Steve B.

This is a poll somewhat and is an attempt to determine what decisions folks used to move to Wahoo/Lezyne/Polar/Hammerhead vs. Garmin. Really an attempt to determine the current state of the GPS cycling computer. These things are pricy and I’m wondering who is doing it best currently.

Partial reason is my 810, while mostly reliable for 16 mos. of use, has recently had the touch screen freeze twice in 4 rides thus a replacement maybe forthcoming. A recent set of posts by TimothyH on how his Garmin 820 only gets about 4-5 useful hours with the data screen on, disturbed me as that's just a complete failure on Garmin's part to provide a product that meets its own descriptions. It's fraud really.

Which begs the question. What's better ?.

1) How has your Garmin (insert model here), given you headaches ?
2) What features do Garmin's do better ?,
3) What does your Wahoo/Lezyne/Polar do better ?
4) Do the others crash as well ?
5) Have the others provided good software updates, or at least other then the sometimes useless fixes Garmin's provide ?

Feel free to add questions and answers not listed here.

I’ll start with mine:

810, had 3 crashes with lost rides early on, with the first Garmin had me reset the unit. Sometimes a crash as a result of stopping a navigation of a course while the device was in motion. I learned to stop riding, then stop the course. Recently had screen freezes, tracking was still active, just no touch screen control. Restart saved the route (I’ve since deleted all my saved rides/courses/segments, etc…). The user's manual is useless thus setup was not easy and non intuitive. The Garmin technical writers just think different and don’t seem to be cyclists or follow what a lot of other cycling electronics understand.
Possibly the navigation is best. TBT is pretty good, the color screen and resolution for my 62 year old eyes is good. Navigating menus has gotten better with use.
N/A
N/A
N/A

raqball

1. Edge 520 -- Bluetooth dropouts and it only has rudimentary navigation. Other than that it was okay for the most part
1a. Edge 820 -- Pile of garbage. Touchscreen issues, Bluetooth dropouts, and terrible battery life.
1b. Edge 1000 -- Another pile of garbage. Touchscreen issues, sensor drops, reboots, and BT drops.
2. Many of the newer Garmins have advanced analytics and can run Varia Radar, lights, Virb cameras ect.
3. Have the Wahoo Bolt and it's been rock solid. Not a single issue with it thus far. BT is sold with zero disconnects, routing is spot on and battery life has been stellar.
4. The only Garmin I had that crashed/rebooted was the Edge 1000. No reboots with the Edge 820 or 520 and none with the Bolt
5. Wahoo updates have been good and for my use, they have not introduced new bug or issues. With Garmin, it's always 2 steps forward and one step back. Garmin updates are so bad that most do not update right away anymore and wait for others to post feedback before doing so.

My .02

Seattle Forrest

I have a Garmin watch. It has GPS with maps and navigation, understands my power meter, etc. It also does advanced running, swimming, and XC skiing metrics. Stuff like how much glide I get on my skis. I get 20 - 24 hours of GPS time, use it hiking and backpacking, and as a time piece. It's always with me.

Steve B.

My question though is oriented towards "GPS cycling computers". Trying to get a sense as to where the market is currently, is Garmin still considered a flaky product, etc...

The only reason I have an 810 is I started using Garmin Connect, having used Endomondo. I hated the Endo swim log system, then found the Garmin swim watch, which like your fitness watch, works very well, as does Connect (for me). Nobody else, as far as I've discovered, does swim logging as well as Garmin.

derath

There is a very nice bicycle mount for their watches. IMO given their features and mounts I consider something like the Fenix series of watches every bit as nice of a cycling computer as their dedicated cycling computers.

I have had an 820 for about 18 months and so far I have been happy with it. My only annoyance is the touch screen in winter since I can't control it with gloves on. My previous garmin was an OLD edge 305 and there are still things I liked about that simple old one.

I'm picking up a Fenix 5s and am struggling whether to sell the 820 but the Fenix won't have maps and the 820 does...

rm -rf

Garmin 705, purchased in 2011.
I have about 1500 hours recorded with it.

I replaced the battery with an aftermarket one from newpower99.com. About 4 years later, the original battery was starting to show minimal remaining charge after maybe 3 hours (perhaps it actually could run longer, but I never tested it to see). It was simple to install it myself. The new battery has been working great for a couple of years.

It has the usual / universal Garmin software problems. Does every Garmin bike computer have some things that just never work? Why!

For example:
GPX routes almost never worked from day 1, with freezes during loading, or telling me I was done on a loop ride as soon as I hit Start. The garmin forums recommended tcx courses, which work fine and are reliable. No countdown to the turns, though.

I get blank screen lockups at random while riding. Maybe a few a week, then a month or two with none. Pushing the power button reboots, and I can continue on the same route. So it's more of an annoyance.

GPS recordings occasionally have garbage characters in the middle. Deleting the bad time slices with an XML editor fixes the recording, but it's annoying to have to do this.

And, stopping on a climb shows the grade % steadily increasing....5%, 6%, 7% ... What strange grade calculation would do this if the elevation and the speed both stop changing?


It's worked well enough that I'm not yet looking for a replacement. Maybe next year. The Wahoo products look good.

tunavic

1A Garmin Edge 500 never a single issue. Still have it but bought an 810 to have instant upload.
1B Garmin Edge 810 Bluetooth connection drops out often and sometimes need to unpair and pair again to connect. Screen is difficult to read.
2 Ability to control other things like lights
3 Have never used one
4 Don't know
5 Garmin updates are often useless. One of the 810 updates made for very difficult bluetooth connection.

I hope the recent competition makes Garmin a bit more focused on putting out a better product. I hate that they seem to rush things to market that are half baked and needing updates almost immediately. Most of their updates are fixing basic functionality that should have worked correctly out of the box.

Steve B.

Interesting, as BT has worked flawlessly for me on an iPhone 6s. It's ne of its nicest features, but it is only useful when it's working. Not like Garmin is ever going to deal with this.

Bolo Grubb

I have been using my Garmin edge 305 since they first came out in 2005? It has worked well for me. I did have to have the battery replaced once but a worthwhile repair for the price.

tunavic

I've been a long time Android user. Right now I'm using an S7, prior phone was the S6. Maybe it's a problem with Android or it's just my Garmin unit. It will be interesting to hear what others have to say.

Seattle Forrest

My experience with Garmin and BT is mostly on the watch side, a little bit with an Edge too. In both cases, the quality of the connection depends a lot on the phone. I've used both devices with cheap Android phones and have had disappointing results. If the connection breaks a few times with a cheap phone (like if you go out of range, maybe at a bathroom stop) it would never resume until I'd reboot the phone, or turn BT off on the phone and then back on. With higher quality Android phones, it's been flawless.

The S6 is the one I've had flawless results with.

Seattle Forrest

Personally (as a road and gravel cyclist) I consider a GPS watch to be a perfectly adequate cycling computer. The only thing an Edge has over it is more screen real estate, which isn't worth the extra $$ to me. I know this isn't a majority view among roadies, but this isn't that uncommon an approach, either, especially with triathletes, newer cyclists, and people used to Fitbit style devices.

I think the watches and Edges are made by different software teams at Garmin. The watches are much less flaky. Even with the same features.

unterhausen

I went for a ride yesterday, and as sometimes happens, no turn-by-turn, even though it was turned on. I get back to the finish, and all of a sudden I get all the turn-by-turn instructions all at once. I thought I was going to have to off the device. It was following along the course, I could see the turns on the cue sheet page. Garmin 800.

chong67

I use to have a Edge 520 and bought a Garmin 5 watch. I bought me a bike mount kit to mount my watch on it. Now I can ride with it or wear on wrist when walking, running, etc. I love it.

You can get up to 12 display on the watch. Just do a add on.

derath

Not to derail the thread (but I'm gonna anyhow), which 5 did you get? I'm picking up a 5s and I've thought about getting rid of my 820 but I like having maps. Just yesterday I took a wrong turn and the maps on the 820 saved my rear. The 5X with maps looks uber stupid on my baby sized wrists.

raqball

I have to disagree with this. A quick search of any of the Garmin device forums will show that expensive and cheap phone both have BT issues with Garmin. Garmin fixes BT with one update then breaks it again with the next. It's great hardware loaded with flakey software.

I never buy cheap phones. I've had BT and sensor issues on just about every Garmin I've ever owned. BT dropout wise:

Edge 1000 BT disconnects when used with the following phones: iPhone 6S, Sony Xperia Z5, Google Pixel
Edge 820 BT disconnects when used with the following phones: iPhone 7, Google Pixel

It's not the phones, it's Garmin.

A lot of Garmin users do not even know they are getting disconnects. I thought my Edge 820 was fine until I started noticing text messages were not coming in. I then left the status page open on a ride and guess what? Flashing BT icon with no alerts to the disconnect. If you were not specifically paying attention to BT on the status page you'd never know BT was disconnected. On that ride, I saw about 20+ disconnects and reconnects during that 3-hour ride and received no alerts to any of the disconnects.

Steve B.

I think this may be very true. I only use BT with my 810 to either get a course onto the 810, or to the save a ride after. In all cases BT has worked with maybe one hiccup in 16 mos.

Thing is, I never glance at the screen that has the satellite or BT icons while riding, so might never know if BT to the phone has dropped. Not sure it would warn me when I am on the primary data screen. And since the saved and uploaded file always works....

Seattle Forrest

My experience is 100 % counter to what Google is telling you.

Perhaps, but the watches vibrate on your wrist and say DISCONNECTED or CONNECTED whenever it happens, so that's absolutely not the case for me. Edges don't have the vibrate features, so I'm sure it would be a lot easier to miss.

raqball

Sorry to disappoint you (why some chooose to be rude here is mind boggling) but I was a long time Garmin user and don't need to Google search for the issues they present.

Had the following Garmin's over the years

Edge 200
Edge 500
Edge 510
Edge 520
Edge 810
Edge 820
Edge 1000
fenix 3
fenix 3HR
fenix 5

You are more than welcome to search my posts on Garmin forums (raqballl) if you'd like..

Seattle Forrest

I'm not disappointed at all, and I'm sorry you're having trouble @raqball. But, again, I had the sort of trouble you describe, and it went away entirely when I switched from a cheap phone to a good one. That experience has been uniform across four Garmin BT devices and several phones.

I don't have enough detail about your situation to offer any type of solution but I hope you're able to find one. In my experience it's not that hard to if you're motivated.

raqball

I am not a novice and I don't need any help since I've moved on from Garmin. My Bolt has been rock solid. I listed the phones I had and none are considered cheap phones. Like I said, feel free to browse the Garmin forums and see all the issues others have regarding BT. Most are using high-end phones, as was I.

I get it that some people are hardcore Garmin'ites and choose to blame the end user or the phone. I am experienced enough and used nothing but high-end phones so the issues I saw with Garmin have nothing to do with me or my phones.

derath

Wow, this thread got fun. @raqball it is a shame you had so many issues and great if you moved on successfully. It does seem also that @Seattle Forrest's experience is different. He has legitimately stated that a new phone did fix his issues, so it seems kinda over the top to then characterize him as a hardcore Garmin'ite, unless you are somehow inferring that he is lying about his experience.

ksryder

One guy has had problems with Garmins and another guy hasn't. THEY CAN BOTH BE RIGHT.

Anyway, I've never owned a Garmin in part because it sure seems like a lot of my friends complain about losing rides or the navigation not working or other failures. I've had a Lezyne Super GPS and a Wahoo Bolt.

The Lezyne is reliable, never crashed, and has a fantastic battery life. Unfortunately it drops connections to my sensors frequently or it picks up other people's sensors and Lezyne doesn't support it any more (first gen.)

I've had the Wahoo Bolt for ~1 month, ~1000 miles, and it has been rock solid. Absolutely zero functionality issues. I can't really even nitpick at things that might not be problems as opposed to design or interface issues. Very impressed so far.

Caveat: I've only used the turn-by-turn navigation a couple of times just to see how it worked (it worked fine) but I have yet to use it on a long ride in unfamiliar terrain where I actually needed it. So no direct experience there.

raqball

I was not characterizing him as a Garmin'ite. If I were I would have said so in my post by naming him directly. I do think it's odd to blame the user or the phone when the Garmin forums are littered with people having BT issues and the majority of them are using high-end phones.

My .02

Steve B.

Then cellery wrote this on the Road forum:

"On the 820 - heavy rain makes it start glitching out and it will think you are touching the screen when you're not. I've had rides I was on end and not save because of this. This still happens with sweat on the screen, albeit to a lesser degree. And then when it's dry out, on the most sensitive setting it will register a button push (like it lights up) but the screen won't change - you have to hit it a bunch of times even though graphically it is registering a push. On medium sensitivity it is downright unresponsive. If the new 1030 touchscreen is half as good as a 2007 iphone, I would say jump on it - but I cannot recommend a garmin touchscreen product because the touch is that bad on the current model. This after numerous firmware updates designed to fix the issue."

https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycli...-1030-a-2.html

I gave up today and ordered a Wahoo Elemnt