I have used my Garmin Edge 705 for a little over a week now. I upgraded from the Edge 305. When I first received my 705, the instructions stated to charge it before using it. The 705 came with a half charge so I didn't think it would take that long to fully charge it. 2 days later it was charged. Garmin Support told me "The expected time of charge is around 3 hours. The problem you see is a software bug. Let the unit run completely down and once you charge it next time it will show the correct information." Since doing this, the charge times are back in line.
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br /Using the 705 is very similar to the 305. It uses the same handlebar mounts, heart rate monitor and cadence sensor. The 705 is slightly larger in size and uses a `joy stick' located between the Lap and Start/Stop buttons for navigating the menus. So, those with the 305 should have no problems adjusting to the 705.
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br /Mine came with the pre-loaded Navigator maps. Using Garmin's MapSource, you can download waypoints and routes to the 705. The 705 has an auto-routing feature to guide you from waypoint to waypoint. It has three modes to adjust your route from point to point (Car/Motorcycle, Bicycle, and Pedestrian). Using the Bicycle mode, my routes went waaay out of the way and added many unnecessary miles. Even though I told it to avoid unpaved roads, it tried to route me down several. If you miss a turn, it will re-route you back on course. It would be best to use a third party mapping software and download more precise waypoints/routes to the 705. In Car/Motorcycle mode, it looked to route fine.
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br /The battery life is very long (about 15 hours)! I left it on overnight and woke up to it still running. My 305 had problems with turning itself off when going over bumps. The 705 has never experienced this problem. The 705 is also faster to lock on to satellites than the 305.
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br /Overall, I am satisfied with the 705. It would have received 5 stars if not for trying to route me way off course in Bicycle mode and the initial battery charge issue.
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I have used my Garmin Edge 705 for about six weeks on road rides and trail hiking. Before I rant, let me say this GPS unit is almost perfect and I do not know a better solution currently on the market. The seamless integration with the GPS, heart rate monitor, mapping software, and speed/cadence monitor are killer.
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br /As previously commented, the first charge took over two days. Garmin can call it whatever they want. If it is a software glitch, issue a patch. Microsoft does it ad nauseum. However, it charges now in a few of hours and has good battery life. (Sorry, I have not run it down for endurance.)
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br /When mounting the speed/cadence monitor on the stay, the tolerance can be extremely tight (-especially on a carbon fiber bike with aerodynamic stays). The installation guide does not really say, nor does it show, and I was being a knuckehead during installation and did not realize that you need to loosen that screw prior to mounting and swing the sensor arm away from the body of the unit. Test the speed sensor for the wheel and the cadence for the crank arm and then tighten everything down.
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br /The handlebar mount is terrible. Why? It lacks mounting options, has a cheap plastic design with a catch latch that does not release well when new and breaks off quickly thereafter, and does not have the ability to create a safety tether from the GPS to the bike or body (-if hiking/running).
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br /Beware! Garmin and Amazon sell a hardcase that they say is for the Edge 705. Hah! I could fit at least four Edges into this hard shell monster. One of the great features of the Edge for off bike use is its compact size. Unfortunately, no dedicated carrier is made that can be body mounted. A wrist mount would be ideal. The mount for the Forerunners cannot be used. The best solution is an Ipod holder with a completely clear and colorless face with a small hole made for the joystick.
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br /Speaking of which, buy a quality screen protector at the time you are buying the Edge or as soon thereafter as possible. Why tempt fate on a unit this expensive for so little expense?
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br /Do spend the money and buy the map card. If you are not traveling around the United States, buy the Topo card instead of the City card. This only works if you live in an area that Garmin has mapped for the cards and they only cover a couple of states per card. I have both types. My Topo card has all the data I need contained on the City card, plus hiking trails, elevation (contour) lines, etc., associated with a Topo map. If I am outside of the California/Nevada area, I'll pop the City card I also bought back in. There is no "base map" with this unit to speak off. The base map reminds me of my old Garmin 12. You would have to build your own map ahead of time with waypoints and tracks and download it into the unit. If you go off your track, your only reference is your track and waypoints you loaded. Buy the card.
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br /Satellite acquisition is one of the fastest for various GPS units I have had. Accuracy - I would not use it to survey and also pay attention to the degree of accuracy it self reports when I am offroad. But, for most trail riding and road use, it more than meets my needs.
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br /The Garmin Training Center (TC) software and its ability to export to GoogleEarth your ride data is outstanding. The GoggleEarth view creates points (~30 seconds?) along your ride that can pop up and display heart rate, speed, cadence, etc. My huge issue is the lack of ability to export in a normal format. Yes, TC can export into a .tcx file, which is a modified .xml format. This sidesteps Excel's great import ability and I must manually slog through all the data for each ride that is recorded in that history file. Each of those data collection points (~1/30seconds) creates a data row. All the rides are recorded in that one file. AAHHHHH...
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br /As I started this review, I know this was a rant but I do not know a better GPS unit out there for a cyclist. I would not return mine or trade it for a different model. Now if only the Power recording options were within a reasonable price range...
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I have had GPS on my bikes for years, yet they all lacked something: namely they were fine for handheld use, but were really lacking in their use on bicycles. Sounds kind of dumb, I know, but they just did not perform as well as you might think. They go overboard on details, but do not give you the info you need.
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br /Recently I got back into riding and decided to take another look at GPS. The 705 caught my eye. Yeah, it does a lot of wacky stuff that I seriously doubt I will ever use (such as sending data back and forth between units), but it seemed that it would do everything that I did want it to do. And it does.
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br /For one, it keeps track of three bikes. I know that is not a lot for some, but it is great for me, as I have a MTB and a recumbent and am thinking about a road bike at some point. This is an important feature just so you can more easily keep track of bike maintenance. Each of the three bikes has a separate odometer, so this feature alone makes it a snap.
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br /There are lots of other cool things it does as well, with the help of the MotionBased and Garmin Connect websites. The Garmin Training Center software is pretty good as well and that lets you keep tabs on your own computer.
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br /My only real wish for this thing would be the ability to ignore certain roads. It will ignore major roads when computing routes, but there are a few roads that I try to avoid (because of idiot drivers) that are not major roads. Not that this is that much of a problem as going a different way would cause it to recaclulate the route.
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br /All in all it is a really nifty gadget.

A super training aid. Except, the instructions are vague at best and it is not intuitive to operate. I would have expected that it would come supplied with the detailed city streets map card rather than the base map, it is after all the top of the line for exercise usage and most athletes would prefer to avoid major streets and see the neighborhood streets.
br / All in all a top notch product and worth consideration for those who want to track their training history. Be prepared to spend a fair amount of time learning the nuances of this item.
br /Dave in Albuquerque

This is a very nice product. However, if I did it again I would buy it with the maps. The basic maps are terrible. Also, make sure you read the manual with it. If you set up your wheel size manually it will not record the distance (maybe a glitch). The software Garmin provides on-line is nice, but I expect the best and this isn't it.

I've have several Garmin devices including: Forerunner 201, 205, 305, eTrex, 60sx but the 705 brings it all together in a small package with a looooooong battery life, sensitive GPS (aquires sats inside my garage), bright screen and enough internal memory for Socal maps (great since 2009 version of maps requires more memory), the 705 includes a micro sd slot but it requires a Garmin card, it did not recognize my Kingston or Sandisk micro sd cards; I haven't used the card slot yet because the internal memory has enough capacity and I've loaded most of the southwestern US.
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br /Cadence monitor, speed monitor installed quickly and have worked flawlessly; I have several heart rate chest straps and the HR monitor recognizes all of them.
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br /The kit comes with two attachment straps so you can orient the 705 on the neck of your handle bar or the handle bar.
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br /Every rider takes the occasional spill but my 705 remained securely attached.
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br /Great device, if it had a wrist strap for running (it is smaller than my 201) it would be perfect; it is the envy of my riding group.

The product is great, but the Amazon product description WHAT'S IN THE BOX section clearly states that City Navigator is included. It is not. I confirmed with Garmin that the product # Amazon is shipping (010-00555-30)does not include City Navigator and it will cost you $81.21 to get it on Amazon Garmin Micro Secure Digital North America Map Card. The correct product # is 010-00555-40 or 010-00555-60 (Team Garmin version) - neither available on Amazon as of today.
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br /Other than that, I have been very happy with the 705.
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This is very easy to use, if you buy it with the SD card it's plug and play. It also measure power (watts), but you will need a power sensor, there are some available for this.