OK, The calorie count idea is all wrong.....

I realized AFTER I bought the unit that heart rate or bodyweight has no bearing on the calories consumed.... I bought this unit to replace my polar CS600 only to find that the calories consumed is at least 10x that of what the polar reports.

Cos the CS600 runs a W.I.N.D. sensor, now I have to wear 2 straps and keep both computers on my handlebars with two sets of sensors on my bike..... THIS IS DOWNRIGHT ANNOYING.

After testing various scenarios out on the road I found that the calories burnt is directly attributable to speed and cadence and is NOT based around anything to do with heart rate making the 705 a glorified BPM monitor/speedo.

While Garmin may think that Cadence and speed is a good idea, how can they make an assumption on cals burnt if they dont take into account someones fitness. Paolo's VO2max is much better than mine and Im sure his resting heart rate proves his fitness is better than mine ergo; for a given amount of work he has a lower heart rate.

Additionally, if i Draft behind the group/bus/truck/downhill at 45km/h with my legs still turning, my heart rate decreases, and therefore my energy expenditure decreases, however using the same cadence and at the same speed into the wind solo will see my heart rate jump to close to 95% and therefore my energy expenditure is also increased. So I fail to see how speed and cadence can solely be responsible for calorie expenditure.

When I went and researched this on the support site, it appears that the garmin mentality is that speed and cadence are sufficient to determine calorie expenditure and that this mentality is "by design"

Obvioulsy the R+D engineers at garmin arent cyclists....

I have emailed the support site and to date have had NO REPLY.

If this is not resolved in the next software version, I will probably get rid of my 705, until then I will ride with my glorified BPM monitor.