The Garmin Edge 500 Cycling GPS heart rate monitor can take your cycling workouts to a whole new level. I feel it’s the best cycling computer on the market. Find out why.
If you’re serious about cycling and becoming faster and stronger then you need the best equipment. Of course your bike is going to be the most important item you own, but there are also other pieces of equipment that can help you train smarter and get the most out of your workouts. I highly recommend getting a top notch vascular pace calculator and GPS tracker. And one of the highest-rated cycling monitors is the Garmin Edge 500.
It’s really amazing what this technology has to offer today. With the Garmin Edge 500 you can track your speed, distance, altitude, and how many calories you’ve burned. You can even see how your body performed, according to your pulse rate measure, during steep climbs and rapid descents. You can map everything out according to detailed GPS readings, upload routes to your computer and the Garmin website, and compare your times to look at areas where you can improve. Using the Garmin Edge 500 as your training partner you will definitely improve. Here is some more about what you can expect from this outstanding cycling cardiovascular beat recording device.
The Garmin Edge 500 Is Full of Amazing Features
The Garmin Edge 500 is a lightweight computer with GPS tracking; perfect for cyclists who want to keep a detailed account of their performance and heart rate; statistics that are useful in any workout. The Edge 500 guarantees accurate recording of speed, distance and location when in use through its super sensitive GPS capability. The Garmin bike computer comes with the ability to track 42 data fields and you can show one field up to eight at a time all on one screen. You can program the Garmin to autoscroll through all of the data pages while you’re working out.
The Garmin Edge 500 comes with cadence as well to help guide you through your workout. So all you have to do is peddle, walk, etc. while the monitor takes care of everything else. Using a speed/cadence sensor allows you to choose the optimum speed to get you that perfect workout while constantly measuring your heart rate even when switching between speeds. When you can read your heartbeat, you can find the cadence that is both safe and beneficial for you. The Edge 500 also has Auto Lap, Auto Pause and a whole lot more features you would enjoy using.
The Edge 500 Is Simple To Mount On Your Bike And Use
You can easily mount the Garmin Edge 500 cycling GPS on your bike with its simple bike mount that you need only turn slightly to fasten in place. The Edge comes with a rubber disk that hooks onto the bike stem or handlebars using two heavy duty rubber bands. The actual Edge device then locks into place on the rubber disk.
When you are ready to go, just turn on the Garmin Edge 500 Heart Rate Monitor and acquire a satellite signal and you are good to go. The GPS is very accurate, to within about 20 feet or so, with the Edge 500 because it uses HotFix receivers to acquire your exact position while you workout.
When you begin your workout, all the features start working and you are able to measure your speed, time, distance, the calories you burn and even your altitude. All this data is recorded while you workout and stored on the gadget’s memory for you to review at leisure. A barometric altimeter is used to gauge your altitude as you climb up and down hills.
The unit comes with four control buttons two on each side; the ones on the right side are used for navigation while the ones on the left are used for scrolling through the menu. When mute click is enabled, you will not accidentally press the buttons while you cycle.
In this video a competitive cyclist talks about some of the features of the Garmin Edge 500, what he likes about it, and shows some of what you can do on the Garmin Connect website.
Measure Your Workout In A Variety of Different Ways
The Edge uses your bike’s weight, wheel size, and odometer value to calculate an array of highly accurate riding data. You can even have multiple bike profiles. This is ideal if you are into both on road speed cycling and off road mountain biking for example.
If you purchase the Garmin Edge 500 Cycling GPS Heart Rate Monitor you get ANT enabled power meters that show you how hard your workout is by displaying output in Watts so you can make the necessary adjustments to create the perfect workout. This essential tool tells you if you are working hard, so you do not rely just on guess work.
Other features you can expect with the Garmin Edge 500 are a Course feature that you can use to compare results from your regular routes. With the courses feature you can look at a course you did in the past and try to beat your time. For example, if the first time you did a course took 45 minutes you can try to beat that time during your next workout. There is even a virtual trainer icon that shows up on the screen of the Edge 500 that you can race against. The screen shows your position relative to the virtual partner and how much time and distance you are ahead or behind. Pretty cool.
The Edge 500 works by tracking beats per minute and doing some computing to assess your calorie count while you workout. This is important information if you really want to find out just how effective your workouts are on your body. In order for the Garmin Edge 500 to count calories for you, you have to enter some details about yourself such as height, age, weight, the weight of your bike and so on.
In order to get the best out of a workout, the Edge 500 enables you to find the perfect zone so that you burn the most calories without the possibility of slipping into a workout plateau. You can also track your heart rate zones so that you can stay in a set zone and not over or undertrain. For example, if your workout for the day is a recovery workout, the cardio rate zone settings will be lower than if you were doing an intense sprint workout. If you push yourself too hard and your pulse rate rises above the set training zone, the Edge 500 will beep letting you know to back off a little and slow down the pace.
Load Your Data Onto Your Computer
In order to get the readings of your workout, you must connect the Edge 500 to your computer using the included USB cable and if you want to, you can access a worldwide network of successful cyclists where you can connect and share your experiences and have plenty of fun. This website connects outdoor enthusiasts and cyclists from all over the world and it is only one click away.
The Garmin Edge records and saves up to 180 hours of ride data (50MB). When the memory is full the Edge will tell you and you can delete it manually. Be sure to upload your history to the Garmin training center on your computer or to the Garmin Connect website to save and keep track of all of your riding data.
What’s In The Box
- Garmin Edge 500 cycling GPS
- Heart rate monitor
- Bike mount
- AC charger
- GSC10 Speed/Cadence sensor – This device measures the rate of your pedaling or spinning.
- Garmin Edge 500 Manual
- USB cable
Pros
- Long battery life – Battery power will be shown in percentage and will decrease according to how you use the unit. When the backlight is on, the device will lose power faster. You cannot access the battery but you can charge it with the adaptor that comes with the unit or through the USB cable that you connect to your computer. After fully charging the battery, it will last up to 18 hours while turned on.
- Easy mount – Using the rubber plate and tight elastic bands.
- Plenty of information – There are over 42 data fields you can track and you can control what data you see on the screen.
- Cool software and website – You can analyze your data ’till your heart’s content using the Garmin software your computer. The Garmin website is also a whole community of users that you can share information with and get advice from.
Cons
- Takes a while to learn how to use all of the features – As with any complex electronic device, there is a bit of a learning curve with the Garmin Edge 500.
- Don’t worry though, once you have it figured out it’ll be easy and you’ll love all that you can do with this device.
Best Place To Buy
There are a number of sporting goods and bike shops selling the Edge 500 but I found a great deal on Amazon.com. They were selling this model for a 5% discount new. They also had several used and refurbished models for discounts so you are sure to find something in your budget. Amazon is a great place to shop and I’ve always had a great experience buying from them.
Conclusion
When you consider all the features of this unit, the pros far outweigh the cons and it would be a wonderful addition to your cycling workouts. With the Garmin Edge 500 Cycling GPS Heart Rate Monitor, you can expect fun and smart cycling. When you start training with this new gadget you will soon start to see improvement in your performance and you’ll ensure that you get the best out of every workout session.
