For road rides.

Don’t know the area very well (Huddersfield) and find myself doing the same old loops time and again.

It doesn’t need to be the newest, just something with a map i can load a route onto and follow. It doesn’t have to support sensors as i have none.

Any recommendations?

You can pick up a used Edge 800 or Touring for under £100 quite easily and it’s hard to beat that for your requirements, to be honest. It’s what I still use: Garmin haven’t added anything since then that appears to improve navigation, and Wahoo isn’t quite there yet on the navigation front.

Lezyne Super GPS for ~£100 new.

Cheers guys, I’ve an old Garmin 200 that has been bomb proof so may try out the 800.

I’ll compare the batteries for both as hope to bimble some century rides with the aid of this.

Don’t suppose either of you know if either can be charged on the move? I know my 200 can’t.

In order to charge the Garmin Edge devices whilst still using them you need an “On the Go” (OTG) USB cable. Newer devices may have removed this restriction.

My wife’s an 800 and it lasts at least 12hrs before needing charging.

I have a Garmin 810 (I think – Bluetooth & touchscreen) It can be charged on the go. I used a 1.5W dynamo and it charged when going >17km/h. Slight issue is if you drop before this speed you have 10 seconds to touch the screen to stop it turning off. A royal pain in the arse.

I’ve since bought a 3W dynamo and hope this critical speed will drop to <10km/h and charge faster.

If you are using a battery bank though, there seems to be no issue in charging on the go.

Lezyne can be charged on the move apparently.

n0b0dy0ftheg0at – Member
Lezyne Super GPS for ~£100 new.

This. So easy, especially when out and about. Sends route turn by turn from app – no peering at a tiny screen map.

Great little unit. Long battery life, nicely customisable, and no Garmin Connect bobbins.

I’ll compare the batteries for both as hope to bimble some century rides with the aid of this.

IME 800/Touring goes for about 11 hours if you leave it on a data screen or about 9 hours if you’re on the map all the time. I think my 200 used to go a little longer, but it’s a few years since I used that. Either way it should be plenty for a road century.

Don’t suppose either of you know if either can be charged on the move? I know my 200 can’t.

Er… yes it can. I’ve done it. Also works with the 800/Touring.

you need an “On the Go” (OTG) USB cable

I’ve always just used any old USB cable, never had a problem.

Slight issue is if you drop before this speed you have 10 seconds to touch the screen to stop it turning off. A royal pain in the arse.

There’s a setting in the menu somewhere which stops this happening.

However, IME Garmins tend not to like a fluctuating power source. I’ve found that on long rides with dyno charging they’ll just “go weird” after a while and need to be rebooted.

My Edge 1000 has a pretty cool feature, which might be on others.

Just tell it you fancy a ride of x distance and it auto generates some suggested routes. Nice way to explore.

In order to charge the Garmin Edge devices whilst still using them you need an “On the Go”

Say whaaaaaaat!! Ace, cheers for that.

Bez – Member – Block User
Slight issue is if you drop before this speed you have 10 seconds to touch the screen to stop it turning off. A royal pain in the arse.
There’s a setting in the menu somewhere which stops this happening.

Cheers for that – I’ll have a fiddle and have a look for it.

My plan for next summer on the French Divide is to have a cache battery charging through the day then recharge Garmin via when stopped. I need to have a play with a small usb power monitor recording how many mah’s have been collected for any given distance and also plotting output v’s speed first though.

Maybe a bit more than what you’re after but I love the round trip course creator on my Garmin 820. Stick in how many miles you want and which direction you want to head and it generates 3 loops for you to choose from. Hit go and you’ve got yourself a nice little mystery tour

My plan for next summer on the French Divide is to have a cache battery charging through the day then recharge Garmin via when stopped.

Might be worth considering a battery with passthrough charging, meaning it can be charged at the same time as supplying a charge.

eg: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01HFGQ4EC/

The Garmin Edge Touring does round trip routing and can be recharged on the go, it’s a third of the price of the 1000. The setup I have which allows you to ride indefinitely without the need for mains topups is as follows. Shimano or similar hub dynamo as long as it generates 3W, wired to a Kemo switch/rectifier unit (available from Maplins for not much) then via a smallish power bank which allows pass through charging to the gps usb port. Using this setup I also power a Revo dynamo light so can switch from charging the power bank to a direct feed to the light for night riding or tunnels. Beware though, the Touring’s usb port is notoriously flimsy so use tlc, there are relatively few power banks that do pass through, read the spec carefully. Brands such as Porta Pow, Anker and the Maplin Juice Cube do on certain models. Theres much more chat about this on Bearbones forum.

Wahoo Elemnt/Elemnt Bolt seem to get good reviews – i’m after one at the moment. They had a firmware update recently that seems to have improved the TBT navigation a great deal.

Really like the idea of the round trip function and reckon the Garmin Touring for the money is everything I’ll need.

Cheers peeps.

What Bez says.

They had a firmware update recently that seems to have improved the TBT navigation a great deal.

Really? Got any details? Can’t see anything listed on the update page that would improve navigation.

https://support.wahoofitness.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000410550-ELEMNT-Bolt-Software-Updates

(I think the last firmware I used would have been the July update.)

My thoughts on the Wahoo navigation: https://mashing53.cyclyc.com/wahoo-navigation-nailed-or-failed/