mbe

Looking for recommendations on these two Garmin models. I have narrowed down to these two because I want GPS navigation capabilities. Device will be used on both my road and gravel bike so I like the ability to have multiple profiles. Biggest difference between the two is the touchscreen. I have heard pros and cons for touchscreen interface. Some say the touchscreen is difficult to use when wet or using gloves, although I do have a pair of gloves with the ends that allow you to use on touchscreen when weather gets colder. Others say it is easier to setup and navigate on the device with touchscreen rather than buttons.

I may do some cycle touring so wondering if the ability to navigate directly to address on the device would be beneficial on the 830 over the 530. I presume on the 530 you have to pan out and drop pin to where you want to navigate or upload a course/route address with the Garmin connect device?

Anyone with either one of these devices able to provide their experience and overall experiences as to how stable/reliable their device is? I believe they have released some firmware updates since these units were released last year so hoping not too many glitches still exist.

Iride01 

I think you got it straight, but be certain. Garmin's little changes to their products names, like adding explore, plus or something else to the end can make a big difference in what features it really has. Though I don't think they have come out with any new editions to the Edge 530 or Edge 830.

Surprisingly the comparison on Garmin's US website doesn't even mention the ability to create routes on the device or navigate to an address. I didn't look to read through all the sales-speak on the description pages. So you might want to do that to be certain before pulling the trigger.

Also don't forget to consider the 820 plus or 520 plus. You can still find them on other sites like gpsCity and FactoryOutletStore .

I think the plus's of the previous version's do most of what the 530 and 830 do. And they are significantly less money. But double check the features. I'm going off the top of my frequently wrong memories.

Steve B.

If not using a lot of the performance metrics like Power Meter, Workouts, Segments, etc... and still want good navigation features. also look at the Edge Explore ($249). It is roughly sized between a 830 and a 1030, so a decent size map screen, is touch screen as well. I think the 830 has the newer touchscreen that is less sensitive to rain, not sure about the Explore, though both my 1000 and 1030 never gave me issues. The Explore cannot do different profiles, but that really only gets you a different screen configuration for different activities (or you can make it and label it for a specific bike). I use the same profile and screen setup for my touring and gravel bikes, only have a different one for my Di2 bike as it gives me the gear readout.

A touch screen is better than buttons for zooming and panning on a map. The Explore seems to have the same navigation functions as the 830 and 1030, according to the very sparse manual, in that it lets you find an address or pin a location to navigate too. As well, it does Return to Start functions.

njkayaker

For navigation, don’t consider anything less than the 520+.

Starting with the 520+, all of them do routes on the device. Regardless, most people seem to plan routes elsewhere (like on RWGPS).

The 530/830 are significantly better than the 820/520+ (the battery lives on the 820/520+ are weak).

The 1030 is significantly better than the 1000.

The Explore is similar to the 1000 (I think the hardware is a bit newer). It’s inexpensive.

A bigger screen is better for navigation.

A touch screen is easier to use for more complicated use (like panning and zooming the map).

bahula03

Assuming you've narrowed it down to the 530/830 because you want the performance metrics and navigation, probably the biggest question is how important the POI/address search is to you. You are correct that with the 530 you just drop a pin, but it's also the same thing (somehow) in the mobile Garmin Connect app, so to roughly replicate the functionality of an 830/1030 you'd have to go to a 3rd party app to create a course, then get it to the 530.

The touchscreen/buttons question is entirely user preference. I have an 820, and I don't think much if anything is gained having a touchscreen to navigate the menus, but swiping between data screens while riding is super annoying and I'd be much happier with buttons for that. I'd agree that the touchscreen is much better for navigating maps, except if I'm doing that, I'm stopping and taking my phone out. Somewhat related to that, I'd strongly recommend avoiding the older (520, 520+, 820) models just on device speed/responsiveness alone.

znomit

The 530 is still a complete PITA to zoom/scroll for navigation.

mbe

Went ahead and ordered the 830 for the touchscreen and better ability to navigate over the 530. Will be a steep learning curve for me, but hopefully once configured and setup it is good to go.

Koyote

Good choice. Setting up the data fields will be much easier with a touchscreen; with the 530, it involves about pushing buttons about, oh, a million times.

mbe

That is what I figured. This is my first Garmin too so learning everything it can do is probably already more complex as is.

gorob23

I am looking at getting a gps also and am very interested to hear how you like it once you get your hands on it.

I toured the E.U. in 2019 with my iphone I think I would rather not do that again.
Good Luck
Just Keep Pedaling Rob

Marcus_Ti

Garmins have a bit of a learning-cliff with them. Personally I'd never go back to a non-touchscreen computer unless it was a Wahoo where you can configure everything with a phone.