I am thinking of buying a Garmin Edge 500 to go along with a powertap system. Does anyone have any experience with this; how straightforward is the set up. zero offset and also the data transfer.

In this vein, does anyone currently transfer data from the specialized computers ? Does this work with native mac?

Any pictures out there of the 500 mounted on bars?

I believe the official release date for the Edge December 7, 2009. At least here in the states. Amazon says they have them so there may be some early release but there will be no one with any real time with the product right now. BTW, I'm interested in it too!

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I heard they were shipping on 12/9 (or at least that is when my order will be filled).

Edit - just got notification that my order shipped.

Distributors already have them. They are available now

QBP just got them yesterday. So It'll probably be early next week before consumer feedback will start hitting the web

I have them in my shop now. Received them today ready to sell.

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Gary Solomons
SL4 Roubaix Di2
Surly Cross Check
Surly Necromancer

Sell? You should have put it through its paces and and be typing a full review by now!! (j/k)

Here's a picture of the Edge 500 on the bars: http://twitpic.com/pa3yd

Here's a picture comparing it side by side with the larger Edge 705: http://twitpic.com/j0oy1

We've been testing one since Interbike (last September) with the Quarq CinQos. It was very easy to pair with the CinQo and I'm pretty sure you pair the Powertap the same way, by selecting "restart scan" for a powermeter in the menu. There is a place in the menu to do a zero offset for the various powermeters.

The data transfers with a mini USB cable like the Edge 705, except the files are in .fit format instead of .tcx (apparently that makes them a lot smaller).

Mieke
Quarq Technology

I am still getting my head around the GPS market: I think primarily I like the idea of having a sat nav, more than an advanced training computer. I find that when I go new routes, I spend more time on looking where I am going and overall are much slower / train much lighter.

Am I right in thinking that with the 705 and the 500 you need to preplan routes on your computer and that you will need to buy topographic maps separately? Are there good websites for such maps for the UK and Western Europe? And I can "save" different routes I can call up while out or do I need to get back to a PC each time I want to go somewhere else? And how does the computer tell me where to go? Presumably it’s not voice based as with car sat navs.

I was also surprised it includes a barometric altitude meter - I would have thought that a topographic map and GPS would be a much more precise way to determine altitude. But maybe that's just because according to my old Sigma cycling computer I am currently 500 meters under sea level....

And finally, what's the advantage of the 500 compared to the 705?

Sorry, I realise these are complete beginners questions and slightly off topic, but I am contemplating if to go for the 705 bundle offered by wiggle, so need to make a decision by midnight - I realise I am falling for the oldest "buy now, limited offer trick in the book... Also, if I am just being stupid and all that info is out there, any prompt in the right direction would be much appreciated, too!

I'm looking at both also. The Edge 500 looks better for me as it's more basic but why did they make it in passive white and blue, looks awful. Black my friends would have been so much better.

Maybe because it matches the Garmin cycling teamkit and bike?

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price and size/weight

the 500 is basically an updated 305 with ant+ added, the 705 is still the star of their cycling gps lineup

705 has real maps and a colour screen which the 500 and 305 do not have

Mieke,

Thank you for the images and info. Have you similar experience with the Specialized headunit? My very personal preference is for as small a unit as possible and I think that many are going to be interested in the way that ANT allows the use of different heads and bodies, so to speak.

As a separate point, it would be great if Polar would have ANT+ power as a line on some of their computers and watches.

Just finished flipping through the manual on Garmin's site, this thing looks pretty sweet! It's got just about everything that you could want and is way smaller than most. At first I didn't think it would show the torque value when performing a zero offset, but apparantly it does. I also thought it only did your energy expenditure based on heart rate, but there's a data field for kilojoules burned as well.

I do seem to remember reading somewhere about the 705 that people pairing it with a PT hub, and also compairing the data with the PT head unit, but that the average power for the two was slightly different. Any idea why that might have been, and if this is likely to be a problem with the 500 as well? Other than that, I think I'm pretty much convinced about getting one!

Thank you for the feedback - that was a slightly lazy post on my behalf I have to admit - I found more info and reviews having another look. I was really looking for a good navigation function so went for the 705 over the 500 now.