Garmin Edge 305 worth the price?

[ekool]

I've been contemplating buying this unit... but its a bit pricey and I was wondering if anyone else had it and what they thought about it.

http://www.garmin.com/products/edge305/

[KarenG]

I have had the unit for 2 months now. I really like it, but just haven't had much time to mess with it much other than using it for my rides.

I purchased off of ebay from GeoMan.

[JayC]

I have had the unit for 2 months now. I really like it, but just haven't had much time to mess with it much other than using it for my rides.

I purchased off of ebay from GeoMan.

Hey Karen.. couple of questions:

1 - Can you set the 305 up for lap distances, like say every mile is broken down as a lap

and

2 - Will the 305 autostart and autostop based on speed? So if I stop, will the 305 auto pause and then when I start back up again, will it auto start? I always seem to forget to pause my Polar when I come to a rest stop.

Thanks!

[KarenG]

Jay,

answers to your questions:
1) yes, there are 2 screens that you use while biking and you can customize each screen to show whatever variables you want. you can go back and forth between screens while riding as well. you can set it up for laps-i have mine set for every 3mi, as on a 40-50mi ride, every 1mi was way too much info.

2) yes, it has auto start/pause. BUT, you have to press a "Start" button before beginning to ride, otherwise No, it won't do auto start/pause. You can customize this as well. i have mine set up to auto pause when I go below 3mph.

below is the ebay listing from the seller i bought mine from. he has posted some regarding the units on bikeforums.net. the people who bought from him
have had no problems.

if you are wanting to get one, i would do it. the start thing hasn't been that big of a problem. the few times i've forgot to hit start, i've remembered not more than 75-100 feet later and that's not going to mess your final data up that much at all.

karen.



http://cgi.ebay.com/Garmin-Edge-305-GPS-Heart-Rate-Cadence-Speed-BUNDLE_W0QQitemZ230019108665QQihZ013QQcategoryZ301 08QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[JayC]

Thanks, Karen.. sounds like it works a lot like my 301 Forerunner. Same deal.. you start it and it will autopause when you stop. I'm a technology and information junkie.. I log all my inline skates, etc with my 301.

I like the Polar unit I have now but it has just a couple of things missing that would tide me over.. mainly the auto pausing feature.

And I thought I was done buying cycling gear :(

[wehereerrere84]

it sounds pretty good and its cheaper then the regular price i tihnk you should get it but i i dunno dont atkae my word for it i'm still a newbie =P

[CharleyM3]

Can you down load detail maps to it. I'm really wanting a gps system that I can load road and topo maps into. Enough for a century ride. I'm thinking about a Garmin Etres Venture. It also runs on AA batteries. I'm trying to get everything running on one size of battery.

[JayC]

Yes and no. You can make and download course files to it which essentially will navigate you through a ride. You can't just download map data tho. Basically you have to make each course file ahead of time, which is usually no big deal since cue sheets for most rides are almost always online. Once you do that, when you begin your ride, you pick the course for that route and start the unit, it will tell you where to turn and show you the distance to your next waypoint (Usually a turn).

You can also load routes into the unit which have a little more information but take up a lot more memory. I think you can only fit about one route into the unit at a time.