Originally Posted by
Bacciagalupe
It's not the length, it's the wiring. Trust me, I looked into it.
Garmin Edge USB power hack
The 500 doesn't have an SD card slot.
I've never had an issue plugging the 500 into a computer, it works fine.
I've looked into it too, and as I've said twice, the power cord that comes with the Garmin charger is that special cord. It happens to be short, and that's an easy way to tell it from the usual USB cable, however its key attribute is that is comes from Garmin wired like your "power hack" indicates. When I plug my battery pack into my Edge 800, using the Garmin charger cord, I get a lightning bolt symbol on top of the battery state symbol, indicating that an external power source is being used. When I disconnect it, I get a screen saying that the external power source has been disconnected. None of this affects the operation of the Edge 800.
Yes, you are right, plugging the device into a computer is not usually a problem. However, I find using the microSD card for map and data storage to be a tremendous convenience. I can swap multi-gig maps by swapping cards. I also don't need a computer to charge my Edge. I just plug it and the charger into the wall, 110, 220, whatever.
The 800-810 map capability is very nice should something go wrong with the route, finding the road closed for example. One can use the map to find a way back to the route one is following, pick a slightly different route, etc.