TrojanHorse

It's nice to finally have a competitive product! I really don't know why people buy Garmin products until they release the next model (ok, 810 came out, time to buy the 800. ). I didn't understand why they released a 1000 so soon after the 810 - maybe Magellan's 505 is what forced their hand, and maybe that's why it's such an unready mess of a unit too.

Having said that, I have an 800 and like it. The navigation display on your 505 looks significantly superior though. That would be a legitimate reason for me to upgrade. The map on the 800 is dinky.

raqball

I believe that Garmin rushed the 1000 to the market because of the Cyclo 505. Big mistake on Garmin part in my opinion.

With Garmin, the best bet from a stability standpoint, is to buy the year old model. Garmin is notorious for putting out buggy products. With Garmin it takes about a year and several update attempts to get the thing to work as indented / promised.

I've still not had a single issue with my Cyclo 505 and I ride every day! There are a few minor bugs but nothing major in my opinion. Mio posted a noticed on mioshare.com about a v4.1 update that is coming in a few weeks. It lists the issues that some have seen and says the update will resolve them. Massive props to Magellan / Mio as at least they let customers know they are aware of the problem, they publicly acknowledge it and they give a time frame for the fix. This is something you will never see from Garmin!

Overall I am very happy with the Cyclo 505! I saved a ton of $$$ over what the Edge 1000 costs, I've got cash in my pocket, I've got a unit that's just as good, if not better, and I don't have a bug infested device..

I turn the Cyclo on and I ride without fussing, messing with, and trying to get it work. With the Edge 1000 this was not possible..

raqball

Are you asking does the Cyclo 505 have it?

If so, the answer is yes and it works very well.

njkayaker

I think he was asking what "TBT" meant.

raqball

Thanks and I now see what you mean!

I'm a little slow this morning..

ModeratedUser150120149

Like on my 705, with reference to the map? Or, just GPS point to point?

njkayaker

Like the 705.

01 CAt Man Do

The 705 has written and tone prompts but doesn't have voice. I can't remember now if the Cyclo 505 has voice prompts or tone. I looked it up on the net but I don't see it being mentioned. Raqball, can you chime in to clear this up.

njkayaker

The Mio doesn't have voice prompts (almost certainly, if it did, we would have heard about it).

raqball

The Cyclo 505 does not have voice prompts. It has an alert tone along with a graphical display.

You see this and you get a tone notification



You can turn the tone notification on or off in the settings.

Hope that helps clear the matter up.

egranlund

Man, these cycle computer seem to have a strong love or hate reaction for both communities. It seems like on a per-person basis either they work as advertised or you just have endless issues. On the garmin side there are endless threads of issues on their forums, and I saw similar complaints (dead units etc etc etc) on some of the reviews for the 505 unit (Magellan Cyclo 505HC review | CyclingTips).

I ended up grabbing the Edge 810, though the Cyclo 505 was very tempting.

In the end what did it for me was the non-replaceable maps (at the moment) and because I didn't want to be an early adopter with a small user community (been down that road a bunch of times!).

Glad to see some competition in the space though. Auto Strava upload and the emergency SMS + cell phone notification features look awesome. I ended up just coding up a Garmin to Strava script on my end (https://github.com/erikgranlund/mmr_..._and_strava.py - code is terrible...but it works xD). I'm not holding my breath that Garmin will drop Connect and allow Strava to take it's place :/

raqball

I've not seen many complaints on the Cyclo 505.

The few complaints I have seen are that some sensors do not connect and there are a few who are having power meter issues. Mio posted on the mioshare website a few days ago that v4.1 is on the way and that it will solve the sensor issues.

I submitted a support ticket to Magellan and received a phone call from them the next day. There is another user who reported the same.. You will never see this type of support from Garmin. The Cyclo does have a few issues but at least Mio / Magellan has been open and honest about them. They have taken responsibility for the bugs and they posted a public acknowledgement of the issues. Again, you will never see this from Garmin.. Ever!

We have a small forum setup at CycloGPS Forums since there were no forums for the Cyclo in existence. It's a small forum at the moment and there are only about 35 members so far but we do have 2 Magellan Reps who post there every so often. (moderators feel free to edit this if my posting the link is a no-no)

The Cyclo 505 for me, continues to be rock solid! Magellan would be insane to not offer maps of different regions. It's been said this is coming soon to the Cyclo. Laps are also suppose to be on the way per DCR..

Machoman121

I agree with you in regards to the map. I do like using Garmin's Basecamp and have the freedom to use either Garmin's Citynavigator maps (excellent for normal roads) and OSM (mostly better for off road). I find OSM maps sometimes not as up to date as the Garmin's Citynavigator maps for roads. Especially out in the suburbs.

I think a lot of users would like to also see the use of AA batteries for longer rides or touring. At least you'll never run out of juice while on the ride with AAs. The use of in-built lithium (without user interchangeable batteries) has always bothered me.

egranlund

Yeah, I ended up going with the CityNavigator maps. I like the freedom of choice with maps, but mostly it was the ease of updating. It appears Garmin has a new map package every year and it supports pretty much every one of their GPS devices (some going 10+ years back). Which is awesome!

Regarding batteries, I don't know if I would want a GPS unit to run off of AA batteries, it seems like that would be a massive pain. I doubt AA batteries have enough juice to power a GPS unit for any length of time and you could just as easily purchase an external battery pack and charge the unit while you're using it. My friend purchased one (I think an Anker Astro E5) for the ALC ride and she was able to keep her phone charged for the entire week and still had a little more than half the battery left.

raqball

I have not ventured outside of my City but the few times I've used the maps on the Cyclo 505 they have been dead on, the TBT has been dead on and I have zero complaints about maps or navigation with the Cyclo.

The 1000 is still a mess when it comes to maps and navigation. just look at the Garmin Forums..

I do think Garmin will eventually get the 1000 to work as promised / advertised but even with their recent update, it's still a long ways off from that happening..

I think the 810 at this point in it's life is a good bet. Garmin has has plenty of time to work the kinks out and by now it should be solid. My 810 was a mess! Update 3.0 for the 810 did solve most of the issues I was having with it but it took a year to get to that version.

If you want to simply compare mapping and navigation then I'd give the Edge 1000 a 6 out of 10 and the Cyclo a 9 out of 10. I dropped Garmin's score from my original posting because it's still a mess from reading the Garmin Forums. I also increased the Cyclo score because it flat out just works with no fussing or messing with it..

My .02

raqball

Agree!

I don't think I'd want a device powered by AA or AAA batteries. Life would probably be short and I don't want to carry 4, 6 or 8 extra batteries..

trekmogul 

Went never owning a Bike Computer to yesterday getting me a Garmin Edge 1000 and love it. Come with all new updates, heart Monitor, Speed and Cadence Sensor.Was very easy to set up and use so far. Did 2 rides with it already wiht 2 of them at 430am in the mornings. Quite pleased..

DogBoy

Snag the GPX file, load it into TC, use TC to convert it into a course, then upload the course into the 705 from TC. 705 will not recognize a GPX file directly...or at least I've never gotten mine to work.

Machoman121

An external battery charger would be too much of a real hassle. What if it rains? the usb interface would be exposed to the moisture and water would also ingress into the unit shortly......you'll have a short lived GPS in no time. The unit has to be entirely self contained.

01 CAt Man Do

"TC"?....don't know what that is.

Anyway, it was pointed out to me that you can't create a GPX file ( route ) on Garmin Connect. I didn't know that. I have however downloaded a GPX file from RWGPS and put it into my 705 ( where it is in my rides menu ). I recently had a problem downloading a route from Garmin Connect ( or so I thought ). I didn't know the route was a TCX course and when I looked in my rides folder it wasn't there ( where I expected it to be ). When I inquired about this it was pointed out to me that it was a tcx course and was in my course folder ( which it was ). The other GPX route ( in my ride folder ) worked fine as far as I can remember and gave me my tone prompts and graphic indicators for when I needed to turn. As of yet I haven't used it off road although that should happen soon hopefully. I'm in no hurry because I use my phone for most of my navigation.

krobinson103

Good rechargables will last 12-24 hours on mine depending on the backlight setting, and if the compass and barometer functions are on. In all honesty its MUCH better than a built in battery.

egranlund

Which unit do you have?

To me, once battery life gets above 12 hours of riding it seems like it wouldn't matter any more. You won't be riding 24/7 and you can just charge the device from mains power or via a battery pack to have it ready for the morning.

01 CAt Man Do

I have my doubts as well but I figure it all depends on how much power you are using as to how "useable" it actual is. That said today I went out a bought a two "AA" cell powered charger for my smart phone. ( my AA batteries are charging as I write ). I figure if it prolongs the run time on my phone at least two hours while I'm using the GPS / Locus navigation app that should be enough for me. I might give it a test spin tonight while my phone is fully charged. If I don't lose much of the charge ( on the internal battery ) with the external battery plugged in for a couple hours I'll figure that the charger has and is doing it's job.

What I like about the two AA cell charger option is that if by chance I run out both my phone and charger battery I still have the option of buying batteries at a local store ( or just bring more cells along ).

krobinson103

Garmin etrex vista hcx. The ability to run for more than 12 hours is very important to me as I like to ride to brevets of 200km or more and I usually don't stop for any sleep for a ride of under 400km. I need something that can run for 24 hours without needing to be switched off or charged.

Machoman121

I'm nearly settled on the Oregon 600. It's a touch heavier, doesn't have some of the other connectivity functions but it should be more reliable over the long run with the AA batteries. I'm a slow rider and need as much time on the road as possible to cover the distances and need something to take me home at the end of the day with 100% reliability. I can't afford for the batteries to run flat.

I was stoked to find that it can show 3 heart rate functions i require: Hear rate beat, Heart rate max and heart rate %. You can adjust the 5 zones. My requirements are GPS (mapping) and heart rate functions - i don't need anything else.

Anyway sorry to hijack this thread when it should be on the Cyclo 505. I was initially very excited when the Magellan website stated that their batteries are user interchangeable - man, someone in magellan should be fired for that error........