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Garmin 205 Owners (Read 1104 times)

    First, I'll admit I'm not Gizmo Girl. But, I did take the new Garmin 205 out the other day and after loading it onto the computer, successfully got that great dotted yellow line representing my route. Maybe I missed it...totally possible...but I've read all the help in the training center, there's nothing that I could find in the manual...so hopped onto the Garmin site. Looks like in order to see more detail I may have to upload a set of maps??? All I get right now is the route (which was in the woods) and then the xway with no other surrounding roads. I can't see how to get more detail w/o uploading more maps (additional expense??) which I wasn't aware of. I thought before I spent more time on it I'd consult my "living encyclopedia" here on RA!! Big grin
    Trent


    Good Bad & The Monkey

      go to http://www.motionbased.com. Register. Upload your data there. See how it works.
        go to http://www.motionbased.com. Register. Upload your data there. See how it works.
        Thanks a lot Trent. That's much better!
          You should also try SportTracks software. Its an alternative to Garmin's Training Center and the Motion Based service. Many people find that it offers better functionality, reliability and stability than anything else out there. Oh, and its free.

          How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.

            My vote goes for SportsTrack also. MotionBased complained that I tried to upload too many workouts in one day so I went somewhere else. Ewa
            I would rather wear out than rust out. - Helen Klein You create your own universe as you go along. - Winston Churchill
            Trent


            Good Bad & The Monkey

              SportsTracks only works on PC and the stuff you download to it is only available on your computer. Motionbased works on Mac and PC and is available from any computer with an internet connection, which means you can share your workouts. For example, here was my run from today: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2129575
              RunningHammer


                I have a 201 but the software used is the same. I tried and avoided MotionBased cos i thought the cost was excessive and it didn't seem to have the reporting i required. I only tried the free trial though. I use the Garmin Training Center only as a means of storing and backing up/restoring (via a seperate utility program) the detailed data - because apparently the device AND the TC only store detail data for the last 10 runs. At least that's what i read. For maps, reports, etc, I use SportTracks - it's free and you have control over your own data for backup purposes. SportTracks is about to get an upgrade to version 2 over the next few months so this year should see even more functionality. Cheers Davey
                Trent


                Good Bad & The Monkey

                  I use MotionBased free, but have been very happy with it. I am curious, what kind of reporting do you want that you do not see? My biggest problem with all of these, besides lack of cross-platform support, is the lack of ability to edit or to zoom in. Bottom line: lots of tools out there, try them all and use what you like. Until you can do it on runningahead. Then do it here Big grin


                  Me and my gang in Breck

                    First, I'll admit I'm not Gizmo Girl. But, I did take the new Garmin 205 out the other day and after loading it onto the computer, successfully got that great dotted yellow line representing my route. Maybe I missed it...totally possible...but I've read all the help in the training center, there's nothing that I could find in the manual...so hopped onto the Garmin site. Looks like in order to see more detail I may have to upload a set of maps??? All I get right now is the route (which was in the woods) and then the xway with no other surrounding roads. I can't see how to get more detail w/o uploading more maps (additional expense??) which I wasn't aware of. I thought before I spent more time on it I'd consult my "living encyclopedia" here on RA!! Big grin
                    I was thinking about getting one of the above to track my trail milage. My question is ,does it work in the tree covered woods. I know the satellite radio in the car cuts in and out driving around town. Someone told me that the trees over the road are the cause. So I'm wondering if I should shell out the cash for something that might not work. Thanks Mark

                    That which does not kill us makes us stronger. Neitzsche "Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go." "Dedication and commitment are what transfer dreams into reality."

                      Trent says "yes" the 05 models work in tree cover. Check out the tread "Talk me out of buying a Garmin Forerunner 205", he has posted links to tree covered runs.
                        My biggest problem with all of these, besides lack of cross-platform support, is the lack of ability to edit or to zoom in.
                        I can't do anything about cross-platform support (only students and hippies use macs anyway Wink) but I will say that SportTracks has the best map-editing tools I have seen. You can easily choose different map types (street map, satellite, topographic) and you can zoom in or out without problems. SportTracks allows you to fully edit your GPS waypoints -- move them, delete them, whatever -- or add your own new waypoints in order to smooth a track.

                        How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.

                        Trent


                        Good Bad & The Monkey

                          I can't do anything about cross-platform support - Fight the Power. Rebel against THE MAN. Start a revolution. only students and hippies use macs anyway Wink - students and hippies cannot afford Macs You can easily choose different map types (street map, satellite, topographic) and you can zoom in or out without problems. - You can do all this on Motionbased SportTracks allows you to fully edit your GPS waypoints -- move them, delete them, whatever -- or add your own new waypoints in order to smooth a track. - Yeah. THAT IS COOL! Of course RunningAhead will let you do that once it uploads GPS, eh Eric? Wink
                            SportTracks allows you to fully edit your GPS waypoints -- move them, delete them, whatever -- or add your own new waypoints in order to smooth a track. - Yeah. THAT IS COOL! Of course RunningAhead will let you do that once it uploads GPS, eh Eric? Wink
                            Yeah! Can't wait for that feature in RunningAhead! I'm SURE Eric's busily coding away on that one, right Eric? No pressure Big grin

                            Runners run

                              Berner you run in Chicago most of the time, right? How do you find it does near tall buildings? Mine is totally lost downtown. In fact the buildings dont have to be that tall if I'm close to them. If I'm running next to a 4 story building that is right up against the sidewalk the Garmin is totally miffed. Works great in suburbia and one of the things I'm really looking forward to is running on trails with it when the snow is gone.

                              Runners run

                                Berner you run in Chicago most of the time, right? How do you find it does near tall buildings? Mine is totally lost downtown. In fact the buildings dont have to be that tall if I'm close to them. If I'm running next to a 4 story building that is right up against the sidewalk the Garmin is totally miffed. Works great in suburbia and one of the things I'm really looking forward to is running on trails with it when the snow is gone.
                                Yes, running in the Loop will frequently send the Garmin into fits (ironic, considering that Garmin just opened a retail storefront downtown). On a good day, I can get the Garmin to hold a signal lock downtown, but often accuracy will slip to 70+ feet. This makes for some moderate inaccuracies in the GPS track, but still close enough that the track is fixable in SportTracks without major effort. Sometimes, though, the Garmin will lose signal altogether in the Loop. I've had pretty good signal tracking in most other parts of the city. Reception along the lakefront is, as expected, nearly perfect. Taller residential or commercial buildings can cause accuracies to slip, but I usually find that I can regain signal strength pretty quickly as I move to less dense blocks. One tip: I always try to run on the North side of the street, so that my sight-line to the Southern sky is more clear. I believe that the GPS satellites are located in the Southern sky, so I think this helps. (I'm probably wrong about this, but it does seem to help.) Finally, be sure that your watch is updated with the latest chipset and unit software from Garmin.com. The WebUpdater program does not always get the latest chipset update -- you may have to download this manually (http://www.garmin.com/support/blosp.jsp). I found that the 11/06 chipset update and the 12/06 unit software update both helped tremendously with accuracy issues. Install these ASAP if you don't already have them.

                                How To Run a Marathon: Step 1 - start running. There is no Step 2.

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