Thanks!

Interesting. I will check that out. Everything I have read suggests that Garmin is not even THINKING about talking bike GPS’s. What’s wrong with them? I think their execs have to try reading a tiny map on their handlebars while riding a bike in the pitch dark at 35 km per hour. Not to mention that the minute you take your eyes off the road you usually hit a pothole so big you could do yourself a serious injury …

Hi Luc. I once tried taking the car’s Garmin GPS on a bike ride with me. The battery lasted for a long time, but I could not hear the spoken instructions over the surrounding traffic noise. Now I have a TomTom in my car, and I can’t take it anywhere anyway. The battery never charges up, so it only lasts for a few minutes after removing from the car. I agree that the price is sad (and crazy). I don’t understand why that is. It might be because the demand is SO much greater for car GPS’s. Or maybe we are just being ripped off. All that said, I DO like my Touring. And at least it’s not $700, like the Garmin 800.

Would a cheap car GPS allow you to follow a ride that loops unto itself withouth telling you right away you’ve arrived at destination? If so, just connecting an external battery could do the trick… Or wait for Google Glasses ;)

My wife says that too. I have to admit I do it all the time, so I can listen to music when I ride. I find I can still hear perfectly well. I put the ear phone in the ear furthest from the traffic (the right one). Also the Garmin Edge Touring is for mountain bike navigation as well, and in off road riding, you would not have to worry about cars.

No, there are a lot of differences between the 200 and the Touring. For example, the compass, the ability to let the Touring plot out a random ride for you. Also if you save a course on the 200, you can try to ride it again using the saved courses feature. I say “try” because it uses the so-called “breadcrumb” method, which I find incomprehensible. I can’t follow a few dots on the screen. I need to look down and see a map and then the words “Turn left on 15th.” Breadcrumbs don’t do it for me. But then I am not good at maps. There may be people out there who can make breadcrumbs work, but I am not one of them. Basically the 200 is for people who want to record their rides and upload them to Garmin Connect. The Edge Touring does that, of course, but it is a massive step beyond that because it is a navigator.