Garmin Edge 305 data fields
 

what data fields do you have displayed on your edge computer 1 and computer 2 screens, and why

I just got my new edge 305 from geoman today and I AM PUMPED!!!
while waiting the 3 hours recommended charging time before use, i have been setting mine up
here is what i have so far.... it will probably change

Comp 1: 6 fields
Speed
Time (saddle time)
Current HR | Current Cadence
Distance | Grade %

Comp 2: 6 fields
Time of Day
Avg Speed
Elevation | Total Ascent (pretty useless in houston :D)
Avg HR | Avg Cadence

1: 5 fields
Speed
Time | Distance
Time of Day | Total Ascent

2: 8 fields
Speed | Avg Speed
Lap Distance | Current Lap (Lap Time)
Grade | Total Ascent
Elevation | Paused Time

speed, cadence,time, grade,ascent, and distance.

Screen 1: Speed (large), heart rate, distance, total ascent, grade%

I chose these because that's what I want to know as I ride - I am usually trying to go a certain distance, I need to know if my heart rate is higher or lower than it feels in order to gauge effort, I like to amass ascent feet on some rides and guess how many feet a short rise is then confirm it, and I'm always interested to see what my grade % is.

Screen 2: Ride time (so I can tell my wife my estimate was close to reality - I'm actually very good at that even on unknown routes), average heart rate, average speed, calories and time of day. I want to look at average speed when I get home but not on the bike so I am not in a race with myself. Average heart rate is an interesting field as it indicates both effort and general level of exhaustion - it tends to go down on the latter days of multiple sequential long rides. I almost never look at screen two during a ride.

C1:
Time
Speed | Cadence
Avg Speed | HR
Distance | % Grade

C2:
Time | Sunset
Elevation | Avg HR
Calories | Total Ascent
Max Speed | Accuracy

just took it out for a spin and already made some changes
its a little hard to see when mounted on the stem as the angle is a little steep even with the wedge in place (and no im not going to "flip it"), so i may try moving it to the bars
here is the new setup, basically i wanted to make the speed more visible (bigger) and because i ride familiar routes i moved the distance to the second screen

Comp 1: 4 fields
Speed
Time (saddle time)
Current HR | Current Cadence

Comp 2: 6 fields
Time of Day
Distance
Avg Speed | Total Ascent
Avg HR | Avg Cadence

Comp1: 7, none of which I can make out while riding. All the basics, like speed, cadence, HR, time, lap time, etc..

Comp2:
HR Zone
Cadence
Time of day | Current Lap


Comp2 gets used 98% of the time.

Time, speed, distance, cadence and heart rate zone. I can't figure out why you'd want ascent, descent or grade on the first screen or more than a handful of fields.

yeah i would think heart rate zone is more important on the fly than just regular heart rate.... goes and changes it

on a side note (not to hijack my own thread) but do you set up your own heart rate zones, or use the garmin defaults (or age based defaults i cant figure out which it is)

if you use your own, how do you find out what your zone ranges are?

I like it because I climb a lot and I like to know the accumulation. Often I care more than the distance. I could say I can't figure out why you'd want heart rate zone (I could see HR but zone?) or cadence on the first screen.

You have to figure out your own max heart rate then set that in your rider profile. It'll calculate the rest.

I use zone for training. If I wanted to remember all the numbers, I could just use heart rate, but I took the time to find max and therefore the zones fairly accurate and are easier to eyeball and know were you stand.

screen 1:
time
speed
distance | % grade
Cadence | HR
I'm thinking I need to ditch one of those and get total ascent up...

+1... zone is quick and easy. I don't care what my exact bpm is, but I care what percentage of my max I'm in or around.

That being said, I use 1 screen: speed, cadence (which is really useless for me at this point), HR Zone, distance, total ascent, grade, time, time of day. HR Zone is the only one I really look at, unless I'm flying downhill and want to see how fast I'm up to (fun factor) or if I'm suffering going up hill and want to confirm the grade is in fact really steep and I'm not just being a wussy :D

Speed, average speed, high speed, elapsed time, distance, cadence, heartrate.

Interesting comment. It has a lot of merit to it.

That's OK.

bike 1

Cadence
speed / distance
heart rate / avg speed

bike 2

avg speed / max speed
calories / total ascent
heading / time of day
grade % / time

The two numbers I am most interested in while riding are Cadence and Heart Rate. I wear a monitor. I have been a bit surprised by the heart monitor, I never had one before, but it provides the most useful information about work level. I used to go out too hard, die half way out and limp back home, now the effort is more consistent due in large part to the heart monitor.

Bike 1:
Speed
Avg. speed
Distance | Time of Day
Cadence | HR

Bike 2:
Current HR
Current Cadence
Elevation | Grade %
HR Zone | Last Lap Speed (5 mile laps)

Far and away the info I use most often is the cadence and HR. I have a routine that just before a climb I will switch to Bike 2 so that the HR, Cadence is most prominent, and so I can glance at the grade. If I see grades >15% and my HR over 182 I know I am hurting and it is just a matter of seconds before I have to get off the bike and walk for not being able to turn the pedals anymore (or fall over from not clipping out).

When I am on flats or downhills I will switch to Bike 1 so that Speed is most prominent.

BC1
Timer
Speed
Distance/Time of Day
Cadence/HR%

BC2
Average Speed
Distance/Total Ascent
Grade/HR Zone

I was being purposefully snarky. You couldn't understand why someone would possibly want to see ascent, so I picked something you obviously found useful and mocked it. I don't do zone training, and I wear a separate HR monitor so I don't show that on my Edge. I have a pretty good idea of my cadence and I don't keep the sensor attached so I don't show that that either. I found cadence to be interesting to watch when I was just getting started but less important now.

just curious as to why you wear a separate HR monitor when it's included with the Edge 305? And, why do you not use the cadence sensor? Not trying to start anything, but seems like it's not being used to its full capabilities.....

BC1
time. speed.
dist. time of day.
calories. heart rate.
cadence. elevation.

BC2
lap speed. tot ascent.
lap dist. tot descent.
heading. grade%.
max speed. sunset.

prolly too many i know, as i tend to use hr, cadence, grade and distance while riding and go thru info using Ascent when i get home.

a) Don't like the strap. My Polar strap is much more comfortable. I had the Polar first.
b) Although you wouldn't know it during the summer, I actually workout some off my bike when the days are shorter and I like to keep all my heart rate data together.
c) I don't need a sensor to tell me what my Cadence is. And I don't really care. And I'm a weight weenie.

I got the 305 because I specifically wanted the cumulative ascent. Otherwise I probably would have just gotten the 205.

I don't have mine here at work, but if I remember correctly:

Screen 1 - 8 fields:
HR Zone | Cadence
Speed | Distance
Elevation | Grade
Direction | Time of Day

Screen 2 - 8 fields:
Avg HR | Avg Cadence
Avg Speed | Max Speed
Tot Ascent | Tot Descent
Time | Time Paused

It's a lot of information on each screen, but I can read it fine. I'm usually just on the first screen and only go to the second screen when I finish my ride, want to know how long I've stopped during a ride, or am interested in knowing how much I've climbed/descented on a long trip.

Depends what kind of ride, if it's hills I have comp 1 set to 2 fields, Heart rate and grade, maybe add cadence too.
Comp 2 usually 6 fields, max speed, direction, stuff like that.

My Flight deck takes care of speed and distance/odometer.