Edge 705, originally uploaded by wamblicious.

The new Edge 705 is available in Australia, finally. While it’s not perfect, it’s much better than the old 305. You can see the map screen, with the OzTopo Roads map being shown. I got it bundled with the maps from GPSOz, so I wouldn’t have to depend on the crappy default maps that Garmin supply.

The unit has a MicroSD card, and both it and the card show as USB storage devices, so you can copy maps and ride data to and from the unit. That’s so much better than the old unit which needed special handling to communicate as serial over USB. The next trick is to get the open source OSM maps loaded.

The 705 has had much done in the way of interface redesign. The menu screen has been separated from the ride data screens, and the new menu button and a thumb toggle button make menu navigation so much easier. The device is larger, so there’s slightly more screen room, and the method of entering text and numbers into date/name fields has been much improved (selection data can now be navigated sideways, not simply as one long list).

The GPS receiver is supposed to be much more sensitive, so I shouldn’t see so much in the way of signal drop outs. I’ll have to do some more riding with it to see if that’s true. So far, I’ve only ridden twice with it.

I don’t know how much use maps will be on the road. Maybe if I go more places that I don’t know it might be of some use, but I know the commute to and from work quite well by now – no need to check where I am along the way 🙂