PowerTap on Edge: The Saga Continues

In today's procrastination at work, I managed to find the FCC ID of a PowerTap SL 2.4 hub: T8P-SL2P401. I was then able to search the FCC's public information page, and find all sorts of engineering information about the hub. The site is good for pictures of the "torque tube", so go take a look!

The 2.4 GHz internals of the hub (2457.0 MHz, to be precise to five sig figs) were provided to Saris by DynaStream, the company behind ANT technology who is owned by, surprise surprise, Garmin. The acquisition happened in December of 2006.

At this point, the incompatibility is just due to politics! Honestly, how hard is it to hack the firmware in the Garmin Edge 705? I've gotten the usual cold shoulder from Garmin when I contacted them about this. Absurd.

Power and the Edge 705

I have a PowerTap SL 2.4. It's a wonderful little toy, and it gives me most of the data I might want from a bike computer: speed, cadence, heart rate, and power. Today was a particularly good workout, which I'll brag about. (Take a good look at those numbers: 300W for 1 hour, average HR 160. If I can learn to keep my heart rate up, I'll be unstoppable!)

Unfortunately, there are some important features that the otherwise awesome PowerTap head unit doesn't have. It won't tell me my elevation, or how steep a grade I'm climbing. It won't give me the temperature, either. So, you can imagine how happy I was to hear about the Edge 705. It's a 305 with maps that can talk to a power unit!

Sadly, the 705 definitively does NOT work with my PowerTap SL 2.4 hub at the moment. That's right ladies and gentlemen, I have an Edge 705 right here on my desk. Surprisingly, my credit card was able to convince REI to ship me one, and my girlfriend hasn't yet convinced me to ship it back.

Compared to the Edge 305, it is bigger, heavier, way more expensive, and more intimidating. It has a much larger, color screen. It also comes in black, and is 100% compatible with the 305's heart rate strap, speed/cadence sensor, and handlebar mount. I'll post a full review at some point. Patience.

I'm looking forward to reviewing this, and to comparing it to the Garmin eTrex Vista HCx: half the price and twice the features, but not designed for cycling. The Vista HCx unit, scheduled to arrive on Tuesday, is LOST in the UPS ether. I can't express how frustrating it is when UPS loses a package.