... I'm doing so well to convince myself.... :dance:
 

Moda

Active Member
My Edge 200 has been a fantastic bit of kit, but to have mapping at my finger tips as well.
Been riding with an 810 and the routing has been fantastic (Garmin city navigator) on my mini tour to the south coast. Have just been able to ride and not worry about getting lost or stopping every 10 minutes to see where I am.
 
OP
OP
Somebuddy

Somebuddy

Über Member
Location
Lanarkshire
Anyone who has an edge 800 series, Can you put in an sd card with usa maps on it for navigation across the pond. I'm thinking if the 800 does it then the edge touring will aswell. That would be great for my planned northern tier trip.
 

andym

Über Member
This is not a GPS versus paper maps debate. I searched the site for navigation and got a 5 pages of opinion on that. It is for those that do use gps on their bikes. Will this new device be better?

Anyone looking forward to the release of the new Garmin Sat Nav's for cycle touring. The Edge Touring or Edge Touring Plus. They appear to give turn by turn directions like the sat nav some may have in their cars.
I haven't done a great deal of touring yet, but when over in USA, I purchased the ACA maps which I attached to the top of my handlebar bag. My big plan for the future is to return to the states and cycle across the country. The ACA maps for that journey are £85.
I do have a garmin etrex 20, with the transam route planned out on it, but am liking the look of the new Edge Touring. Also the turn by turn navigation would be nice......... Plan B is I have a handlebar mount for my smart phone and would look to purchase a New Trent carrier IMP120D, which is an external battery charger for smart phones and tablets. It can charge a phone 5 or 6 times ( less than £28 ). Smart phone looks big and clumsy on the handlebars. Sometimes google maps doesn't work overseas when no phone signal as well as gps signal......... Talking myself into the new gadget!

What's wrong with your existing gps? My eTrex 20 plots a route for me and tells me when I need to turn. I can either follow the pink line on the map (and an arrow appears when a turn is coming up) or a list of directions. I can also set it to display the distance to the next turn, or to sound an alarm when the turn is coming up. Apart from giving voice directions (and I don't know that any of the Garmins do that) it seems to be doing everything that an in-car sat-nav would do. Am I missing something here?

If you already have tracks of the route then autorouting isn't going to give you any particular advantage. If you want alarms/reminders you could set up POIs with proximity alarms for important junctions.

The Touring has a taller screen - which gives you more space for data fields - but otherwise isn't going to be dramatically different. It's about half the depth of the ETrex 20. Battery life is a claimed 17 hours - so you could live with a battery pack and simply charge overnight (although I'd recommend a Tecknet over a New Trent - or at least the New Trent I have requires a dedicated charger.

Anyone who has an edge 800 series, Can you put in an sd card with usa maps on it for navigation across the pond. I'm thinking if the 800 does it then the edge touring will as well. That would be great for my planned northern tier trip.

Something else you can easily do on your eTrex.

There's shedloads of free high-quality US mapping here:

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

Sorry I know I'm being a spoilsport here and what you really want is for people to tell you to spend hundreds of pounds on an another gadget.
 

Moda

Active Member
Can't argue with an etrex for an occasional bike user especially at that price but it's a bit of a brick size wise and connectivity is pretty much nill.
Each to there own
 

binsted

Well-Known Member
They are all great bits of kit when they are working, my problem is that the Edge series seems to be "fragile" with a lot of problems with cadence sensors and HRM.

You can get free worldwide mapping on an SD card and this probably is not to the universal approval of Garmin who would like to continue taking money off you for their map cards.

E-Trex seems a bit more robust and would be my choice if longevity is important


What's wrong with your existing gps? My eTrex 20 plots a route for me and tells me when I need to turn. I can either follow the pink line on the map (and an arrow appears when a turn is coming up) or a list of directions. I can also set it to display the distance to the next turn, or to sound an alarm when the turn is coming up. Apart from giving voice directions (and I don't know that any of the Garmins do that) it seems to be doing everything that an in-car sat-nav would do. Am I missing something here?

If you already have tracks of the route then autorouting isn't going to give you any particular advantage. If you want alarms/reminders you could set up POIs with proximity alarms for important junctions.

The Touring has a taller screen - which gives you more space for data fields - but otherwise isn't going to be dramatically different. It's about half the depth of the ETrex 20. Battery life is a claimed 17 hours - so you could live with a battery pack and simply charge overnight (although I'd recommend a Tecknet over a New Trent - or at least the New Trent I have requires a dedicated charger.



Something else you can easily do on your eTrex.

There's shedloads of free high-quality US mapping here:

http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/

Sorry I know I'm being a spoilsport here and what you really want is for people to tell you to spend hundreds of pounds on an another gadget.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom