Etrex/Edge Touring

[Dominic]

I have returned to Audax riding this year and have noticed obviously that a lot of people are using GPS/Satnav type devices.  I did the Hop Garden 200 with a chap who had an Extrex, the 20 I think and I was quite impressed with it.  It saved me/us going the wrong way a couple of times when my route sheet reading was poor due to tiredness.
I have since done a bit of research and quite like the look of the Etrex (especially the fact is runs on batteries) but also like the look of the Garmin Edge Touring model.  I really need to ask what are the practicalities of these devices in the real world?  I am not a technophobe but do sometimes think they may be another thing that can go wrong on a long ride.  I heard a couple of people saying on the 200 that they had issues with the more sporty type Garmins that they had.  I have recently gone back to an old fashioned bike computer after my bike GPS packed up and I realised I was not using any of the features of it.
The one aspect of the Garmin Touring that appeals is the ability to put in a distance and it gives you 3 options to ride. I am assuming that with the Etrex you would just ride but have the ability to be able to keep track of the ride on the map if required.  If you wanted to ride a predetermined route you would have to download/input in manually?
If somebody could point me to an idiots guide to day to day living with these devices that would be great but I imagine it is not a simple as that because they do different things and people have them for different jobs.
I am planning to do only 3 or 4 more Audax rides this year so will probably stick with paper for the time being, but looking towards the future I don’t know.
Sorry if this is going over old ground for you. I think I need to find somebody to be able to sit down with me and explain it all but most of my club mates seem to have Edge 500s and use them just for recording performance data.
Any thoughts/suggestions welcome!!

[Kim]

With all these devices, there are a few approaches to using them to navigate a pre-defined route, most of which involve you sitting down at the computer and doing your homework properly before the ride.  Where they tend to go wrong for cyclists is if you allow the unit to make too many routing decisions (using it like a car satnav), or if you download a random GPX file from the internet and blindly trust it to be accurate and/or compatible with your maps/device.

The sweet spot for reliability of the tech is uploading a Track to the device, which displays as a line on the map (actually, you don't even need a map), and you simply follow it.  You get a map that's backlit, waterproof, won't tear in the wind and never needs to be flipped over.  The problem with that is - like a routesheet - it doesn't guarantee that you're paying attention.  Unlike a routesheet, it's a lot more useful when you do go off-route.

The sweet spot for tired/stupid/distracted/visually challenged riders is auto-routing with full turn-by turn (arrows and warning beeps) navigation.  There's something of a black art to crafting a Route that follows the route you actually want it to, and glitches in the map data can cause unexpected behaviour.  You can't avoid a learning curve if you want to use it like that, unless you're happy to tell it a destination and follow it blindly as it takes you down the local motorway-in-all-but-name or boggy Sustrans path.


They all do pretty much the same thing as regards data logging, though eTrexes are more fool-proof (they're always recording), and Edges allow you do do more performance-related stuff on the unit.  If you're just putting your track log into Strava or a mapping tool to see how fast you were or where you actually went, there's nothing in it.


The eTrex series in particular shows its heritage as a tool to be used alongside a map and compass:  While it has some modern car satnav-type features, the UI paradigm is still the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a 1990s cockpit or bridge.  The Edge series is very much a performance cycling-oriented device, so many of the general-purpose navigation features have been sidelined in favour of training aids and analysis.