Viewing 20 posts - 1 through 20 (of 20 total)
  • Is it worth getting a Garmin for off-road use only?
  • hughjayteens
    Free Member

    As per title – fancy a new gadget but never cycle on the road so it needs work off-road. Guess I mainly just want it to keep a proper log of rides and sync with Strava and a HRM so I can monitor my training more.

    Are they much better than say an iPhone 6S on a proper mount? Would a Garmin watch do much the same job?

    Any input welcomed.

    Thanks

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Are they much better than say an iPhone 6S on a proper mount? Would a Garmin watch do much the same job?

    I’ve crashed hard onto my bar mounted Garmin about 10 times now, it’s still fine.
    The battery lasts all day with the sceen on, the accuracy is good, was navigating away on it today and despite the small screen it was easy to follow a route.
    It does HRM properly and easily and a bunch more stuff. So I’d take it over hanging a phone on the bars any day.

    cheers_drive
    Full Member

    Are you training to race? If so I suggest you will need to get a road bike in order to get quality training so I’d get a Garmin.

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    DaveRambo
    Full Member

    I switched from a Garmin watch to a newer 510.
    The newer Garmins make use of the US and Russian satellites and are more accurate than a lot of watches.

    Battery life will be significantly better than a phone and they are appropriately weather proof.
    For your purposes a 510 will be more than enough I think – the 8xx ones have proper maps which is useful off road but the 510 directions are good enough to navigate new routes off road.

    So I’ve had a watch, used my phone but always take the 510 with proper HRM strap.

    mactheknife
    Full Member

    Having an iPhone plonked on the bars sounds like a right recipe for disaster.

    rocketman
    Free Member

    Have got a Forerunner 230 mainly for running because the iPhone was too big but I use it off road as well. Very light very good display

    No problems with the GPS it works as well as the phone and it syncs fine with Strava.

    Can be customised to follow routes or show different parameters. Also connects to various different sensors. It’s functionally the same as the phone but in a smaller package. Depends what you’re looking for

    nickgti
    Free Member

    I love my garmin 1000, it’s also very good for finding new segments out exploring, Star the segment on Strava and it will flash at you when your close to it.

    Battery lasts ages can’t fault it

    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    cheers_drive – Member
    Are you training to race? If so I suggest you will need to get a road bike in order to get quality training so I’d get a Garmin.

    Of sorts, yes. I have entered the Tweedlove Enduro and fancy entering a few more Enduro races, but I’ve had road bikes in the past and didn’t enjoy it enough to keep at it. Time is a very precious commodity for me and I’d far rather grin and get muddy for the 3-5 hours a week I can ride, then grimace and risk being hit by cars!! Each to their own and if I didn’t have to go to work I am sure I’d have a road bike again, but for now the gym and 1-2 mountain bike rides a week is all that time allows.

    Thanks for all the input – might try and find a used 510 to see if it works for me and then splash out a bit more after that if I like it.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    I have a garmin 820 and an Iphone 6s plus.
    I bought the garmin mainly for road navigation and for that its fine. Its no good for off road navigation where there is a lot of trails close to each other. Fine for getting from a-b but I have missed out trails because there may be another path within a few meters that runs parallel.
    If you just require the device for logging and don’t need to see a display when you are riding then I would stick the iPhone in your pocket or bag and use that.

    The iPhone accuracy is easily as good as the garmin but unlike the garmin I know the phone will work every time. Garmin or more specifically their software is awful and what works perfectly one day wont work the next and you will be waiting months for a “fix” that fixes one issue but causes 10 others.

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Fine for getting from a-b but I have missed out trails because there may be another path within a few meters that runs parallel.

    I’ve used mine for off road nav, the thing it doesn’t do is remove the need to some common sense. If there are 2 paths I generally check a little closer and as happened today, take a quick glance back when it beeps and says off route.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    Common sense will only get you so far. Of course you can check closer but where I ride there are hundreds of little trails hidden off the side of other trails. Who wants to keep stopping every time the thing beeps telling you are off route.
    I have spent many hours exploring with mine. Downloading peoples routes from strava and other sources then just following knowing I am going to have a rubbish ride but will hopefully learn some new bits of trail. So in that respect I guess it works but it takes a lot of effort which I would not want to do very often.

    I have followed a lot of off road routes that have been fine. These have tended to be more fire roads and more obvious tracks.

    bails
    Full Member

    I think it’s worth it. I’ll happily ride in new places with my edge 800 as it’s loads quicker and easier than following a map.

    Its no good for off road navigation where there is a lot of trails close to each other.

    I don’t see how a paper map or iPhone would be any better than the Garmin in the situation described there. It usually becomes obvious if you’ve picked the wrong path. I’ve done it in the Malverns where there’s been a high, middle and low track,one above the other, all going the same way. Getting 2 metres worth of definition is tricky, but ride for ten seconds and you’ll normally be able to say if you picked correctly or not.

    I’ve got the free Talkytoaster maps on mine which are very good, not used the ordnance survey ones to compare though.

    I don’t use any Garmin software apart from Garmin express which runs in the background. I plug the unit into my computer and it syncs straight away, then I get a notification from Strava to say my ride is ready. There’s something called basecamp but I could never figure it out.

    Don’t rely on the built on navigation as it’s a bit dicey. Plan routes beforehand.

    I use bikehike and bikeroutetoaster. Plot the route, click send to Garmin and the route gets loaded ready to use. (Browser dependent, Firefox works with the Garmin communicator plugin, chrome doesn’t). Then turn it on and select the route, follow the line, easy!

    bails
    Full Member

    Downloading peoples routes from strava and other sources then just following knowing I am going to have a rubbish ride but will hopefully learn some new bits of trail. So in that respect I guess it works but it takes a lot of effort which I would not want to do very often.

    I really don’t understand this. You wouldn’t be doing the ride at all if it wasn’t for the Garmin. It lets you ride in new places and occasionally you have to slow down or stop to double check a trail junction.

    That’s part of riding on trails, surely? How could it possibly be any different? Garmin putting physical arrows on the trail when you plan a route?

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    That’s part of trail exploration anyway – ride tracks you don’t know rather than the tracks you do.

    You might find the best trails ever, or end up pushing through nettles and brambles for half an hour.

    Doesn’t matter whether you’re following rabbit tracks, strava tracks or tyre tracks.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    I use my garmin almost exclusively off road – Oregon 600 with open MTB maps, and strava heatmap for the area near me. Good combo for finding new stuff.

    There’s still the same choice between a good quality thrash round stuff I know or a slower ride trying out some new loops, punctuated by stops to check the map on the garmin and a bit of doubling back here and there.

    devash
    Free Member

    I bought an eTrex 20 primarily for mountain biking but I use it for walking / hiking just as much now. As someone who spends a lot of time doing activities outdoors it is probably the single most useful gadget I have ever bought.

    Advantages over an iphone / smart phone;

    1. Battery life is vastly increased. Can swap out batteries on multi day hikes.

    2. Accuracy and satellite lock seems much better than an iphone.

    3. Completely waterproof and has survived a fair few drops and knocks unscathed.

    andysredmini
    Free Member

    As I said it works and you can follow a route but its not easy in some situations.
    When I bought the garmin I hoped to be able to easily find new trails in areas I already know well. But some of these hidden gems are so close to other trails even having the garmin will not help and will not alert to being off course because of the close proximity to the trail I’m on.
    This isnt Garmins problem its my problem and I had to lower my expectations.

    I have found a lot of hidden gems but it hasn’t been easy and often I have had rubbish rides where nothing good was found but the whole ride was spent trying to find them.

    I also never said an iphone or map would be more accurate for navigating. I said an iphone as a logging device will be as accurate but no way would I rely on a phone for navigating unless I already knew the area and wouldn’t get in trouble if it did fail. As soon as 4g disappears the thing would be useless. I wouldn’t even like to bother trying to navigate with a map. Not that I couldn’t I just couldn’t be bothered with all the stopping and starting much like the garmin really at times.

    nedrapier
    Full Member

    As soon as 4g disappears the thing would be useless.

    You can download maps to the phone and use it the same as a garmin. Positioning’s done by the GPS chip, so with maps on the phone you don’t need any phone signal at all.

    br
    Free Member

    As per title – fancy a new gadget but never cycle on the road so it needs work off-road. Guess I mainly just want it to keep a proper log of rides and sync with Strava and a HRM so I can monitor my training more.

    Oh no! Does that mean I’m really a roadie?

    After a succession of devices and phones I got a Garmin 810. It’s got OS maps installed, a HRM and a cadence monitor.

    Works great, even off road 🙂

    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    What are the Garmin Fenix watches like? Quite like the look of the new one with built in HRM – don’t do much running but when I do, would be nice to keep track of that too.

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