Originally Posted by
gauvins
I was in the "dedicated GPS" camp but am reconsidering as the Garmin unit is unreliable. As I am in the process of installing a dynohub, power is no longer an argument. If I were to ride in exotic locations it would be Garmin Edge, but since for the short term it'll be North America and Europe, extensive map coverage is not critical.
Before I commit to this change, I'd like to read about the workflow suggested to design and ride a course, or any other relevant consideration. For example, (how) do you use Google Maps, or which other navigation app.
The context is 60+ days where I see myself pulling the proper course from a menu and getting under way, with or without wireless data access.
Don't.
I have
- A Galaxy S5 Sport
- A SON28 dynohub in a 700C wheel
- A USB Werk power supply. The E-Werk is one of the most efficient, and in theory the fixed voltage USB Werk should work as well.
Combining them if I don't put my phone in ultra low power mode which precludes running applications, my S5 may or may not remain charged with the head lamp off, and when the road isn't dead flat it goes in and out of charging mode with the screen waking up every time that happens. Without the dynohub it's a lost cause - I've run out of battery in a couple hours, keeping the app stopped and GPS turned off except when needed.
Therefore when I started riding farther I settled on a refurbished Garmin Edge 800 ($170) to have maps (Open Cycle Map derived) to go with my routes. It's not very power hungry, and actually charges at night when I'm running my Edelux ii. The Touring uses the same hardware and the 810 just adds a Bluetooth 2.0 interface; although that's meaningless for figuring out what will also work well navigating because Garmin's problems are in their software.
Before that, I bought and returned a Garmin Edge 810 ($300). I experienced spontaneous power-downs and truncated .FIT files even with the latest firmware. Other people have crashes in round abouts where 800 users are OK.
Before that, I bought and returned a Wahoo ELEMNT ($320). While it displays courses on maps, it doesn't alert on CoursePoints from .tcx files, show the next ones, or indicate distances to them. Turn by turn was not delivered in Q1 2016 as scheduled. The maps do not have street names as in the marketing material. Good minor roads for cycling are invisible when the map is zoomed out, and it cannot pan like a Garmin. I also had problems displaying and recording power.