GR: Garmin Edge 205

I've wanted to post my thoughts on my Garmin Edge 205 for a while now. I purchased it back in October, and it has become one of my absolute favorite biking accessories. In fact, its the one item I never leave at home. And on the very rare occasions where I've forgotten to bring it or the battery has been dead, I've been really disappointed.

I can't speak to all of the 205's features, since I honestly don't take advantage of all that it has to offer. My primary use for the unit is tracking the distance, duration, average speed, and location of each ride that I do. My favorite feature is its ability to export the gps map of the trails I've ridden to Google Maps and Google Earth, enabling me to see my route on those maps. Its a really cool way of reliving each ride that I've done, and since the inception of this blog, its been easy to just click on the maps I create and add them to my ride reviews, making for a cool scrapbook-style memory for each ride.

The 205 also has features like racing a virtual partner and setting up workout intervals with reminder beeps when you fall below a certain speed. But to be honest, I haven't used any of those. Since I don't really have a single, consistent ride that I do on a regular basis, racing a virtual partner hasn't been that important. Also, while I enjoy the improved fitness that comes with riding, the training features the Edge has don't do much for my casual trail riding style. But its nice to know the features are there...

The unit has great battery life. The websites say up to twelve hours, which I've never tested. I did ride with it running for a total of about seven hours over three days last weekend, and it showed no signs of quitting on me. There was still over 50% battery remaining even after all that time. The battery is chargeable via either USB or the included A/C adapter, which is nice. I generally download the data from a ride to my computer that same evening, and leave the unit plugged in to the USB port overnight to charge. The battery is not replaceable, so for those who do go on epic multi-day camping rides, that could be an issue. I am not one of those people.

Along with tracking speed, distance, time, etc., the unit also acts as a trail GPS, enabling me to see little breadcrumbs where I've been during a ride. The feature is nice to have, but the tiny grayscale dots on a smallish gray screen are not the easiest to see. However, if I was ever lost, it is nice to be able to re-trace my steps or use the "home" feature to help guide me back to my starting point. The screen overall is also more than adequate for reading the data that I want to see at a glance, even in bright sunlight.
The unit itself is also very compact and durable. It comes with both a stem and handlebar mount, and stays in place extremely well. (Its never fallen out of its mount for me, despite several rough crashes.) Its waterproof and mudproof, and has held up well in rain, snow, and high heat conditions.

The Garmin 205 includes software that helps with tracking ride data both on the computer and online. The Garmin Training Center tracks the time and date of each ride, as well as the total distance, total time, average pace, average speed, maximum speed, total calories burned, total ascent, and total descent for each ride. The website www.motionbased.com keeps track of the same data, as well as allows users to export the route to Google Maps and Google Earth as discussed above. Motionbased also allows other users to see your routes and permits members to share ride data and download new trails back to their Edge 205 devices. I have never done this, but would like to at some point.

The Edge 205 that I purchased does not have a heart rate sensor or cadence feature. Its big brother, the Edge 205, however, does have those features if that is something that you're looking for.

Interestingly enough, I think the Edge 205, along with this site, actually makes me ride more than I would if I didn't have it. The ability to compare my performance to previous rides, evaluate the distance and speed of a ride when its over, and see it displayed on a map afterwards makes riding more enjoyable for me. It also has made me try to go faster and try sections I otherwise would not, so that I can go back and review the data later and gauge my performance.

I purchased my Edge 205 from an Amazon.com third party dealer called Digitech Deals back in October. I only paid $109.99 with $10.00 shipping, which was a smoking deal. It is apparently no longer available through that dealer, and the cheapest I can find it on Amazon is $179.99. However, with the newer versions (the Edge 605 and 705) just being released, I expect the price of the 205 to go down quite a bit further. If nothing else, used 205's should be widely available from those people who choose to upgrade to a 605 or 705 and no longer need their old unit anymore.

Additional Manufacturer's Information for the Edge 205 is available here.