SurlyLHT26in08

Anyone using the Garmin Edge Touring plus GPS unit bike computer??and how is it??

I am thinking of getting the Garmin Edge Touring Plus GPS Bike Computer for my Stealth
bike camping trips and bike touring and I am going to order one on 9-17-2015 when I get back to Oceanside, California from Myrtle Beach, SC

bwgride

There may be some benefits of the Garmin Edge -- maybe longer battery life -- but for the money a more versatile option an Android phone.

I have a Nexus 5 and use the GPS for backpacking, biking, tracking (e.g. Map My Ride with time, distance, splits, speed, etc.), etc. For large maps the app Co-Pilot is inexpensive ($10 or $20) and provides all of North American with free map upgrades. There are several free tracking apps.

The Nexus 5 GPS does not require use of data; it can run with no data and no cell phone connected.

In addition to GPS, it can be used as a camera (HD images), video recorder (HD video), cell phone, game system, music player, book reader, etc. Much more flexible than a Garmin unit, and the cost appears to be only about $50 more. Even if you don't want the cell phone option, it can be used for everything else listed above minus cell phone (although it can be used as wifi phone if desired with no cell service plan).

When I first bought my Nexus 5, it was not for the cell phone, instead, it was for all the other benefits I noted above. I was able to find cell service that is very inexpensive (ting.com) that costs about $17 monthly and that includes texting and talking, and about 100mb of data. It's a pay for what you use type plan.

Anyway, just thought I would offer an alternative that may be more benefit than a stand-alone GPS unit.

SurlyLHT26in08

I all ready have a prepaid lg smatphone and I turn it off when riding my bike and I am looking
info on garmin edge touring plus and is what I am getting on 9-17-2015

arnaguedes

I had the same doubt but my friend from Garmin storr told me to go to Dakota 20, super happy and bateries AA way better than internal Batt

azza_333

T took one on my Japan tour in June, It was great, about 10 hours battery life, and always got me where I needed to go, its got so many options and settings on it that you can set it up the way you want.

timdow

Awesome I am glad I saw your post. I started with a crappy Windows phone. I just upgraded to the Nexus 5!

JohnX

Dang, that sounds nice. aand me in the market for a phone. One question, can you see the route in the sun on the Nexus 5? say if it was mounted on a holder?

bikebark

I like the Garmin Touring Plus that I have. I have been using it for about 18 months. I use it as my daily bicycle computer, and I also used it on a month long tour of southeast Asia. The open source maps for southeast Asia that I downloaded on it were very good. The unit seems very durable. The actual battery life is 10-12 hours, but you can plug in an external battery stick if you need to use it longer or if you need to recharge it and do not have an electrical outlet available.

bwgride

Tested that option today and was able to see the map.

Dahon.Steve

The internal battery is not a problem. You can always use double AA bateries to recharge it. There are chargers out there that have USB ports and take AA batteries.

Dahon.Steve

Good choice. The Dakota 20 used to be super expensive. It's pretty cheap now but you'll have to buy the maps although. It has 20 hours of battery life.

Dahon.Steve

Interesting.

I like the fact you don't need to have a data plan to take advantage of it. I still like the Garmin unit for four reasons. First, the GPS really needs to stay on the handlebar and not in your pocket or bag. This phone is going to take a beating but more important, it's only a matter of time before it hits the ground! If you ride with a GPS for as long as I did, each one of my Garmins fell off the bike and not one of them broke! I don't think your Nexus phone would have lasted a fall from the bars at 15 mph!

Second, the maps maybe free or almost free (for your Nexus) but can you upload multiple routes (not just way points) into your GPS? This is critical for touring with GPS as the last thing one wants to do is start creating routes while your on the road.

Third, the Garmin unit is water proof. When it starts raining, your phone has to get off the bars and into your waterproof bag! Shouldn't be a problem but it can become an issue.

Fourth, the Garmin unit can be seen in sun light. I know the image of my cell phone (HTC) is not readable in direct sun. Can you see a map on your Nexus while it's on the bar in direct sun light?

arnaguedes

Free maps for Dakota 20 from openstreetmaps

Possum Roadkill

I had a friend ask me about this model so I took a close look at it compared to the 800/810 models. I didn't really notice any additional options, just missing options compared to the 810 and the price difference didn't seem to justify the missing options to me. I couldn't figure out why this model even existed. Maybe they just failed to list the additional features. I can see the point of having a touring specific model, but it should come with features that justify having a different model.

bwgride

1. Durability -- Garmin may be more durable, I don't know. There are certainly methods to attach a phone to a bike in a secure way.

2. Multiple routes -- Yes, I just experimented with this option. I don't normally follow pre-defined routes so I don't have much experience to report on this. I found there are a number of apps to allow for navigation of pre-defined routes. For example: Co-pilot, OsmAnd, Locus, Ride with GPS (premium version), and several others. I did not test all, but did test a few. With Co-pilot I learned that routes with hundreds or thousands of waypoints don't load. So if I used Co-pilot for navigation, I would simplify the route with a few waypoints at turns. I found it was very easy to create routes, such as with Google maps, and upload each to the phone. I think I created 15 as an experiment. I just uploaded all to a folder and was able to get each app I tested to read those files. So it would be easy to create legs for routes and open each leg as needed. I found that both OsmAnd and Locus handle large routes well. OsmAnd is free and is the one shown in the sunlight image attached. OsmAnd provided voice navigation on the route I created. Seems to work well, although I only tested it for a few minutes.

3. Waterproof -- Possible to get waterproof case for Nexus 5 or most any phone. Those cases provide protection which can partially address the durability issue raised in #1 . I would probably just use plastic bag attached to top of my front rack if using this for navigation, or create something a bit more secure and durable that would also allow me to run charge cable from battery charger to phone or from dynamo hub to phone.

4. Sunlight -- I addressed this above, but I will include a photo I took today at 2pm in the afternoon in direct sunlight. The sun was just above and behind me shining directly on phone. You can see
my shadow/reflection on part of phone. I tried phone at both 50% and 90% brightness and was able to see both, but the 90% was better and is the shown in the photo. I was able to see the map almost all the time although occasionally there would be glare that made viewing difficult. I expect this would be true for most screened devices, but maybe the Garmin unit provides better illumination. I tried to find images of Garmin units in direct sunlight, and the few I located on the net seemed to show similar performance to what is shown in the image below.

Overall I do think an android phone that provides GPS without the need for data or wifi to be an excellent option for navigation given the points I made above in post 2. Maybe the Garmin unit excels in some ways, but for pre-defined route navigation, and for navigation when lost, the apps I mentioned seem to work very well. I do have experience with Garmin Nuvi system - I have one - I can report that I no longer use it because it provides inferior routing compared to Co-pilot. The last two times I used it, it twice directed me off route to take some circuitous path through neighborhoods only to exit me back on the original highway. Once in north Georgia and once in Charlotte NC. I've never experienced this with Co-Pliot, so now my car Gamin stays in the glove compartment.

P.S. I can think of one possible limitation with the Nexus 5. Once when using it in my car I placed it on the dash in direct sunlight. The phone overheated and shut itself down (a nice safety feature). It may be possible that the phone could overheat during summers when mounted on a bike. Not sure if this is a potential problem with Garmin units.