Garmin Edge or Forerunner?

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

neither. expensive, unreliable and not as helpful as a gps system can
be(according to my research). I still use my polar for HRM data; and I
got the garmin vista cx, it was priced less, has far more features,
the battery lasts much longer (32hrs) perfect for those extra-long
rides. It provides me with mapping and route info, so I am free to
wander off the beaten paths with an assurance that I won't get lost.
(you'll have to pay extra for the map, but you can use it in your car
or whatever too, that's an important plus) ok, so it doesn't fit quite
on your wrist, it's about 2inches by 4 inches; so I got a mountainiers
holster for it and zip tied that to the top of my stem. no problems.
wish I had one about 15 years ago... oh, I was very happy with the
price and service I recieved from gpscity.ca so I'll plug them here.
Really, if you are interested, check it out., I am very happy I did

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

Speaking only to the two models mentioned (Garmin Edge 305 and Garmin
Forerunner 305), the Forerunner is slightly more useful. You can
mount the Forerunner to your handlebars with a foam circle used to
mount heart rate watches to handlebars. Polar sells a specific thing
for this. But pipe insulation works just fine. The Edge model is
bike specific and you can't really use it anyway else. The Forerunner
you can wear like a watch and use on hikes.

In article <[email hidden]>,

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

The Edge is a lot more useful if you are only going to use it on
a bike. It has a bigger display, much better mounting options
and software that provides more useful bike information. However,
they are both pretty minimally functional GPS units. If you want
them for more traditional GPS uses( i.e. to figure out where to
go, rather than find out where you've been. ), I wouldn't get
either. If you want a fancy speedo with lots of marginally useful
bells and whistles, get the Edge. It's a really fun toy.

Make sure to update both the software and firmware as soon as
possible, both have improved significantly in the year since I
bought mine. I bought the Forerunner first, but I found it
difficult to use on a bike w/o mounting it to the bars and
swapped it for an Edge for bike riding.

As far as I can tell for downloading to the computer afterwards,
they both have identical data.

_ Booker C. Bense

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

Speaking only to the two models mentioned (Garmin Edge 305 and Garmin
Forerunner 305), the Forerunner is slightly more useful. You can
mount the Forerunner to your handlebars with a foam circle used to
mount heart rate watches to handlebars. Polar sells a specific thing
for this. But pipe insulation works just fine. The Edge model is
bike specific and you can't really use it anyway else.

The Edge works just fine off the bike. Obviously you can't strap
it to your wrist as easily, but it functions the same off or on
the bike. I use mine for skiing and hiking since it has a longer battery
life and can be charged with a simple mini-usb battery pack.

Quoted message said:

The Forerunner
you can wear like a watch and use on hikes.

If you only take short hikes or leave it off most of the time,
it's fine for that. But w/o the ablity to either change the
batteries or charge it easily[1], you can't use it as an emergency
navigation aid and a data recorder.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- If you carry the charging cradle, you can charge it via the
same mini-usb battery pack, but it would be quite fiddly.

Booker C. Bense bbense+rec.bicycles.tech.Jun. said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

The Edge is a lot more useful if you are only going to use it on
a bike. It has a bigger display, much better mounting options
and software that provides more useful bike information. However,
they are both pretty minimally functional GPS units. If you want
them for more traditional GPS uses( i.e. to figure out where to
go, rather than find out where you've been. ), I wouldn't get
either. If you want a fancy speedo with lots of marginally useful
bells and whistles, get the Edge. It's a really fun toy.

Make sure to update both the software and firmware as soon as
possible, both have improved significantly in the year since I
bought mine. I bought the Forerunner first, but I found it
difficult to use on a bike w/o mounting it to the bars and
swapped it for an Edge for bike riding.

As far as I can tell for downloading to the computer afterwards,
they both have identical data.

_ Booker C. Bense

Pickup a battery to mini-USB charger for longer rides.
One such model is made by Energizer - batteries included:

http://www.energizer.com/energitogo/index_flash.html

It proved to be quite useful on a 210 mile ride last Saturday (Longest
Day).

hth.

-bdbafh

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

I have to concur with the guy who said "neither". I got a forerunner
for X-mas, and with apologies to my wife took it back and got a Vista CX
for the same money or less. The vista does everything the forerunner or
edge does, but so much more. I find it hard to believe how much
information is on those maps. Where's the nearest place with food? No
problem. In the car it is just as useful. Even just turning it on and
not bothering with it, you get a scrolling map, so you always know where
you are and what is in the neighborhood. Plus, you are not tied to the
internal battery pack; if your batteries run dry, get a couple AAs and
you are good for another 24 hours.

--

David L. Johnson

Some people used to claim that, if enough monkeys sat in front of
enough typewriters and typed long enough, eventually one of them would
reproduce the collected works of Shakespeare. The internet has
proven this not to be the case.

email hidden said:

damyth said:

If you were to buy (or already have) a GPS receiver for use with
biking, which of the two would you choose, and why?

Speaking only to the two models mentioned (Garmin Edge 305 and Garmin
Forerunner 305), the Forerunner is slightly more useful. You can
mount the Forerunner to your handlebars with a foam circle used to
mount heart rate watches to handlebars. Polar sells a specific thing
for this. But pipe insulation works just fine. The Edge model is
bike specific and you can't really use it anyway else. The Forerunner
you can wear like a watch and use on hikes.

It's uncomfortable to wear on the wrist, tho.

Doug