Electronics, Lighting, & Gadgets - Garmin Edge 800

Ordered mine this morning. It was in stock. I received a 15% discount with free shipping.

Got mine from LBS on Saturday and took it for inaugural ride on Sunday. Lovely device, but the calorie count is laughable - 30 miles with 1700 ft of climbing in 2.25 hours and it said I burned 104. Tech support said I should just multiple by at least 10 :-)
~p

I have been using a Garmin Forerunner 305. It came with a heart rate strap. I also bought a cadence/speed sensor for it. I found the calorie prediction to be quite reasonable.
Because I already have a compatible heart rate strap and the speed/cadence sensor is already on my bicycle, I purchased the entry level Edge 800.
Since the Edge 800 utilizes heart rate in the calorie calculation, I expect the calorie calculations to improve over the Forerunner 305.
I wonder if your low calorie prediction was due to a low body weight entered into the Edge 800

Ordered mine this morning. It was in stock. I received a 15% discount with free shipping.

Can I ask where you ordered from?

I received my Edge 800 bundle yesterday. Placed order with bicycleoutfittersindy late last week , received 15% discount. They answered my email regarding their status as an authorized
Garmin dealer within a few hours. They stated that they are authorized to sell Garmin. They shipped with a tracking number, via UPS, signature required. Took my first ride with the Edge 800 today, and it is a great upgrade from the Edge 305 that I've had for many years now. Beautiful screen, easy touch controls, and a much simplified menu compared to the 305.

http://tinyurl.com/22pv5rp

I also used bicycleoutfittersindy.com. For your first online order you can use a code to get the 15% off. Mine should arrive by Thursday per the UPS tracking number. Great service for placing the order on Monday.

I received mine from bicycleoutfittersindy.com today. I also ordered online and was able to get the 15% off (ordered the bundle so I could either sell my 705 bundle or give it to my son).

I have seen a bunch of 705's for sale lately, is the 800 that much better? Is the screen bigger and how is the runtime?

I have seen a bunch of 705's for sale lately, is the 800 that much better? Is the screen bigger and how is the runtime?

Read Rainmakers blog--he has a great review of it:

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/08/garmin-edge-800-in-depth-first-look.html

I have seen a bunch of 705's for sale lately, is the 800 that much better? Is the screen bigger and how is the runtime?
They haven't been priced too much lower than the price I paid for the 805. The difference in price was worthwhile for me.

I got mine a couple of days ago. Very impressed with it so far.

Here's my intial review/thoughts:

http://www.bicyclecenturytraining.com/blog/garmin-edge-800-review/

i would like to get a device similar to this, perhaps in the 200-250 dollar range. Can anyone recommend a device if it exists (worth the expenditure). I want to be able to track via GPS my route, time and speed and be able to see the route info on a map. Possible?

i would like to get a device similar to this, perhaps in the 200-250 dollar range. Can anyone recommend a device if it exists (worth the expenditure). I want to be able to track via GPS my route, time and speed and be able to see the route info on a map. Possible?

The Edge 500 is closest to what you describe and priced in that range. Look here for a nice review with pics


http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/11/garmin-edge-500-in-depth-review.html

Got mine from LBS on Saturday and took it for inaugural ride on Sunday. Lovely device, but the calorie count is laughable - 30 miles with 1700 ft of climbing in 2.25 hours and it said I burned 104. Tech support said I should just multiple by at least 10 :-)
~p

That's weird. My Edge 500 registers 498 cal for 400 ft of climbing in 7 miles this morning. Firmware issue? Doing math is not a good tech support answer.

Over on the Garmin forums, Edge 800 owners are starting to weigh in with some of their experiences. It seems the most prevalent issues are:

1. Calorie counts seem to be WAY understated. Initial experience seems to tie this into the NEWEST HR strap that is included in the 800 bundle, but this has not been confirmed
2. The auto-pause issue that caused the most recent 705 firmware to be pulled seems to be affecting the 800 also. Note that many 500 users (myself included) believe that this is also a problem on the 500 and was introduced with the 2.40 firmware.

Some other niggling items have been reported but the two above look like the major things so far...

i would like to get a device similar to this, perhaps in the 200-250 dollar range. Can anyone recommend a device if it exists (worth the expenditure). I want to be able to track via GPS my route, time and speed and be able to see the route info on a map. Possible?
The Garmin Forerunner 305 will do all you want for less than $150.
It includes a heart rate strap. If you want cadence, the optional speed cadence sensor is $36 from amazon.com.
The Edge 500 does not come with a heart rate strap for under $200.

Over on the Garmin forums, Edge 800 owners are starting to weigh in with some of their experiences. It seems the most prevalent issues are:

1. Calorie counts seem to be WAY understated. Initial experience seems to tie this into the NEWEST HR strap that is included in the 800 bundle, but this has not been confirmed
2. The auto-pause issue that caused the most recent 705 firmware to be pulled seems to be affecting the 800 also. Note that many 500 users (myself included) believe that this is also a problem on the 500 and was introduced with the 2.40 firmware.

Some other niggling items have been reported but the two above look like the major things so far...

I thought my Forerunner 305 predicted calories too high. On a ride today the Edge 800 predicted calories to be about 70% of what the Forerunner determined on the same ride. I think the Edge is predicting calories much better.

I forgot to mention I was using my old Forerunner Heart Rate Strap.

I just upgraded from the 500 to the 800 and am having an issues with it registering the grade. Anything over 20% it seems to just go to zero. The 500 worked like a champ all the time. Is anyone else have this issue.

Garmins have their glitches

I was going to send a link to a colleague for the 15% off on initial web orders for Indy Bike Source. I notice now they disallow that coupon for the Edge 800 due to low inventories.

as stated above i like the 800.

i notched up over 150 miles at the weekend and haven't changed my opinion yet - no probs so far.

i have an 'old' style premium heart rate strap (bought seperately, not in a bundle) and all the calorie counts seem reasonable. no issues with the autos pause either.

To get the proper calories burned, entering the correct activity class in the unit is important. As you increase the activity class, the calories burned will decrease significantly. If you are using a power meter you can ensure you have the correct activity class, but the rest of us have to guess.

I was using activity class 8 yesterday. I rode 29 mi at 16.2 mph and averaged 140 bpm. The predicted calories was 892. I switched to activity class 7 this morning and will test on my next ride.

I rode El Tour de Tucson today. 109.34 miles and 475 calories burned...

There has to be a software issue. I don't care how efficient your muscles are, there's no way to ride that far on 475 calories...

It should have been at least 3000.

I rode a metric century yesterday and mine predicted 1905.

The Garmin Forerunner 305 will do all you want for less than $150.
It includes a heart rate strap. If you want cadence, the optional speed cadence sensor is $36 from amazon.com.
The Edge 500 does not come with a heart rate strap for under $200.


The Garmin Forerunner 305 will do all you want for less than $150.
It includes a heart rate strap. If you want cadence, the optional speed cadence sensor is $36 from amazon.com.
The Edge 500 does not come with a heart rate strap for under $200.


thanks guys, I will look into both of those items.