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Having spent some time trying to choose between a bike mounted GPS and a watch GPS I have decided to go down the watch route.
I like the look of the Garmin Forerunners. I would like to have one with good off-road navigation features (my MTB 'group' get lost a lot). However looking at the Garmin website I am utterly confused - some of the watches seem to have a nice map background (which would be nice) and some just seem to show an almost featureless breadcrumb trail. Can anyone enlighten me as to which if any Forerunner models have background off-road maps?
Thanks.
You'll need the 945 if you want a forerunner model with decent maps.
Bear in mind the forerunner models are primarily designed for runners who generally don't need maps. The 945 is a multisport/triathlon watch.
The only forerunner which properly supports cycling and has background maps is the 945.
You might also look at a few of the fenix range - the various 5x and 6 models are the ones with maps.
Other watches with maps mean cycling sacrifices (the running focussed ones basically) or support cycling but lack maps (older forerunners 920XT, 935, 735XT).
Make sure the maps do what you expect them to.
I really would suggest getting a bike GPS, the screen is a lot easier to use on a bike. Also what savoyad says - I can use my Fenix 5 for navigation, but it's following a breadcrumb trail and not a proper map. So I'd suggest an Edge 530, 830 or 1030 (assuming Garmin).
I use and 5x soon to be 6x but If i was purchasing just for maps I would defiantly use a Edge unit, there have been loads of people upgrading this week I am sure there will be some good offers on classifieds. Also there is a garmin offer saving about 60-90 for an 830 I think!
You can bodge maps of a sort on to some of the older garmins using dwmaps app if you're happy to faff about a bit
https://apps.garmin.com/en-NZ/apps/2750f280-82f4-4f21-a32c-57acc7ce4870
Thanks for the advice.
Looking at the prices of the watches recommended above I think I'll just get a cycling GPS instead!
Shame you missed the Garmin deals the other day, still worth checking that thread out