Luck O' The Irish!

Nashbar.com
Once again another good deal that can take the sting out of an upgrade. I have purchased multiple items from this site. They have good quality products for a very reasonable price and fast shipping.

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I have purchased many different items from this company. They have great prices, and excellent customer service.

Garmin Edge 800 Review and setup

The first touch screen gps designed specifically for cyclists. After the initial setup of this device I was impressed with the responsiveness of the screen and the display has relatively good clarity, however if not positioned correctly you will get a nasty glare which makes viewing more difficult. I was able to remedy this by positioning the device at a slight angle. This unit was a upgrade from and edge 305 and I will say that I am quite pleased with the performance. The fields are easily recognized and data is collected quickly and accurately.

In the setup menu I was a little bogged down by multiple steps required to navigate certain menu items and edit certain fields. That being said, in a relatively short amount of time (due to the similarity of the 305) I was able to customize my device for multiple bike configurations and complete a layout with ample information and ease of use.

Scree shots of my display pages and data fields:

1. Road Bike Configuration

2. Mountain Bike Configuration

3. Additional info I like to view on a ride

3. Navigation Map Screenshot

          

As you can see there is plenty of space for the desired fields and they are easily visible during a ride.

One of the features that I find most useful is the training section. It allows you to customize workouts based on your training intensity and desired results. I set up a few interval workouts that have been very useful in my training. From the main screen just tap Menu > Training > Workouts, from that point you can create new workouts such as intervals with specific parameters. I have programmed several workouts with a warm up lap (for a set time) Bike at threshold (set time) rest (set time) repeat... Very basic, yet affective. The unit will walk you through your workouts step by step alerting you of next step with screen on and sound alerts etc. 

All and all this device is very solid. I have enjoyed it as a companion on mountain and road bikes and have yet to find a major flaw. It gives the user a trusty companion that will certainly make other riders red with envy!