Garmin edge 800

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gb155

Fan Boy No More.
Location
Manchester-Ish
Does anyone have one , is they any software problems ?
Is it better than the 750 ?

Is that a new Model ?

:-)

I have a 705. should be picking up a 800 next week, my buddy has one, he had a 705, says its worth upgrading.
 

jay clock

Massive member
Location
Hampshire UK
I have a 310XT and just got an 800. I bought it with the full OS 50k maps. To be honest reading the maps is quite hard as the screen definition is not perfect, and the manual is not great. But I have now rumbled how to set up a route (called a course) on ridewithgps.com, add that to the Edge, then use prompts to navigate. So what you get is a little screen with a sat nav style arrow saying for example "fork right 812m"

Very clever bit of kit
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
What I dont understand it why are they so buggy I have a tomtom one sat nav in my car and it is excellent never had a single problem with it in over 2 years.

Its probably a lot to do with the software and firmware, Garmin Edge's do a lot more than just navigate so its probably processing a lot of info at the same time so its probably inevitable they go wrong. The Edge 800 is new technology for Garmin so the next version will be better hopefully, but there is still hope for the 800 as they keep bringing out the occasional software upgrade so maybe they will get it right eventually
 

phil_hg_uk

I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
I think with all the different models about its about time garmin got their sh**t together and stopped selling sub standard products I am damn sure they wouldnt get away with it in other markets.

I am currently looking at GPS's and I think at the moment I will look around for a cheap 605 or 705 I cant see any point getting an 800 until they sort out all the problems with it.
 

Number14

Guru
Location
Fareham
Had mine since last November and only had a couple of issues with it. The limit alarms for cadence/heart rate etc don't work and the routing doesn't give the option for quiet roads.

Otherwise it's been the mutt's nuts.
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
Had mine since last November and only had a couple of issues with it. The limit alarms for cadence/heart rate etc don't work and the routing doesn't give the option for quiet roads.

Otherwise it's been the mutt's nuts.

The option for quite roads is there, I plotted a small journey which is about 8 miles via an A road, but I had set the 800 to avoid A roads and the route it took me was over 30 miles via every back lane in the country avoiding all A roads best it could I think, good job I was only playing with it.

The limit alarms are faulty, not that I've had a problem with the heart rate alarm but they are getting patched according to Garmin
 

zacklaws

Guru
Location
Beverley
Had mine since last November and only had a couple of issues with it. The limit alarms for cadence/heart rate etc don't work and the routing doesn't give the option for quiet roads.

Otherwise it's been the mutt's nuts.

The option for quite roads is there, I plotted a small journey which is about 8 miles via an A road, but I had set the 800 to avoid A roads and the route it took me was over 30 miles via every back lane in the country avoiding all A roads best it could I think, good job I was only playing with it.

The limit alarms are faulty, not that I've had a problem with the heart rate alarm but they are getting patched according to Garmin

And another big problem with the 800's is the sound, you cannot hear them. In the infinite wisdom Garmin put the speaker on the back on the part that mounts to the bracket on the bike so it ends up tight against a piece of rubber, to enable sound you have to drill a hole in the mounting bracket on the bike, and then the sound is that quiet it is still hard to hear even though it is around 65dcb's
 

stevieboy378

New Member
As other have noted the limit alarms are flakey - they have to be manually set at the start of a trip, otherwise they don't work - I have the cadence alarm set at 110, and was getting a message telling me "high cadence", although I was only pedalling at 80RPM. Going to the alarm setup page, then backing out without changing any settings cures this, but its a pain to have to keep doing it.
I'm also amazed that, as a Satnav designed specifically for cycling, and in my case sold with Ordnance survey maps included, the unit doesn't include national cycle routes, Bridleways and canal towpaths when route planning . . . .
 

yello

Guest
Peoples' experiences differ. There are probably many many happy 800 users. Remember, you tend only ever to hear the complaints.

And, to be fair, with any new development you will get teething problems. I seem to recall it happen on the 305 then 705, probably 500 too. In an ideal world, you would give a new unit a thorough test (and I'm sure Garmin do attempt this) but with the best will in the world, it's not always possible to replicate the real world environment in testing... that said, maybe Garmin are slack in this area ;)

Certainly, from my perspective, I'd anticipate there to be teething problems with any new product - and may even hang fire purchasing until they've been identified/rectified. Maybe the fact that I consider this to be particularly true of Garmin Edge units should perhaps make me question my own opinions! Because I do think, in all honesty, they are pretty excellent bits of kit all things considered.
 

henshaw11

Well-Known Member
Location
Walton-On-Thames
I think with all the different models about its about time garmin got their sh**t together and stopped selling sub standard products I am damn sure they wouldnt get away with it in other markets.

I am currently looking at GPS's and I think at the moment I will look around for a cheap 605 or 705 I cant see any point getting an 800 until they sort out all the problems with it.

To some degree it happens in most parts of the electronics market where there's scope of a sw update of the product after shipping (bearing in mind some of this stuff may sit on suppliers shelves for some time too) . You can get some niggly little bugs that take a long time to appear, but the sort of bugs on these devices gives the impression that they're shipping them too early to get sales. I imagine the problem is that they'll have an internal ship date to get stuff build and distributed, and an existing/updated buglist that they'll be working through up to the point they get built. They may be working through them in order of nastiness, but inevitably not everything get fixed at that point (although ideally it should have been).

What would be telling is how long it takes to get bugs fixed - do they pull engineers off to work on the next big thing and fix stuff slowly, or do they leave them on to clear stuff up more quickly..
 
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