Inertianinja

Cliff notes:
I'm thinking of replacing my non-working Edge 705 with an Edge 500. What do you think?

Story:
My Edge 705's GPS has never really worked well. Any time I'm outside of my home area, it just says "Acquiring Satellites" for the whole ride.
I tolerated this for about a year, since most of the time i'm in my home area and didn't need the GPS. Lately, it's gotten worse to the point where it can't hold a GPS signal within a small radius of the start point.
I contacted Garmin, they had me do some stuff (reinstall firmware, reset, clear satellite cache, etc). nothing works. Missed out on a lot of good data (elevation, grade, etc) today when i went out for a 50 mile climbing ride. pretty sick of having to stop and pull out my iphone when the Garmin should handle it.
I want GPS and ANT+, so i'm cool with staying with Garmin if the 500's GPS is good enough.

kenji666

Why would you think the 500 is better than the 705? They both probably use the same GPS receiver chips and software. The 705 should be about 205 widgets better than the 500.

Grasschopper

I can understand your frustrations...but you should still have altitude data, HR data assuming you have the HR strap...and you will get speed and distance and grade if you have the cadence sensor...just the GPS (which IS major I get it) data will be lost.

That said...I currently use the 705 and my wife has a 500...I could see just having the 500 for sure, in all honestly I have used the mapping features like 3 times total since I bought the unit (I got it right when they came out)...really I was thinking I might get a 500 just because it is smaller, lighter and I don't use the added features of the 705.

dwhitlow

I don't have the 705, but I do own the 500. I feel like I'm one of the very few who has never had a problem with it. It acquires signal quickly for me, logs all my data, including cadence and HR, without missing a beat, and I've yet to lose a ride or even portion of a ride's data while using it. I know that's not everyone's experience with it, but it's been pretty solid for me. I might be wrong, but I think the 705 may have pre-dated the 500 by almost a year, so between the two, I'd expect improvements to have been made in the 500's GPS functionality. Maybe someone can confirm that timeframe though?

I'm leaning towards upgrading to an 800 soon, as I like the idea of the mapping functionality, especially as I'm starting to broaden my riding area and exploring a little more.

Shuagster

I was considering starting a thread about something like this. So, (hijacking a lil here) I am considering getting a Garmin, if I could get the 500 or the 705 for the same price, which one should I buy?

Inertianinja

I didn't mean to suggest that the 500's GPS was better. I have to replace the 705 - but I'm considering going with the smaller 500.

It seems like the 500 doesn't have routing (as in, no map screen, no "go this way") which is what i wanted to have on occasion. the 500 seems like it just has GPS for the sake of getting more data. Is that true?

I wouldn't go with the 800. It's too expensive for me, and the touch screen doesn't make sense (touch screens require some degree of hand-eye coordination, i'd rather keep my eyes on the road)

AlexZ

Garmin has good warranties....If it has never worked well, why haven't you had them fix it? And if it still doesn't work, even if off waranty you can have them replace it cheaper than buying another unit.

UGASkiDawg

3 years on my 705 and not single issue so far......anywhere....why would you accept a unit that didn't work for even one ride? Call Garmin and get a unit that works...

kenji666

I have the 500 and like it. I think you can get the "go this way" cues by uploading maps, but I haven't used that feature.
It's not as graphic as the color screens, but I think it tells you when to turn.

Carbon Unit

I have owned a 305 and now have a 705. I have never had any problems with them. If I were you, I would call Garmin and tell them that nothing is working and they will replace it with either a new one or a re-furbished one for a lot less than a 500 will cost you. I think they told me it would be $115 to replace mine, if I ever needed to replace it.

ErichM

I have a 500, the altitude data is a bit off, but it does everything else I ask of it flawlessly. I like the 500, it is a good solid little unit. Little being important, who wants a big honkin thing attached to the stem? It does do courses, but it won't show you roads or anything like that, just a little line and an arrow. I haven't used that feature at all, I just want my miles logged so I can see how I'm improving or getting slower or what have you.

I6pwr

I have the 705 also, never a problem....even works on plane rides. Really sux your's isn't working but I would press on Garmin to see if they either can replace it or give you a descount on a new one.

I think it would be hard to go to the 500 over the 800 mainly for the larger screen and I like the joystick control...that's just me.

RoboCheme

I have the 705 and the only time that I had problems was when I upgraded the operating system. Have you always had problems or did they start after you "upgraded"? I had to go back to 3.1 from 3.3.

dubsnyc

Since I think inertianinja mentioned that he races... I say go with the 500, it seems to be the choice for most of the nyc racers. The 705 is huge.

jsutkeepspining

just made the change from a broken 705 to a 500. i love my 500. go for it!!!!!!!!!!

smoke

neither. 800. it works better than my old 705. i sold that. and it's easier to see than my 500. i also sold that. the touch screen is a gimmick to me; i don't find it necessary while i'm riding. but the operational stability of it, combined with the fact that the numbers are larger and thicker and therefore easier to read, makes it a no-brainer for me. expensive, but you'll be glad you sprung for it

Inertianinja

I put up with it not working because it did work for most of my rides at times when I didn't need the GPS. now i realize that it was really

It is now one month out of warranty, so it's $110 to fix. Garmin won't help. I am hesitant to have it refurb'd *again* since the 705 is discontinued.

and the 800 is expensive and just too big for my purposes.

The 500 is a more attractive size, I just wasn't clear on how much I was giving up.

mvnsnd

The 500 will only tell you when to turn if you create a route and then upload it to the device, then activate the route.

SVThis

I have the 500 unit and love it. No problems at all. I use the the directions program all the time. The only annoying thing is if you deviate from the set course it keeps flashing you are off course on the screen. Best bike accessory I've bought.

Inertianinja

The 500 will record specific route data even though it's not displayed on the screen, correct? (e.g. when it's uploaded to Garmin Connect, it'll show the map of my route)

I was just thinking - maybe i'll go with the smaller 500, and just use a nav app on the iPhone when i truly need turn-by-turn directions. I could just listen to the voice prompts in an earphone, which i'd be using any way for music.

sound good?

RT

I may be a minimalist, but I sold my 500 in favor of a free Android app. I don't do heart rate or cadence (not a racer), and sportypal.com gives me everything I need, including automatic upload of my data. Elevation, avg speed, distance, it talks to you if you want, integrates weather and music if you so desire. Never had one issue with losing satellite or a break in data on a ride (2,000 miles). Of course if need more than this, your answer may very well be with Garmin, but so far I don't miss it one little bit.

volosong

I've had a 500 for several months now, but am not new to Garmin. Since I teach the mapping/gps class at the local community college, I have a good collection of handheld gps units. Thought I wanted mapping capability on a cycling computer, but have learned to live without. Careful planning on MapMyRide, and carrying the occasional queue sheet mitigates the need for having a larger mapping cycling computer on the stem.

I really like my 500. Only real problem I've had is that it lost its connectivity to the cadence sensor once. It might be because I switch the unit between two bicycles, one with the Garmin speed/cadence sensor, the other with a DuoTrap sensor. After I read the manual, and had the unit re-scan for pickups, it's worked fine.

Mithrandir

Yup. It does a relatively good job of tracking routes too, here's a metric I did:

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/97981578

Hurt my knee way after I could cut it short, hence the slow overall time. Sigh.


It's even accurate enough so that you can see when I switched to the other side of the road and salmoned for a few miles in a really bad high-volume high-traffic street and the right hand side had no sidewalk... heh... let's just pretend that didn't happen

Inertianinja

Without getting too off-track, the smartphone solution doesn't work for me. my iphone is too big, hard to read in direct sunlight, assisted GPS burns through the battery, and a touch screen is sub-optimal.

i saw a guy using an iphone as a cycloputer in my last race. it just looked way too big.

volosong

How'd you get "elevation corrections" to be "disabled"? I've read the manual multiple times, but there is no mention on how to turn on/off that feature.