-
I'll add that the Garmin doesn't need to be connected to a phone in order to get you from A to B; it's basically just a sat nav with a few other bikey things thrown in. You can search for villages, towns or cities; or addresses (but you have to know the house number and post code so it's not always easy); or intersections. Then it figures out a route in a few seconds, from wherever you are, and you follow a little line all the way to wherever you want to go. If you miss a turn it re-routes like a car sat nav... which is cool if you happen not to like the road you're on and you fancy exploring one that looks nicer. You can set it to 'road', 'gravel' or 'mtb', and you can choose 'avoidance' options like less hills, no main roads, etc.
Once or twice it has tried to convince me that motorways are okay for cycling on.
It also steadfastly refused to let me leave the bumpy, pedestrian-heavy 'Cuckoo Trail' en route to Eastbourne, and once even took me through a field on Road Cyling mode. But these have been rare problems (and all part of the adventure, I guess)... annoying as they were at the time.Mostly it's been pretty well-behaved; I've done 5k km since I got it for xmas and I've used it for a bunch of all-day rides that would previously have taken me hours of route-planning.
You can get an app that stores all your rides and keeps track of loads of stats, if that's your thing. I use it to save particularly scenic routes, and to count how many kilometres I've done over the weeks, months, years.
It also guesses how many calories I've burned as I ride, which I'm sure is wildly inaccurate but has nonetheless done wonders for my cake habit.
Batteries last for a good long time per day; I always charge to 100% before a long ride and have never reached less than 35% by the end of play, usually 6-8 hours riding (so not epic epic audaxes but enough for me). You can get extra battery life by using an external battery that attaches to the underside of the mount. I guess that way that internal battery would last a lot longer too. Not cheap though.
So there you go - I got a bit carried away writing this but hopefully it's all helpful : )
You are reading a single comment by @atk and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
.gaz.
@atk
Saw your @, here's a belated response: I've got a Bolt and Etrex 20. I have mixed feelings about them in general.
I've been using the Bolt a lot recently and it's ok. Being able to pair with phone is handy for adhoc drastic route changes, just draw a line on your routing app of choice and beam it over. Other pre-planned rides with sync and stuff either on pairing and maybe wifi too? It will beep a lot if you're on track, regardless of if you send the right thing over to it to notify you on each turn. It's not amazing if you go massively off course though and it gives up after a while. You don't have a lot of detail when you zoom out on the maps, only good for major roads/general northsouth direction and such. I got it mostly for turn-by-turn after dark. I use RidewithGPS, the auto trace (might be paid for) and do some manual checking of cues. It'll then beep at these and flash and light up and stuff. Then I did basically no riding over winter or in the dark, but whatever. It still beeps and flashes a lot.
Etrex 20 is old but v. reliable. Sending routes over is all cables, just like a big USB stick. You have to worry a bit about file size and the number of points. Maybe they've changed that on newer models. I have never figured out if it does turn-by-turn notification, assumed it doesn't. Newer models do if I understand correctly. I just use it to follow a line on the map. Fine during the day, but gets a bit tedious having to hit a button every so often to get a backlight in the dark. Very annoying when you miss a turn and don't realise for a while, or have to go slower than usual to figure out if there's one coming. Plus points are swapping AA batteries for long, long rides are cheap, light and easily available vs. taking a battery pack + cable for the Bolt. I've got contour maps on it and zoom/move has got me out of a few silly situations before. It's also orange, which is good.
There's things I'd change about both. I have no experience with other Garmin or the other options. I've used paper cue sheets and maps before. That's always the cheap, easy, reliable option (assuming you don't lose a sheet). Sometimes it's fun to follow the computer, other times it's a total drag. Guess it depends what you want to get out of it really!