gregf83 

Which one is that? I used to have a forerunner 305 and was thinking of getting a replacement.

WheresWaldo

I was able to record a just over 10 hour ride with a Garmin device, could never have done that with a phone, any phone. For those using two devices, yeah the phone battery lasts longer but power consumption on a whole is still high and you need to charge two devices now instead of one. I usually don't care about my cell phone battery usage, but I know that the one time I will NEED to use my phone on a long ride, for making a PHONE CALL, I might not have enough power to do so. That is one reason I do not risk it. But I bet most people rarely go over 60 miles riding so battery shouldn't really be an issue. I used to push myself with 100 mile plus rides (one summer past I did 7 100+ miles in three months), phone wouldn't be practical in those situations. Now I am like everyone else, so busy, I am happy to get 30 miles in on a ride.

When the GPS system rules were relaxed for consumer GPS a few years ago, accuracy has not been an issue, regardless of the satellites used. According to owners of both, the 500 also has an easier to read screen in bright daylight.

dr_lha

I can do that with my phone. I just use a $15 phone charger battery, which gives my phone a full charge. It's a lot cheaper than buying a $300 Garmin.

Note: Battery pack also useful for avoiding the risk that you can't make a phone call.

nemeseri

I used my iPhone multiple times for quite long rides (last time 119mi). But if you want to pair your phone with multiple bluetooth smart sensors (speed+cadence, power, HRM), it will drain your battery much faster (in my experience like twice as fast). Though I'm not sure I will want to record all of this data for such a long distance. Also transmitting to ANT+ and bluetooth smart at the same time (for display and recording) might affect the battery life of the sensors.







Thanks! This is really useful. Do you have any issues with the display being hard to read?

WheresWaldo

More accurate ... Anyway, neither here nor there, OP wants to buy a Garmin. 500 or 510. So why are so many people adamant about trying to get him to use his phone.

dr_lha

Really? I haven't noticed that myself. I ride with a Wahoo Speed/Cadence sensor (BLE/ANT+ version), BlueHR strap and RFLKT.

dr_lha

Misquoting me is not accurate at all, and in fact rather rude, but thanks anyway.

I was just following the flow of the thread. Not all threads end up 100% apropos of the original post. But fair enough. I have nothing against Garmins FYI.

WheresWaldo

Hey its an internet forum, but if you must feel like you were slighted in some way, then so be it.

You directly contradicted something I said with a case that was special, not a phone, a phone and extra battery, I was just pointing that out. I have nothing against smartphones, I could use them now if I wanted, since as I mentioned most of my rides are lucky to be 30 miles at a pop.

Ben I.

Thanks! This is really useful. Do you have any issues with the display being hard to read?[/QUOTE]

I've never had any issues with it, even on sunny days. You can set the backlight to dim after 'x' minutes while on a ride to help save battery life while still being able to read it easily. It has brightness settings so you can turn it up if you're having a little trouble reading it but keep in mind, that will affect battery life. Also has two different settings that change for night or daytime, depending on what time of day it is. When it's daytime, the text is black and the background is "white". If it's nighttime, the text is white and the background is black.

dr_lha

Just an etiquette thing, I understand if it's considered OK here then whatever, feel free to do it.

You said, "a phone cannot do that", I pointed out how it can with the addition of a low cost item.

Neither of us are really "wrong" here. I don't find hooking up my phone to a battery pack to be a big burden. You can actually do it at the start of your ride, and it just doubles the life of your phone, the battery charger runs out first, and then your phone burns through it's own battery in that case.

However, I agree that a Garmin will allow you to do a long ride without the need of additional batteries and any perceived hassle that that may cause. That said, I have friends who have had their Garmin's die on long rides, and now carry battery packs to stop that happening, so it's a good precaution either way I guess. I don't know why their Garmins didn't last the advertised 10+ hours though. Perhaps they were getting old and needed their batteries replaced?

RChung

The 500 uses GPS but the 510 uses both GPS and GLONASS (interestingly, the 810 doesn't). That means that sometimes the 510 can acquire a fix faster than the 500 (and sometimes hold onto 3 or more satellites when the 500 might be down to 2). This is particularly handy at high latitudes but sometimes is still handy when you're under tree cover or have an occluded view of the sky. For example, speed data based on GPS alone can be a little "jumpy" while speed based on GPS/GLONASS can be quite a bit smoother.

FLvector

The mentality of - do what I do because it works for me, so it will work for you, regardless of what you really want.

Typical of the 41.

gregf83 

You missed my 'plenty' qualifier I have one ride up a mountain where the GPS error can get fairly high such that Strava segments won't be recognized but it would never bother me enough to upgrade. I'd pay extra for a decent screen though! I have trouble seeing my 800 with sunglasses on in the daytime.

The GLONASS system was news to me though. I didn't realize the latest garmins and phones were using two systems.

FLvector

I've had the 500 for many years and have no issues with the accuracy of the GPS. I'd imagine if you were riding under a dense tree canopy or within a city with many tall buildings, you might have signal loss. I pulled off the wheel magnet since my speed sensor on the bike was acting wonky and just use gps for speed which works fine. It provides all the data I need and the display screens are easy to read. I added a power meter about a year ago and it does well with that, also. You can add routes which will give you turn-by-turn directions and a snail trail to follow. You'll need to look at the differences between the 510 and decide if the features are worth the extra cost.

edit: didn't see RChung's post before writing, but guess since I'm at a low altitude is why I don't have the jumpy speed or location issues.

WheresWaldo

I deal with dying electronics almost routinely. You buy your fancy Applsung phone or Gargellon cylco-computer and we expect them to last forever. Most of these have batteries designed for somewhere between 500 and 1000 cycle charges before they start having issues reaching maximum capacity. I would suspect that people not getting 10+ hours on a full charge with a Garmin are at a point where they have run an awful lot of charge cycles through them. Same goes with phones too. But since this does not cause immediate failure but rather a rather gradual and many times unnoticeable decline in performance we don't notice it until we stress the components when we do that 10+ hour ride.

@dr_lha, I am glad we can get past minor differences of opinion unscathed.

@FLvector, a sad commentary on our society as a whole

RChung

Oh, I wasn't saying the LBS wasn't trying to upsell him. I was just saying there is a difference between the accuracy of the two. Whether that difference is worth it is a question I was staying out of.

gregf83 

Low latitude, although I guess you have both.

FLvector

Oops, thought he said altitude. That's what I get for skimming posts during work.

DrIsotope

Relevant or otherwise, my "factory refreshed" Garmin 500 uses 9-11% of it's battery when powered up constantly for a 3-hour ride (and I have the GSC-10 paired to it.) I use my iPhone 5S for bluetooth audio (solo rider) and will routinely use 20-30% of my phone's battery during the same period. I imagine if the phone was tasked with bike-related duties beyond simply streaming Pandora, It might not make it even 3-4 hours. Lastly, GPS City sells the 500 all day long for $139 shipped, which made it a no-brainer as even the Wahoo RFLKT+ is ~$100 and requires a phone to operate. I've been nothing but pleased with the 500, and am seriously considering a second for the wife's bike.

bronco71

In sub-centimeter survey grade GPS the Russian SATs are great for maintaining fix. However, they can at times cause some nasty bounce in the vertical ambiguities. Its often necessary to turn them off when vertical control is of importance. Hopefully when the Chinese and Magellan SATs become commercially available we will gain both fix and improved controls.

I have compared the 500 to a 1 meter handheld with both at a 1 second rate at 15-20 mph. The Garmin appears to have a 3 meter deviation vs the 10x's as expensive GIS grade equipment. Not too awful bad for a device that can be had for $200. Vertical still has some pretty wide variation, I don't for see that improving much until there are major improvements in algorithms and geoid modeling combined with more signals from more SATs.

kingfishr

The Garmin 500 is accurate for the most part, but it does have its moments, for example on Mallorca when I followed the road, but Garmin had me off-roading at 300kmh...

nhluhr

My 500 definitely increases elevation accuracy as you let it sit before a ride.

My typical ride starts with turning on the GPS and letting it sit clear of big buildings (and of the sun) while I get my shoes, helmet, glasses, gloves and stuff my pockets with whatever I'm carrying. It'll almost universally start with lower than accurate elevation on the screen and you can watch it start to creep toward actual elevation after a minute or two.

Seattle Forrest

Fenix 3. I've had one for about 2 months now. Recorded more than 100 GPS activities. Got my first acceptable GPS track from it last week. My 5 year old Edge 800 has consistently better tracking.

nemeseri

Oh my. This is quite bad. Was it a tree covered area?


Well pandora uses data network constantly and probably you have a standard bluetooth connection and not a bluetooth smart connection so it's a different situation. I think I could record a 6-7 hour ride with all my sensors and GPS with some risk running out of battery at the end.. But on the weekends it's not rare that I go longer than that.

kingfishr

There were a few trees, but not constant cover.