2014
The Magellan Mio Cyclo 505 GPS unit is a large touch screen, full color bike computer complete with heart rate sensor, cadence and wheel sensor accessories. The 505 included two mounting methods for bicycle stems or handlebars. The goal to make a sophisticated cycling computer that is user-friendly was accomplished.
As with other GPS units, the 505 is compatible with ANT, Bluetooth, WiFi, most phones… You can use your existing accessories %%%%%%%
Scrolling through the different screens on the 505 was all that was needed to learn to use the computer, and set-up was just as easy. There is one button, the power button, which pulls double-duty as a "go back" button in all screens. Otherwise you use the touch screen to navigate through the options you want to view or use.
Upon power up the 505 finds the satellites quickly, and is ready to go as soon as you are. It actually starts recording as soon as you move, and even ask you if you want to "start" the ride. No longer will you be hours into a ride and realize you forgot to start the timer, because it has been secretly recording all the time. This is a cool feature, but on the annoying side, maybe you don't want to start the ride timer until you are actually starting your ride or workout. You might realize all that walking around and slow riding before you actually started the ride is going to bring down your average speed and falsely increase your ride time. However, the fix is to start a new file and deal with the previous file later.
The 505 comes with road maps installed, so you never get lost. You can zoom in/out on the screen and move the map around with just a fingertip to see where you are.
The compass option puts a giant arrow that points north, but takes up 1/4 of the screen. The compass is nice, but not worth the loss of so much of the map; it can be disabled. Overall the screen is brilliant and easily seen. It lights up a little every time you touch the screen. The downside is power consumption, while other brands use a simple black on gray (blank) background scheme to display the numbers, Magellan adds a white background. Battery life never got close to the claimed runtime, and constant fiddling with the screen could be the cause.
When using the touch screen an audible beep can easily be heard, however, the screen will make the same chirping sound for a mis-placed touch as well as a correct touch. Operation of the screen has to be slow and deliberate. Gloved fingers worked quite well with the screen. Interestingly, a finger dab on the tongue as if turning pages of a book seemed to help make gloved contact with the pages of the 505 easier.
Some fun features on the 505 include the "Surprise Me" option which will plan a route based on your time or your milage goal. You can have it plan a loop or take you to a destination. Settings for bicycle or for car affect the route it choses. The 505 is quite accurate knowing your location, but the real-time bread crumb trail on the map makes tracing your steps (or the steps of a route you are following) very difficult. Your route traveled is displayed as red dots approximately 40-60 feet apart. This makes navigating a tight-packed urban mountain bike trail difficult.
Connecting this to the internet is why you bought it to begin with, and Magellan has made it easy. The users favorite way to upload the files is directly from the 505 to a WiFi hotspot. After you have registered the unit, it is just a few button clicks from uploading your selected files. This eliminates needing a computer to mediate between the GPS unit and the website. Yes, of course, you can still access files the old fashioned way too - via usb cable.
While the Magellan units are made for PC software, with a Mac you can still access the GPS unit as an external drive and access your ride files. Hint: view your files by type and not by date so you can extract the .gpx files more easily.
weight
Edge 1000: 115g
Edge 810: 97g
Edge 510: 82g
Edge 500: 57g
Mio Cyclo 505: 130g
Polar V650: 120g
crumb trail
lap
dim
numbers could be bigger inside their respective box
secure mount
easy to use
the back to start requires ending current ride
grade takes too long to adjust
no way to adj the tilt
temp in C
does connect to Mac (as drive only)
very fickle with usb cable, wiggle and it disconnects.
sunset 245am
can't connect to wi fi
beep sound is same for wrong touch and right touch. seems like I have to touch twice each time.
screen lights up with each touch.
batt does not go 12 hrs, maybe 9 - probably bc of the light
