Garmin 830 on MTB trails

[Jmaxwel8]

Hey I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 830 on MTB trails? I’m considering upgrading my 520. Thanks

[ofcounsel]

I just ordered one as a replacement for my 510. Should be in next week. The specs seem pretty good for MTB, and I ride mostly MTB, but I don't have first hand experience yet myself. I'm looking forward to the trailforks integration. I travel to ride in various trail areas I'm often unfamiliar with, so the 830 seems to fit the bill.

[weaponsgrade]

I have a 530 that I bought specifically for the mtb navigation features and Trailforks integration. If you deviate from following a preloaded course, the device seems to take a long time to figure out a rerouting. On one ride, I loaded up a course that looked interesting, but decided to take a slightly different trail while I was out. Even when I got back onto a trail that was part of the course, I was still getting alerts to make a u-turn. At least the map accurately showed my location throughout (along with the trail names) and that gave me some comfort as I could also compare to a paper map I had.

There's a feature called Climbpro that lists the stats and elevation profile of a climb you're on. It's a cool feature that I definitely appreciated. Unfortunately, it only seems to work if you're following a preloaded course. I'm also not clear on how the device decides whether or not something is a climb. Some sections were listed as climbs even though they didn't seem like much while other sections weren't listed as climbs, but I thought they definitely should've been.

The other day I was out in an area I know well and tested the navigate back to start feature just to see what it'd do. The device routed me to a trail that was decommissioned.

The profiles don't let you associate a bike. I think all they do is let you save a customized set of data fields. I like tracking the mileage I put on my road and mtn bikes. After I complete and upload an activity, I have to go back into that activity and set the gear (bike) type.

Before going with the 530, I looked at Wahoo, but the consensus seemed to be that Garmin had better mtb navigation features. I know others have reported issues with pairing to their phones and wonky buttons, but I haven't had much trouble there.

[Jmaxwel8]

I have a 530 that I bought specifically for the mtb navigation features and Trailforks integration. If you deviate from following a preloaded course, the device seems to take a long time to figure out a rerouting. On one ride, I loaded up a course that looked interesting, but decided to take a slightly different trail while I was out. Even when I got back onto a trail that was part of the course, I was still getting alerts to make a u-turn. At least the map accurately showed my location throughout (along with the trail names) and that gave me some comfort as I could also compare to a paper map I had.

There's a feature called Climbpro that lists the stats and elevation profile of a climb you're on. It's a cool feature that I definitely appreciated. Unfortunately, it only seems to work if you're following a preloaded course. I'm also not clear on how the device decides whether or not something is a climb. Some sections were listed as climbs even though they didn't seem like much while other sections weren't listed as climbs, but I thought they definitely should've been.

The other day I was out in an area I know well and tested the navigate back to start feature just to see what it'd do. The device routed me to a trail that was decommissioned.

The profiles don't let you associate a bike. I think all they do is let you save a customized set of data fields. I like tracking the mileage I put on my road and mtn bikes. After I complete and upload an activity, I have to go back into that activity and set the gear (bike) type.

Before going with the 530, I looked at Wahoo, but the consensus seemed to be that Garmin had better mtb navigation features. I know others have reported issues with pairing to their phones and wonky buttons, but I haven't had much trouble there.

So all things considered would you recommend? From the post it seems maybe not

[djg21]

Hey I was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 830 on MTB trails? I’m considering upgrading my 520. Thanks

I use my 1030. I have Topo maps loaded and I’ve been playing with Trailforks, which is native on the 830. I’m not sure how much value there is in the MTB metrics, but I like recording and saving my rides.

[weaponsgrade]

So all things considered would you recommend? From the post it seems maybe not

It's for sure an upgrade from the 800 I had. I don't know of anything better on the market right now for mtb navigation. I'd recommend with reservation. So far for me the maps themselves have remained accurate. Even when all the u-turn alerts were happening, I was able to look at the map, see where I was, and see the trails leading back to where I started. That's the most important thing I suppose. Panning and zooming with the buttons (530) is a pain. The 830 has the touch screen, but from what I understand it's still not the same as say the touch screen on an iPhone. I always try and take a backup map though. Before going to a new place, I'll at least download a picture of a trail map to my phone just in case the trail head doesn't have any paper copies. I'm hoping that eventually Garmin will release a software update with a better rerouting algorithm, improved climbing profile, and smarter rider profiles. That'd be my wishlist. I'll put up with the clunky setup UI.

[benb]

I have a 1000... at least in my area the offroad portions of the Open Street Maps data are unbelievably good.

I'd been riding in the same basic area for 16 years when I got the 1000 and the map has shown me lots of trails I was not aware of.

I can't say I actually have used off road turn by turn navigation much at all though. It's just not the way I ride.

It has never given me any trouble in the woods. I actually had older GPS units that had trouble with the vibration in the woods, or had signal issues in deep woods. The 1000 has never had any of those issues for me.