I guess quite a few of you guys use gps on your bikes.
Which one is best for putting OS maps onto for route following (gpx file) offroad?
Real world usage experiences needed here before I buy one in the jan sales
Thanks
I have no experience of other brands, but my old Garmin Edge 800 with OS mapping has been brilliant.
Garmins are great until they go wrong and then they're shite.
My 520 lasted about 12 months before the battery deteriorated to the point where it could do no more than 6 hours (with a couple of sensors paired) without getting the 20% warning sign.
Bought a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, far superior battery life, nicer user interface.
@steve_b77 - what is the mapping like on the wahoo? as good as ordnance survey 1:50 ??
All the cool kids are using Wahoo now.
The Wahoo does look nice but that 2 tone screen doesn't seem to display the map as clearly as some of the full colour screen devices.
Have any of you used the Wahoo for out in the wilds pre planned route following?
Do you also need to convert gpx files to be compatible with the Wahoo?
"Bought a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, far superior battery life, nicer user interface."
and how has that lasted beyond the 12 months ?
I'd suggest the Garmin 520 Plus (must be the plus).
But only for route following, not navigating on the fly - they're all a bit crap for that with the small screens.
Avoid the Garmin Edge series and buy an Etrex or Oregon.
If you really need to see a lot of detail and need actual full OS mapping, then Etrex 20 or 30, if it is for the bike and for following a .gpx .tcx, then i agree that Wahoo Element is really good, battery life is good and the main thing is definitely the ease of which you control from app on phone and synching directly Komoot, RidewithGPS and the like, do a route in one, syncs directly with the other apps and then goes to headunit over Wifi or bluetooth, no weird software glitches and frustrations like Garmin bike units.
Avoid the Garmin Edge series and buy an Etrex or Oregon
Any particular Etrex/Oregon model suits cycling needs?
What are your cycling needs?
My Oregon will link to various external sensors (HR, Cadence etc) if that's what you are after.
Bought a Bolt. Now sold and back to Garmin. They're all pretty disappointing but for me, Garmin is still best of a bad bunch.
Have a Garmin Edge 1000 since 2015. It's mostly been a positive experience however since changing phones I've had nothing but connection problems, it's not been syncing with the app, battery life has gone from lasting 4-5 rides a week to 1-2. Rides are between 1 and 2 hours.
Updated it today and it's finally syncing with the app but it's hit and miss syncing with Strava.
It's got one more chance and if it refuses to work I'll just buy a quad lock and use Strava again permanently. Refer to Google maps for directions when needed.
battery life has gone from lasting 4-5 rides a week to 1-2. Rides are between 1 and 2 hours.
Try changing the battery. I did this with an Edge 705 and it completely rejuvenated it.
I have (had*) a Garmin 510 for on-road use and an Oregon for off-road. I've both OS and OSM maps loaded on the Oregon so can choose which to use. Battery life is in the 18-20hr range depending on your settings and how often you look at the map. Takes AA batteries so easy to carry spares, if you use rechargeables then there's a trick so that you don't need to buy Garmin's overpriced battery pack to allow you to charge the batteries in-situ. It will link to HR and cadence sensors plus temp sensor but not power meters. It's fairly bulky and the bike mount, that you need to buy seperately, isn't as good as the quarter lock turn of the Edge series.
* my 510 lasted 7 or 8 years until recently when it threw a tantrum, lost the ride I was doing and then reset itself so back to stupid units and apparently I'm a 4000lb, 4'10" tall 8yr old😂 I was still getting 12hrs (at least) of riding out of a charge