Garmin unveils touchscreen Edge 800, making bike route planning easier

Edge 800 will debut at Interbike (Booth 2631) and Eurobike (Booth A5-201), where it won the coveted Eurobike Award for electronic components.

In its third year as title sponsor of the Pro Tour cyclists of Team Garmin-Transitions, Garmin has worked closely with the sport’s top athletes in developing Edge products that can be appreciated by cyclists around the world using a cycling computer to get their fastest time – or for the first time.

“At Garmin-Transitions, we’re going to be on the cutting edge of technology, in everything we do,” said Team Garmin sprinting sensation Tyler Farrar. “Edge 800 can track all of our performance data, and it also keeps things interesting on training rides because we can use it anywhere in the world to plan and follow new routes – on and off road – and always find our way back to the start.”

Cyclists can view Team Garmin’s featured rides – or download, analyze and share rides of their own – at Garmin Connect (http://garminconnect.com), the free-to-join online community of more than 30 million activities from around the world. Garmin Connect displays metrics such as time, distance, speed, elevation and heart rate through charts and a variety of map representations, including street, satellite, topographic, and elevation maps. Garmin Connect users can search for activities in their area and try them by uploading the data to Edge 800, which will guide the way.

“I can come back and do even more on the computer when I download it,” said Team Garmin’s Christian Vande Velde of combining Garmin Connect with the Edge products he used in consecutive top-8 finishes at the Tour de France. “It takes all the guessing out of everything in my training.”

Using information directly from GPS satellites, Edge 800 accurately tracks speed, distance, time, GPS position, elevation, calories burned, climb and descent. For even more real-time data on display, Edge 800 syncs wirelessly through ANT+ technology with compatible third-party power meters as well as Garmin heart rate monitors and speed/cadence sensors. For extra-precise climb and descent data, Edge 800 incorporates a barometric altimeter to pinpoint changes in elevation.

Because Edge 800 requires no calibration, it can be switched quickly between bikes thanks to a low-profile, quarter-turn mount that fits easily on the stem or handlebars with tight-gripping rubber rings. Boasting a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFix that quickly acquires and maintains satellite reception, Edge 800 displays temperature readings, changes time zones automatically, lasts up to 15 hours on one charge and alerts riders if they’re moving but the timer has not been started.

As powerful as it is for performance cyclists and speed specialists, various mapping options make Edge 800 an ideal device for singletrack exploration, everyday errands and casual commuting.

On the trails, using a separate TOPO U.S. 24K DVD or microSD card brings you the highest level of topographic detail available, with maps comparable to 1:24,000 scale USGS maps, featuring terrain contours, topo elevations, summits, routable roads and trails, parks, coastlines, rivers, lakes and geographical points. In town, optional City Navigator mapping provides detailed street maps, millions of preloaded points of interest and onscreen turn-by-turn directions to your destination.

Subscribers to BirdsEye Satellite Imagery can quickly transfer high-resolution satellite images to Edge 800 and seamlessly integrate those images into the onscreen maps to get a true representation of the surroundings. And Garmin’s Custom Maps can bring the details, labels and landmarks of your existing paper or electronic map to Edge 800 in just a few simple steps.

The post Garmin unveils touchscreen Edge 800, making bike route planning easier appeared first on Garmin Blog.