Review
For me, a bike GPS is primarily interesting because of the possibility of navigating while riding the bike. Having speed, cadence and distance info is nice, but you can get that for a fraction of the price without the hassle of having to remember to keep your bike computer charged. Any Cat-Eye will run for at least a year on a set of batteries. This Edge 705 will need to be charged at least weekly if you are an avid rider.
I like to go out for rides in a random direction and then use the GPS to guide me home. I also like to plan rides carefully at home on the computer, download them to my navigation device and ride a route with turn by turn directions, not needing to ever consult a paper map during the ride. I don’t download performance (speed, cadence,heart rate) data to my computer an analyze it. I just don’t care about that data. I don’t use the heart rate monitor. I used to use heart rate monitors but no longer am training seriously enough to care.
I also find that having a mapping GPS on my bike is entertaining. I get to watch the map as I ride and find out the names of parks and other large green areas around me.
The idea of having turn by turn navigation on my bike has long appealed to me. I bought a GPS 60 CS when it first came out, and then upgraded to the Garmin GPS 60CSx Handheld GPS Navigatorwhen it came out (but more sensitive GPS reception). To get navigation with that device, I had to buy the city navigator DVDs and plan my routes using Mapsource on my PC. The 60CSx only comes with base maps.
Mapsource is functional but primitive and rough around the edges from a user interface perspective. Nevertheless, it gets the job done. The 60 CSx is a wonderful turn by turn navigator on the bike. The screen is easy to read and pretty large. The device is waterproof and mounts to the bike with a solid, if somewhat large, bike mount kit.
I bought the 705 because it promised the same basic navigation features of the Garmin 60 CSx but in a much smaller package, and with an integrated cadence sensor.
The 705 is much smaller and lighter than the 60 CSx. But to get to that size, the battery in the 705 is rechargeable and not field replaceable. What that means is that I need to make sure the device is charging the night before if I want to ride. The 60 CSx takes AA batteries. Not only can I ride at a moment’s notice, but if the batteries are near the end of the their life, I can ride with a spare set and just keep on going.
The 60 CSx calculates routes significantly faster than the 705 does, even though the 60 CSx is a 2 yr old design at this point. That mostly does not matter, except when you go off route and need to recalculate the route.
Most glaringly, the 705 only supports 100 waypoints. Yes, you read that right. Only 100 waypoints. Why? I have no idea. It seems like an idiotic limit. I don’t know what the limit is on the 60 CSx, but it is large enough that I never hit it.
Routes created in Mapsource use waypoints. In fact, when you download a route from Mapsource, you are really downloading an ordered set of waypoints. The Garmin device recalculates the route every time you ride it. This usually works out fine because the routing engine in Mapsource is the same or similar enough that the actual route is the same on the computer and the device. At least that was true for the 60 CSx.
For the Edge 705, I have had slightly more trouble with my workflow. Sometimes during a ride, I will get a bad cue to take a turn that I know is not needed. I only know that because I planned the route on the computer. I will skip the turn and the Edge 705 will recalculate.
I don’t know if this problem is really a problem with the Edge 705 or because of differences between the routing engine on the computer versus the 705.
There is also the concept of course points and being able to plot a route that includes course points. To my knowledge, such courses require you to manually stay on course by looking down at the map, versus get cued for each turn. If you go off course, you are expected to find your way back to the course. This holds no interest for me and I don’t use the feature.
I suspect that Garmin expected me to use the course point feature because there is no crazy 100 course point limit built in – or so I hear. I have never created a course, only a route. And routes use waypoints.
The 100 waypoint limit is actually not a huge problem for me. Most routes include fewer than 40 turns, even when they are 40 miles long. And hence, I just upload the route I am currently using. But that is a bit of a hassle I will admit.
I bought the 705 without maps built in and also bought the current US city navigator DVD. That was a bit of a nightmare. First, the software claimed to be mac compatible. So I tried it on a Mac. But the map loader would only load 400 megabytes of maps onto the device because that is what the software thought I had available for use on the device, even though I had installed a 2 GB micro SD card.
The mac install does not include Mapsource route planning software so plotting routes is not possible!
Finally, I gave up and booted my PC and used Mapsource with my 2 yr old maps and was able to deal with the 705 just as I had the 60 CSx. But if those maps worked, I did not even need the new DVD. Oh well.
As anyone who is really into Garmin products knows, computer software is not their forte, and that is putting it mildly. Nevertheless, they have great products and their customers put up with all sorts of nightmares to get their solution working. But you have to be an enthusiast to want to try.
Overall, I am happy with my Garmin 705 Edge on my road bike. But if feels like much more of fussy bike-specific device where navigation is a feature compared to my Garmin 60 CSx.
My Garmin 60 CSx is a survivalist device. It is built like a tank, can run forever as long as you carry your weight in batteries, and greets you with a big bold “Ready to Navigate” after it gets GPS lock. Those words probably best describe why I love the 60 CSx so much. At the end of the day, I want a navigation device on my bike. The Edge 705 is a “bike computer” with navigation. There are compromises there.
Other differences. The 60 CSx has no start and stop buttons. After you reset it, it is running and the clocks are ticking. This is mostly fine for me, especially because it also calculates the average speed while moving. On the other hand, the 705 has a start/stop button. That can be used manually to start your clock when you are ready, or it can be set to auto start and stop when it detects movement. I don’t really prefer one methodology over the other.
The 60 CSx has tons of other cool stuff including sunrise and sunset tables, a geocaching mode, one button marking of weypoints, and a dedicated find button that brings up close by way points. The 60 CSx also a magnetic compass, making it useful for Geocaching and getting your bearings while standing still. The 705 does not have a compass.
Note that I would consider the Oregon series of GPS devices for bike navigation, but the word is that they are not nearly as readable in daylight.
If you look at the reviews of the Garmin 60 CSx, you will see that it is one of the most beloved products Garmin has ever come out with. They can’t get some customers to upgrade to the touchscreen Oregon devices because people love their 60 CSx so much. That is amazing considering that entering an address on a 60 CSx is like winning a game of Asteroids and having to enter your initials with the roller ball. People of a certain vintage know what I mean.
I would consider getting a 60 CSx if you don’t own one and want one device for hiking and biking. They are dirt cheap now and still as wonderful as the day they were first released. It’s also interesting that Garmin still sells the thing. Why? Because people buy them. Go figure.
Feature
Overview
Garmin Edge 605 & 705 By Garmin
Specifications
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Dec 31, 2009 20:20:08
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