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This is the reason I aborted that Buzzard perm ride last year because the Garmin flipped out in the early hours and I had to do a factory reset. No point continuing at that point. I guess on the longer ones I might use an etrex for backup and be a bit more diligent doing saves with the Garmin. I think that might've been the old 800 which is why I immediately went out and bought the 1000 and an etrex 30x to replace the older units.
hippy
Can't see a perm version of it but...
Now there's DIY by GPS anything can be done as a Perm (although speaking to the calendar event organiser to check it's ok is the polite thing to do, more than likely they'll be happy to provide a routesheet, details of what's likely to be open at various times, etc).
Before DIY by GPS some rides weren't DIYable because you couldn't get proof-of-passage at key places to make it up to distance. The extra 'mandatory routing' option makes it even easier as you don't have to nominate random controls, just stick to the route (some minor deviations are ok, especially if beyond your control - e.g. road closures).
They do rely on you providing a complete (or near complete) GPS tracklog though, which is a struggle for some Garmins.