magellanThat’s right folks, I got myself a Magellan… no, not that Magellan, but a Magellan Cyclo 505 cycling computer/GPS. Long gone are the days of using my iPhone and hoping the battery wouldn’t die before the end of the ride. The 505 has a 12 hour battery life so it should far exceed any distance that I can ride.

It just arrived yesterday and I haven’t had a chance to use it yet but this certainly puts some pressure on Garmin as it is a serious contender to their new Edge 1000 model. Personally I never considered purchasing a Garmin because they still don’t support Bluetooth LE sensors even with their latest and greatest. Not to mention the 1000 is substantially more expensive than the 505 the decision was easy – use my existing sensors and pay less!

Now I’ve only been able to take it out of the box and set it up but first impressions are everything and I’m impressed. This is a nice unit packed with features I hope to explore over the summer. I think my favorite feature is going to be the “Surprise Me” function where I can tell it how far or long I want to ride and it will generate some routes for me to choose from. This will be most useful for those after work rides where I might not have a lot of time but do want some variety. So stay tune for future posts as I put this device through the paces.