I'm ready to upgrade to riding with a GPS and I am wondering if the Garmin 800 is really worth the $200 price difference over the garmin 500.

Does anyone have experience with both?

Thanks

Ray
Bandon, Oregon

clearly depends on what you want to do with it. If you want it for tracking your workouts, the 500 is good enough. If you want it to navigate with, I suspect you are only going to be happy with the 800

Thank you for your input.

I've used both of them, but it's been over a year since i've used the 500. I use the 800 now and i'm more than happy with it. It is easier to read and the training pages are completly customizable. I've even loaded some custom maps onto it for touring and when i'm in a unfamiilar city. I was more than hesitant at first because of the touch screen, but i've never had a problem with it. Battery life is pretty good. I can ride 4-5 hours and still have half the battery life left before having to charge it agian. Both are pretty good units though.

Great summary -- we should all be so concise!

Thank you! That is exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for.

I have both. Been using the 500 for a little more than a year and just got the 800 a couple months ago. The 500 has most everything that I'd want in a GPS computer. I got the 800 primarily for map routing capability when riding centuries in unfamiliar areas. I wanted the turn-by-turn capabilities. I'm happy with both. The 800 screen does not seem to be a tough as the 500. For as long as I've had and use the 500, the screen is perfect. Somehow, the 800 screen has a small scratch that will not wipe off. It's not "bad", just annoys me because I like to keep my stuff nice.