GARMIN 705 PRODUCT REVIEW — Surprising Features In A Little Black Box
I’ve been riding for the past couple of months with the Garmin 705 and I’m blown away by all the info I now have at my fingertips.
When I purchased it, I expected all the normal features: speed, cadence, grade, heartrate, power, calories, time, lap info, and so on. Garmin has taken each of these and broken them down at least four ways, (for example, speed you are going, average speed, lap speed, etc.) so the hard part is choosing what you want to see, and what you don’t. Then they provide a pretty easy user interface with a nice screen showing up to 8 datafields of your choice, a joystick, and various buttons that are clearly labeled and pretty straightforward to master.
Oh yeah, and since they’re Garmin, there’s a boatload of data that gets beamed in by satellite, so for the first time in two years I actually know where our shop-ride goes.
Based on the above, I’d give Garmin an A- in terms of how much product you get for the money. In other words, a LOT of product for a LOT of money. I’m reserving an A+ for the 705 because Garmin didn’t design the unit to be encased in white with a touchscreen I can rotate with my fingers, like Apple would do. Apple would also have made the unit usable as a cellphone, and I’d be able to surf the web while I ride in traffic. That’s something I definitely want to try.
But what’s really got me flabbergasted about the 705, is the immense amount of info it can capture and provide.
For example, on my ride this afternoon I had configured a second screen that I could jump to just by toggling the joystick, and as I rode not only did the 705 tell me what speed I was riding, but also what speed I should be riding, and what speed the guy up ahead was riding, and how long it would take me to catch him.
At home, I looked in the instruction manual to find out how it computes the “speed I should be riding,” and it seems to involve speed you are riding, plus 2 mph if you seem to be loafing, plus one mph if there’s a “bunny” up ahead that you should be after. On the other hand, it subtracts 2 mph if your body temperature is above average (according to the seat-mounted baby thermometer and a dab of vaseline that came with the kit), minus 1 mph if you didn’t eat a proper breakfast, and 5 mph less if you’re significantly hungover.
What proved somewhat less enjoyable was the “ride critique” function.
Pulling into my driveway, I hit “stop” on the 705 and it did some sort of calculation. Then a box appeared on the screen, and inside was the word “slacker.”
Again, I made a bee-line for my owners manual to see how this was determined. Apparently it’s not so much a quantitative process, as a “holistic assessment.” Still not satisfied with the vagaries therein, I called Garmin support to ask how this worked. The operator offered to walk me through an example.
“How many miles did you ride?” She asked.
“32.”
“Uh huh. And what was your average speed?”
“17.1,” I answered.
“Alright, solo or paceline?” asked the sweet voice on the other end of the line.
“Paceline.”
“Were you pulling at the front, or mostly sitting in, dear?”
“Um, well, mostly sitting in, I guess.”
“Flats or hills?” She asked, a bit less sweetly, in my observation.
“Mostly flats,” I confessed.
“Are you ill?”
“Not that I know of,” I said with increasing unease.
“Seems like the gadget is working fine then, doesn’t it?” She said. “Anything else I can do for you today?”
“No, thank you,” I said.
“I’m sure you’ll do better next outing,” she said before hanging up, leaving me feeling guilty and chastised.
“Thanks mom,” I responded, having finally made the critical connection about why this disembodied voice sounded a bit too familiar for my liking.
“Anytime, son, please set the table for dinner before I get home.”
So I was glad to have gotten to the bottom of that issue. Sort of. But I digress.
Other features you’ll enjoy if you buck-up for a 705 include a daily updated horoscope, a map of the homes of movie stars (LA and NYC versions only), crop forecasts, real-time stock-picking advice, self-improvement tips (”a quick nip and tuck will help with that second chin…”), a sensational massage if you put it in vibrate mode and carry it in your jersey pocket, general advice about life (”it is better to have loved and lost…”), an MP3 player and a karaoke machine, an automatic spoke tensioner and a full suite of Microsoft programs which work some of the time.
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