Garmin has really upped the ante on the entire cycling computercategory with it’s two new gps-enabled navigator/computers, the 705 and its younger sibling, the 605. These are true navigational aids with full-color maps and turn-by-turn directions in addition to advanced route-planning and saving capabilities. On top of that, the 705 adds heart rate and cadence monitors, a barometric altimeter, and wireless capability that lets you share routes and workout data with other riders instantly. Sleek and waterproof, with a 2.2-inch color screen that lets you customize what data you see and how you see it, these two devices help make the most of every ride.

The Power Of Location-Based Data
Anyone who has used Garmin’s original Edge 205 or 305 already understands the power that attaching location data to traditional measurements like distance, speed, time, calories burned, and heart rate can provide. Knowing exactly where you worked hardest, rode fastest (or most slowly) lets you tailor your workouts to improve to improve your riding skills for specific distances, conditions, and types of terrain. It gives a complete picture of how you interact with every portion of your ride.

Altitude is recorded using a barometric altimeter for the Edge 705. This accurate altitude data makes it much easier for cyclists to match their altitude profile with their speed, cadence, and heart rate during post-ride analysis. The Edge 605 gives a somewhat less precise altitude measurement via the GPS positioning system itself.

A First-Rate Bike Computer
The Edge 605 automatically measures your speed, distance, time, calories burned and altitude. The 705 also track your heart rate, cadence, power (from optional ANT + Sport-enabled third-party power meters), climb and descent. Other nifty features include the following.

• Virtual Partner lets you race a virtual competitor over a specified distance and speed.
• Courses let you race against a previously recorded workout, so you can compare your current and past performances over the same ride.
• Auto Pause pauses the timer when you slow down or stop and resumes when you speed up again, so you can focus on your ride.
• Auto Lap automatically starts a new lap each time you pass a specified location or travel a preset distance
• Click stick helps users navigate through the various options.

Full-Featured Navigation

The Edge 305 Screen (actual size) The larger color screen (actual size) on the Edge 605 and 705 shows you your surroundings more clearly and supports real turn-by-turn navigation.

No more scratch paper paper-clipped to your handlebars. In addition to their cycling computer functions, The Edge 705 and 605 provide the same robust navigation as Garmin’s vehicle navigators, with turn-by-turn spoken directions (turn left in 500 yards) and a 2.2-inch (diagonal) color display that shows maps in great detail.

Both devices come pre-loaded with a built-in basemap, and a MicroSD card slot you can use to load new maps or store workout, course and ride data. Garmin has lots of street and topographic maps available for purchase and you can download courses and rides from Garmin or other riders at the Garmin Connect website.

Both feature a high-sensitivity receiver that holds a signal under trees and near tall buildings and have a click stick for easy screen navigation.

Connectivity and “ANT + Sport”
One of Garmin’s most ambitious decisions has been to approach fitness devices as a total platform with their “ANT + Sport” connectivity system. All of Garmin’s new fitness devices, including the Edge 605 and 705, the Forerunner 50 heart rate monitor watches, will interface wirelessly with any devices that are compatible wiht the “ANT + Sport” protocol, including devices from other manufacturers. Currently, Garmin the devices will pair with power meter from SRM or Quarq to measure power – torque and cadence for each leg at the pedals – which is often cited as a true indicator of an efficient ride. It’s unclear what other manufacturers will buy into the ANT + Sport platform, but this kind of open connectivity with products from other companies offers a great deal of potential flexibility.

The wireless function also makes it easy to connect one Edge unit to another to share rides, courses and workout data.

Heart Rate and Cadence Monitors
The Edge 705 heart rate monitor uses a robust wireless technology that eliminates cross-talk and interference and delivers real-time heart rate data exclusively to the user’s device. This data is stored with each track point for post-workout analysis. The Edge 705 with speed/cadence sensor incorporates a self-calibrating, wireless speed/cadence sensor that mounts to the rear chain stay of the bicycle.

Be Part of A Community
In 2007, Garmin acquired Motion-based, the largest shared repository of customer-generated gps-based routes, courses and maps. This was a significant move for Garmin to support the gps user community and bring a wealth of route options to gps users. With a simple connection to your computer, you can join a worldwide network of cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts through Garmin Connect our new, one-stop site for data analysis an sharing.

You can also upload to optional Garmin Training Center software for further analysis. Garmin Training Center stores large quanities of workout and ride data. Some of the things you can do are

• Review your workout data, including pace/speed, distance, time, calories burned; and if available, heart rate, cadence and detailed elevation.
• View a detailed graph of your workout data, plotted over time or distance.
• View a map of your workout that shows the exact path you traveled.
• Categorize your workout history according to type of activity.
• Review previous workouts, which are saved by day and week.
• Create customized workouts with specific goals and rest intervals. Then send them to your fitness device.*
• Schedule workouts for a specific day with calendar.
• Get custom workout templates designed by the experts at TrainingPeaks.com

What’s In The Box
Edge 605 GPS-enabled cycling computer, bike mounts, AC charger, USB cable, owner’s manual on CD-ROM, quick reference guide

5 Responses to “Garmin Edge 605 Bicycle Monitor with GPS”

1. Anonymous says:

   May 28, 2010 at 12:00 am

   It’s difficult for me to find the words to describe how much I love this thing. I use it to track all my workouts, I navigate long and complicated routes effortlessly, I explore new areas – it’s opened up a world of cycling in unfamiliar terrain.

   I initially hesitated at the cost – but after using the 305 for almost a year and having logged > 3000 miles on it – I did not hesitate to upgrade and spend twice as much to get the 705 for the additional features it provides.

   Hats off to the Garmin folks for creating such a great unit.

   I highly recommend this GPS.

   About me: I’m a casual rider. I ride about 600 miles per month and use the Garmin to track my rides (I visually load my rides onto MapMyRide and into Google Earth), track my progress and data associated with my rides.

   I also have been using the unit to help me navigate long, unfamiliar rides. In this case, I load a GPX file on the unit from any number of mapping utilities ([...], [...], etc).

   Some of PROS:

   - Weather-proof – you wouldn’t swim with it, but I’ve ridden in downpours with it quite a bit

   - Sturdy, solid construction – It’s survived many drops

   - Navigation – Turn-by-turn alerts based on a saved route works well

   - Screen – Legible, precise, looks great – beautiful full color maps

   - Backlight / Crip display – Very good illumination

   - Battery – After over a year of solid use, I still get 12+ hours continuous (without backlight).

   - Accurate GPS – works well in almost all parts of Manhattan, for example

   - Customizable screens – chose the data points you’d to show across 2 customizable screens

   - Heart rate sensor – has worked flawlessly for me (unlike the Polar sensors, which I’d had issues with)

   - Barometric altimeter – accurate – love knowing how much I’ve climbed (even as an estimate) and the % grade is neat

   - Support for workouts – intervals, etc and riding against your previous performance

   Some of the CONS (the PROS greatly outweigh any of these cons):

   - Maps are expensive (I believe I dropped $100 on maps for my cycling trip in France).

   - Map feature display priorities – The map name prioritization doesn’t make sense to me… I wish the map displayed town names over park names, for example.

   - Calorie count is completely wrong (based on distance – does not take into account climbs or heart rate) – but then again, I didn’t buy this unit to count calories.

   - Packaged Software – It’s not great, it’s not bad – it does the trick.

   Enjoy!
2. Gm says:

   May 11, 2010 at 12:00 am

   Garmin wins in the bike GPS category simply because there is no comparable device competing with it. I’ve had this device for over a year and I had a Garmin 305 before this. They have improved many bugs through firmware updates, but there are some things that you will have to suffer with:

   - Non-swappable battery. You would think a GPS device would be built with the long distance rider in mind, but long distance is where this device really fails. If you do very long events (randonneur events, 24 hour rides, etc), you’ll need some way to keep the battery going. The battery is built into the 705, and Garmin does not offer any external power options. There are third party products you can try out, the big problem there is that if its raining you’ll need to worry about water getting into the port.

   - It ships without maps. Yes, you bought a GPS unit and now you need to buy the maps for it separately.

   - Very delicate components. The cadence sensors die easily, I’ve gone through four in the past year (hold onto your warranty info!). In Garmins defense, they are always good about honoring those warranties. The main unit itself often gets blinky when I hit rough road. A frequent problem I have is that the street names on the map turn off, and the only way to get them back is by turning the unit off and then on again. The unit itself is light weight plastic – not what I’d expect for a rugged outdoors product.

   - Still buggy. Most of the major bugs have been fixed by now, but some still remain.

   It’s still the best bike computer available, but as I said – that’s only because nobody else offers the same features in a bike computer. I would love to see this product improved with a solid or rubberized case so that I could be confident it won’t burst apart if I drop or hit it. The cadence sensors need to be built to survive use outdoors, as I believe the are currently intended solely for indoor use. And the battery situation is just inexcusable – anything for the bike needs to be able to operate without ANY dependency on power outlets (sometimes on multi-day rides you just don’t have that luxury).
3. Hofner Guy says:

   April 29, 2010 at 12:00 am

   There is so much out there on the Garmin Edge 705, that I am not going to write a huge detailed review. I just wanted to add my opinion that I love this thing! It works great, it was easy to install, and its easy to set up and use. I purchased the version with heart rate, cadence, and micro SD card based street maps. The maps were easy to install on the unit also — just insert the SD card and the unit finds the maps! Oh, a note to say the only thing I had to scratch my head on was the micro SD card is actually inserted into a full sized SD card adapter, so it took me a min. to find that one out.

   Its well made — it should be for what it cost. For the price I paid (which was a good deal at Amazon — hey Amazon do I get a coupon for plugging you?) I just wanted it to to work well,be easy to use, and give me the data it advertised. Its all that and I must say that my expectations were exceeded (and I had some pretty high expectations). Are you getting the point that easy is a theme here? The BEST part about this device is [..] — what a great website! Garmin put some real effort into this website — its easy to use and navigate through, and I love how everything is laid out. You can play back your ride and it shows you everything. Check it out! Extremely useful! It puts all the data together so you can really use it! The training center software is good too but I like the website better. The training center doesn’t seem to overlay maps in any detail, where the website works with Google maps.

   Have not tried importing a ride created through a site like “Ride with GPS” but I have uploaded a ride or to and its cool too, but the Garmin website keeps a calendar and reports other things and I just think its better. Unfortunately you can not plot rides with the Garmin website like “Ride with GPS” — not sure why but would be a nice feature to add, then everything would be on stop shopping.

   Battery life is great too.
4. Gayle Belles says:

   April 27, 2010 at 12:00 am

   I won’t rehash the gripes others have expressed. This unit has software that well, it seems like they must only have a couple people on the software team. What about a programmable auto-off feature, something every bike computer has had since the dark ages. How about recognizing you’re coasting when you want an average cadance. When something better comes along this thing is gone.
5. m. fung says:

   April 21, 2010 at 12:00 am

   I purchased the Garmin Edge 605 solely to use on city street navigation via bike/walk. I even purchased the optional City Navigator North America NT CD to map out a route and follow it. BUT the detailing of the streets on the Edge 605 does not include all the streets. For example on my own neighborhood, it only shows street names and actual street routes that are 2 way and multi-lane streets. Their were several streets not shown that are one way streets. If I am riding my bike in some vacation area, how am I suppose to know where to go if it only gives my 40-50% of the street names that I can visually follow on the Edge 605 screen. This is very disappointing. I also own the Garmin nuvi 350 for my car and love it. It shows me all the street names and street routes on the screen. Why can’t the Garmin Edge 605 be the same.