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Garmin Edge 500 cadence?

TH3 FRBTH3 FRB
in General Training Discussions

Looks like I need to pick up a Garmin 500 until Saris gets their act together and ships the Joule.  Am I correct in assuming that I don't need the speed/cadence/HR bundle since I'm running it with a CinQo?  I expect that the CinQo handles cadence but does it come with a speed sensor as well?  I guess I could just rely on the Garmin GPS for speed if I had to.

Comments

  • manconamancona

    You are correct ... cadence comes from the quarq automatically once you pair it.  Speed comes from GPS.  I don't care enough about speed to add another sensor to my bike.

    FWIW, I am really happy with the edge 500.  It's half the price and i haven't had any issues.   I considered getting a Joule, but unless it gets great reviews and has no problems, I'm probably going to just stick with the edge 500.

  • TH3 FRBTH3 FRB
    I already paid for a Joule but who knows when that will show up. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll have my shiny new Lighnting compact CinQo by the weekend. How responsive is the speed reading coming from the GPS?
  • manconamancona

    I don't now how responsive the speed is as I don't even have it on the display (and haven't riden outside much).  I did one ride with it before I changed the display settings and it was close enough that I didn't notice it being off.  i.e. speed went down right when I started going up a hill and it went back up right after I started to go down.  You can always add a speed sensor later if needed.

    I would (and did) buy the garmin from a local store you can return it to (REI, performance bike, etc).  This way you can give it a try for 30 days and see if you like it.  If the joule comes out, you can return the edge 500.

  • TH3 FRBTH3 FRB
    I've got a Performance down the road. I'll check it out there.
  • tgarsontgarson

    I have a Quarq CinQo FSA Team Issue paired with a Garmin 310XT for the head unit. As mentioned, the Quarq provided the cadence and in fact the Garmin is smart enough to perform a source selection on what it deems the most importance source of ANT+ cadence even if there are multiple sources, the Quarq's cadence is at the top of that list.

    Again, just to recap, the Quarq doesn't provide speed, unlike a PT, but you can add a GSC10 Speed/Cad sensor if you want ANT+ speed for indoor riding. The Garmin will ignore the GSC10 cadence reading, but I recommend not even mounting the cadence magnet if you do get one. As far as speed goes, with a GSC10 paired I believe the Garmin will use the GSC10 for speed readings over the GPS, simply put because the GSC10 reading is available immediately and I suppose they feel it is more accurate. Even if you are getting your speed from the wheel magnet though, your Edge will still be storing GPS tracks so you can view your ride later on, it just won't be calculating your real time speed from them.

    Or at least thats all the way it works with the 310, I'm fairly sure the Edge works the same way.

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