A GPS for cyclists what is its worth – a personal view.
This is my personal perspective of the using the Garmin Edge 305 (Cycling GPS) which cost me from memory about £150. I suggest you visit the Garmin website www.garmin.com for full details of this product and the other cycling GPS’s in their range. The Garmin Edge 305 is a specialist cycling GPS. It is very light and offers a wide range of features specifically for cyclists.
 
Whilst I have been cycling for a while I have been persuaded to enter a number of Sportif events for the first time this year starting with the Caledonian Etape in May. Listen to Hugh talk about his Etape Caledonia cycle experience. I decided to buy the Garmin Edge to help me calibrate my training rides. The Caledonian is 81 miles and 2000m of climbing so I wanted to know how my training rides compared to the event itself.  The Garmin, amongst many other things, will provide data on your altitude and the total amount of climbing that you do on a ride. I have found the device very helpful in this respect, as I have been able to set up training rides that have built up my miles as well as climbs to prepare me for the event itself.

 Having bought the Garmin for the reasons stated above I now find that I use the device in a range of ways as follows:

• On Ride information. The Garmin provides a wide range of useful information about your ride. As well as the basic information such as speed and distance it gives you information on your heart rate and cadence [speed you rotate your legs – if you want to burn fat you want a high cadence] (extra sensors required for these functions). It also has a built in barometric altimeter which enables it to provide information on your altitude and total climb during a ride. It can use this information along with your total weight to estimate the calories burned. Overall, I think the Garmin provides all the information you could possibly want during the ride.
• Logging training rides. The software supplied with the Garmin (Training Centre) allows you to download and store the details of your ride. Logging a wide range of parameters including the route taken, heart rate, speed etc, etc.

Training Centre Views
Storing Route Information. The Garmin will allow you to download a full trace of your ride and review it in a range of applications. It is possible to download the track into Memory Map (Digital OS Map) to view exactly where you have been on an OS map. (Cost was about £90 which I have had more than my money’s worth from!) The route can also be uploaded to Motion Based a Garmin provided service that allows your route to be analysed in a number of other ways. On Motion Based it is possible to view a very wide range of details of your ride, including the weather on the day of your ride! From Motion Based it is also possible to send your ride to Google Earth and view where you have been in aerial photo mode (it is accurate enough to check that you have been cycling on the right side of the road!). Another option available is to email your route to friends.

Navigation. It is possible to load a route into the Garmin from Memory Map (Digital OS Map) which you can then follow on the ride. The navigation feature is fairly basic but nevertheless very useful. The process is to create a route in Memory map by placing waypoints along your intended path. Once you have laid out the route you can send it to your GPS from Memory Map. The Garmin Edge 305 is quite limited in that the number of waypoints that can be stored on the route is only around 100. I find this an annoying limitation and the device would be much improved if the waypoint limit was significantly increased. Also, there is no map on the Garmin Edge 305 so if you leave your route there is no navigation information provided at all.

Memory Map – showing blue route with Waypoints
 
Memory Map showing, in red, the route actually followed
 
View of the route on Google Earth the red line shows the trail taken
 
Close up View of One section of the ride on Google Earth

In conclusion, I have found the Garmin Edge to be an excellent device that has helped me get more from my cycling. Garmin do now provide other cycling GPS’s that provide improved navigation capabilities.

 Garmen Edge 705 - we have just read a review of this device and it has been scored extremely impressively - it allows you to race yourself by letting you know how well you did last time along the route and compares your current ride to your previous ride, it also monitors your speed, your heart rate and cadence, you can set up custom interval training routes. Price £211+VAT (Total £248)

Thanks to Hugh Rattray of Newport, South Wales participant in the 2008 Etape Caledonia Closed Road Cycle Challange who will be using his cycle GPS to analyse his race.