Originally Posted by
veganbikes
I have heard that the Edge 800/810 does navigation and my main wonder is if it is more like a car based garmin (turn left in 800 feet, recalculating...)
The 800/810 do "A to B" routing like a car navigation does (it doesn't speak the turns, it just beeps). This works pretty-well but it seems that people don't use that feature very often.
They also can also provide turn-by-turn directions for uploaded routes. It appears that this is how most people use them for navigation.
You can also use it to follow a route displayed on the map (with or without turn indications).
Originally Posted by
veganbikes
or more just like map directions from a site like mapquest or the googles?
They do display a list of turns (from "course points" in the uploaded file) on one screen but I don't think people use that for navigation (it's a way of reviewing the route it generated).
Originally Posted by
veganbikes
Also is it decent, features wise and for what I need it for (not price wise because that doesn't so much matter at this point).
Yes, they are "decent" (there really aren't many competitors in the US) but they do take some getting used to.
The 810 is $500 without maps. Garmin "City Navigator" maps are $150 (?). You can use free Open Stree Maps (but don't use the "bicycle" versions in the US!) that you can put on a microSD card. The 810/800 are navigation units that also have training/performance features (cadence/power/heart-rate).
Garmin also has the "Touring" ($250) and the "Touring+" ($300). These are more navigation focused (and they use the Open Street Maps). The Tourings have route-computation features (like computing loop routes) that the 800/810 do not.