At last Garmin gets something right.
 

My last Edge 500 died today. The battery just doesn't hold a charge anymore, so I may try to fix it if I can source a battery, but it's had a long life for a piece of abused electronics.

I started using it again after one of my 520s died. I'll probably send that one in and see what kind of deal I can get on a new or refurbed unit.

My 800's screen shifted right a year ago and now doesn't respond to anything but the on/off button. I hated the touch-screen anyway, but maybe I'll send that brick in too.

So, since the only Edge 520 I found locally was still at retail (no thanks), I started looking at the Edge 530s. Seems like they have great battery life and have gotten some good reviews, but they're bulky, expensive, and loaded with features I'll never use.

I was about to suck it up and spend the money when I found took a look at the new Edge 130. Their older units below the 500 level had no ANT+ functionality, so they were little better than a cheap speedometer to me. The 130 is smaller than a 500 with the same size screen, pairing to a bunch of ANT+ sensors like the 520, a simple menu system, not a lot of onboard fluff, and it lists for $100 less than the 530. Score.

I was going to look at Wahoo, but I have a bunch of Garmin mounts on various bikes that weren't cheap and I don't really want to replace. Now that Garmin finally released a computer that looks to be a worthy successor to the 500, I don't need to.

Maybe I'll see if I can just swap my old broken crap for one or two 130s.

'Bout time, Garmin.

I recently bought a 530. I am not impressed. I will probably sell here in a month or two when I give up on it. Garmin does have a lot more “unique” analytics that are interesting but I’m still seeing if they are worth anything. I still like the wahoo bolt more for a number of reasons.

Some people just love that Strava-ification on their screen. Me, I like to know what I'm doing at a given moment (time, speed, power, HR, cadence...), but would rather leave the analysis for later when I'm sitting at my computer.

Fiddling with a bike computer is how Lennard Zinn crashed into a light pole and trashed a fork. Lucky he didn't come out of it worse off.

Simple is better.

the wahoo works with garmin mounts turned 90 degrees, so it depends on the mounts you have...the nicer mounts have an insert that can be unscrewed and rotated. and those cheap strap on mounts just need to be rotated.

Well Garmin has had lots of misses with their head units but man they got the Varia right. game changing situational awareness.

Garmin sucks.
Plain and simple.

This sounds a lot like Stockholm Syndrome. ;)

Completely agree on this! I hope other head unit makers offer support for the Varia. The Lezyne units look like a crazy good deal but they don't support the Varia which is a deal killer for me.

That's helpful.....




I have been using Garmin computers for years. Sure some issues but Garmin always took care of it. Bike a rear tab during a rough gravel section. That edge 130 is a solid unit, simple to navigate the screens, connects to everything, good battery life. I would use the 130 full-time but I travel a lot with my bike and the round trip routing on my 1030 is where it's at.

I have not used Wahoo cycle computers, but now that they support the Varia radar, I am ready to give them a try.
I also absolutely love my radar and the main reason I kept using the Garmin head units was because of this.


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Garmin is definitely like being in an abusive relationship - if you need something specific they only offer, you're pretty much stuck - no matter how crappy it is. I just had to move my new $600 Garmin Motorcycle GPS out of my line of sight, because they decided having random pop-up windows 100 times per ride was a good idea, with no way to disable it.

Stripping away the fluff on the 130 will hopefully eliminate the annoyance and hopefully lead you to a happy path. They seem to get crappier as cruft accumulates.

Even DC Rainmaker had his own Garmin rant: "Garmin's Biggest Competitor Is Their Own Software Instability" https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/06/...stability.html

Wahoo supports the Varia. That was one of the selling points for me.

this spring I was riding along thinking about getting a replacement for my 800 and it just locked up because I had ridden too far. Which I knew was a very real possibility. Why was I thinking of getting a new one again? But here I am with an 830. I credit Wahoo for making it a much better device than it would have been if garmin had no competition.

FWIW my 800 is still going strong after 8-9 years. I’ve yet to run the battery down on a ride (knock on wood) including leisurely century rides.

I tend to agree with this, but mostly with regard to upload function. I just replaced the dog-ears on my Edge 500, which were ground down to nubs after many years. Still rolling good!