Home› General Training Discussions

New laptop computer or iPad?

John BayoneJohn Bayone
in General Training Discussions
I have an existing laptop from 2007 that I really do not use that much. I would like to just get an iPad since it would be able to do anything non work related that I would be doing. However I have a garmin forerunner 910 and a garmin edge 500 and need that USB port to be able to download my stuff. Is there an adapter to be able to use the ant+ stick and or the USB cable to the edge 500 to be able to download these devices?

Or should I just get the MacBook?
Or is there a special triathlon version of either of these that comes in carbon fiber that perhaps costs 3x as much, then it is a no brained to just get both.??

Thank you for any help you all might have.

Comments

  • carruti77carruti77
    Apple has this http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD821ZM/A/lightning-to-usb-camera-adapter it should work, however the problem I think will be that you need the garmin software and I am not aware of an ipad app that uploads the workouts to garmin connect.
  • davidpettigrewdavidpettigrew

    Keep the old laptop and use it for syncing, assuming that Garmin Express runs on the version of OS X you have. You will need that to upload to Garmin and there is not an iOS version of it. Otherwise I think you will need a new laptop as the iPad won't be able to communicate with the 910. Wahoo Fitness used to make an ANT+ dongle but they never made a Lightning connector version. 

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

    Specific to your narrow question of using the iPad to upload from Garmin ANT+ sending devices such as 910 and 500 (I have a 310 XT, similar), this thread from Garmin forums indicates the Wahoo fitness key does the trick, but not the Garmin brand ANT+ stick:

    https://forums.garmin.com/showthrea...Phone-iPad

    I've used it successfully with my 310.

    To the larger question of iPad as a substitute for a Mac Laptop … it's possible, I've done it for several weeks at a time, but would not want to make the full switch at this time. Biggest issue for me is writing (I do a fair amount of it), even with a Bluetooth keyboard is more difficult and kludgy. But every month, more and more apps appear which cover most of the reasons for a laptop.

    Also, storage is a big deal, if you like having videos and a LOT of music on your laptop. If you're willing to live in the cloud, no longer an issue.

  • davidpettigrewdavidpettigrew

    So it looks like the Wahoo app, Lightning to 30 pin connector adaptor and the Wahoo dongle is a kludgy solution that might work. Not sure I would want all that hanging off my iPad.

    If you want the small size of an iPad but the power of a laptop, the Mac Book Air 11" might be a good device for you.

  • John BayoneJohn Bayone
    Thank you very much for the help. The old laptop is a dell that still has windows vista on it, it is slow but does upload and sync the garmin connect app without giving me to much of a headache. I will read up more on the wahoo fitness to see if that can accomplish what I want it to do.
    I also found a nice write up on do rainmaker.com/2013/06/garmin-surface.html where he makes a great presentation of how the different tablets work with these devices...and in the comments they talk about getting the iPad to get the files off the edge 500.

    Al...so you can get the garmin 310 to talk to the iPad and it works ok right? So my 910xt could work with it, just the plug into the edge 500 would be something I need to work out.

    David..thanks I will go back to store and look at that MacBook Air some more.
Sign In or Register to comment.