WheresWaldo

I'm just trying to help you here, but you got bent out of shape because your memory is faulty. Garmin announced the 500 on Sept 1, 2009 and was release in December of the same year. So unless you were a product tester or were the first to get one likely it was 2010 before you got your Edge 500. Before that was the Edge 205, 305, 605, 705, maybe you had one of those. So here now I am going to "do the math": since it is month one of 2015 that makes the Edge 500 five years and one month old, sorry that I was off a year, but lets move on from that.

To your question about HR straps. If you don't want to use a heart rate chest strap, there are very limited options. Please note that all these alternative sensors cost more than a chest strap. There is the MIO Heart Rate Wrist Band. It is optical so you don't need to sweat or use gel for it to function. It has both ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart, which allows a greater range of devices it can connect to. Works with Garmins and Smartphones. Sells for about $100. That's about it for wrist HR monitors that are not standalone devices. One other option is the Lifebeam Smart Helmet. Its also an optical sensor, it is ANT+ and Bluetooth Low Energy compatible and has its sensor integrated into the headband. But it does require buying a new helmet. It is only available direct at a cost of $225.

So, what to buy. If you are looking at something like the Cateye, or any of a myriad of self contained units from the likes of Bontrager, Sigma or Polar, most all use proprietary transmission protocols to communicate with their various sensors. This is all good if you really just want to see the data live. But if you want something you can grow with, if you want to track the data over time, you can't start here. Either ANT+, Bluetooth Smart or Bluetooth LE is where you need to look for connection to individual sensors.

About your maps comment, from your posts its hard to say what side of the navigation fence you're on. So I will ask this plainly; Do you need navigation or not? If the answer is yes, then why even bother looking at the Cateye or any of their ilk. If its no, then why pay for a map when you can get better maps for free? Or if you decide to connect to your smartphone, maps and navigation are free there too.

Whether the 810 is everything and a kite, that is for you to decide. There are issues with the 810 that did not exist with the 605/705, 800 and 1000. There are also features that only the newest Garmin's possess. I suggested the 510 in my earlier post, uses the same sensors but no navigation (other than pre-configured routes), allows downloading the data to a PC or the cloud for later analysis or general tracking. The 810 can connect to your iPhone and supports live tracking. If enabled, this is a way for your family to know precisely where you are while you are on your ride. You just have to decide what features are important. If you want help with a decision, then layout all your requirements here not just one at a time.

BTW, there are no knucklehead questions, just knucklehead answers.