Garmin or Bryton? That is the question!

[stumpy66]

The rider 50 is a good bit of kit, ive had mine for 6months. If you need the mapping facility then id go for that one, one word of warning Bryton support is non existant, my rider has started recording runs an hour earlier, ive emailed them twice and messaged them thru the facebook page with no reply.

 

[DooDah]

Hey folks,
The Christmas Fairy is going to buy me a funky GPS gadget to save my phone battery getting drained! So I put it to the forum, the Mighty Garmin500/800 or relative newbie on the scene Bryton 50?

Christmas......its not is it....already Garmin 500 for me everyday

 

[uclown2002]

All roads lead to Garmin. Even if the products were close I'd still go with Garmin. Truly outstanding Customer Service IME.

 

[Downward]

All roads lead to Garmin. Even if the products were close I'd still go with Garmin. Truly outstanding Customer Service IME.

Yes the garmin support site is good but there is lots of issues - I never got a response to my 305 issue and thus it never worked properly

 

[HLaB]

Yes the garmin support site is good but there is lots of issues - I never got a response to my 305 issue and thus it never worked properly

Their email response to my 305 problem was poor also but their phone response was very good

 

[Cush]

Just to go slightly off course! Has any one any experience with the "i-gotu", which I believe is an Australian gps. It seems to be slightly cheaper than the Garmin 200 and appears to have a better battery life.

 

[Berties]

Bryton ride 40 for me,hrm works well and cadence works with giants system,never missed a beat,and bryton bridge does me proud,I wish I had got a mapping one as more rides think everyone has the capability to upload routes,so not having to sign routes so much,but as a good meter it gets my vote

I changed direction to a Garmin 800 os after major issues with bryton,though I like the Garmin have had 2 corrupt files not up loading within the last few weeks bit of a shame,but have got a forerunner as well which has been great,

 

[Downward]

Mio 305 is £153 with HR monitor and Cadence too as another option.
Just bought HR monitor and cadence though so could sell these.

Bryton 40e is £115 too which is another option !!

So in summary
500 is £120
510 is £200
Rider 50 is £180
Mio 305 is £153 with HR And Cadence
Rider 40e is £115

I would like a Virtual Partner type thing like on the Garmins though for commuting racing !

 

[oxford_guy]

I still reckon a iPhone or Android phone with a decent waterproof case, external power source (dynamo and/or rechargable battery) plus Viewranger would be more versatile, at least on the mapping front, though won't have the heart rate monitor/cadence stuff, if that's your thing. But then I use it more for touring than monitoring performance.

 

[outlash]

As a bit of a curveball, a garmin etrex 20 has full colour maps (you can also add your own) and navigation capability. Takes AA's and is about £120. It doesn't have ANT+ compatibility (the Etrex 30 has) but if all you want is to know where you're going and the usual stats. Job done .


Tony.

 

[Peteaud]

Mio 305 is £153 with HR monitor and Cadence too as another option.
Just bought HR monitor and cadence though so could sell these.

Bryton 40e is £115 too which is another option !!

So in summary
500 is £120
510 is £200
Rider 50 is £180
Mio 305 is £153 with HR And Cadence
Rider 40e is £115

I would like a Virtual Partner type thing like on the Garmins though for commuting racing !

Out of interest, where are you getting those prices from?

 

[Downward]

Handtec
Handtec
Ebay
Halfords
Halords

 

[yello]

I still reckon a iPhone or Android phone with a decent waterproof case, external power source (dynamo and/or rechargable battery) plus Viewranger would be more versatile.

Whilst I respect entirely your opinion, and don't doubt it's a solution that works for you, I'd guess (and it is only a guess) that you wouldn't be in the majority with that opinion. Imo, a purpose built, dedicated GPS unit is going to be more accurate, robust and reliable than a smartphone - imo

 

[earth]

I have a Garmin 800 and don't like it very much. On the plus side it can measure a great many things. That is its redeeming feature but it is buggy and the GUI could be improved a lot. The GUI does not seem to have been thought out at all, particularly the map display.

I would like to try a Mio but have not found anywhere with a demo one. Maybe Garmin are going to bully them as well.

 

[oxford_guy]

Whilst I respect entirely your opinion, and don't doubt it's a solution that works for you, I'd guess (and it is only a guess) that you wouldn't be in the majority with that opinion. Imo, a purpose built, dedicated GPS unit is going to be more accurate, robust and reliable than a smartphone - imo

I'm not so sure about that - a smartphone will usually acquire a GPS lock quicker (and can use WiFi/3G to help with this), is robust enough if you put it in a decent case (in fact probably more so than an unprotected Garmin) and the combination of a large clear hi-res touch screen and the excellent Viewranger software presents a better UI than any Garmin I've used... Just my opinion, of course, and I'm mainly thinking about it from the mapping point of view, if you want all the training tools that Garmin and the like offer, then they offer better out of the box solutions for that side of things. BTW I have previously owned various Garmin GPS devices...