810 to Umah (Garmin)

[g0kmt]

Panic not, this is not a film, just my Garmin 810 story.

Just over a week ago I drove up to Lancaster to Leisure Lakes Bikes to buy a Garmin Edge 810 Cycle computer. I had a pleasant buying experience there and can recommend them wholeheartedly (Is the cheque in the post mate?)

I must admit I wanted the ultimate bundle but that wasn't in stock. I ended up with the performance bundle without maps.

Yes I know you need maps for a GPS computer that includes navigation. The base map is next to useless other than finding the country you are in. According to the base map I live in the sea, which is plainly not the case! So I downloaded maps from talkytoaster which at least put me back on dry land.

OK enough of the pre amble.

My first ride was meant to be against a planned route created on Garmin Connect. I had read in various forums that turn by turn navigation did not work properly so I made a route that started and finished in different places. I had down loaded this route the night before my ride (Sounds big but it was only 4 miles). I turned the unit on, it initialised OK and displayed the previously loaded route. So off I went. No turn by turn navigation on the ride. why? well it turns out you have to select the route after you turn it on for your ride!

Near the end of this particular ride I selected HOME as the destination and got turn by turn navigation.....

 

[g0kmt]

Part deux

Unlike the 200 which I previously owned, virtual partner seems to be available if it is in your training pages. Top tip, set the speed to your average speed prior to your first ride because if like me you can only average 8.9 mph you will be demoralised by the b@st@rd if you don't ! you can change the speed of the virtual partner using the +/- keys on that screen. Top tip - hold the + or - key down to adjust quickly.

So having not yet achieved course based turn by turn navigation, I used it today purely for the same reason I used the 200 I had before, just to record my ride. I rode from Fleetwood to Cleveleys to do some shopping. It recorded my ride up to the shop, I turned the unit off then restarted it before I rode off into the sunset. I obviously forgot to start the timer again because after stopping it at the next stop - Café for lunch, it automatically uploaded - clever stuff. The map showed a straight line between Argos and Café Cove where I stopped for lunch.

The subsequent ride home was fine. It uploaded no problem.

I have tried to use the search for address function on the talkytoaster map but it asks for state/province which leads to a blank page so addresses seam to be a mystery. at the moment. By the way I am using the Ordinance Survey look alike map at the moment..

As a test, I popped the none OS look alike map onto the memory card and the unit hangs up. Deleting one lets the other work.

So the long and short of it is Am I happy with the Garmin Edge 810? So far yes....

 

[g0kmt]

And there's more.

Just did a ride and got turn by turn navigation around the whole route, even went off route and got back on no problem. One thing I noticed in other forums was that they claim that going off route can cause the unit to lock up. I didn't have this happen, all I got was the screen greying out with a message OFF ROUTE. Touching the screen cleared this.

I also tried tracking my ride on this one, I left the laptop at home to track the ride and it worked fine, no lost data, I am not sure how often it updated, I may set up a video camera tomorrow and do the same just to see if it works ;-)

 

[g0kmt]

The only thing I disliked about the ads for the 810 was that they implied that you had to use Race or Train modes, but you can change these as you wish. I have left race in, although I wont use that mode, renamed train to recreation and added a commute mode....

 

[Kies]

Would you guys say the 810 is better than the 800. I'm not a racer, but would like sat nav and cadence

 

[Rob3rt]

The UI is an improvement.

The bluetooth is a gimmick.

The rest is about the same.

 

[g0kmt]

I never had the 800 so can't say other than the pics I have seen for the 800, I agree with Rob, the UI is an improvement. Personally I do use the Bluetooth and now that the Garmin Connect app has been updated, its similar to the experience on the web site. So if your our and about you can upload your rides and edit them within the app. I would argue that the live track is a gimmick.

There are some software issues with routing on the 810 where if the start and end point of a course are at the same location or within about one hundred feet of each other then the routing thinks that you have arrived at the end. I suspect there is a logic problem that ignores the fact that if you are starting then you cannot yet have reached the end of the ride, again I don't know if the same problem exists on the 800. The main reason I decided to go for the 810 was that the 800 has been around for a while and like all hardware companies, they will eventually stop supporting the 800 in favour of the 810. So I figured I may as well suffer the problems that will eventually get sorted out.