Originally Posted by
Tony N.
Thanks for the info. Could you explain more about your 305? Once you have done this, what does the 305 screen look like when you want to use it to navigate a route? How does it notify you of an upcoming turn? I know it does not have voice prompts but does it beep and have an arrow to show direction turn. And are you saying it is just an arrow on the screen and not an arrow on a road like you see on car gps units?
These 305 have really come down in price and do most all that I want to do.
The 305 map screen looks blank, with a solid arrow indicating your position. You can configure the GPS to show the screen so that north is always up, or so that your track is up. I like track up better because it makes the "map" easier to follow. In track up mode you have a north indicator anyway, so you always know what direction you are heading.
Once you add waypoints and create a route, the route will be indicated on the map screen as a line. Lets say your course goes north for 10 miles, east for 10 miles, south for 10 miles, and then west for 10 miles back to the start point. The map screen will show a square.
As you ride, you can have the GPS display the distance to the next waypoint. You know which direction to turn because all you do is follow the line. If you are in the "course up" display mode, then you just follow the line as it is on the screen (if the line veers off to the right at a waypoint, that is where you turn right).
You get no other details on the 305. You will not see roads, you will not see intersections, you can not search for nearby gas stations and stuff. All you have is your route indicated by a line. But really that is all you need.
You can download the user manuals for all the Garmin products. The user manual for the Edge 305 is here:
http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/967_OwnersManual.pdf
And the 705 manual is here:
http://www8.garmin.com/manuals/2297_OwnersManual.pdf
I went with the 305 because I know my local area well, and I do not really see myself going to a lot of places to ride. Travel is a luxury I can not really afford at the moment. Therefore I do not need the street level maps of the 705. Really I do not use the navigation functions of the 305, my rides are simple and on roads I know well. Spending the extra flow for what would amount to a color screen with maps - of which I do not need either - was just not a good idea. I can see the 305 screen fine in the daytime, and at night it is backlit.
if I were to ride in the next county to the north (that I do not know so well), or pull off a more complicated route with more turns than usual - I can input the waypoints and create a route - and be fine.
Or I could just push harder and NOT get dropped by the group I am riding with. Someone in the group always knows where they are going, so if you just keep up with that person you are OK. It is that extra bit of motivation that I need - get dropped get lost, therefore DO NOT get dropped! for my solo rides I stick to a neighborhood route or hit the local busway. The busway is a county bus only road that runs southwest to northeast, along the side of a major highway. There are no turns - it is a straight shot. Impossible to get lost on.