veganbikes

So I am a piss-poor navigator and on my last tour I missed some turns and ended up wasting some time and getting a touch lost. So I am trying to avoid that. I do not wish to carry a "smart" phone.

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...) or more just like map directions from a site like mapquest or the googles? 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). I do plan on removing my old wired cyclocomputer.

If folks have other suggestions for similar products that would be great as well. Thanks a bunch.

scott967

I have had an 800 since last Christmas, I don't use the "routing" function that much. But I have on occasion entered a route before leaving if I have to zig-zag through neighborhoods I'm not familiar with. I find it's a little hard for me to really see my position on route (using a stem mount) but with experience I've gotten better at seeing an upcoming turn on the moving map. If you miss a turn (at least how I have my settings) it gives out a loud beep and an "off-route" popup. So you can then look down and see what you did wrong. I haven't tried to "recalculate", I just either get back on route immediately or figure out my own way back (next block maybe).

It does seem for some reason at a light the map turns until I get going again then it re-orientates correctly (track up).

I guess you also have option to set a POI on the map and navigate to it, or navigate back to start. Haven't tried that. I do know that if you load a saved course, you can tell it if you want navigation to the start point or not (or for example, join enroute which I think you have to do yourself).

I guess I could get by with a 500/510 for most purposes, but I still like having the map "just in case". I d/led the free OSM map for Hawaii which works perfectly fine for me.

scott s.
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Cychologist

I have used the 800 for a couple of years now, and love it.

It doesn't navigate as well as an auto Garmin ("recalculating" is changed to a message in the middle of the screen saying you are off course) and you have to download the route into the Garmin for it to give you directions. It than prompts you visually of the upcoming turns you have programmed, etc. While I use it for navigation, I also don't depend on it to be my only map, and certainly wouldn't use it alone on a tour.

The screen isn't as easy to see as most bike computers, and getting a mount that will put it a couple inches in front of your stem helps greatly.

The Garmin forums helped me a lot in getting acquainted with it's features, although a lot of people who post as not as pleased with the product as I am.

Lex Fati

I'm pretty happy with my Edge 810 now that I've gotten used to it. In the beginning I did experience some frustration. I got the whole package with heart rate monitor and speed/cadence, but since I purchased mine Garmin came out with the Edge Touring (and Edge Touring Pro after that) that sticks to the mapping features. As long as you're not after the fitness stuff, one of these could save you some cash.

The Edge 810 (and I assume the Edge Touring models also) can navigate to point of interest similar to the way an auto GPS does, but there are no verbal cues, only beeps. Typically, I don't use this feature because the unit doesn't really do very good at picking the best bicycle friendly choices. It is great for letting me know where I am on the map, though.

Weatherby

Trying to decide whether to replace/augment cyclecomputer and cuesheet setup due to presbyopia (can't see up close due to old eyes) or maybe going total Fred and buying industrial safety glasses with built-in bifocals.

With respect to the Garmin 810 or whatever the newest model number, could anyone provide some insight/experience to any of these questions? Sorry these are very naive questions. Thank you for any help.

1. Can I connect an auxilliary battery source to run an 810 on longer rides? If so, how good is the seal to keep water out?
2. How good is it at keeping me on a fixed route or does it recalculate automatically? If the 810 does recalculate, can this feature be disabled? I read somewhere that the Garmin software people screwed this up on a version of firmware. Forced re-routing would be a dealbreaker.
3. How are the standard maps on it? If I enter a destination, will it route me over good cycling roads? Or do I have to sit at my computer and map out a route and download it to the garmin?
4. How easy is it to load custom routes using a PC say if someone gives me their route?
5. Is the screen resolution and font size sufficient for old eyes?
6. How waterproof in general?
7. is the speed and distance accurate?
8. Does the 810 heartrate function get confused by powerlines or other cyclists' HRM signals?
9. What are your favorite features of the Garmin? Would you buy it again or in retrospect would you stick with a cue sheet and cyclecomputer?

Weatherby

I got my answers.....

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread...y-an-810/page2

njkayaker

If you really are interested, there are all sorts of resources on the web (try "dcrainmaker") that can answer most of those questions. Otherwise, you are asking people to do too much work (work that you should be doing).

The 810 has some issues (maybe, more than it should). Keep in mind that the number of people complaining are a small number of the people who have bought them.

The older 800 seems to be more solid.

njkayaker

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).

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).

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.

njkayaker

This isn't quite correct. The 800/810 provide a few different methods of navigation (and you can use more than one of them at the same time).

1) "A to B" computed routes (like a car navigation unit). It does this fairly well. It will "recalculate" the route just like a car navigation unit.

2) Computed directions based on uploaded routes (you want to use clean "track" routes). Often, these routes are loops that begin and end at the same place. This displays the same sorts of annoucements that 1 does. It seems most people find that the "recalculation" mode (you can turn it off) doesn't work that well for following uploaded routes.

3) Waypoint navigation (Garmin calls this "course points"). This uses points in the uploaded file that have icons (arrows) and labels. These waypoints are placed at turns in the uploaded file.

4) Off-course/on-course. With this method, you follow a track (path) on the Garmin and, if you get too far off, the device buzzes and tells you are off-course. You then move back to the route and it indicates "course found".

5) Follow a track/path. You can display a track on the map and follow it (no annoucements at all). (While this is pretty basic, it's still useful sometimes.)

There haven't been that many complaints about the 800. The 810 has, it seems, had some issues that it's taking some time to work out. The number of people posting on those forums is a very small fraction of the number of people who have bought the units.

veganbikes

Thanks for the help. I just found a Rand McNally GPS device that is cheaper and now I have to compare the two. I just happened upon it doing gear research and it looked like it might could work for what I need it for but of course the proof is in the pudding, so I guess I will see which company offers better pudding ; )

Weatherby

Who the hell are you to scold me for asking for help that can be answered in about 5 minutes. I have given many helpful responses to others. Don't appreciate your response at all. The 810 is a piece of crap, do some homework yourself.

Weatherby

list of garmin 810 problems site:forums.garmin.com

8320 separate threads on Garmin's own website is hardly a small number of people complaining.

mstraus

I would look at the Garmin Edge Touring or Touring Plus

Amazon.com: Garmin Edge Touring Plus Navigator: GPS & Navigation
Amazon.com: Garmin Edge Touring Navigator: GPS & Navigation

Here is a good review to learn more
Hands on with the new Garmin Edge Touring GPS bike computer | DC Rainmaker

TrojanHorse

I have an 800 and bought one for my wife as well. I mainly use it for the normal bike computer functions (I replaced a 500) but I frequently upload routes to the garmin and then follow along. It does give you a pop up turn notification if you turn that feature on. For some stupid reason, you have to do that for each route that you upload, it's not a global setting. Also that feature sometimes mysteriously disappears and you just get a tiny little arrow and a beep as you go by the turn you just missed. Most of the time it works well. Another feature that works well in conjunction with that is "distance to next" so that you know how far you have to go before you start paying attention.

You can enter a destination and let it navigate you but that's not really what I use my bike for so I don't do things that way.

Recalculate works fine if you are going point to point, but if you start and end in the same spot, it will simply navigate you back to your start point as soon as possible - not really what most of us want, but useful in case you get lost.

The turn by turn piece is NOT as robust as the car Garmin navigation units, and I find that the map is very hard to read most of the time (it's a small screen, the colors do not contrast well and my near vision really needs reading glasses to read that thing, which I rarely cycle with)

I didn't/don't think the 810 is worth the extra cash even if you do have a smart phone to take advantage of the live tracking, but that's just my opinion. I found a bare 800 for 280 at (I think newegg) and I bought a 800 bundle from amazon for 380, and that included the HR strap, the speed/cadence sensor and the maps, which are usually an expensive extra from Garmin. I believe Garmin currently has a $100 rebate for the 810 if you'd prefer to go that route.

njkayaker

**********

There are 872 threads in the 810 subforum (not all of them are people complaning). There are 9243 threads in the cycling forum (for all of the cycling devices).

https://forums.garmin.com/forum.php

This is funny coming from somebody who was asking other people to do their homework for them!

Altbrewer

The only problem I had with my 810 that I couldn't blame on my poor eyesight and failure to read the manual carefully was that LiveTrack was very unreliable. However, the latest firmware and iPhone app updates seem to have fixed that problem. It has worked perfectly since then.

Up North

My 810 works perfectly!

veganbikes

I am going to start looking into those! Thanks.

raqball

I am pretty fed up with my 810...

Probably won't ever buy Garmin again..

The new Polar looks interesting..

krobinson103

I like the old Vista Hcx. It does a fine job of navigating me where I need to be (as long as the base map is good). I also like the aa batteries it uses. If it breaks I'll just upgrade to the next model hiking gps with the same features. I don't care about power meters or cadence. My legs know when I'm spinning at 80-90 which is where I'm perfectly happy. Its a bit big but the screen is bright and the mount does a fine job of keeping it on. I also like the altimeter/compass chips that allow for navigation from a map if the gps has no signal (very rarely!).

Roosterbird

I see Garmin has now come out with a Edge 1000 model.

frietmet

What software do you use to generate these tracks?

I currently have an Edge 305 (bought in 2007). This requires .crs files, which in the past I used to make using Brad Culberson's Course Creator, but this application seems to have disappeared.

njkayaker

There are a lot of course/route planners. I usually us ridewithgps.

I wonder if map my ride still supports crs files.
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/03/h...-for-your.html
https://www.garmin.com/garmin/cms/int...ter#fragment-2

Weatherby

I bought an 800. Piece of crap. Screen froze at least 5 times yesterday. Would not reset for over ten miles. Misrouted several times. This is a defective product. Buy at your own risk.

njkayaker

The number of problems you are having don't seem typical at all.

(They aren't perfect devices but many people find they work pretty-well.)