Garmin Solar

[Dave Barter]

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/731136

What do we think about this? I’m wondering if it works with the battery pack added. Could be very tempted if the price wasn’t so high.

[lune ranger]

Holy crap! That’s very tempting but thankfully way to expensive to follow through with the temptation.

I can see on the pictures that It has the contacts for the battery pack.

[ScotRoutes]

Yeah, I saw this and added it to the "want" list but at over £600, that's where it'll stay.

The charging on my Fenix 6 Pro Solar works really well so there's no reason to believe the Edge 1040 won't. I guess it'll be better in Dallas, Texas than in Dallas, Morayshire.

[benp1]

Ooof - brilliant idea but expensive, in a few years that'll come down in price hopefully

[Dave Barter]

Holy crap! That’s very tempting but thankfully way to expensive to follow through with the temptation.

I can see on the pictures that It has the contacts for the battery pack.

I’m wondering if the solar charging continues with battery pack? As the pack activates the GPS charging circuits. Might have to ask Garmin

[fatbikephil]

Was thinking a while back having solar power on a GPS would be handy. Hopefully they'll start adding it to the more basic models at some point.

[Dave Barter]

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2022/06/gar ... eview.html

[rufus748]

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/731136

What do we think about this? I’m wondering if it works with the battery pack added. Could be very tempted if the price wasn’t so high.

Surely you'd only need that if you were racing........

[Bearbonesnorm]

Clever ... although I'm slightly worried by the 'stamina insights' function. I don't need a gps to tell me whether or not I'm feeling knackered. What if it says I'm okay but I feel f*cked? Who do you believe?

[Bearlegged]

What if it says I'm okay but I feel f*cked? Who do you believe?

Numbers don't lie. Crack on.

[pistonbroke]

I use a Garmin Instinct Solar watch and at this time of year and given where I live, it usually shows a 30 day battery life which doesn't reduce unless I use the recording features. A couple of weeks ago I did 9 consecutive days of 10-12 hours riding in mid 30°s, by the 3rd day the display went from 30 to 50 days to showing the 8 on its side infinity symbol. Once I'd reverted to home life, it went back to the normal 30 day life but has fallen quite quickly to 9-10 days since. Given Garmins long held reputation for using its early adopters as Beta testers, I'd be holding off spaffing £600 on one just yet. In their defence, I used an Edge 530 with their battery pack being topped up by my dynamo for the trip and it finished the ride on 100% charge without being charged from the mains at all.

[Dave Barter]

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/p/731136

What do we think about this? I’m wondering if it works with the battery pack added. Could be very tempted if the price wasn’t so high.

Surely you'd only need that if you were racing........

Stop it

[Richard G]

I don't ride anywhere sunny enough for that to be of any use... or, for that matter, for long enough!

Still, the tech is pretty cool, and I imagine it wont be too long before you'll see deals on it.

[psling]

Yeah, I saw this and added it to the "want" list but at over £600, that's where it'll stay.

The charging on my Fenix 6 Pro Solar ...

I don't know why but that brought an ironic little chuckle to my lips

[ScotRoutes]

I don't know why either.

[fatbikephil]

What if it says I'm okay but I feel f*cked? Who do you believe?

Numbers don't lie. Crack on.

Aye all the stupid training aids don't appeal so hopefully they'll do a 500 series solar at some point...

[Mart]

So what do you do when it’s been pissing down for a few days and no solar charging takes place?

[lune ranger]

Same as any other device, charge it up by USB or use a Garmin Charge Power pack.

[pistonbroke]

charge it up by USB

At looooong last they've binned the flimsy micro USB and use the more robust USB C connection as well as the 5 pins on the underside to connect to a Garmin Charge. Seems to work in the rain as well. If only these features were available on the Explore

[PaulB2]

If they continue the technology trickledown that they did with 1030/830/530/explore then in a couple of years we’ll get a new explore with USB C - i doubt it’ll have solar but it’d be nice if it had the connector a battery pack.

[Mart]

Same as any other device, charge it up by USB or use a Garmin Charge Power pack.

Like the idea but for me it doesn’t get rid of the need for battery back up.
Would be great if it could.

[lune ranger]

If they continue the technology trickledown that they did with 1030/830/530/explore then in a couple of years we’ll get a new explore with USB C - i doubt it’ll have solar but it’d be nice if it had the connector a battery pack.

I’m unsure if the new EU charging directive covers GPS but if it does I think we can except USB C arriving on all new models soon.
Battery pack connection on al x30 models already.

[pistonbroke]

It seems Garmin have moved so far from the original,and imo, most important principle of what a GPS should do i.e tell you where you are and where you need to go, that they are unrecognisable. At the end of a ride I don't want to scroll through endless screens telling me spurious data about how many bottles I should have drunk, how many calories burnt, strava segments failed,FTP whatever the fcuk that is etc. All on a screen the size of a postage stamp(because that's the expensive bit).I thought they had nailled with the Edge Explore but I broke 3 by having the temerity to want the crappy USB port to last more than 6 months. Without the ability to recharge, any unit turns into a useless lump of plastic. They cannot claim that USB C came out after this was launched, I believe they are masters of built in obsolescence, don't get me started on software updates that you cannot avoid which fix a problem you didn't know you had but creates several you need as well as destroying battery life. Straight from the Apple playbook.
And breathe.

[Dave Barter]

I think you’ll find that they are market driven Duncan so you can blame the lycra louts/strava for all the spaff features. I also think our lust for low price consumer electronics comes back to bite us. The engineering in these devices is astonishing when you look at it in detail. A tiny device that connects to satellites in seconds and performs complex mathematics on the fly… Yet we want to pay around about 2 tanks of petrol for it. Compromise has to be made (you moaning old git).

[Bearbonesnorm]

{I know nowt} ... hasn't solar reached a point where it 'only' requires light to function rather than bright dazzling sunlight?

Agree with Dave in that the market for gps (like most things) is driven by the consumer and it would appear that many people can no longer go for a slash without knowing how many steps it required, what their max HR was before, during and after and when they might need another.