Garmin edge 530 opinions please

[nicjh]

Hey folks.. getting tired of using my phone for navigation and have been perusing gps mapping units for a while now. Seriously considering the Garmin edge 530, so... any opinions from actual use? Positive and negative appreciated. (Also interested in the new Wahoo roam but can't find any reviews where it's been used off road!)

[redefined_cycles]

Allan (Espcape goat) uses his Bolt off road and I had 2 years of use off road with my Bolt... I liked the Bolt so much that I sold it on and swapped out for the ROAM...

Initial impressions for me are good but yet to use it off road in anger (this Tuesday me and Tonto are doing the groupstart ITT Peaks200). Lael Wilcox is using it currently on the Tour Divide (she has 2) and seems to not be getting lost enroute...

Yeaterdays ride I used it for an 80 miler return commute (road) and battery life (I tried to reduce extra bits burning power) was at around 90 percent when I started. When I got back home I was still on 60 percent remaining and that was around 2 hours with backlight on... To be fair I knew the route so didnt have the maps on screen...

I had my 1000, 720, 520. Sold em all after I bought the Bolt initially so its a from me...

Albeit, I'm not sure its BearApproved but am pretty sure someone will be along in a minute to suggest one of the more manly Oregons or the likes which can swap batteries and are easy enough to reset when they freeze (just saying)...

One thing bout Laels indorsement though... She is sponsored by Wahoo (I think)

[nicjh]

Thanks for that. All good to hear. The roam is supposed to be better than the bolt too

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks for that. All good to hear. The roam is supposed to be better than the bolt too

Yup... bigger screen and a bit more colour and some extra nav features (which are super quick at rerouting you btw... jusy wow IMO). Its basically a 1000 (or 1030 whatever) but without all them fancy bells/whistles...

I think someone once started a long term review of the ROAM on this very place. Google (bearbonesy) it and it should show up

Shafiq

[middleagedmadness]

If it's just for nav then your better of with a etrex /Oregon ect no frills on my etrex ,os mapping and has had 5 years of abuse ( hiking and biking) and still works as it did when I got it

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yep, my experience is that the Edge series isn't as reliable as the 'outdoor' Garmins. If nothing else, the ability to run AA batteries is enough to to always swing me in the direction of eTrex, Dakota, Oregon, etc.

[ScotRoutes]

Yep, my experience is that the Edge series isn't as reliable as the 'outdoor' Garmins. If nothing else, the ability to run AA batteries is enough to to always swing me in the direction of eTrex, Dakota, Oregon, etc.

I'll just re-iterate all of the above.

[nicjh]

I do appreciate the ease of having replaceable batteries and I'm not interested in all bells and whistles (I know when I'm going slow! )but I also need one with bluetooth/Wi-Fi capabilities and that plus battery option = very expensive.

[ScotRoutes]

Fair do's. Bluetooth and WiFi are near the bottom of my priorities, yours are just different.

[ericrobo]

Decided to buy an Edge 530 about 4 weeks ago, despite all the many glitches and bugs as via DC Rainmaker’s forum.

I got 10% off via DC Rainmaker from Clever Training UK (£234)

Have relied on Dakota 20 for multi-day, with several batteries... it’s quite a bit of weight.
The Edge 530 does have an excellent battery life, between 20 and 40 hours depending on what you use...
Plus using an Anker either 5000 mAh or a 10000 may be a good solution.

The Edge 530 weighs 73 or is it 78 grams so it’s light.

It has a lot of features, probably too many, and that’s why there are so many bugs in it.... maybe it will all settle down eventually in version 5 !!! (It’s version 3.20 now)

What I’m really interested in though is just using it for navigating, I.e. following a gpx line and how easy that is... it’s a small screen

I did my BAM with it last Wednesday night, following a gpx course I’d put on it....

It does alert if you stray off the line, but (I need to do further tests) it didn’t seem all that clear to me.

When navigating (following a gpx) it’s seems too zoomed in, but I think there is way of altering that... need more test and trial with it.

I have until 5th July to send it back.... not decided yet.

DC Rainmaker forum seems to be mainly power meter obsessed roadies complaining that the wattage was overstated or something I’ve no idea what they are on about.

But weight and battery life are big advantages...

Very interesting how it reports on climbs on your ride, and what % they are etc.

There’s a GRIT feature to do with how gnarly a section was....

And a FLOW feature re how ‘smooth’ you ride a section...

Once you’ve finished a ride it will upload automatically via your phone to Garmin Connect, and in GC you can get it to sync automatically with Strava...

Not that that’s any use to me, it just shows how slow I am... BUT I do stop a lot and talk to folks, sometimes I repair the trail a bit, and stand and stare.. other times I get on with it and enjoy comparing myself with..... my previous self Ha !

There’s another whole subject there having just read on STW about the disadvantages of Strava in that it shows where you’ve been....

On the other hand once Wales has ‘upgraded’ its FPs (announcement 4th April) maybe the public at large (including the Ramblers) will realise that the problem is not bikes in the countryside, it’s people in cars

Rambling a bit now....

[nicjh]

Ha ha... Thanks for all that. I don't need to know my power output via an electronic device, my body tells me when I'm working hard! And my white knuckles tell me if its gnarly It's mainly for the nav side and uploading Strava. I appreciate your less than complimentary comments. Guess I'm still waiting for that perfect for me device!

[ericrobo]

Took the Edge 530 on a bit of a ride this afternoon, primarily to get to know its navigation features a bit better.

I rode on a course from a gpx, which I copied into the ‘Newfiles’ folder on the device (plug it into your PC via USB, and view it via Windows Explorer)

All fine whilst on the course- had to work out how to have the map set at different zoom levels. When I left the course though it had me confused. Map showed where I had started from.

But I soon learned how to break out of all that, and kept it on the map screen...

Everything is alright, (I’m using OS Discoverer Maps) and looks very accurate in its positioning.

I think I’ve now got the hang of setting different zoom levels, it had me confused for a while.

It pairs with your smartphone. A right fiddly affair. Forget this device, delete that etc. Then start afresh and (eventually) it will pair. I hope it remembers all that, because it was paired Friday but I had to do it all again today...

Why bother ?

Well once you finish a ride it automatically transfers it to Garmin Connect, and once it’s in there, you can always get at the gpx of the ride you’ve done.

Loads of statistics about your ride. At first you may say you CBA but sometimes it can get to be interesting....

by the way it weighs 78 grams, (Edge 800 is 98 grams)

[ericrobo]

Garmin Dakota with 2 batteries in weighs 163 grams