5 reasons why the Garmin Edge 1000 won’t be much use to you.
1. Stay connected
“Calls, texts and live tracking allowing friends and family to follow races and training activities in real time.”
If there’s one thing I love about cycling it’s the ability to get away from the world. Fine I might have my phone on me for emergencies but I’m not taking calls whilst on my way. It’s separated from the experience of cycling and should continue to stay like that.
I don’t really want to be alerted if i’ve received a text or phone call. As for tracking, who want’s to be tracked whilst on there bike?! Again, I can see it as a safety precaution but I can’t image my Mum and Dad on an evening saying “Oh shall we see where Tim is? He might be on his bike some where near Ilkley!?” etc. No. Just no.
This feature also always you to track the progress of a segment in real time. I really think this is a bad idea. It’s bad enough that we gear our selves up to go as hard and fast at the segment in front of us, I can’t imagine it’s all that safe to know you can look down to observe whether or not you’re in front?! Bad idea…
2. Garmins versions of Strava?
Garmin… You’re so late it’s unbearable. Strava sunk that ship for you a while ago and I can’t imagine all of a sudden people will easily switch. The cyclists who have been using Strava for the last few years won’t be interested in a competitor unless there are some ground breaking features available.
3. Round trip routing capabilities
Whilst this seems like a good idea I’m absolutely skeptical as to how well it might work. In a nut shell shell you tell the device how far you want to go and it creates 3 ‘cycling friendly’ rides that might be of interest. Sounds great on paper but it’s bad enough when I’m attempting a new route on Mapmyride… I’ve managed to go through dodgy estates, bridal paths and attempted to pass roads that no longer exist.
4. Exceptional Display
Garmin boasts the new device will have a high res display, touch screen facilities optimal for gloves and, my favorite, ambiant light sensor… Ohhh yeah. In my mind I see the ambiant light sensor to add to the mood whilst sexy time crops up and you’re wanting to check your climbing elevation from the ride earlier. Why put your sweet heart off when you can just add to the mode right?!
5. Cost
£499… I think that say’s it all!
