Edge 305 feature set

[+user13371]

Somebody, please tell me I have this wrong... I -really- want to buy an Edge 305 (or get one for my birthday).

 

But this is what I'm understanding from online documentation...

 

The Edge 305 looks like a good GPS for bicycling. Data display of useful cyclist info, wheel speed sensor and barometer for accurate speed and elevation tracking even if you have a poor (or no) GPS fix, features for analyzing rides after the fact, and route planning tools. Even the beginnings of Macintosh support.

 

Anything missing? Well, you can't really do good route planning without buying Garmin's map software. But that's to be expected.

 

BUT... Even after buying street mapping software - and putting a route on the GPS - the Edge doesn't display street maps!

 

It can show your route. It can show your position relative to the planned route. It can show you the track you've ridden. But if you go off your planned route, into unfamiliar neighborhoods - and the GPS won't show where you are or the streets around you.

 

That's can't be right, can it? Why would they leave that feature out?

[robertlipe]

I have one in the GPSBabelab. You're correct. It is simply not a mapping unit. There is not a basemap and no internal POI list of even major cities.

 

The way *I* bike, I'm way more likely to take one of the mapping products (hey, I'm already on a tandem, an extra few oz. is nothing to me) as I care more about exploring a new country road than about my crank cadence.

 

I can speculate why they left it out (power consumption, bill of material cost, etc.) but it'd be only a guess.

[Vlad]

maybe in the next generation of products