The 2010 biking season has definitely begun here in Chicago now and I have spent many hours reviewing the latest cycling GPS units again this year.

I am considering a new bike GPS unit for this year and I think I pretty much know what I personally would get but in the process I have also reviewed quite a few biking and handheld GPS units in order to keep my Bicycle GPS page  up to date.

As I have mentioned, I have spent hours researching this subject. There is a lot of good information, comparisons and videos on the Garmin site and I have also reviewed countless entries in Bike Forums and reviews on other websites.

What I have found is that the Edge series is probably still the most popular cycling computers although some bikers do not really need the bike specific functions and still go with the hiking and handheld models like the Etrex series, GPSMAP 60csx or the Oregon or Dakota series.

Even though you know you are in the market for a cycling GPS unit, there are still some additional decisions that will need to be made. You need to consider if the mapping and advanced navigation options are important to you or if you would rather keep the costs down and are primarily interested in  the workout and training data. Also, if you are a mountain biker, you may have other requirements and priorities.

If you are primarilary interested in the training and workout data and would like to keep the costs down, the most popular units are the Edge 205 and Edge 305 units. The main differences between the 205 and 305 is that the 305 has barometric altimeter, heart rate and cadence where as the 205 does not.

If you are looking for a higher end unit with more navigation and mapping options then you will probably be more interested in the Edge 605 and Edge 705 series. The main differences between the 605 and 705 is that the 705 has barometric altimeter, heart rate and cadence (and a few other options)  where as the 605 does not.

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I pretty much know what I would want (for my particular riding style and preferences) and I would choose the Edge 705. Even though I am really not that big on the heart rate and cadence attachments, I would like the barometric altimeter and you can also get the 705 bundled with Street Maps SD card which I would want and have to buy separately anyway.

As for the handheld and mountain biking GPS units, the GPSMAP 60CSxm eTrex Vista HCx, eTrex Legend HCx and the Oregon and Dakota units seem to be the most popular. The Oregon and Dakota are a little more expensive but they have the touch screen capabilities.

As you can see from this post, selecting a bike GPS unit can be a complicated process. Even though I have a good idea about what I would choose, I am also trying to keep the GPS page on this website up to date and help to simplify the process as much as possible for those who do not have the hours to spend researching bike GPS options.

I have just updated the original Bicycle GPS page , on this site, with the latest 2010 information and links so this page has some good current information and links for places to buy these units online.

I hope this helps a little bit for now. I am not done with my research for this year yet, but I did want to share what I have discovered so far.