Garmin Edge? Refurbished?

[jason7878]

Trying to decide between shelling out 300 for a new Garmin Edge 510 or 150 for a "refurbished" 500.... thoughts?

[Dead Man]

The "new" garmin is the 520... the 510 is to be avoided

If you can score a refurb 500 for like $130ish or less, I'd do that... otherwise, the 520 can be had on Wiggle for like $270, and is a pretty big improvement over the 500 depending on how you use it

[woodworker]

Stay away from the 510. Nothing but trouble with it, and that includes the original and a replacement. Way too many calls to Garmin tech support. The touch screen doesn't work like a cell phone touch screen and is glitchy. I also have an older 500 that worked fine and didn't have the problems with shutting off and losing data in the middle of a ride.

In short, go 520 or 500 but definitely skip 510.

[weisan]

How about a 800 for less than $200?

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=183961

[steamer]

FWIW, I got a refurb 500 about 6 years ago and it is still going strong.

Don't fear the reaper. Or a refurb 500.

[rnhood]

How about a 800 for less than $200?

http://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?t=183961

$175 now, and it includes the NA nt map. Very good deal and the 800 is one of the least problematic units (software).

[kramnnim]

$150 seems quite high for a refurb 500.

[jason7878]

Rockin, thanks for the advice all! Question - do I "need" the bundle? Can the 520 read speed off GPS without the bundle? I'm not too concerned with heart rate.

[kramnnim]

Yes, they can all do speed without the speed sensor.

[Dead Man]

Yes, they can all do speed without the speed sensor.

it is kinda wonky, though. I'm sure ride average is probably close enough, but real-time speed, or max speed.... no way

[jason7878]

So without the bundle speed accuracy is more like a Strava app?

[whatwolf]

Ha, thanks weisan and rnhood for trying to sell my garmin for me! :beer:

With the 800 I can't say that I see any differences in speed data while on the bike with or without sensors. Only one of my bikes has speed/cadence sensors and riding the same roads over and over on different bikes I *think* I'm seeing pretty accurate speeds across the board. I guess I have nothing to measure it against in the moment, but it's always the speed I'm expecting. Ha.

[Dead Man]

Ha, thanks weisan and rnhood for trying to sell my garmin for me! :beer:

With the 800 I can't say that I see any differences in speed data while on the bike with or without sensors. Only one of my bikes has speed/cadence sensors and riding the same roads over and over on different bikes I *think* I'm seeing pretty accurate speeds across the board. I guess I have nothing to measure it against in the moment, but it's always the speed I'm expecting. Ha.

My speed sensor broke off and I haven't been able to find my stash of others for a few days - descending a straight, steep, long segment, aero-tucked and at terminal velocity, watching my garmin speed jump from 46-51mph whilst I am maintaining a constant speed.... leads me to believe it's not real-time accurate.

[Dead Man]

And sometimes I read 0 speed for like the first 10 miles, until the stupid thing finally realizes it's not gonna sense the magnet and starts doing it by GPS

[bcroslin]

Refurb 500 is the way to go. I bought mine over a year ago and it's been trouble free. The 510 on the other hand - total POS.

[Lewis Moon]

I have a 500 that I bought on the grey market three years ago and it's still going strong. If this goes I'll probably look for another one.

[lucasfarr92]

Refurbished 500 or go for the 520. I've gotten two 500s repaired and it's good as new. Would recommend.

[phcollard]

Don't buy the 510. As others said it's not worth it.

I had one for exactly two hours. Was very happy to leave the LBS with it. Came back home, set it up, only to realize the screen is just plain unreadable in sunlight, even with contrast at max, even with backlight on. Oh yeah and the touchscreen was &%?&##$%...

Returned it immediately.