Garmin 820

[tjk23]

Looking into a new cycling computer and considering the Edge 820. Any thoughts or suggestions on other computers. I am looking for turn by turn navigation and ease of use.

[unterhausen]

Garmin and ease of use are probably not consistent with each other. Unless you are a Swiss programmer, in which case it all probably makes perfect sense.

They do have me trained a lot better now than at first, and the people I know with 820s say they finally got the firmware so it works okay.

[tourmalet]

Have owned the 820 for over a year now. It's essentially a Garmin 1000 with a slower processor and lower-quality screen--both compromising usability seriously.

For navigation, the 820 is reasonably competent at guiding on loaded routes. However, in-unit routing is poor and, because of that low-power CPU, incredibly slow to the point of being useless. Off-course recalculation is, again, slow and much inferior to what you may be used to in any modern auto GPS. Finally, loading rides onto the GPS created on or downloaded to your phone is impossible, so once you're out on the road, the 820 becomes a very fancy speedometer if you don't have a preloaded route. I'm incredulous that Garmin Connect still has no custom route creation in 2018.

Oh--a nice bug that has eluded Garmin: if you pause an activity and turn the unit off, it will freeze upon restarting requiring a long reboot.

Moving on to the display. Oh man. It is the worst touchscreen I have ever used. It lags, it drags, it sucks. Operating the 820 is an exercise in frustration. I don't think I've ever owned any device that upset me every time I touched it. Anyway, once you have it recording or navigating and don't need to touch it, the display itself is fine and provides good detail.

I recently bought a used Garmin 1000, which really provides nothing more in features than the 820, but because it is snappy and responsive, you can actually make use of it.

I can't recommend the 820 unless you are prepared to deal with its handicapped controls and CPU. I guess it's good enough for the guy who just won the Giro d'Italia, but there are significantly better units worthy of your money.

[eddief]

I use turn by turn usually 3x per week. Ya copy and paste the gpx file from ridewithgps into the new files folder on the Garmin. You load that course when you get ready to ride. You ride and it tells when to turn every single time. When you are on a data screen and just before you are supposed to turn, the smart Garmin changes to the mapping screen and shows you a big fat arrow and tells you the name of the road you are supposed to turn on. And then it switches back to the screen you were on. Or you can just ride in the mapping/nav screen and go where it tells you to go. It also has "3D mapping" view which gives you some depth of field and lets you see where you will have to turn before you get there.

As I understand it, it also beeps at appropriate times but I'm too deaf to hear the beeps.

It works great, it looks great, don't believe the yahoos.

[bitpuddle]

Navigation is OK on the 820, but I wouldn’t call it easy to use. It can be quite slow and Garmin software quality is bad. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails to prompt for turns, sometimes it just stops working a few hours into a ride.

I just retired my second 820. The first one was replaced under warrantee for crashing and entering an un recoverable state. I’ve been using Garmins since the 500 was cutting edge and they have all been buggy.

I replaced that 820 with a Wahoo Bolt and I’m much happier.

It does turn my turn, but can’t live re-route like the Garmin can. Other than that, auto-syncing routes from RideWithGPS is nicer than plugging in and dragging files around. The Bolt’s battery also manages to last for 12 hours or so, unlike the 820’s.

[corky]

If you are considering an 820 just buy a Yahoo Bolt. My 820 is unpredictable as to auto syncing and with the newest firmware is very reluctant to connect to my iPhone. Am at the tipping point with it.......

[marciero]

...
It does turn my turn, but can’t live re-route like the Garmin can. Other than that, auto-syncing routes from RideWithGPS is nicer than plugging in and dragging files around. The Bolt’s battery also manages to last for 12 hours or so, unlike the 820’s.

The key to the auto syncing routes on RWGPS with the Garmin is the routeCourse app which is available in Garmin Connect. (Within the GC app on your phone there is an app store for loading third party apps.) There are two ways to sync routes. One is simply by "pinning" routes in RWGPS. Once you have registered on routeCourse (actually dynamicWatch is the company/website and is easy to conflate the two) and have set permissions in RWGPS, "pinned" routes will appear on the device whenever the phone is paired to your device. Then you simply select "load course" on the device. You dont need device to be paired once the course is loaded.

Another way to auto-sync is with the dynamicWatch plug-in/extension for google chrome. This installs with one click on your browser. This allows you to auto sync apparently any route you are viewing in google chrome, using just about any web-based route mapping platform, and have it appear on the Garmin with a single click on the dW icon that appears in the corner of your browser. You also need the routeCourse app on your phone within GC as above.

Lastly, routeCourse solves the on-the-fly/live routing problem as well. Again, two ways. The dynamicWatch website has a fully-functioning route mapping platform that works just like RWGPS. Any saved route will appear on your Garmin as long as the phone is paired. Of course, you can also create routes on dW web site from your computer. The only weird thing is that there is also a dW phone app, but it does not allow you to create routes, nor is it even necessary for any of this.

The second on-the-fly method is by create a route on RWGPS on your phone and then pinning. The RWGPS app does not allow you to create or edit routes. Apparently it is not confident of touch-screen-I got a warning on my ipad. But is possible to trick RWGPS into letting you do this by going to the web site and selecting "edit" on one of your routes (Do not select "open in RWGPS app") then "clear map", create a new route and pin. As long as you save as a new route it will not overwrite your old one.

I recently purchased the 520 plus and am very happy with it. One caveat was an issue with the select button in two different places, one being that selecting a route in routeCourse had no effect-did not load the course. That was fixed with a beta version of the app. rc/dw were very responsive responding within an hour to email. That version is available on the website or has already been added to the GC app store. I actually paid for the premium version of dW/rC as much out of appreciation for the functionality and support as for the additional features.

The other select button issue is that when auto re-routing is set to "prompt" the device does not allow me to confirm; i.e, "yes-please route". The select button has no effect. It only allows me to cancel. That is not such a big deal at this point. wahoo does not even do re-routing.

[bigbill]

I do gravel rides and longer road rides that require navigation. I was using a six year old 800 that was beginning to show signs of battery issues so I bought a Edge Explore 1000. It's larger, has a great display, and the turn by turn has been spot on. It won't read a power meter but I don't have any power components. The downside is buying new mounts, specifically the ones that stick straight out in front of the bars. The 1000 and 1030 are longer and need XL mounts versus 500 and 800's.

[eddief]

If you unscrew the internal circle part of the mount and mount it on the other side then the longer units will not hit the bar. naked mount does not look quite as aesthetically pleasing but the approach works just fine.

I do gravel rides and longer road rides that require navigation. I was using a six year old 800 that was beginning to show signs of battery issues so I bought a Edge Explore 1000. It's larger, has a great display, and the turn by turn has been spot on. It won't read a power meter but I don't have any power components. The downside is buying new mounts, specifically the ones that stick straight out in front of the bars. The 1000 and 1030 are longer and need XL mounts versus 500 and 800's.

[djg21]

I’m looking to replace the Edge 510 on my wife’s Tri Bike before her next event. She does use a power meter, and the problem she has is seeing reading the screen with numerous fields/metrics displayed while wearing her contact lenses (for distance). My Edge 1030 doesn’t fit on her dork bars with the Hydration system and other crap, so I was thing a smaller unit like the 820. I was hoping the added screen real estate on the Edge 820 might be better. My wife doesn’t do well with progressive lenses for some reason.

I’ve used Garmins for years, and they are not that difficult to use and are fairly intuitive. I use the 1030 now, and I prefer the larger screen size. My only complaint about the 1030 is that the lap and start buttons are not in the most accessible spot; I’d prefer them on the face of the unit (like the 1000) instead of in the bottom edge, where they are harder to get to when using an out-front mount.