Garmin Website

[PaulSB]

As the proud owner of a new Edge 705 (thank you Mrs Santa) I started the registration process etc. this evening. The Garmin website is incredibly slow or is it just me? I had expected something much slicker and far more professional. Looks very mickey mouse to me, I'm hoping the Edge is as good as I'm expecting 'cos the website is frankly crap.

 

[PaulSB]

Having spent two hours playing with the 705 I can only say I'm extremely disappointed. I've waited two years to buy this and now feel I have wasted my money. The whole thing is really clunky to use, the buttons are heavy and need to be pushed hard to work, the physical build quality i.e. the casing is cheap and plasticy, the user manual is probably the bare minimum Garmin can get away with. and the maps are awful. I paid extra for City Navigator but it doesn't seem to matter if the SD card is installed or not, the maps available don't seem to improve or vary and as for street level mapping what a complete joke. The website just seems to get worse the deeper one goes. Can't find anyway to use the online storage etc. etc.

I shall give this thing one more chance when I call support tomorrow. Have to say my first impressions are really poor and I can't understand why some many people rave about them. It was the enthusiasm of users that convinced me Garmin is the way to go but I'm really disappointed and certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Rant over but am I missing something here? This seems like a very cheap piece of tat sold for a very high price.

 

[StuAff]

Having spent two hours playing with the 705 I can only say I'm extremely disappointed. I've waited two years to buy this and now feel I have wasted my money. The whole thing is really clunky to use, the buttons are heavy and need to be pushed hard to work, the physical build quality i.e. the casing is cheap and plasticy, the user manual is probably the bare minimum Garmin can get away with. and the maps are awful. I paid extra for City Navigator but it doesn't seem to matter if the SD card is installed or not, the maps available don't seem to improve or vary and as for street level mapping what a complete joke. The website just seems to get worse the deeper one goes. Can't find anyway to use the online storage etc. etc.

I shall give this thing one more chance when I call support tomorrow. Have to say my first impressions are really poor and I can't understand why some many people rave about them. It was the enthusiasm of users that convinced me Garmin is the way to go but I'm really disappointed and certainly wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

Rant over but am I missing something here? This seems like a very cheap piece of tat sold for a very high price.

You've only 'played' with it for two hours, presumably you haven't actually ridden with it yet, and you're all ready to give up? Seriously, don't. It's not perfect by any means, I agree with some of your points, but I've had a 705 since March and I've found it an extremely useful bit of kit. For a full manual, you'll need the PDF version. Link here.
The maps are awful? Yes, and no. It certainly matters if you have them installed or not, perhaps you've gone awry somewhere and are only seeing the (utterly hopeless) base map (which sees about three streets in the whole of Pompey, for example)? Check the microSD card is fitted properly for one thing. I did that the first time, if I recall correctly. You can see which map(s) you have installed in Menu>Settings>Maps. That being said, if you want OS quality, you'll have to look elsewhere (like the new 800!), and it never looks pretty on that screen. But for urban navigation, it's perfectly good. Been OK for me down here, in the smoke, and various places in between & Oop North. You can always try one of the OpenStreetMap alternatives, anyway.
Heavy buttons? The side ones do indeed need a firm push for a few seconds, but remember this is an all weather device, and you'll have no bother using this wearing winter gloves. The top buttons are positively dainty in comparison. As for the build quality- it's tougher than it looks, dropped mine a two or three times and it's A-OK. And the battery really does last 15 hours. See here.
Online storage? Do you mean Garmin Connect? You need to register for an account and install the Garmin Communicator plug-in for your browser(s)- you should get prompted about that anyway. It is an excellent resource, and very simple to use. You can also upload to Dailymile (and probably umpteen other ride-logging sites).
For many useful hints and tips, see Frank Kinlan's site.
And again, give it a chance!

 

[PaulSB]

I haven't ridden with it yet because I felt the better way to approach a new piece of kit was to sit quietly rather than get frustrated on the bike!! I'm really pleased I haven't fitted it to the bike because returning it in a used condition would be tricky. I'm very relieved to see Evans have a no quibble 28 day returns policy because I can't see myself keeping this for more than a few days and certainly won't put it on the bike.

To put this in perspective the 705 is a list price of £319, and I felt I got a reasonable deal at £288 from Evans. This is with heart rate, cadence and City Navigator.

I have on my iPhone an app from Motion X GPS which performs the GPS functions of route planning, navigation, recording route, save tracks, speed, average speed, max speed, elapsed time, distance, speed graph along route, altitude as graph on route, total ascent, total descent, max positive gradient, max negative gradient. I can also take unlimited photos adding them as way points to the route and upload all this info to my Facebook page if I wish (not that I'm a great Facebook fan). Eight maps are available with Google maps included meaning I have detail right down to my front door. There is one big issue with using the iPhone - battery life with GPS functions is awful, but then it is a phone and not a GPS unit. Obviously weatherproofing is also a problem.

I've spent most of the evening reading the manual (already had the PDF but thanks for the link), working my way through the various settings and examining the maps. I live in a small Lancashire village but only three miles from two motorways so it's hardly deep rural country, searching for this in City maps and the nearest it can get is a different village with a similar name three miles away. I paid £40 for City maps, I also recently paid £49 for TomTom which is accurate on my address to within 3 metres of the back door. Google with Motion X GPS puts me in my backyard!

As for Garmin Connect; it took an hour to get the website to accept my registration and I cannot get anything on Garmin Connect at all.

I have read Frank Kinlan's site from your link, again many thanks for that, and I'm left with the overall impression I shall need a crash course in computing and mapping in order to get any real quality out of the 705. In many instances Frank declares the Garmin is not good for such and such a function.I regard myself as a relatively intelligent individual, through my age I've never had a formal education in the technology we all deal with every day but I have never struggled with a piece of kit as I have this evening. I had understood Garmin to be a quality company with quality products and as such I expect, for +/- £300, a device which works straight out of the box. I can fully accept those with an interest in computing / mapping will want to do more, and the facility exists to do this, but for the average punter the advertised features of the product should be there and working from the moment the battery is fully charged.

Overall I'm deeply disappointed with Garmin 705 as a product which I would value at around £125-150. I can only imagine it sells at £300+ because the market is so specialised as to be able to command the price. I'm sure those with the time and inclination can make it work but for folk like me this is an absolute no no.

For this punter the solution will be to find a piece of kit which weather protect and charges / extends battery life on the iPhone - a great piece of kit which works all the time, straight out of the box.

 

[Norry1]

I agree the 705 isn't the most intuitive device ever made and has its shortcomings - but I wouldn't want to give mine back. It works great for me 99% of the time - and the "only" limitations you state for the Phone Apps are massive - battery life and weather proofing!

Garmin Connect ain't great - but it does what it says.

So if you return the 705 - how do you use your phone app for decent length rides or wet weather rides?

Having said that, I'd probably but a 2nd hand one off eBay if I was buying now.

Martin

 

[dodgy]

Calm down!

First of all, do as another poster suggested, confirm your device can 'see' the map you have installed on your SD card by checking in settings.

Try to not to solve all the problems in the world with the 705, just do the above first then we can help you get the most of it.


Once you start to see the data your 705 is capable of collecting, and you can see the rides you've done appear on the map afterwards, and you've been guided on planned routes you've downloaded - you will be amazed.

 

[StuAff]

GC has had a few outages/glitches in the last few days, though I've been able to login eventually. As both yourself and Martin have said, battery life on smartphones when using GPS sucks. I've had an Orange San Francisco (rebadged ZTE Blade, runnning Android 2.1) and using GPS/WiFi/3G, let alone combinations thereof, goes through the battery at a rate of knots. AFAIK there aren't any bike mounts for an iPhone that let you use battery cases, so if you wanted to use it as a bike computer on the bars/stem, you'd have to tote around a PowerMonkey/equivalent or two and top up the power as and when needed. If and when they manage to build a smartphone that can actually handle all those power-sapping bells and whistles properly, then they'll be a sensible alternative. As it is, there's no way I could use the phone as a serious alternative to the 705 for long rides. Apart from that, if you have both a 705 (or equivalent) and a phone, than you aren't putting all your eggs in one basket. Just have a phone and try to do everything with it and you could end up giving yourself serious grief!
Unfortunately this doesn't make any difference when you're trying to use the 705 as a mapping tool, but the GPS track recording is accurate- if you were to go for a ride and then look at the file on Garmin Connect/Bikeroutetoaster/etc, then you'd see that it can be extremely accurate. Have a look at the Open Street Map alternatives, but bear in mind that there's not going to be a perfect solution. The Edge 800 has significantly enhanced mapping (you can even create your own from scans of paper ones), but that's sadly not an option for 705s.
In my experience, I don't think it's much cop as a turn-by-turn sat nav. I did a couple of the Wiggle-sponsored sportives this year, and had the GPX tracks supplied by the organisers running as I went round. It would regularly beep to tell me I was off course when I wasn't, and so on. If, on the other hand, you use it as a training aid & bike computer that can give you a decent idea of where you are should you get lost, then it works very well.

 

[PaulSB]

Calm down!

Don't worry I'm very calm, not as frustrated as last night but still really disappointed. For £288 I expected a piece of kit that works once the battery is charged. This doesn't. Let me explain and I'd assure anyone reading I want this to work and am not simply trying to have a good rant because I'm failing to understand it. As my family is now grown up I have more time for riding, go further afield and even get some decent tours occassionally (Glasgow, Outer Hebrides, Inverness last summer). I wanted to store this detail and to be able to see roughly where I am, perhaps able to get myself back on route if needed. To date I've done all this by taking pages from a good road atlas stuffed in my back pocket, working out a rough route and then ambling about going from village to village down any quiet road that took my fancy. I've yet to get seriously lost.

I definetely have the maps installed, under Maps it shows CN Europe NT 2011.20 and the check box is ticked. I don't want to put this device on my bike until I'm confident there is some quality mapping available as I can't see Evans refunding my money on something covered in salt and mud so I have enabled Demo Mode in the GPS Settings. Interestingly the device does not retain this setting and reverts to "Normal" each time I switch on / off.

In maps I started with "More" for the details setting but have now reverted to normal. If I go to maps, Where To? / Find Places / Addresses the device doesn't even know I'm in England despite having been through this several times! My home village isn't on the map and the closest a search gives is three miles away. I can't see how a navigation device can be considered accurate if it cannot find a Lancashire village located 2 miles off the M61.

I've tried looking at the "street level mapping" (this is what City Nav call it) for my nearest town, Chorley. I enter region as England (as I said it doesn't know which country I'm in - surely there should be a default to set this?), enter Chorley and select Chorley, Lancs, for street I want to select Pall Mall (our name for the main street), after putting in PA the list shows Pall Mall at the top, I do OK, select Pall Mall from the list and then discover it needs a number to give a location so I just enter 2. I then move to the map and zoom in to find the detail is a mass of brown squiggles on a beige background with the street names so large half the map is obliterated. I cannot see this can be considered any sort of quality mapping.

I've run a couple of simulations to take me from home to Horwich and Adlington, both short, simple cycle routes I can ride blindfolded. In both instances the Garmin takes me along the M61, even a TomTom gives the option to avoid motorways and this device is being sold to cyclists!

If what I describe above is typical or correct could someone explain how on earth one is to get any sort of quality use out of this product and maps? The device seems incapable of remembering even the simplest information (country as location) and the map detail is so poor as to be useless. I wouldn't want to be lost and enter a place name only to discover the closest the map can get is three miles away, which is what would happen if I was trying to get to my village!

Many thanks

 

[StuAff]

We did tell you it's not perfect

Seriously though- trying to set up a route on the 705 is a PITA (just had a look to remind myself how bad it was). Even if you can eventually find where you want to go to and enter the details, creating the route is slooooow. As you have discovered! Don't bother. Much better if you create a route on BRT or other online tool & then copy it over. Frank's guide explains it pretty well. Much much faster and easier (point and click with a nice big monitor or the Garmin input system...no brainer!). That way, you can be happy with the route- because you did it. You can check it against road & aerial imagery to make sure it's what you want, and you still get the nice easy pink line to follow. Most of the Garmin software is rubbish- they've basically admitted so themselves by pretty much leaving it to stagnate. But you don't need it 99% of the time.

 

[jayonabike]

Your obviously doing something wrong, my Garmin 705 can find every street, country lane, POI that I need. The maps are detailed enough for cycling. Plot your routes on your P.C, it's a lot easier and quicker and upload to your Garmin. And when I turn my unit on it's within 3 feet of my location rather than 3 miles...

 

[dodgy]

Yes something VERY wrong happening here. I'm a long time Garmin Edge user and it is impossible to be routed down a Motorway unless you configure the device to allow it to happen. As far as map detail goes, every street, road, lane that I know about appears on mine, so not sure what you're doing wrong.

 

[terry_gardener]

i have the garmin edge 605 which is the 705 minus the cadence and HRM.
i have just searched for 2 pall mall chorley using city nav 2010 maps and it shows perfectly ok. if i zoom right in it shows on the road (street level)

i also find it easier to plot course online first and upload to garmin. I personally use cyclestreet (for auto - navigation routes) and bikehike for routes i want to plot myself, i use the gpxx file format so i get beeps and directions on screen. i have also turned recalculate off

i am suspecting the garmin website is slow because everyone doing what you doing got new garmin toy for christmas and they are registering and trying to figure it out.

i must admit the text size could do with being smaller.

also check the settings-routing to make sure that it is set to cycling and not other forms of transport ie car. you can also tell it to avoid major roads or unpaved roads.

i afraid that you are going to have to just read the manual and play the device to get use to the settings and what they can do for you.

 

[Garz]

Yesterday It said it was offline, what didnt help was I was using the wrong user name but yeah it has been slower lately.

 

[Norry1]

Having not used it for a while, I've now been on twice in the last couple of days and it (Garmin Connect) has been fine.

Slightly OT, but I reckon a Garmin Sticky thread would be really useful - where people could post up how do I questions and/or tips and advice. There are so many people who use Garmin devices, it would become a really useful resource. Agree or disagree?

Martin

 

[skids]

Slightly OT, but I reckon a Garmin Sticky thread would be really useful - where people could post up how do I questions and/or tips and advice. There are so many people who use Garmin devices, it would become a really useful resource. Agree or disagree?

Martin

Agree but would mention the 'official' Garmin Forums have loads of useful info.