Garmin Alternatives

[Sillysimon10]

I've been lusting after the 800 for a while now, but saving is going slow, so immediate alternatives would be either the 705, or the 500, but again, prices are a touch steep for me at present! I have been using my smartphone to track my rides, but for longer rides the battery gets drained like theres no tomorrow...
A bigger problem though, is due to longer rides, and starting to ride in areas I don't know at all, the mapping feature would be a colossal bonus.
So, Garmin is pretty much out (for now) and so is buying a mount for my smartphone...and so the question is, does anybody know of any cheaper alternatives to afore mentioned garmin stuff, or is a case of stop winging, bite the bullet and fork out, as I know they'll all be worth it once bought!!

Cheers in advance.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

This months Cycling Plus has a review of a range of GPS units iirc.

 

[SpareSprocket]

Just took a look on CyberCycle and if you go to the Bargains page, select 'Garmin' from the brands drop down box on the left and then 'Last 30 days' from the drop down box to the right, then click 'Filter' it lists all of the reduced Garmin items that it's found in the last 30 days. As it checks these every night just after midnight these are all current discounts.

Some of them are up to £50 off so there might be something in their that suits your budget.

Hope this helps - CyberCycle is still work in progress so if there's am improvement that you'd like to see let me know !