Garmin

Edge 500 With Cadence/Premium HRM

You don't need metric-ton truckloads of data. You need speed, distance, and elevation. Cadence and heart rate might be handy, too. The Garmin Edge 500 bundle with the Premium HR Monitor and Cadence sensor feed you the data you need to make your training analysis, but without completely overwhelming you with numbers.

Garmin made the Edge 500 for people who were overwhelmed by the 705. Some were overwhelmed by all the data; some were overwhelmed by the size. The 500 is a nice size that can give you plenty of info but can keep it in check.

The 500 is a great stand-alone bike computer that allows you pretty tremendous flexibility in terms of what you track on your ride. There are three fully-customizable ride screens, each holding up to 8 lines of data. You can run one or two or three, and so on if you want. The 500 isn't telling you what data should go with other data. You can choose it on your own. You want to run temperature and cadence? You can do it. As the unit comes, you can get times, temperature, altitude, gradient, speed, cadence, and all the combinations you can think of in terms of averaging. You can pair up the 500 with any ANT+ enabled powermeters, which at this moment means iBike, PowerTap, Quarq, and SRM, and add power data as well.

The 500, while GPS-enabled, does not have mapping capabilities on the computer, so you can neither see a map nor have it dictate a route. The unit also doesn't have a virtual training partner feature. It will, however map your coordinates so you can see the ride after it's over.

Included in this package are Garmin's wireless cadence sensor and premium heart-rate monitor. The 'premium' refers to the fact that the strap on this particular heart rate monitor is soft, comfortable, and won't get stuffed in your jersey pocket mid-ride because you just can't take it anymore. The cadence sensor is self-calibrating; just attach it to your bike and go.

The unit works with Garmin's own Garmin Training Center program. The program is a free download from Garmin's website and is compatible with PC's running Windows XP or newer and with Intel-based Macs running OS X 10.4 or later. The data can also be uploaded to the Garmin Connect website for free, and to both WKO+ and TrainingPeaks.

The Edge 500 measures 1.9in wide by 2.7in high by .85in deep (4.8x6.9x2.2cm). The display size is 1.17in wide by 1.44in high (3.0x3.7cm). The display resolution is 128x160 pixels. The unit is powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery that will get up to 18 hours on a charge. Available only in Red in this package. It comes with two handlebar mounts.