Thursday, June 1, 2006

Garmin GPS Cyclocomputer

A little while ago I got a Garmin Edge 305 Cycling computer. It's a cycling computer, heart rate monitor, and GPS unit all in one. It's pretty fun to get a map and altitude reading of all my rides. It also has some other fun features like a virtual partner to race against, and programmable workouts and courses. I'm still playing with the various online software, but here are a couple links to a ride last weekend:
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=39461&unitSystemPkValue;=2&episodePk.pkValue;=835999
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/map/shareworkout.asp?public_code=EQC6EGZRDUHR3Q80528200629

5 comments:

  1. I want. Is it pretty good with speed metrics? Does it use a spoke magnet or does it actually use the GPS? If the latter, does it update fast enough to get an accurate speed measurement?

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  2. Umm... 80 miles/hour max speed? When it was on your car right?

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  3. Uggg. It's 88 grams. That's WAY too heavy to put on my bike.

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  4. It uses GPS and a spoke magnet. I'm not sure what the algorithm is, but I think when it loses GPS signal it switches to the magnet. I like their sensor because it's able to pick up the speed magnet and the cadence magnet with the same sensor.
    The only time I know if that I've had GPS reception problems is going through the Big Thompson Canyon. I think that 80 mph glitch was due to it switching over to magnet from GPS. I don't know how quickly it updates, but the speed appears to be instantaneous. It also measures % grade of the road, but that measurement seems to lag a little bit.

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