Great for training and collecting all sorts of ride data, and quite good at getting you places whilst on-road (though it's routing can be a bit... strange...) but trying to navigate with the Garmin Topo maps is fricking impossible! Or is it just me?
isnt designed for navigation though ....
i have a 305 my self - wouldnt dream of navigation from it !
but what's the point of having the topo maps then? as an example, yesterday I couldn't find the South Downs Link using it (somehow got off it and ended up on the road). I guess I should carry the relevant Ordnace Survey map as well?
I've got a 305 I think. It can be used for guiding you round a route, but its not great. Much better for training purposes.
Got the 605 and yes, very disappointed. Totally regret buying it. I appreciate it's got a lot of fitness functions, but nowhere does it say 'oh and btw, this is gonna be frustratingly crap at navigation'. Hrumph! 🙄
iirc the garmin topo maps for the UK are crap, due to OS licensing restrictions. They are much better here in Germany.
205 here and I found the navigation great, what's so difficult about following a line?
What more do you want it to do?
expecting too much of a small unit IMO.
better to have a map and a 205/305 for your usual computer/HRM fun.
They are absolutely great for navigating, except it takes months of hard work to get used to them in order to use them properly.
Topo GB is good in some parts of the country, especially if you use it on the PC and download the area you want to the Edge. But Memory Map is better if you can afford both.
The very best thing is asking people on here to send you GPX files of routes. Then convert into course (.crs) files to follow on the Edge.
But Memory Map is better if you can afford both.
Can you run Memory Map on a Garmin? I thought you couldn't?
They are absolutely great for navigating, except it takes months of hard work to get used to them in order to use them properly.
Guess I need to take a course or something 😆
useless for off road navigation unless you are just following a line on a course.
I use tracklogs to build the courses then just follow the line. I use city navigator europe for road riding and POIs though
it works well for pre-planned routes but not for hunting out bridleways and things. Yes, the topo maps are cr@p. For the south downs, the openstreetmap stuff would be better.
if you want to make a pre-planned route, go on www.bikehike.co.uk , draw out a route and then just download it to the GPX folder on the edge.
following a line is absolutely ace - unless your in scotland where you could have 4 trails converging and diverging at a gate/stile - which do you take ?
Seems obvious to me that the maps are too small and non-OSey for off-road navigation (and I don't own one) but that'd be very handy for road, or getting home on road when you come out somewhere you're not sure of.
unless your in scotland where you could have 4 trails converging and diverging at a gate/stile - which do you take ?
You look at the directions of the trails when you approach, and if you're still not sure then you ride a short way down your best guess and see how it pans out - simples.. and quicker than stopping to get a map out.
Mine didn't even show the South Downs Link at all... even when I was on it, the map just showed blank space with my dotted progress on it. It should've been on there, right?
The old 305 here and find it great for navigating round a route I've creates in memorymap. If only it would give OS grid refs it would be all the satnav you'd ever need.
"and quicker than stopping to get a map out. "
Does depend where you store your map and if your proficient at reading it or not......
Sorry yes, I should have said it's all dependant on having your route planned out first and uploading it to the Edge. For just general exploration purposes yes it would be pretty cr*p! But if that's what you're after you need something like that Satmap or that new Garming one (Oregon?) that can take OS maps.
Yeah the Topo maps are pants, Garmin need to licence OS maps to make it any good for off-road navigation. It's fine if you take the time to create a course and download it to the unit but if someone were to drop you off in the middle of nowhere with a Garmin 705 + Topo map and told you to find your way home you'd be better off waiting until night and navigating by the stars. I also have the City Navigator maps on mine which are much better than the Topo ones for road riding.
I think they announced a new device month or two back using OS maps so hoping that they'll bring out an 805 or something soon with OS mapping.
It doesn't matter that Memory map isn't supported, just convert the gpx into a crs and it will be super accurate.
Last summer, I asked on here for dartmoor routes. Somebody sent me a couple and i just converted and downloaded them and they were perfect. And when there are 4 closely spaced trails, the unit is accurate to about 10 metres so you'll know soon enough if you've taken the wrong one.
Yeah the Topo maps are pants, Garmin need to licence OS maps to make it any good for off-road navigation.
they do
http://www.garmingbdiscoverer.co.uk/
Aye but they need to make them usable on a 705, chances are though they're doing a new version of the 705 that can use OS maps (but the existing ones won't be able to) so they can try and screw people over to buy new units rather than just a map pack.
Does depend where you store your map
Assuming it's in your camelbak and not on a mapboard like a nerd 🙂
unless your in scotland where you could have 4 trails converging and diverging at a gate/stile - which do you take ?
to be honest your OS map is unlikely to help at that immediate point unless you can relate the path to a further point. You can use the compass function on the Garmin to give you a heading.
Aye but they need to make them usable on a 705, chances are though they're doing a new version of the 705 that can use OS maps (but the existing ones won't be able to) so they can try and screw people over to buy new units rather than just a map pack.
Only if the requirement to have OS mapping would make a big difference to worldwide sales.
I used my 705 on the HONC last weekend, download the GPX file > copy it to the GPX folder on the 705 > follow the purple line on the screen, hardly difficult 🙄
I just got a Dakota 20 and you can hook in any compatible heart monitor and Cadence monitor to it. It also comes with Custom maps function which means you can down load OS maps using "Mobile map creator" and have OS maps for free as it downloads the tiles from the likes of multi map.
I use the open streetmap and have figured out now how to edit the basemap to add routes and features. For example when I did the Builth last weekend there were no bridleways marked at all on the basemap...useless. I have now added the route to the basemap so if anybody downloads it now it'll be on their map. Took about 10 mins to do it but will be handy next time I am up there.