In Praise of the lowly Garmin 500

[makoti]

Originally Posted by nooneline

I also loved how the Garmin 500 worked, but didn't like how it didn't work. I tried the 510 and 520 and hated them both. The 500? No frills, long battery life, and long life in general. Downsides? Terrible to set up or change anything.

When I got a Wahoo, I was pretty thrilled at the sensible app-connectivity. It seemed like there were a lot of features, many of which were easy to ignore or turn off, but I just loved being able to set my screens via a phone app, have good wifi connectivity for ride uploads, while still essentially having a no-color, text screen plus a simple map screen. And the long battery life - more like the 500 than anything else I'd used - is also a plus.

The Wahoo's mapping, too, gives me the ability to do a lot more fun/adventure/exploration rides than I normally did. I HATE consulting a cue sheet. I hate stopping to figure out where we are and if we missed the turn. Easy RWGPS integration and simple mapping on the Wahoo means I do a lot more cool riding in unfamiliar terrain than I used to, without having the stuff I hate.

So I'm hoping I can go a good long time without hitting the many issues that people have with Wahoos - batteries, screen failure, etc.

I really like the Bolt. Navigation is clear and always works. Setup is a breeze. But those buttons... I'm hoping 3rd time is the charm, but I'm already think of ways to set my screens so I page through rather than scroll to avoid the same issue of the buttons coming apart. When it finally happens, I expect o be able to charge up the 500 and at least record my efforts while I figure out my next move.

[Alaska Mike]

I had four 500s over the years. Loved them once they were configured to my liking.

I have two 520s, which I like more and less for various reasons.

My current favorite is the 130, because it doesn't have as much "fluff". I don't use maps, and my analysis is done post-ride on Training Peaks.

[coreydoesntknow]

I'm STILL on a 500. I've tried to kill it. TRIED. It just wont die. It's been super glued back together multiple times.

Every time it almost dies I whisper to myself "time for a Bolt" but the 500 just keeps coming back.

Super simple. I use it with three bikes and three different power meters.

It's like the Nokia 3310 of bike computers.

Viva la 500!