I am looking to get a garmin in the new year. But unsure which model to get, the 705 or 800??

Features I want are…
Speed,distance & time etc
Easy to follow turn by turn directions/maps
Heart rate monitor
Virtual training partner type thing.

it will be primarily for use on the road bike. But would be good to have the option to put it on the mtb also.

Thanks in advance.
I hope your all enjoying your Christmas.

800…..

Just upgraded from a 705 to an 800 and its much better.

The main advantage is that you can upload OS 1:25000 maps of the area your in and use it to navigate. You just grab them off any website that uses them…

I have no success navigating offroad with my 605. There is no ‘follow track’ function which makes it next to useless.

Courses just beep “off route” without usefully navigating you back. Navigate track takes arbitrary shortcuts – ie cdoesnt follow the track. Simply showing a track on the screen doesn’t tell you which way you should be going which is no use with tight knit trails in the woods.

A very nice bike computer you can use to show where you have been but a navigate fail.

Santa got me a 800 this christmas, get it. Such a cool tool. And as earlier mentioned, the 800 is like the 705, smaller, better looking and with updated software.

Going by previous experience of Garmin (eTrex Vista, nuvi, edge 705) I wouldn’t rush out and buy an 800 for a while, it usually takes them half a dozen firmware updates to get the device reliable, and they appear to use the customers as product testers. 🙄

I bought a discounted 705, I use them mostly for training, and the map function for following uploaded routes. I don’t do much exploring and if I did I’d still print out the map, so I’m hoping I won’t regret not getting the 800. I haven’t used it on a new route yet but testing it out on routes I know the vector maps you get with the 705 seem fine so far.

I bought myself an 800 – from Evans before xmas. saved until the big day – then disaster – cant get the 1:50 SD card to work so stuck with useless base maps – now got all the hassle of sending back to Evans etc – not to mention hunting for receipt:(

tried all I can think of – otherwise looks a good little piece of kit compared with my old Garmin legend.

Does anyone know if the 800 do grid reference and not just a gpd position?

I’ve just read through the manual and I can’t find any direct mention of the grid formats available but I very much doubt it would be less than the 705, and the fact that the 800 can use OS mapping would make it a bit stupid not to have British National Grid as well.

I think I remember seeing in one of the menus British National Grid, so have a tinker with the device and it should be in there somewhere 😀

Yes, you can get British Nat Grid up. Its in the “units” section of the settings.

I can see no reason whatsoever (apart from the cost) not to buy the 800. I’ve just had one as an upgrade to my 605. The screnn and mapping is awesome.

So the 605 has British Nat grid ref then? or is it just the 800?

So the 605 has British Nat grid ref then? or is it just the 800?

The 705 has, not sure about the 605 but I would expect so.

The 705 is excellent, and following off-road courses is a doddle…as long as you have the time and patience to learn how to use it and get the courses in the right format and on the thing.

About as user friendly as a cornered rat.

About as user friendly as a cornered rat.

A decent user manual would help (although the How To videos on the Garmin forum help a lot).

I sold my 705 for an 800, great decision. OS maps rule.