garmin

American manufacturer Saris will soon be selling wireless PowerTap power meter wheels that work with Garmin 705 GPS units. The move represents the first intersection of a GPS player and a major power meter company. Also, French wheel giant Mavic has joined the growing list of companies like Bontrager and Zipp in selling a PowerTap-hub version of its wheels.

For the complete Velonews story go here.

Ok, on the way home from the airport I stopped by the Pineville REI and picked up my new Garmin Edge 705.

There are a few things you notice right off the bat. When you open the box the first thing you notice is just how big the unit is. Almost alarming in size, until you remove it from the box and actually hold it in your hands. Then all you really notice is the width of the unit more than the length.

Nicole is healing well. She will also be sporting a new helmet and glasses as the old helmet cracked in the fall and here glasses suffered a huge scratch on the left lens. She told me yesterday that she would have finished the ride under her own power if she had not tweaked the front wheel and flatted. She is a lot stronger person than she lets on.

Garmin has provided Edge users (both the 205 and 305) with an update to Chipset G. Chipset G is Garmin’s name for the SIRF Star III GPS chipset. The latest firmware version from SIRF is 3.2.5. Please note that is is a SIRF Chipset Update and not a unit firmware update. Improvements include better jamming mitigation and enhanced ephemeris collection in difficult environments, something that helps to get a "warm fix" in the morning. No additional information is available about what is included in the SIRF update. You will not see any additional information in Garmin’s WebUpdater. The Chipset G update applies to all Garmin products using that particular chipset, including some of the Nuvi products.

According to an article on GPSLodge.com, Garmin has confirmed that the Edge 605/705 units will not be available for the Christmas buying season and has been delayed until the first quarter of 2008. This news has also been posted on the Garmin store website.