Diffuser works fine

I bought this together with a red and green filter. Truth is I haven't found much use for it yet but that said this filter delivers. If you are looking for a diffuser this is a sanded glass filter which is well built and effectively diffuese the light from your Olight into an even white light almost eliminating any defined shade behind the lighted objects. Very good indeed.More detail ...

Great little EDC Flashlight

I bought this light to be my EDC (Every Day Carry) and absolutely love it. The fact that it can take a CR123 or a AA is a real plus since I can't always easily find CR123's when traveling. It's small and powerful and outshines my SureFire C3 Centurion. I would recommend this light to anyone looking to spend a little more for an EDC carry Jetbeam is a wonderful company and makes quality products.

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A NEW STANDARD

Garmin with the Edge 305 heart rate/cadence has set the standard and literally eliminated the competition. The only thing the others can do at this point is to copy in attempt to duplicate. We have (2) with HR and CAD. Both have been used on the flats of Los Angeles County to the hills of Orange/San Diego County. The GPS has never failed to work. Actually nothing on the Edge 305 has failed to work with about 1000 miles on each. You can program the screen to display multiple items and with a glance see all of your desired information. I monitor Speed Distance Elapsed ride time Time of day HR CAD and Calories. Heck The Edge 305 is better than the bike! The training software is also outstanding.

The only negatives have nothing to do with actual computer performance and in my opinion include:

*Price-This toy aint cheap.

*Size-Relatively big for a bike computer but very light.

*Battery-Our units both are safe from four (4) to six (6)

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Must have filter

If you've got an Olight and enjoy stargazing or hunting or other activities requiring colored filters Olight's red is a must. Also consider the green. High quality glass filters in a rubber holder. Cons: filters are somewhat easier to fall from the flashlight when striking bezel is left on but they still stay on ok. Total light power reduced (don't expect 700 lumens in red or green) but then again the filter is there to limit a portion of the spectrum so it's only natural that overall light intensity would drop (if not I would distrust the filter!). Highly recommendable.More detail ...

The Neatest Cyclometer Out There!

The 305 is a neat item and very clean to install. Satellite reception is excellent even in dense forrests and far superior to my Garmin GPSMAP 60CS. The stem mount is very clean with rubberized mountings with a supplied wedge for proper viewing angles.



The cadence and speed pickups are neatly packaged in one sensor on the rear tire and the cadence magnet is unobtrunsive. Installation documentation is very clear and accurate.



The software for downloading rides is very good although it lacks some functionality that is available in Garmin's other products (waypoint and route management) and you cannot erase the unit from your PC. No big deal there. Seeing your actual ride or hike track on a map is pretty cool.



It has multiple (3) bike profiles so more than one bike use is possible. If using this only on one bike then bike 2 can be used as a secondary information screen for trip data like average speed average cadence average heart rate etc. things that you won't want on your primary biking screen.



The one item that is missing and I was surprised about is that the 305 does not have a persistant odometer. It does have a ride trip meter and there is no separate data field that keeps track of your total mileage. You can do this in the PC based software though. I prefer a built in odometer function for routine maintenance on my bike when I hit 500 1000 2000 3000 mile cycles per year. I'm working with Garmin tech-support and they admit they sort of kind of missed it. That's the primary reason why I gave this item four stars.



Battery life is another concern especially when the unit is searching to pair up with the heart rate and cadence sensors. If you turn off those features it consumes less power. For most one day rides the unit is fine. It would be great if Garmin put a solar cell on the front of the unit where all the black is.



If you really like GPS and capturing as much data as possible about your ride heart rate cadence timings grades maps ... this is the unit for you! Enjoy!



Update:



Battery life is a serious issue with the Edge 305! I am getting no more than five hours out of an overnight charge and that is with just the cadence sensor. I have asked Garmin Tech Support about this three times and the answers are disappointing. If you ride long I cannot recommend that you go with the Edge 305 until they correct the battery life issue. I'll update you with Garmin's responses!More detail ...

Nice unit poor software [Roadie perspective]

Despite a large number of user and site reviews to the contrary I believe this item is let down by poor software design and quality. The Edge products are something of a 'hook' item in that they are sufficiently crippled out of the box to require subscription to online services or other products. Having used the unit for about 3000km now I think I can offer some addition perspective to what is already out there...



Don't get me wrong the concept of a GPS based cycle computer is great - I regularly and easily swap it between the bikes I frequently use without wires or calibration. The unit feature set is also pretty comprehensive in fact one has to be quite judicious in display setup options so as not be overwhelmed by data. The GPS chip is plenty good for road quick(ish) acquisition and tracking sufficient for speedo accuracy etc. With the good stuff out of the way...



But - and for me this is considerable but - the unit firmware is flakey (you will have to figure out how to do a soft reset as the unit will freeze up on you) and the Training Center software is even worse. Here come the hooks for me (in NZ) the basemaps included for course planning are practically useless (though there is a way to create your basemaps own if you have the time and data) the cost of correcting this the Garmin way is horrendous [h1]. A great alternative however exists in MapMyRide (though you don't get to insert course waypoints). But you still have to resolve the following...



Getting data in and out of the unit becomes more problematic over time in fact I have installed Training Center on 3 separate PCs (all of the XP variety) and all of them stopped receiving data from the GPS with an error sooner or later. Sometimes they would receive sometimes they wouldn't - final resolution was a complete uninstall (AND manual user dir delete). The alternative is use of the MotionBased site (2) though paid subscription is required [h2] for a full suite of services. An alternative exists again in the form of SportTracks a great donorware piece of software (no affiliation).



Other minor gripes include the usual - HRM interference at times poor barometric related elevation performance - especially in the wet [don't even think about it in heavy rain]. GPS related gripes - the Course following option is a little flakey if created via software as opposed to ride history. Lapped or complex courses (retracing sections) also problematic - a moving snake option highlighting the current say 1km section of the course would alleviate this somewhat though. Finally you'd think you would be able to 1. insert an autolap point on a course *before* you rode it (like a lapping waypoint) and 2. insert more than one autolap points. But no you cannot achieve either of these with the 305 Edge.



In summary yes the Edge 305 is full featured and bloody convenient for multiple bikes. After you get the unit turned on the on bike features even work pretty well. The great letdown comes when you want to download analyse and share all that data you collected out on the road or heaven forbid do some planning before you hit the road to take advantage of a GPS platform. If you are prepared for multiple workarounds on the SW side of things the Edge 305 is still a great option if not its power (and potential) is wasted and you'd be better off with a Polar or similar speedo.



Edge 305 Firmware 3.20

Training Center Version 3.2.3



Hope this helps.



Ron

ps. I wouldn't even think of dropping money on an Edge 605/705 until these SW issues are sorted. More bug testers and actual cyclists involved in the next edition please Garmin.More detail ...

Works Great!

I was afraid that my 1994 H-D FXR would shake my PN-40 so badly that I wouldn't be able to read the display without stopping and killing the engine. No worry! This mount works great! I've got it installed on the left side handlebar and I can read the display just fine while I'm cruising along.More detail ...

Great Device Beware of Hidden Map Costs

I've had my 705 for about 3 weeks and have used it on over 400 miles of bike training. It's a great bike computer - very easy to setup lots of data available but only the data you decide to have on each screen. The GPS and in-unit maps are great. Installation is also easy since the sensor is wireless.



The Garmin Training Center software (Windows version in my case) is okay but appears to have only basic integration with the 705 so far. GTC is a separate but free download from the Garmin site. Hopefully future versions will provide more/better 705 integration.



Something to watch out for as it isn't mentioned in the 705 docs or on the Garmin site if you buy the 705 with the map card those detailed maps will only be available in the 705 not in GTC. If you want detailed maps in GTC you have to buy a PC/Mac version of the very same maps you have on the 705. That's another $100-130 on top of the $600-700 you just spent on the 705. Why? Ask Garmin.More detail ...

A GPS that cannot tell you where you are!

Starting with some positive comments the unit itself (hardware) is nice it's slightly larger (thicker) than a standard mobile phone and feels sturdy. The screen is clear (but small) and buttons feel nice and are well placed. The unit has the new SirfStarIII technology for increased sensitivity e.g. under tree cover and my limited experience until now is that the reception is indeed good.



So not a bad unit but it should be understood that this unit is set up as a trip computer and not as a navigation unit (although it does have some navigation options). It has some nice options like racing a virtual partner which are well documented on the Garmin web-page. What the web-page does not make very clear though is:

- It cannot give you the current position!!!

- It does not have WAAS/EGNOS for better location precision

- It does not have the "Upcoming turn feature" that the Geko has

As a trip computer it has the following limitations:

- The speed it gives fluctuates significantly more than with a normal (simple) cycle computer with a wheel sensor.

- The height fluctuates so much that the grade it gives is completely useless (note that the Edge 305 should be better as it has a barometric sensor as well). Also the total ascent and descent will systematically be too high. In a test I left the Edge for two hours in the same place and had it record every second. Minimum height was 51m maximum height 84m total ascent 215m total descent 218m and maximum speed 3.5km/h.



The included Garmin training center software works okay but is very limited:

- You cannot combine tracks (to upload to the Edge e.g.).

- You cannot compare more than two tracks.

- It only exports data in Garmins own (and uncommon) .hst file format

Also note that if you want to overlay your track onto a map you will need other software. The user manual (printed out) isokay but also very limited.



The Edge comes with a rechargeable battery that is not user exchangeable (tip: instead of using the car-charger it may be possible to use a universal USB car charger and the supplied cable at a fraction of the cost. Note however that I have not yet tested this).



I mainly bought this unit to map mountainbiking tracks in order to be able to combine the best trails into some nice routes and then use the Edge to find the routes. Using some third party software this is possible but it should have been much easier. I assumed I would be able to use it together with a map while hiking and was very (and unpleasantly) suprised to learn that I bought a GPS that cannot tell me where I am.



I am still hoping that Garmin can do an update of the firmware (I am using version 2.30 now) such that the unit gives the current location (ideally with an option for different grids). Without this option two stars is all it gets from me.



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