kiloRH

If I don't get the 800. I'm still on the fence...ugh

dizzy101

If someone gave me an 800, I'd sell it and get a 500. Seems just a better product to me, smaller, battery lasts forever. Who needs turn by turn navigation on a bike anways

kiloRH

I felt the same until a guy I ride with got one and I saw how cool the 800 is.

DropDeadFred

its just gizmo envy. It would wear off quick, and battery life would be a huge draw back.

Pilky

Is $250 as cheap as it gets for the 500?

antmeeks

You're welcome. If you run into any problems, you can send me a pm.

It sounds like you'd really rather have the 800. Just go for it.

I guess if I had the opportunity to upgrade for just $200, I'd do it too.

antmeeks

$213 for blue, $219 for black... and supposedly free shipping + no tax.

Phil85207

Just get the 800. You know you want it.

Silvercivic27

I thought the 800 was unnecessary too until I got one. I have both. The 800 is awesome for solo rides and in situations for example when you get dropped and have no idea where the F you are. Also great for traveling. One downside with the 800 is that when you navigate you can only see 2 data fields. It's kinda painful when you still want to know your cadence, speed, power, etc. You guys are going to think I'm crazy but I use the 800 AND the 500, with the 800 on an above category mount and the 500 on the stem so I have all the data AND navigation!

kiloRH

Decided to just swap out my buggy 500 for another via warranty replacement. While the 800 is really cool I couldn't justify it after antmeeks told me about the virtual partner feature on the 500. I think the $200 will be better spent elsewhere on the bike, and i can't deny the looming 900 may have had something to do with the choice too...

dbf73

Nashbar had them on sale for about $180 late last year. Keep yer eyes open or hit eBay.

bored117 

500 to 800 was definitely worth it for me. Just the sheer convenience of being able to reroute myself if I am lost without having to stop many times killing the joy of riding (to bring up google map on my phone, etc) was worth it. I ride solo and always looking for different places to ride or different route often on unfamiliar streets, city. I would imagine if I was going to ride mostly group/same route... no reason to get 800. 500 does everything it does except 2 things.
1) Navigation.
2) More stats on screen
Oh, also noticed satellite sync time on 800 is much much faster than 500. I don't have to sit there and wait typically with 800.

Pilky

Might splurge and grab it for $213

I'v seen the ones from Taiwan (or wherever there from) but they say something about Chinese being in the display. I think i'd rather just spend the extra cash and get one from a reputable website.

PhotoJoe 

The compass headings are in Chinese. They "say" that everything else is in English. Also, I hear that Garmin is touchy with warranty work on those. I agree. It's worth a few extra bucks to get the non-Taiwan version.

Pilky

Damn I knew i should have ordered it last night... it jumped up to $238.99

antmeeks

Yeah they probably saw in their server logs that traffic was coming to that page from a cycling site and figured they'd take advantage of it.

Well, at least you know they'll lose sales to their greed. Instead of selling a few at $213, they'll sell none at $238.

For only $11 more you can just buy from a known reputable retailer.

davida

I use the VP alot, but they screwed it up on the 800. If you buy a high end Edge, its probably because you are an information junkie and want 8 fields of information at once (maybe more). Unless they've changed it, on the 800 in VP mode, you get one piece of info. On my 705 I can get 8 fields of information even if two or three of them are not really much use, I love all of the info.

They should either change the 800 to allow simultaneous display of VP and other fields, or bring out a new Garmin with more customisation in the data display settings.

My bet is that they are pouring so much effort into the Vector that there won't be another Edge for a while. With the rise of phones with GPS features, including for auto use, the halycon days of Garmin may be over. That's sad, because everything I bought from Garmin has served me well.

Still I will be interested to see where they go next.

RT

Now if only Garmin would monitor their traffic as closely to realize there is a spike in Garmin chatter on cycling sites.

Also consider that $238 for the black one is significantly less as most sites charge a premium for it.

antmeeks

Yeah, I thought about that... I'm pretty sure it's not referring to the black & red one, which is only packaged as a bundle (with hr & cadence sensor).

I would expect they're selling the color Garmin describes as "neutral", which is gray with black trim - and is sold as just the head unit.