Advice wanted from Garmin users

Thanks to your advice TheBigMong, I had a very nicely tracked ride on Friday with no apparent GPS issues. Cheers

TheBigMong wrote:

Some units also use ANT+ to sync with the PC but as mentioned, most of the Edge units do that via USB instead.

Yes, the Edge 305 syncs with USB. So I've now downloaded version 3.6.5 as suggested by bazzargh, synced and had a little play with it so that is not an issue. Thanks for your help with that.

bazzargh wrote:

I never particularly liked Garmin's training center. There are alternatives - all you need to do is copy your files off the 305.

I agree, at first look the training centre is not particularly impressive, and looks like it needs bringing up to the 21st century. I'm more than happy enough with Endomondo and Strava and it couldn't be easier to upload from the Edge to those sites.

TheBigMong wrote:

Did you let the unit initialize and find all of the satellites on its own, or did you push buttons to get past the initial screen?

I pushed past the initial screen, didn't realise I had to do that.

TheBigMong wrote:

Sometimes when you travel long distances between uses, or when it's been several weeks since you last used the Garmin (either could apply since you got yours 2nd-hand) the Garmin tries to sync up to the same satellites it used last time, even though they might not provide the best tracking for where you are now.

I suspect both of these are the case, particularly the distance issue judging by the sender's address and titles of his saved routes.
Thanks for pointing these things out, I'll do a soft reset and see if it improves tomorrow.

bazzargh wrote:

I tend to use the GPS more on the road than off, telling me how far I have to go and encouraging me to keep the average speed up.

Interesting point this: For years I wouldn't ride anywhere without a computer for average speed and distance travelled mainly. A couple of months ago mine popped off and met a nasty fate under the wheels of a lorry, this Edge 305 is the replacement for it. So for the past few months I've been riding with no data in front of me, just having my phone tracking the ride from the back pocket, to be referred to at the end of the ride. I've found that I was spending far too much time with my head down, focussing on the figures rather than the road. As a result I really feel that my riding technique has improved quite a bit in this time, I've enjoyed my rides a lot more and ridden further and more often as a result. It won't stop me mounting the Edge on the stem but I'll be aiming to avoid constantly looking at it during my ride, maybe by turning the contrast right down.

Thanks a lot, I do already use Strava and Endomondo and intend to continue doing so but never having used Garmin's training centre I definitely want to give it a try.

Incidentally, after tracking my ride today (first use) simultaneously with the Garmin and my phone, the Garmin came out as considerably less accurate, lots of straight lies between two points where the road actually turned a fair bit this way and that. It actually resulted in 'losing' about 4 miles over the course of 50 which is not the sort of performance I was expecting, especially as it was bought primarily because my phone's GPS signal is usually terrible. Would you say this is normal? I was using Smart Recording, but I think I'll try Every Second next time although the manual states it can only record 3.5 hours of data in this mode. Have I wasted my money?