hi guys, im thinking about getting a GARMIN EDGE 305 for sunday rides up cannock chase, i do the dog n monkey on a saturday but on sunday me n the lads like a steady ride on fire roads n single track but were forever getting lost, thinking about getting the garmin so i can plan a route n stick too it most weeks, was just wondering if its easy to plan routes on fire roads and single track with this type of device, or is it too much hassle for what its worth.

gav

my experience is that the 305 is ok for route finding on longer, bridleway type trails.

if you’re whizzing through the woods trying to decide whether to turn left or right at the next fork it probably won;t help other than to tell you when you’ve already gone wrong.

I think that’s true for most gps’s though – you tend to have to slow down and compare the terrain with the on screen map/directions and decide what to do.

lots of tree cover will affect accuracy, as well.

They are mainly a tool for providing training feedback and are pretty good for that. They are also good for plotting where you have been when you get home on the pc.

For navigation they are not great.

I agree with the above, been using my 305 for a year now and it’s fantastic for feedback but I wouldn’t fancy trying to nav using way points.

You need to look at memory map or one of the high end garmin units that have proper mapping functions for that.

nope, I echo what the others have said, plus my 205 unit is not very good round Cannock, the trees are too tickly packed and GPS signal is unreliable at times as a result
great as a training aid and for plotting where you have been but not good for navigation, very easy to miss the turn directions on the screen

Fine for navigating fairly distinct trails but as said above tricky if there’s a few options. Works though but you do have to understand it has limitations.

205 is completely different to 305. The 305’s reception is amazingly good, and almost never cuts out. It even works inside, to a point at least.

It does work very well BUT it’s not a GPS like a car – you can’t plan routes on it and it doesn’t have maps. What you need is Memory Map or Tracklogs on your computer – then you draw where you want to go, upload it to the 305 and follow the dotted line.

This works very well on all sorts of rides. Sometimes when there are tons of trails you take a wrong turning but then it usually becomes obvious very quickly and you can backtrack. You can zoom in to get a good level of detail – down to the point where you discover how accurate the OS maps are 🙂

the 205 is identical to the 305, it just doesnt have the heart rate and cadence functionability but the GPS guts of the two are identical
I would say neither are very good for navigating round at Cannock – two many trails not shown on OS maps so you would struggle to plot an initial route let alone follow it on the ground, also limited by the amount of ‘waypoints’ you can import so rides with lots of turns and directions will be a struggle
It may get you home when lost though as it plots your route you can zoom out and see what general direction you should be heading in to get back to start point. This would still need some degree of orientation and general navigation skills to relate to tracks on the ground though

Worth doing the chipset upgrade on the 305 and 205 as it improves reception significantly my 305 was like the aforementioned 205 for reception prior to the upgrade – its now like the 305 mentioned above.

In answer to the above post though its useful at Cannock for finding a direction inw hich to head home but for finding a route around all the nadgery stuff its resolution will not be good enough

My 205 was excellent around Cannock; I never had any issues with reception at all (until it started playing up from one too many tree impacts, but that was my fault not its!). True it doesn’t have a map, and I could never be bothered with planning routes beforehand, but a smattering of waypoints (start points of trails, junctions, cafes and whatnot) and the shape of the line you’re leaving on the screen was more than enough to get me about in an efficient manner.

the 205 is identical to the 305

Oh wait, I was thinking of foretrex 205.. yeah you are right 🙂

Weird then that you’ve had yours cut out. Mine is almost always perfect, and of course we do have trees round our way 🙂

two many trails not shown on OS maps so you would struggle to plot an initial route let alone follow it on the ground

You use the map to draw the route, so that’s an issue with mapping not the Garmin. However in situations like that I usually just follow my nose and use the GPS to figure out where I’ve been and where I could’ve gone by looking at the map afterwards.

also limited by the amount of ‘waypoints’ you can import so rides with lots of turns and directions will be a struggle

That’s why you don’t use waypoints, you use a course and course points. Can have many thousands of points in a course and still more course points than way points. In tracklogs for instance there’s “save as route” and “save as course” – it’s the latter you want, mostly.

As I say, on its own it’s a nice bike compuer with a few tricks to help you get abck to the car; with Tracklogs it’s a navigational tool.

In answer to the above post though its useful at Cannock for finding a direction inw hich to head home but for finding a route around all the nadgery stuff its resolution will not be good enough

What is tho, apart from a pair of eyes and spatial awareness?

Exactly my point
Staring at a screen rather takes the fun out of riding for me – I use it as an aid to find my way not as the main tool to find my way.
I’ve been using GPS since that was the offical view on them (“an aid to navigation rather than a navigation tool” was I think the CAA viewpoint for quite a few years.)
Nothing will ever beat a sense of adventure and a basic idea of my orinetation to North and the start point for me in places like Cannock.
Everywhere else a map and compass seems to work pretty well

Staring at a screen rather takes the fun out of riding for me – I use it as an aid to find my way not as the main tool to find my way

As you wish. But clearly, I’m not advocating concentrating on the screen more than your ride, that would be stupid.

Although I’d rather glance at a screen than get a map out, to be honest. Much quicker, lets you get on with the ride more I find 🙂

I don’t know why some people open these GPS threads and post about how much better things were in the old days and how terrible these tools are and therefore my bike rides must be worse than theirs :(. I have done many rides – Cannock, Swinley, Tunnel Hill, Nuuksio where there was a labyrinth of tracks and trees and little on the map – and I followed my nose, explored, had a sense of adventure. Then a GPS helped me keep track of where I was, find my way home and figure out where I’d been on the map.

You wouldn’t complain about an electric screwdriver, would you? Or would you? 🙂

bloody electric screwdrivers
Battery is always flat when I need to use it