» Garmin Edge 705 Bicycle GPS Navigator that Includes Heart Rate Monitor and Speed/Cadence Sensor >> car gps systems, car navigation systems - Shop Compare and Reviews Store, Buy Cheap Best Prices on sale, review, price

A good first gen device
While it's marketed as a dedicated cycling device and it works "ok" there's plenty of room for improvement. Buy this if you have some extra cash around or you want an alternative SRM display.

The different roles of the 705 and how it performs in each:

As a cyclometer- it's great to have a nice large display (I ride with 8 different fields displayed) and lots of flexibility in what gets displayed and where. Any info at all that the computer collects can be displayed- heart beat, zones, power, average power, time to end of ride, altitude, you name it. It can't be beat in this regard. However, changing the fields is not something you can do easily and certainly not on the fly. Also, several of the fields like calories, or WAY off from reality and not useful. Like other Garmin devices, the menu structure of the device is a slightly non-intuitive hierarchy of options. You can't change the display to suit the ride without going through and resetting the whole display. In fact, I end up wasting five minutes or so every time because the menu structure is so non-intuitive that it's very hard to remember how to do even common tasks. Also, you have to manually start and stop the data collection AND remember to reset the data between rides. You will take a long and memorable ride only to discover at the end of it that you didn't hit the start button, or forgot to hit steart after stopping for that muffin and coffee or forgot to hit stop after putting the bike in the car and driving home. It's very frustrating and totally unclear why they did this.

As a mapping device- what should be the device's strong point is just lame, lame, lame. There are several confusing options for loading routes onto the device (gpx, tcr) and no real clear explanation for why you'd choose one over the other. If you want to load a route and have the device guide you as a replacement for a route sheet then you need to use GPX but if you happen to enter the ride near one of the markers other than the start- it will guide you to the start and abandon you rather than guiding you back to where you started. Further, if you are off the path at the start of your ride the unit offers NO guidance as to how to get to the route other than your manually staring at the display and figuring it out for yourself. Also, it has a propensity for asking you to turn around rather than routing you in the same direction you are going. Then, if you deviate or are misplaced due to a poor GPS signal the unit will reroute and you'll loose all your entered points. Why the hell would anyone on a bike on a recreational ride want to turn around and reride a route you've already been on? This happens a lot when I'm out and decide to go back home, the unit will turn me around and then put me back on a main road- Not at all what you'd want to do on a ride. I could go on... In short, the routing is just the default stuff you see on a car or walking GPS and not at all customized to be useful for typical biking scenarios.

The Garmin connect and PC based software is OK but I still end up using bikely or something similar to plan routes. The garmin stuff just isn't setup to help cyclists. The auto uploads are nice but Linux isn't supported by garmin- why I can't begin to imagine since their site otherwise works fine in Linux and Firefox.

Lets see other minor good and bad points-

good: it's rugged and seemingly water resistant if not proof. The bike mount is easy to use and stable. the battery lasts a good while

bad: the rubber on the joystick button shreds and falls off. there's no indication about battery status (in time for instance) until it's dead and shuts down. Most of the displays other than the map and cyclometer are useless. routing is tough and not cycling specific. The display is not easily readable at night or dusk. the buttons on the unit seem poorly chosen and not helpful to the typical cycling tasks.

It's nice to have a unit which works reliably and can be moved from bike to bike but it would be nice if Garmin actually spent some time making this very expensive unit suitable for cyclists.

Love my Garmin Edge 705
I received my refurbished Garmin Edge 705 with cadence sensor and heart rate monitor and as far as I can tell it is new. Everything works great and the unit is easy to set up and program. I've never had a gadget that was this capable and simple to use. I downloaded the software update and restarted the unit. It installed the update flawlessly.

One of my favorite features other than all the great functional features is that it will charge with USB, which means I can charge it whether I am in my car (12V port/USB adapter) or near my laptop, or from an electrical outlet using my phone's charger or the charger the unit came with.

Another great feature is the Garmin Connect website. I really enjoy the charting, tracking, and route management features they provide when I upload my activities.

I would highly recommend this product.

Very nice bike computer!
I've had mine for a week, and I love using it.

About it's "refurbished" listing.
When I got mine, it was new. If it didn't come in a "Garmin Refurbished Product" box, I wouldn't have been able to tell.
It came with all it's accessories and it was in perfect condition. It also came with a 1-year warranty card.

However, I did notice one thing. My Edge won't accept the latest firmware (3.10).

It came with 3.00 installed and all the features work flawlessly, including managing it through Garmin's mapping software.
I'm able to connect the 705 to my computer, it's recognized, the Web-updater sees it, and I can download and copy the firmware to it. But when the unit is restarted, it won't install the update.

I've been in contact with Garmin about this, and they've suggested that I exchange it. Which is what I will do. I know I'm being picky considering the 705 only has so much functionality, and it all works. But, as a software designer myself, I can't sleep knowing there are bugs that I can't patch.

I'm still very happy with my purchase. Even with the added shipping cost, I still saved about 0 compared to buying this brand new.

A great bicycle computer
I do a lot of travaling and take my bike with me. I use online sources to find public bicycle route information then upload this to the 705. Satilite aquisition is great. I purchased the maps to complete the device. ANT+ devices, heart rate, cadence and speed work great even the thisrd party devices that I own.

Fast shipping, good product, as described
Calling for customer service questions was a nightmare and the automated answering service makes it impossible to speak with a live human. However, they responded to e-mail promptly and thoroughly. The product shipped quickly and works great.