I’ve been using a Garmin 500 for a few years now and have been very happy with it’s (fairly limited) features and reliability.

I’m thinking of upgrading to a new GPS unit and ideally I’d like one with mapping, preferably OS mapping for UK. A key requirement is, that it must be reliable and not freeze/crash mid ride.

Reading online reviews (amazon etc) for the Garmin 1000 and 810, it seems like there are a lot of people who’ve experienced poor reliability and lots of problems (units crashing mid ride etc).

In was thinking of trying the new Garmin 520, but it’s obviously an unknown quantity so far.

For me, I’d like to have;

– Accurate and fast GPS reception
– very reliable operation
– Track my ride (speed, distance, altitude etc)
– good quality mapping, preferably OS mapping for UK
– will display route/course that I can then follow
– Easy to upload/download courses, routes, maps, updates, etc
– Sometimes use with HRM

Any advice from the STW masses?

I use a walking GPS, the Garmin Dakota, which is a few years old now (don’t know what the current equivalent would be). I like it because it has a reasonably sized screen and very long battery life and runs on AAs, so it’s easy to swap in spare rechargeables (it does around 24 hours on Lithium disposables). You can buy OS mapping from Garmin, but I just use the open source MTB and road maps.
It’s pretty tough and I’ve had no problems with water (it survived getting dropped in a canal!)

It’s a lot bigger than the bike specific units, but sits neatly on my stem. If you’re not worried about having a compact GPS it’s worth looking at the non cycling specific models.

Never had an issue with my 810. If you want mapping they’ve added the map function to the 520 now, but not given it an sd card port so in that respect its probably useless as a mapping device unless they’ve massively upped the internal memory.

I seem to recall the 810 getting a replacement though, I can remember seeing a tour press release showing 3 new devices but can only find Info on the 520? As it is now I’d buy another 810 if I lost mine, I’d recommend it. Although I’d be very annoyed if I lost it as OS only let you have 1 sd card, if you lose it there’s no way to restore it or re download it which stinks IMO. Everything else you mention is fine on the 810, they’ve recently improved the connect link so if you connect it to your phone you can do uploads automatically, live tracking of you’re solo and if you create courses on the connect software it just fires it straight to your gps.

Edit: just checked out the 520 mapping ability as I was interested, unfortunately it looks like there’s about 54mb of free space to play with. My 810 has about 150mb, OS maps are about 3gb. I’ve just had to try and use open street map to get some mapping on the 810 for the area of Switzerland I’m in now, and I’ve got about 100 square miles or so i reckon in about 80mb, so unless you want to faff adding and removing tiles every time you ride somewhere else I wouldn’t go for the 520 if mapping is important.

Never had an issue with my 810

and

As it is now I’d buy another 810 if I lost mine, I’d recommend it.

thanks, that is useful feedback

I have older Garmin 800 – bought off here 2nd hand and its been faultless – have OS Maps, and OSM maps on it.

Navigated on road for days around France/Belgium with no issues, records 3 road rides a week and have used it mildly off road.

Again no issues and would definitely buy another

Also ignore my comment up there about the 810 replacement, I found the press release I saw and it had three shots of the 520, not 3 different models… 😳

Doing some more research, it looks like the Garmin 800 would be ideal for me.

Trouble is it’s been discontinued and I can’t seem to find a new unit (without HRM bundle) at a sensible price. Anyone know a decent source to buy from?

My 1000 has never missed a beat. Very impressed. Not massive battery life, but more than enough for my needs.

Dakota is a good shout. Oregon for the same function but with a larger screen.

Garmin, and don’t forget this way of helping get it back if you loose it.

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/08/display-number-garmin.html

I’d recommend the Garmin Etrex 30. I’ve got the 20 and it’s great, create routes online and download in GPX format, plug it in with a USB cable and copy them over. Runs on AA batteries, so easy to carry spares. Can pick them up reasonable prices on eBay, plus the bike mounts are on eBay for a few quid.

– Accurate and fast GPS reception
– very reliable operation
– Track my ride (speed, distance, altitude etc)
– good quality mapping, preferably OS mapping for UK
– will display route/course that I can then follow
– Easy to upload/download courses, routes, maps, updates, etc
– Sometimes use with HRM

Going by this the etrex 30 / 30X would fit the bill perfectly.

I have an etrex 20 and use it for finding and planning new routes, as well as hiking. If you want to use a heart rate monitor then you’ll need the etrex 30 as that has wireless capabilities which the 20 doesn’t.

The ‘X’ versions of the 20 and 30 have just been released, which are more or less identical to the older versions except they have a slightly better screen.

The touchscreen Dakota 20 would also be a good choice but the etrex models have GPS+GLONASS capabilities which makes then noticeably more accurate.

If you are on the market for an Etrex, I have an Etrex 20 (Enduro orange, if that’s your thing) that I was going to stick on eBay this evening. It will come with an SD Card with the whole of the UK in 1:50k OS on it, plus a handlebar mount.

Email in my profile, if you are interested….

If you want a touchscreen, it seems the Dakota has been replaced by the Etrex Touch 25 / 35. So they have Glonass, and Bluetooth for connecting to your phone etc.

Personally, I would go for an Etrex 30x, I think buttons are easier to use and more reliable than a touchscreen. Plus it has much better battery life.

someone mentioned Garmin are bringing out new, more robust, versions of their gps devices – the Gnarmin 520, 820, 1000.

or maybe that was a joke on the gnarmac thread…

Thanks again for the feedback and advice.

Doing some more research (I’m probably thinking too much…). For my usage, I don’t like the fact the Etrex have removable AA batteries, I’d prefer an internal Lithium pack, charged by USB. (i don’t like using disposable batteries and wouldn’t want the hassle of having to have a battery charger with me as well)

Current choices being favoured are;

Garmin 810 about £209 – will take SD card for large mapping capability, but has some dubious user feedback online in terms of reliability, however for some it seems to be 100% ok. Latest firmware from yesterday adds new Strava segments functionality which i guess is a nice to have 🙂

Garmin 800 – in general seems to have a better reliability feedback than the 810, but can’t find anywhere that has a new one in stock at a sensibly low price (without HRM etc).

Garmin 520 about £240 – unknown quantity as it’s a brand new unit, but will only take a limited quantity of OSM maps due to approx 90MB internal memory. For me that would probably be just about Ok albeit limiting at times. Has GLONASS capability so should stand a chance of being more accurate in limited GPS cover (or more so than GPS-only units like 800 and 810)

Doing some more research (I’m probably thinking too much…). For my usage, I don’t like the fact the Etrex have removable AA batteries, I’d prefer an internal Lithium pack, charged by USB. (i don’t like using disposable batteries and wouldn’t want the hassle of having to have a battery charger with me as well)

Worth giving it a second thought, for a few reasons. First, the eTrex has a long battery life: Garmin cite 25 hours, compared to (IRRC) about 14 or so for the Edge models. My experience with the Edge 800 is that I get 9 hours on the map screen and probably 11 or 12 on the other screens, as far as I can recall. I’d guess you’d get 20 out of an eTrex, a bit less on NiMHs; when I toured for two weeks with a Vista C I’m pretty sure I got through surprisingly few alkalines. You can carry a spare set of rechargeables or two easily enough if you’re on a real mission. But, secondly, you can run an eTrex from an external USB source. So you can plug it in to a battery pack just as you can an Edge. (Or, indeed, you can run it off a dyno, though my 800 doesn’t seem to like the continual fluctuation of external power and starts going a bit wonky.) So you have two Moar-Power options for the eTrex (new batteries or USB) versus just one for the Edge.

Of course, if you’re doing a tour the eTrex means needing to add an AA charger to your luggage unless you can run off USB full time. But on the flipside it means you can carry a pair of alkalines (which might also be backups for a light) as a safety net and know you’ve always got 20+ hours of navigation in hand.

If your usage would dictate carrying a charger for AAs then I assume you’ll be going for over 20 hours before returning home, so I would think the 520 should be off your radar if you want maps, as it probably won’t hold enough to cover that much riding. It looks nice as a bit of hardware, but that memory size looks like it really restricts the usefulness of detailed mapping.

I’ve mostly been happy with my 800. It’s not perfect by any means, but overall it’s the best Garmin I’ve had.