Your Garmin help, please

I thought about that but I already have an etrex and they're too damn slow. Fine for walking but if I want to check something out, it takes too long to move around the screen, etc.

Anyone used a Joule GPS?

EDIT: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2012/11/cycleops-joule-gps-in-depth-review.html

I'm looking to get a GPS that I can download routes to as I'm getting a bit stuck in my ways.

I don't need anything fancy as I've no interest in heart rate, cadence etc so was thinking of the Garmin Edge Touring.

Is this the one I want and/or is there a better alternative?

Thanks for the help!

@xavierdisley Has a joule and I believe he rates it.

I have one.

Rated it highly, it's as reliable as my eTrex.

Would be interesting to see what maps people's garmins crap out on. OSM, talkytoaster,
velomap, Garmin, etc.

I think that this would indeed be interesting.

All I really want my garmin to do is record where I have been at what speed and to show me turn by turn guidance for a particular track. I don't really use it for a "Get me to Kidderminster" type navigation. I think that part of my problem comes from the fact that I have not really understood the interaction between the "track" and the "map" before.

George

Not the GPS one though.

I did actually buy one of the old Joules but it was fooked so I sent it back.

/give up cycling.

That very thought was going through my head quite a lot on Sunday.

'This [The Hippies] is one race of people for whom Garmins is of no use whatsoever.'
SIGMUND FREUD (1856-1939)

There didn't seem to be much correlation though with @hippy saying his broke with a whole variety of maps.

This.

I have a Wahoo Rflkt. I'm only using it with "ride with GPS" at the moment. The unit itself doesn't actually do anything except display and act as a remote control for your phone. But you can make routes on ride with GPS and then run the app.

I'm having mixed luck pairing it with a Nexus 7 tablet - for eg it is very particular about the order of steps and sometime has to be re-paired if you pause it. But other apps / smart phones might work better. And I've only really just started to use it properly.

Someone on here was selling one I think. Might be worth a punt on a 2nd hand one for cheap.

Edit here http://www.lfgss.com/conversations/269101/#comment12319681

If you didn't want the cadence bits on that ^ I'd probably buy them off you for £25.

Damn.
Mine gave up completely on one stage at the weekend. I got lost.

Are the Garmin watches also problematic, or generally more reliable than the Edge units?

Garmin 500

920 is supposed to be solid. But no mapping.

My 210....ehhhh it's been so so

I want a fenix III but disappointment beckons

Anyone used a Joule GPS?

Yes, but never for navigation. The UI is appalling, but the unit itself seems pretty reliable. Mind you, my 810 has been reliable recently, so maybe the Head Unit Gods are smiling on me.

^ I've heard mixed reviews. I have a 3 and a bit year old Forerunner 405 which (touch wood) has been about as flawless as electronic devices get.

^ Anyone can buy my heavily used Forerunner 405 from me. The start/stop button doesn't work reliably and any moisture (sweat or rain) makes the touch bezel thing go batshit rendering it mostly useless.

My Forerunner 110 is nigh on flawless though, but doesn't do any form of navigation or mapping. I use it for running and recording some cycle rides (with HR data) and it does this well.

Now I'm typing it, I'm sure disappointment awaits, but since putting the Garmin maps into my 810 (replacing OSM) I haven't had another sudden turn off moment. Fingers crossed. My mate has an 810 which has never once had an issue, so who knows what's up with them really...

On watches, my GF has a Forerunner 220 which has worked faultlessly for 18 months so far.

@Howard

920 is supposed to be solid. But no mapping.

Apparently you can do it on a 310xt, but I've not tried it. Not sure if you can do the same with 910/920xt.
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2010/03/how-to-create-mapscourses-for-your.html

Own both a 310xt and 910xt. Both reliable bits of kit. Just a bit of a pain that your limited to using official Garmin or expensive K-Edge, etc mounts in order to fix to your bike due to the orientation of the QR mount on the unit.

Last night I did a reset (hold the two front buttons and power on) and then disabled the OSM map. It couldn't navigate but didn't have any issues that I noticed.

This morning I swapped out my memory card which had OSM maps on it for a new card that has Garmin Europe maps on it.

No issues on this morning's commute that I noticed and navigation to a postcode worked basically as expected.

Hmmm, let me know how you go with that. Dare I ask how much the Garmin Europe maps were? I just resent paying more for an optional extra to make a relatively expensive piece of kit work. In my head it should work as designed out of the box.

I bought an 810 a few weeks ago, and my experiences echo those of many others on here - navigating to a postcode not working as it should (on OSM maps), and crashing while navigating a course of a decent size, with turn-by-turn not working after it's rebooted.

I'm going to do a hard reset tonight and see whether that helps, but I'm not particularly happy with it at the minute. Hippy, what has Garmin's response been when you've approached them with the problems - have they insisted it's just your device, or have they indicated it's a common issue?

£40 on Amazon at the mo for Europe, UK only is cheaper I think. Seemed to work the other day for me with a 60 mile route plotted touches wood

The OSM postcode thing is known - there's a workaround for that but I've not tried it. Knowing how I use my Garmin, having Garmin maps postcode search is a big plus, although the OSM maps worked fine in other countries I didn't previously have.

Garmin support is very good, to be fair. They swap the unit (although buying a new 810 and then almost immediately getting a refurbished unit is a bit um well the opposite of satisfying). They respond fairly quickly and seem to want to fix the issue. I'll give this a little more time and decide if it needs to go back or not.

have they insisted it's just your device, or have they indicated it's a common issue?

Neither, really. They initially told me to update firmware, then to reset and after I told them it made no difference they asked for it back and then sent a replacement.