Seattle Forrest

Sounds like there's a bunch of cool stuff in here. Routing to an addresses, bike alarm, hill visualizer thing for what's to come, a lot of goodies for the MTB folks, and stuff about acclimating to heat and altitude.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/04/...th-review.html

I'd love to have one, personally. But not enough to pay the asking price.

FlashBazbo

I've been waiting for the successor to the 820 to come out. For me, since I do the occasional ultra-endurance race, the ability to hard connect into the Garmin battery is a big deal. (I've got the previous generation Garmin battery and the cable connection to the 820 is far less than ideal. It works, but demands constant attention to keep the power flowing.) I placed my pre-order for the 830 this morning.

MagicHour

The 530 looks interesting came really close to buying a 520+ last week for better routing, but talked myself out of it (I have an Edge 130). It is a bit larger and heavier than the 520 series and certainly the tiny 130. Will wait and see how the early adopters (cough, "beta testers") make out on the Garmin forums and elsewhere, before I'd buy one though.

I've had my Edge 130 for a year, and while tiny and cool, it still has a few kinks I hoped they'd have worked out in FW updates by now and not the greatest battery life.

bbbean 

Watching-

The review I read made the 530 sound pretty nice, but I'm not sure about the larger size. Also not sure there's enough improvement to jump from my 520.

TakingMyTime

DCRainmaker has a full review.

I'm happy with my 520. I've have great success with it and it does everything I need.

sdmc530

My 520 has been really solid so for the 300$ to upgrade I would have in a second if they made the screen larger like significantly larger but didn’t so i will keep saving up for the 1030.

The 530 looks really nice though with some really nice new features. Wondering if wahoo now will do something to compete.

gregf83 

I might consider it if they could get the basics right like longer battery life and fix the screen polarization so it works properly with sunglasses. The new software features seem mostly uninteresting. I'll probably wait a year or so until they work out the kinks. With the 520 they messed up the battery life with firmware updates. I had to roll back to an earlier version and disable updates to get decent battery life.

Seattle Forrest

I'd really like more pixels in the screen. I know that would drain the battery faster, which is why they don't use higher res screens. But the maps would be better with more detail on the screen. It's pretty low res for the price.

Sy Reene

I'm good with my 520, though I like the bike alarm feature in the 530. For me, a basic thing that hasn't been addressed (or is it now with these new models?):
1. Why if I load a route that I've given a meaningful name to; and then select and ride that route, do I get some worthless kinda name at the end like "New York Cycling" or "Afternoon Ride" when it's been uploaded?

2. There should be a way to load a route directly into the unit via one's phone's Bluetooth, directly from an app.

sdmc530

YES! I have no idea why this bugs me but it really does! #DOWNWITHAFTERNOONRIDE

sdmc530

the sunglasses deal is annoying but my LBS has a screen type protector film they install for like $10 that doesn't affect polarized glasses. Works and its pretty sweet too. I can ask what it is next time I pop in.

don't get me started on the battery life

Seattle Forrest

I'm happy they put a critical power chart directly into the unit. Bummer it's only to summarize historical data, I'd like to see it in real time for the ride you're currently on.

I do this. I've never created a route in the app, because the computer has a bigger screen and better input. But if I save it on the computer, it's there in the app, and I can send it (the route) over the air to my watch. Have you tried this and it didn't work?

Nachoman

Same here. I wonder how the 520 plus compares to the 530.

MagicHour

Check out DC Rainmaker's review - he covers all the bases. Looks like some fairly significant improvements, battery life, processor speed, improved rotuing, many new features, MTB mode etc. Lots there. Worth it over the 520 + if the "in-the-wild" user reviews are just as good.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2019/04/...th-review.html

DoubleTap

I wonder if this means a new 1030 is coming soon. I've searched widely and can't find a mention of an upgrade for the 1030.

GuitarBob

Check the DC Rainmaker review noted earlier -- I am pretty sure he wrote that the 1030 will get a firmware update that includes everything (almost everything?) offered in the new models. A nice thing for 1030 owners.

Sy Reene

Good to know and maybe I'll play with this.. typically though routes from my club are all posted in RWGPS and I export to a TCX on the computer. I just wish there was a way to sync RWGPS or any app for that matter, with Garmin. Where it would be useful is times where you're out somewhere having just free rode, and want to just do a quick route in an app with the starting point at current location, pick a destination (eg. home), it calculates a bike route with cues, saves to the cloud account and then option to transfer to device in needed format.

keithdunlop

I bought the 520 a couple of months ago. Significant upgrade over my older 500 and I'm not feeling the need to further upgrade for a while.

Seattle Forrest

I noticed that Garmin Connect had your power curve now. You can examine it over different time periods and compare a specific ride.

I don't know of a better way with to get a RWGPS route into a Garmin. You can maybe use the back to start feature though to get back home or to your car after exploring though?

DoubleTap

Yeah, I saw that. But, I'm about to buy another 1030, so if an upgrade is imminent, I'll wait for the new model.

biker128pedal

I think he means all 1030 owners a can download and update the firmware on their 1030 using The Garmin updating software.

speedlever

I'm still riding with my old Garmin Edge 305 with heartstrap. I also have a Garmin Vivoactive HR watch that I wear. I don't believe the Vivoactive HR will connect with the 305, so I continue to wear the strap.

I assume the 530 would be a huge step up from the 305... especially screen visibility in both day and night? And I assume it will sync with my Vivoactive HR watch and I can drop the strap?

Psimet2001 

If you're still using a 305 and it works then go play the lottery. That unit had so many problems. Anything would be a giant leap forwards at this point. The feature difference is huge.

speedlever

Lol. I do play the lottery from time to time.. but never win more than a buck or two. OTOH, that old 305 still works great and has great battery life. Go figure. But the gadget person inside me would love to upgrade to that 530.

However, if given the option, I'll take a flaky 305 and a winning lottery ticket!