Discussion
Hello everyone,
im another of the late 20s fatties who needs to shape up and bought a bike. Linking in with my love of gadgets i thought about getting a GPS tracker that i could use to map the distance i have travelled preferably with some kind of heart rate monitor. Thing is looking around i have only see the same few Garmin jobbies and a couple of Polar ones, anyone with some experiance of these, i got £100-200 quid ish.
I just feel it may ad some perspective to what ever exercise i get done, so i can see what doo it is doing me.
I did notice that mapmyride lets you download garmin and polar stuff anyone done this?
Mark
im another of the late 20s fatties who needs to shape up and bought a bike. Linking in with my love of gadgets i thought about getting a GPS tracker that i could use to map the distance i have travelled preferably with some kind of heart rate monitor. Thing is looking around i have only see the same few Garmin jobbies and a couple of Polar ones, anyone with some experiance of these, i got £100-200 quid ish.
I just feel it may ad some perspective to what ever exercise i get done, so i can see what doo it is doing me.
I did notice that mapmyride lets you download garmin and polar stuff anyone done this?
Mark
I used a Garmin Forerunner 305 whilst running / hiking and have just treated myself to a Garmin Edge 500 for the bike. Both devices work very well. The only thing I would say about the Forerunner is that it can take a couple of minutes to get a satellite fix if you are in a built up area. It's been out a while now so how long before it is upgraded I don't know. So far battery life on both is pretty impressive. My Forerunner has gone for 14 hours on a charge once. Both have no issues picking up the heart rate signal from the Garmin HR monitor and the strap itself is comfortable. I have only tested that on rides of a max of 4 hours and a new super comfortable version has just been launched / is being launched.
In terms of then looking at the data, as I am Mac based, I use a package called Ascent. So far this has served me very well and doe have the functionality to map where you have been on Google Earth. Ascent is written by one bloke so updates do come through quite often / fast but of course because it's one guy building it, it means the introduction of new features may be somewhat slower than if you had a big software house throwing resources at the product. Whilst not being a racer at the moment I do love gathering and reviewing the data as I train to see where I am improving plus the geekiness factor.
I have not used sites like mapmyride.com etc as neither of my devices has routing guidance / mapping displays. For that you'd need the Garmin Edge 605 or 705 for biking. I don't know if Polar have launched a device like that yet.
I used to use Polar HRMs a lot when I was a pure runner and they always lasted very well. The one thing I have found is that if you use gyms a lot, many machines come built in with devices that will read a Polar HRM strap but not the Garmin one. This may or may not be important to you.
In terms of then looking at the data, as I am Mac based, I use a package called Ascent. So far this has served me very well and doe have the functionality to map where you have been on Google Earth. Ascent is written by one bloke so updates do come through quite often / fast but of course because it's one guy building it, it means the introduction of new features may be somewhat slower than if you had a big software house throwing resources at the product. Whilst not being a racer at the moment I do love gathering and reviewing the data as I train to see where I am improving plus the geekiness factor.
I have not used sites like mapmyride.com etc as neither of my devices has routing guidance / mapping displays. For that you'd need the Garmin Edge 605 or 705 for biking. I don't know if Polar have launched a device like that yet.
I used to use Polar HRMs a lot when I was a pure runner and they always lasted very well. The one thing I have found is that if you use gyms a lot, many machines come built in with devices that will read a Polar HRM strap but not the Garmin one. This may or may not be important to you.
I went for a Garmin Etrex Vista HCx. It takes AA, so long tours not a problem. If you are not bothered about the altimeter and electronic compass, the Legend HCx is just as good, and quite a bit cheaper. It's really robust, so I can let my 4 year old have it when we take him geocaching.
I did a review of Polar / Garmin for a mate and I got to this kind of summary
Polar - can wear as an ordinary watch all the time and then have heart rate for exercise easily. For GPS have to buy add-on bits and these need recharging
Gamin - all in one device but can't wear the watches as an ordinary watch as they need recharging every 12 hours or so
So if you are a runner that occasionally wants GPS, Polar may be more up your street but if you only ever want to use the device to track your exercise then Garmin may be more your thing.
Polar - can wear as an ordinary watch all the time and then have heart rate for exercise easily. For GPS have to buy add-on bits and these need recharging
Gamin - all in one device but can't wear the watches as an ordinary watch as they need recharging every 12 hours or so
So if you are a runner that occasionally wants GPS, Polar may be more up your street but if you only ever want to use the device to track your exercise then Garmin may be more your thing.
I have a garmin forerunner 305 for a couple of years now - its brilliant.
You can get an adaptor so you can either wear it on your wrist to run, or clip it to the handlebars of your bike.
connect.garmin.com works with mac and PC to upload your data to a central location - keep track of routes and progress.
You can also with a bit of fiddlng create routes online - upload them and it tells you when, were to turn to follow a route.
Have done day long 100 mile rides and its still had plenty of charge left.
You can get an adaptor so you can either wear it on your wrist to run, or clip it to the handlebars of your bike.
connect.garmin.com works with mac and PC to upload your data to a central location - keep track of routes and progress.
You can also with a bit of fiddlng create routes online - upload them and it tells you when, were to turn to follow a route.
Have done day long 100 mile rides and its still had plenty of charge left.
I have just started using the Nokia Sports Tracker on my N97.
Works really well, gives you a trace of where you have ridden which can be uploaded onto their website or downloaded as GPX (or others).
It uses Open StreetMap on the phone, which also shows bridleways and footpaths that do not appear on things like Google Maps.
Best of all it is free.
Works really well, gives you a trace of where you have ridden which can be uploaded onto their website or downloaded as GPX (or others).
It uses Open StreetMap on the phone, which also shows bridleways and footpaths that do not appear on things like Google Maps.
Best of all it is free.
Forerunner 305 here too - works great. I use it for running as well as on the bars of my bikes - great for road rides where I can plan out a route, transfer to the device then follow the black line around. There's no mapping, no routing, but it's easy to see where the line turns and stay on it.
That said, if you just want to see a map of where you've been, there are cheaper little GPS trackers like this one from Maplin:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=22762...
You just switch it on, chuck it near the top of your bag or in a back pocket and it'll sit there recording away. I've been thinking of picking up something like that for geo-tagging photos.
That said, if you just want to see a map of where you've been, there are cheaper little GPS trackers like this one from Maplin:
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=22762...
You just switch it on, chuck it near the top of your bag or in a back pocket and it'll sit there recording away. I've been thinking of picking up something like that for geo-tagging photos.
Another vote for the Forerunner 305 here.
The optional cadence sensor is also worth having but mine appears to eat through batteries, no idea why.
If you want to do mapped rides and want something clipped to the bar look at the eTrex line, a bit more pricey though. If you want a bike computer on steroids with limited mapping capability then a Forerunner is perfect. I don't like having the iPhone to log with as a) it rinses the battery which you may well need at some point in the ride b) having the phone up on the bar is asking for it to get damaged, wet etc. Better off secure in a pocket.
Get SportTracks, it's a great (free) logging app and it integrates nicely with Garmin stuff.
The optional cadence sensor is also worth having but mine appears to eat through batteries, no idea why.
If you want to do mapped rides and want something clipped to the bar look at the eTrex line, a bit more pricey though. If you want a bike computer on steroids with limited mapping capability then a Forerunner is perfect. I don't like having the iPhone to log with as a) it rinses the battery which you may well need at some point in the ride b) having the phone up on the bar is asking for it to get damaged, wet etc. Better off secure in a pocket.
Get SportTracks, it's a great (free) logging app and it integrates nicely with Garmin stuff.
I have just been looking is the forerunner you guy have the watch type one? as previously when i looked it wasn't like that?
e.g
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
e.g
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
porka944s said:
I have just been looking is the forerunner you guy have the watch type one? as previously when i looked it wasn't like that?
e.g
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
You can get a bike mount for it, it comes off the strap and mounts directly to the handlebar. e.g
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Mod...
I got mine off Amazon - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Garmin-Forerunner-305-Wris... - £131 at the mo.
I chopped an old handlebar grip along it's length then into three, glued them together and it gives a fatter, grippier surface to wrap the wrist strap around the bar. Stays put nicely, and cheaper than the £10 or so Garmin want for the official mount - which is just a fat, grippy bit of rubber that goes around the bar.
I chopped an old handlebar grip along it's length then into three, glued them together and it gives a fatter, grippier surface to wrap the wrist strap around the bar. Stays put nicely, and cheaper than the £10 or so Garmin want for the official mount - which is just a fat, grippy bit of rubber that goes around the bar.
Bit late now but I went down the Edge 500 route a couple of months ago and for 190 quid I got the unit + cadence + HRM strap all included.
Best bike purchase for a long while. Really like having the route to share on Garmin Connect afterwards, now looking for desktop software for an even more granular view of the data. I'm a Mac user though so choice may be limited.
Best bike purchase for a long while. Really like having the route to share on Garmin Connect afterwards, now looking for desktop software for an even more granular view of the data. I'm a Mac user though so choice may be limited.
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