Any good for off road or should i be looking for something else ?

Depends on how many trees etc. you ride under. I have a 205 and use it in the Malvern hills area and it will miss out chunks of track (can see it on the down loaded log)- anything up to 1 mile in 10 against a calibrated conventional wheel sensor driven computer. Has other features though which does make it of some use but not my best purchase to be honest.

Also it cannot give you a grid ref, only lat & long (try finding that on a OS map, not convenient). It’s fine for recording a route, or retracing one. I broke its bracket on the 3rd ride with it in a minor off.

If mine broke I’d buy another straight away. ‘Tis true that it won’t give you an OS grid ref, but to be honest I’ve never missed the ability since I stopped using an older eTrex previously.

Mine works fine everywhere but city centres surrounded by tall buildings; I’ve never had a problem with signal loss or poor accuracy (including over a thousand miles around the Malverns too).

For recording rides, using as a souped-up bike computer and following courses made on computer it’s great. I love the fact that it unobtrusively sits on the stem; are there any GPS units smaller than the 205 and 305?

Since I got mine 3 years ago I think I’ve broken 3 mounts; one while carrying the bike on a car rack and two in crashes. They don’t cost much and are easy to replace, so I’m not fussed. I’d rather the mount broke than the GPS.

I was thinking of putting one of these on my birthday list, so this thread is useful. I think that

recording rides, using as a souped-up bike computer and following courses made on computer

pretty much sums up what I wanted one for 🙂

So which Garmin or other GPS uses O.S. maps – anyone know ?

satmap active 10 but its pricey. I am fairly happy with my garmin 205

Never had a problem with the 205 losing signal, even in quite heavily forested areas. Heaps better than an older garmin GPS we had in that respect.

The grid ref thing isn’t a problem for me because generally have an OS map printed off from memory map which allows you to overlay lat/lon grid lines so a lat/lon reference is enough.

Generally use it for tracking routes rather than navigation, but been fine to follow a route the few times we’ve uploaded crs tracks to it.

Is memory map mac compatible?

Also does anyone use http://www.allsportgps.com/ to log their rides, according to this article the software Garmin supplies is quite poor?

Garmin software is rubbish. I’ve not found anything worth using it for. I’d like to figure out how to upload routes and such onto my 205, anyone know any good software/websites?

I use ascent software on the mac for recording routes etc – bikehike is pretty good for plotting routes.

My 205 is great as keeping signal also, perhaps jimw has a faulty one ?

Joe – Tracklogs s/w works with the 205 no probs.

Also, SportTracks (ride logging s/w) works out of the box with the 205 so I can just upload the ride details into an electronic logbook complete with the route.

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/ (free too!)

ive got a 205 and memory map software for central and northern england and wales for sale over on the classifieds. email me at kingtomtom@hotmail.co.uk for details.