I am not a Strava KOM fitness junky (obviously!) but just want something purely for navigation, to upload a file and follow type approach.

Loads of good tracks within an hour or so but don’t want the faff (and off saddle time) to look at maps unless GPS fails (of course).

What would the collective recommend?

Ta.

James

Mio Cyclo are good for navigation
https://eu.mio.com/en_gb/mio-cyclo-300-europe.htm

consider a suunto ambit watch. They mount fine on the bars. Fully water proof.

Mine was £125. Prices change weekly up and down

I keep recommending a secondhand Edge 800/Touring for this. They’re not perfect but they make as decent a fist of navigation as anything else does, and you can easily pick them up for under a ton.

ampthill – Member
consider a suunto ambit watch. They mount fine on the bars. Fully water proof.

Mine was £125. Prices change weekly up and down

How does a full android wear watch fare with navigation? I’m tempted by one for Strava tracking and the obvious other normal ‘watch’ duties rather than spending £200 on a wahoo bolt.

Garmin Etrex 20. Includes maps as standard, and much the same for navigation as the Edge 800 etc. Works fine on the handlebar mount.

My brother in law was very rude about the gps in his quite posh Android watch

I’ve had my Garmin 800 for five years now, and it’s been flawless. Quirky, perhaps, but it has shown me the way all over the country (and bits of other countries also). I haven’t found a better successor yet.

Thanks for all the kind replies and I should have mentioned perhaps that it is for offroad solely as I am not sure if that makes a difference.

Interesting to see all the ideas, as it happens I actually have an android smartwatch and I have to say its not that good for bike gps nav, fab for stats / tracking like with Endomondo but that’s about it in my experience.

The older Garmins 800 / Etrex I will check out, that feels the right sort of thing but will look at the Mio stuff too.

Thanks for all the great suggestions and welcome any more / real life experiences.

James

Been using Eurex 30 for a few years now, mainly off road good bit of kit fine for following uploaded trails and takes normal batteries which has been handy on multi day trips

I have a Garmin 800 – downside is the screen size makes it tricky for navigating from the base map – OK if following a pre-loaded track. I prefer an Oregon for ‘touring’ has a bigger screen, plus takes AA batteries for ‘infinite’ battery life.

Garmin Oregon