I'd like to revive this thread rather than create a new one since it's only a few months old. Can someone recommend the best (or least worst) GPS for the following usage scenario?
Currently, the way I like to do my road bicycling is to map out a route using Ride With GPS and then print out a paper cue sheet and follow it. I have the Ride With GPS app running on my smartphone in my pocket to record the ride. I generally do not do a whole lot of improvisational exploring while on the bike, preferring to work out an interesting route (lots of back roads and hills, avoiding busy suburban highways) beforehand. Basically, I like to ride "brevet style", even just on my own solo rides.
I would like to get a GPS device that acts as an "electronic cue sheet". In other words, I would like it to:
- Import a file of my planned route from Ride With GPS
- Show me the route track on a map with street names to help with the occasional confusing intersection
- Preferably, tell me when turns are coming up, maybe with an audible beep but at least with a message or arrow
- Preferably, tell me if I've gone off course
- Show me the remaining distance until the next turn
- Show me total distance, current speed, time of day, etc.
- Record the ride and upload to Ride With GPS afterwards (just like I currently use my cell phone for)
- Rain proof would be a big plus
I do NOT care about these features:
- Recalculating the route if I go off the course (this could theoretically be disqualifying on a brevet)
- Calculating a route to an arbitrary place (I have Google Maps on my smartphone for that, so I don't if the GPS can tell me how to get to the nearest McDonald's)
- Heart rate, cadence, power meters, etc.
- Bluetooth or any kind of phone or social media integration
So like I said, I really just want something to help me follow the cue sheet better. Right now, I have no computer on my bike to tell the remaining distance to the next turn, so occasionally I get convinced I must have missed the turn and I have to stop and pull out my phone to check Maps. Sometimes I actually did miss the turn, but usually I just got impatient and it is still coming up. So something that would tell me "4 miles to next cue point" and give me a beep when I'm getting close would be really helpful. Other than that I don't need much else.
I'm a little unclear as to what the differences between the Etrex 20(x) and the Edge 800/etc are, in terms of following a premade course. Is it that the Etrex can't give you beeps and arrows for upcoming turns? It just shows you the breadcrumb trail? Someone wrote that the Etrex 20 attempts to recalculate the route if you go off course and that this can't be disabled? Seems like that would be a problem.
Of the 800, 810, and 820, are they all about the same as far as the above goes? The 810 is about $150 used on eBay, and the 800 is around the same or even closer to $100 or lower. I'm a little concerned about how old the 800 now is though, in terms of battery life, etc.