I have decided to get a Garmin Edge 800 trail bundle. Anything else I need to be buying along with this? I assume any Garmin HRM strap will automatically work with this device? Do I need to buy extra maps or cards or suchlike?

Any ANT+ compatible HR strap will work.

Not to start with – I did find that when I started doing mostly road riding with mine I was better off with the City Navigator maps (although you can also get free ones now), if you’re using it off-road then you should be fine. I don’t find it great for free navigating though, I need a route pre-plotted to follow (you can really see enough of the map or detail to free navigate IMO). in terms of route plotting sites my preference is http://www.bikehike.co.uk (the only problem with it is it’s more hassle to share routes with others as you have to host them elsewhere).

I usually cycle on my own. I was hoping to download routes i am not familiar with and use the garmin to find my way around. The edge will actually do that won’t it ?

Yep, I think his point is the screen is too small to really navigate on, at best you can follow a plotted line with a vague inclination that you should turn left/right before/after the gate/wall/woods/river etc. You couldn’t use the map effectively like you would a paper map (i.e. if you get lost the easiest way is to look at the edge to pinpoint where you are, then get the paper map out to figure out where you want to be). I’ve done rides navigating from it, but I’d not substitue it for a paper map.

Apart from that my only complaint is the zoom function is just like holding a paper map closer to your face, it’s like zooming in on a picture. Even 10 years ago I had some PC based OS mapping that auto rotated the text, and sized it to suit the zoom level, on the edge if you zoom right in the text and symbology fill the screen.

I’m still happy with it though as the mapping bundle wasn’t much more than the GPS alone.

One of the things I want to play arround with is the custom mapping, apparently it’s easy enough to convert for example a trail center map or the opens street map of swinley into somethign useable on the edge.

Is Ireland included in the trail maps bundle does anyone know?

Any ANT+ HR strap will not work. The suunto ones provided with an SRM don’t.

They are ridiculously difficult to navigate with off road. If you can see the screen at all it’s pretty hard to read an OS map on it. Might as well get a map out of your pocket as stop to peer at the screen.

Can’t say it’s been my top purchase of 2012

Wait for the new model next year then?

If you want a bigger screen, look at the Dakota 20.

Get yourself a screen protector from Fleabay. 😉

Is Ireland included in the trail maps bundle does anyone know?

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?cID=255&pID=71454&utm_source=garmin&utm_medium=microsite&utm_campaign=outdoor_mapping_microsite

Click on the coverage tab – no it isn’t included in the GB discoverer maps.

You want the EIRE discoverer

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=74148

They are ridiculously difficult to navigate with off road.

For pre-planned routes, they are brilliant, and saves stopping to look at a paper map all the time. The prime reason I went for the 800 over anything else. Chuffing brilliant.

They are ridiculously difficult to navigate with off road.

For pre-planned routes, they are brilliant, and saves stopping to look at a paper map all the time.

The 2nd point +1, it doesn’t replace the paper map, it just makes it easier to pick juncions rather than guestimating distances and getting the map out to check at every turning.

It’s like a Sat-Nav in your car, you can’t plan a route with it, but I rarely if ever stop to read a map anymore whilst driving. On the road it will actualy display car sat-nav style “turn left at the crossroads” messages and plots routes to waypoints for you.

The only thing better would be a waterproof, crash proof iPad. But that’s unlikley to happen.

So i can download routes others have uploaded to sites like trailbadger and it it work like a car sat nav?

yes, but it wont speak your directions, you need to follow the overlaid line when off road.

When on road it will give you turn by turn directions (on screen).

Yeah, just to clarify, it’s crap as a substitute for a paper map if you just disappear into the wilderness. However as a device for following a pre-plotted route it’s great. A couple of months ago I did some routes in the Brecon Beacons using mine (with pre-plotted routes) and it meant I could carry on riding pretty much non-stop (apart from when I wanted to for the views/get breath back…), it’s a gazillion times better than stopping to keep checking a map.

I went out with mine for the first time using a downloaded course and we managed to just about keep on it. I re-found some pretty rad tracks and got to compare my times on Strava. Not bad for straight out of the box.
Since then I’ve found a few tips like turning on directions (that should help!) and turning off the training partner (less to confuse me). Annoyingly you have to do this for every course you download. Hopefully this will make our next ride easier.
Another problem I have is my contact lenses which make reading any OS details pretty much impossible. Back to steamed up glasses 🙁

I think there’s an element of it depending on where you live.

It’s hard work in the Chilterns with thousands of identical looking muddy bridleways and half of them not shown on the map. Whats shown as a crossroads might turn out to be a 5 way junction with two almost parralel routes. In that case some initiative is required to figure out which way to go (ride a few meters, see if the dot moves in the right direction, repeat untill you get the right one).

Out in the middle of nowhere you can zoom out on the map a bit and just wait for the little dot (you) to reach the junction. Ditto on the road where jucntions tend to be clearer and less frequent.

Ohhh, and while we’re all here, can anyone tell me how to knit together .gpx segments into a route? I just can’t figure it our in basecamp.

e.g. I can extract a load of strava segments as .gpx files, then I want to join the dots by traceing over bridleways in basecamp.

It might just be me but the whole software seems completely counter intuative.

thisisnotaspoon

That’s ambitious! Have you tried using the “navigate to the start” in the woods? I was planning to give this a try or failing that try to line up my position by trial and error. Be nice to know what works best in the real world.

I’ve tried Navigate to Start and it works, most of the time.

You can have on screen directions off-road. I use biketoaster to make routes and add the on-screen directions. It works very well!

This link is a must have for a Garmin Edge user.
Frank Kinlan’s Dummies Guide to The Garmin Edge 800

I’ve used the navigate to start function and it works well enough although it seemes to mess up if you don’t then manualy start the ride when you get there, last time it then sent me on a 5 mile road loop back to the start because I assumed it would auto start the route when i got there, and doesn’t do u-turns.

Basecamp seems to have a million and one buttons and options, but doesnt seem to do obvious stuff like display multiple .gpx segemtns at the same time and offer an easy way to trace a route then say double click on the end of a track to link to it. Surely thats a fairly basic task for a route planning software?

I’m getting more interested in this 800 the more I read. I’ve steared away from them thinking my riding and the places I ride wouldn’t need one, but it could be an addition to my “stuff”

I do wonder what elses out there and should I wait until next years 900?

Hmmm..

Santa… Oi..SANTA

I do wonder what elses out there and should I wait until next years 900?

Probably, I assume the screen will be bigger and higher res (seems an obvious improvement to make).

And if not the 800 will at least appear in the sales.

Thanks on the tips about re-starting when you’ve navigated to the start. You probably saved me from having to do a massive amount of swearing at my Garmin 😉

Second the Frank Kinlan blog. It’s a big help especially when Garmin can’t get it together to produce basic tips.

I think the bad resolution when zooming is an OS problem rather than a Garmin one. The OpenStreetMap maps that I use don’t have the same problem. There’s plenty of blogs explaining how to get them (free!) onto the device.

I’m sure exploring is easier with a map, and I’ve had what’s described above, with several trails all very close to one another, not being sure which branch to take. But it’s not as if that wouldn’t happen with a paper map. At least with this you just ride a few metres and turn around if you’re on the wrong one, rather than riding further and only realising you’ve made a mistake when you reach a feature that shouldn’t be there.

If I was choosing again I’d stick with my choice of 800, HRM, cadence (for the road bike) and the free OSM maps. Not sure I could justify the expense of the Ordnance Survey maps.

If I was choosing again I’d stick with my choice of 800, HRM, cadence (for the road bike) and the free OSM maps. Not sure I could justify the expense of the Ordnance Survey maps.

Seperately I’d agree, but as a bundle they’re only £20-£30 more than the plain 800, worht it for the lack of faffing with converting OSM.

Although as I said above I’d be tempted to use scanned trail center mapping or the like if I was doing a weekend of GT and Innerleithen for example as they’re more likely to have the relavent info on them without all the superflous stuff. Just wack them on a new SD card.