Time for a new GPS. Garmin or Bryton?

[jaseh]

Hey all,

It's time to get a new GPS after my Mainnav bit the dust after one too many rides in the rain. I've been looking into the new Garmin Edge 200, Edge 500 and the Bryton rider 20 or 30. What I want to know is, is there anyone out there that has used the Edge 200 or either of the Bryton units? There is plenty of info out there on the 500 so really not much point talking too much about it, its fantastic but, how does the Rider 30 compare? It seems to have better specs for the money but how reliable is it? I've read reviews on the 50 that say it was a bit buggy but they were a while ago.
I'm not too fussed on the HR and cadence sensors hence why I'm interested in the 200 but, again, both the rider 20 and 30 are ANT+ compatible and can be upgraded with both if I want it later.
As for the websites, I use Strava currently so the Garmin holds a bit of an advantage here as I can just plug it in and it's done. The Brytons would need to be uploaded onto their website and the exported as a GPX and then added to Strava, This is the same as what I've been doing currently with the Mainnav, a bit fiddly but works.
I've found the 500 HR and cadence bundle for $295 from Cecil Walker Cycles or just the unit for $289. the 200 is about $150 everywhere and the Brytons are $250 for the 30 with HR and cadence, or $148 for just the head unit and, the 20 is $125 alone or $169 with HR. Cadence/speed sensor for both can be had for about $50 from most shops. Both CRC and Wiggle are dearer than buying locally too which is fantastic.
So, give me your opinions. Especially if you have used the Brytons.

 

[frensham]

It all comes down to money. The Garmin is a superior product to the Bryton. I have a Bryton Rider 30 and find it very good but the Garmin web interface is much, much better. The Bryton is improving all the the time though and is good value for money.
The price of the Bryton is what encouraged me to try a GPS unit but if I could have afforded the Garmin at the time I would have purchased it.

 

[jaseh]

Have you had any issues with the Bryton?

How do we know the Garmin is a better product without using both back to back over a period of time. I ask this as my Mainnav was by far more accurate than my old Garmin. Obviously the Garmin was better in other ways like umm, waterproofing. But for picking up satellites and keeping track under a heavy canopy or cloud cover the mainnav shit on the garmin.

 

[Minlak]

I have the edge 200 love it i regularly ride a section of track that goes through covered trees etc for an extended period about 1.5kms and im yet to lose signal.... The canopy has holes in it of course its not what id call dense ... Seems pretty accurate to me in terms of distance traveled and location i actually was

 

[jaseh]

Thanks, thats the sort of feedback I'm looking for. I did think that Garmin would've put better GPS receivers in their units now as the one I had would be about 5-6 years old now.

 

[frensham]

Have you had any issues with the Bryton?

How do we know the Garmin is a better product without using both back to back over a period of time. I ask this as my Mainnav was by far more accurate than my old Garmin. Obviously the Garmin was better in other ways like umm, waterproofing. But for picking up satellites and keeping track under a heavy canopy or cloud cover the mainnav shit on the garmin.

I have had no major issues. Just a few minor issues when connecting to a PC and using the web software. In use it is excellent but in thick pine forest tends to 'draw' a straight line where there is much tight and twisty single track. Apparently it measures position every 5 seconds, so, in five seconds I could have made three or four turns. The upshot of this is that total overall distance can be out by 2 km in a 15 km ride. I have no idea if the Garmin is any better in this respect. There is a 'Find and Go' feature which supposedly allows you to follow a previous ride - it is useless and has never really worked. Bryton keep promising to fix it.........
Other than that it has superb battery life (30 hours or more) and weighs next to nothing. Overall I have been pleased considering I got it for almost half the price of the Garmin. The main difference as far as I can see is connecting to software and what you can do with the files once uploaded. I have a had a look at the Garmin web software - it is light years ahead of the Bryton.

 

[RICOCHET]

My Garmin Edge 800 gets Sat coverage IN my house...Garmin for the win...

 

[Minlak]

Snip! In use it is excellent but in thick pine forest tends to 'draw' a straight line where there is much tight and twisty single track. Apparently it measures position every 5 seconds, so, in five seconds I could have made three or four turns. The upshot of this is that total overall distance can be out by 2 km in a 15 km ride. I have no idea if the Garmin is any better in this respect.
Snip!
The main difference as far as I can see is connecting to software and what you can do with the files once uploaded. I have a had a look at the Garmin web software - it is light years ahead of the Bryton.

Now you mention it I have a sigma trip computer i run at the same time and quite often it says I have gone further than my Garmin says I assumed it was a calibration issue with the wireless computer but I did set it by actually measuring the rolling distance of my wheel. When I go back into Garmin Connect I noticed as you said it measures so many times / seconds apart and in many places I have straight lines looking like I cut the corner across the front yard etc when i zoom in closer ....

So today Garmin says I went 20.73kms in 1hr 18 mins average 15.9km/h ....... My trip computer says I went 21.64 in the same time obviously 16.4km/h

So 900 meters out in 20 km's potentially but the other people I usually ride with have their computers set by me too so cant tell which is more accurate.

So.... I think if you were in fact riding tight twisty terrain with multiple quick changes in direction especially switchbacks the device would be inaccurate .... however it was never really designed for this style so doesn't make it a bad device.

Solution:- Well I think you would need to run a Garmin 500 or 800 with the Ant+ technology and a speed / distance sensor still on the wheel to be ensured of accurate information.

Im still very happy with mine and the Garmin Connect website is pretty amazing to use allowing you track progress and fitness goals as well if you want .... But you of course can use Strava etc and eliminate the software differences.

BTW I use mine for fitness atm so not concerned as mainly road / straight track atm

 

[chargedgolf]

I can't fault my Garmin Edge 500, I bought it on it's own as I already had a HR monitor from a previous Garmin GPS (Dakota 20).

It never loses signal and proves to be very accurate with both distance and altitude. The Garmin Connect site/interface is an awesome training aid and again I can't fault it. I am unsure (as I haven't checked the specs!) what the differences are with the Edge 500 & 200 but at the end of the day I just log data and then analyse the data online afterwards. The HR monitor feature is awesome as I can ride to an optimum HR for endurance/intensity training.
I like the way on the Edge 500 that you can totally personalise/customise the display, again a great feature. I paid about $230 for the Edge 500 from wiggle.co.uk delivered (express dispatch) so a bargain in my opinion.
I can't comment on the Bryton as I have never used one but I can honestly say if my Garmin screwed up tomorrow I'd replace it with another exactly the same. It just works and works well without fail. The battery life is massive (4hrs of 5s interval GPS logging over 60km drained the battery to 80%) and the internal memory is more than enough for multiple ride logging. Build quality is great and waterproofing is perfect!

All in all I can't recommend it enough, and No I don't work for Garmin!!

 

[jaseh]

Frensham and minlak, Can you change the time between measurements? On my old Etrex you could but the memory was that bad that it chewed it up in a couple of km so I had it set for about 5sec. My mainnav was set to 1sec intervals between measurements with no issues with running out of memory.
Wiggle are about $255 now for the 500 by itself and $165 for the 200.

 

[Alo661]

My Garmin Edge 800 gets Sat coverage IN my house...Garmin for the win...

+1 for the 800!

Love it!

 

[jaseh]

As Much as id love an 800 I don't need one. If I ever need a mapping gps I've got a map62 loaded up with topos. It just doesn't fit on the bars too well.

 

[Minlak]

Frensham and minlak, Can you change the time between measurements? On my old Etrex you could but the memory was that bad that it chewed it up in a couple of km so I had it set for about 5sec. Snip!

I went and looked this afternoon and there isn't an option on the unit to change the time interval .... i was thinking the same if you could even if the file was double the size or more saved there is still plenty of space.... I guess ideally continuous would be ideal but cant seem to change it

 

[Exie]

Solution:- Well I think you would need to run a Garmin 500 or 800 with the Ant+ technology and a speed / distance sensor still on the wheel to be ensured of accurate information.

I've got the 800 with the Ant+ and its been problematic since day 1. Today's ride had me at 240km/h!

I'm sure its my bike, myabe my chain is magnetic, or my spokes are or something.

My point - the Ant+ stuff isnt fool proof by any means.

 

[frensham]

Frensham and minlak, Can you change the time between measurements? On my old Etrex you could but the memory was that bad that it chewed it up in a couple of km so I had it set for about 5sec. My mainnav was set to 1sec intervals between measurements with no issues with running out of memory.
Wiggle are about $255 now for the 500 by itself and $165 for the 200.

I can confirm that the Bryton Rider 30 records every 4 seconds. At the moment it is not adjustable but Bryton have noted this as a future possible upgrade.
If you want to get an idea of the sort of questions etc Bryton users are getting, simply look up Bryton Sports on Facebook. Lots of feedback there.

 

[frensham]

Solution:- Well I think you would need to run a Garmin 500 or 800 with the Ant+ technology and a speed / distance sensor still on the wheel to be ensured of accurate information.

Yes, I purchased the distance/cadence sensor for the Rider 30 and it works very well. However, you must choose either distance or cadence with a little switch - it won't do both. Could always buy two of course.

 

[kom123]

I can't fault my Garmin Edge 500, I bought it on it's own as I already had a HR monitor from a previous Garmin GPS (Dakota 20).

It never loses signal and proves to be very accurate with both distance and altitude. The Garmin Connect site/interface is an awesome training aid and again I can't fault it. I am unsure (as I haven't checked the specs!) what the differences are with the Edge 500 & 200 but at the end of the day I just log data and then analyse the data online afterwards. The HR monitor feature is awesome as I can ride to an optimum HR for endurance/intensity training.
I like the way on the Edge 500 that you can totally personalise/customise the display, again a great feature. I paid about $230 for the Edge 500 from wiggle.co.uk delivered (express dispatch) so a bargain in my opinion.
I can't comment on the Bryton as I have never used one but I can honestly say if my Garmin screwed up tomorrow I'd replace it with another exactly the same. It just works and works well without fail. The battery life is massive (4hrs of 5s interval GPS logging over 60km drained the battery to 80%) and the internal memory is more than enough for multiple ride logging. Build quality is great and waterproofing is perfect!

All in all I can't recommend it enough, and No I don't work for Garmin!!

+1 for the Edge 500

Had no trouble with the setup and first use this weekend. Uploaded data was simple and I liked the amount of data it captured to Garmin Connect.

 

[No Skid Marks]

Are either much better than Motion X or other Apps on an I-Phone? Sorry if this is covered, didn't read thread.

 

[velocidad]

I have a Garmin Edge 500 and love it - awesome piece of gear and I'd replace it immediately with the same if i needed to. I also have a Garmin edge 200 for others in the family and probably wouldn't buy another one as I was amazed to find the 200 doesn't have the dedicated altimeter the 500 has. (Also pisspoor current time display) It uses GPS triangulation to calculate elevation and really no more accurate than a smartphone app.. i.e. as much as +/- 50%.

(who gives a toss about distance travelled.. its all about distance climbed!)

P.s There's a Edge500 software upgrade v2.8 that does indeed give the option of fixed 1 second sampling, blows out the file size a bit tho.

 

[jaseh]

Are either much better than Motion X or other Apps on an I-Phone? Sorry if this is covered, didn't read thread.

I've tried Strava, Endomondo, Sportstracker, My trails and my tracks and very rarely do I get GPS reception with my phone. My thoughts are that a dedicated GPS with a high quality receiver in it will be much better than a phone with some random receiver.