cafzali

Right, but what many people want from a GPS is the ability to enter an address or landmark if they're lost and get directions to their destination. The 500 and 510 can't do that. If you get lost, your lost. YMMV, of course, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having any GPS capabilities to me.

lhendrick

I agree, without turn by turn directions I would still be wandering lost through the tiny streets of Istanbul, Turkey looking for my hotel.....

JackoDandy

But its not as easy as a simple upload is it? Doesn't the Garmin have to connect to a cell phone via bluetooth and then the cell uploads the stats? Seems like a real PITA to first have your cell phone involved and secondly, worry about pairing BT etc. Also the 'real-time' tracking is as poorly thought out. Id need my phone connected to the garmin and have it pushing locations as I ride - why not just use the phone if it has to be with me and 'active'. Seems redundant to have the garmin at all.

What would be sweet would if the garmin had built-in WiFi that connected to your home network when you got home. It would then automatically sync with the garmin website. This whole blutooth+cell combo seems half executed.

Dannydyn

Glad you got yourself a little chuckle there…. I don’t know about you, but for me getting to my computer at home is a rare occurrence these days. Between my iPhone/iPad/laptop, I rarely touch the desktop anymore. I often ride my bike to work, where the USB ports on my desktop are locked down for security reasons. Now with the 810, I can do a quick upload to the web via my phone without the need to rely on any PCs or to wait until I get home to view my ride stats. I understand that as an existing (older) model owner, you’re not as incline to upgrade, or otherwise, simply biased against the latest and greatest (can’t blame you, I’d be too). But for someone who doesn’t own a GPS unit and is contemplating on which one to get, the ability to sync via a smartphone is a big plus, at least in my opinion.

BT pairing is done once. Once the two devices are aware of each other, every future pairing process is done automatically (or by BT design at least). So no, pairing is not a big deal, only a one-time step. As far as live tracking goes…. I don’t care for that particular feature too much, so I won’t comment on it.

AndreyT

I wonder what is the reason they don't include GLONASS support into 810 model, when it is actually supported by 510 model. This alone is a major turn off, making 510 a much better device in my opinion.

I'd expect the actual GPS hardware to be the same in both units (why would it be different?), meaning that GLONASS is probably disabled at some higher hardware/software level in 810. Which would imply that it was done deliberately. Could be some marketing-related decision (i.e. 820 is in the plans)?

DarthShadious

After reading these responses about the 810 is a joke of an upgrade, blah blah blah. I bet most of those who have said this have not used the 800 and 810 side by side. The 810 is a great improvement over the 800. The UI is way more intuitive, the software has been totally revamped with some nice features (up to 10 different bike profiles you can easily choose from, change each of the fields info on each page on the fly) and I can save my rides on the go through my phone connection. These are what make this device so much more user friendly to me. Now, I am not saying the 810 is worth replacing your current 800 model but if you were like me when I bought my 810, I was in the market for a new bike computer. Oh, and the 810 has been flawless for me. Not sure who said it has been buggy, but I haven't experienced anything but exceptional usage.

JackoDandy

Ha! Try telling that to my trucks BT phone software....

Dannydyn

Let me guess... you're driving a Chevy

Bigtremendous

I find that the UI on the 810 is much better than on the 800. It makes a lot more sense and looks a little nicer. Feature for feature they are very similar, I have had battery problems with my 810 that I had to RMA it over, I haven't verified that its working better on the new one. I bought the standalone unit and when I RMA'd it they sent me a kit include a map card, so that was nice.

A lot of people are having problems with power meters on the 510/810 so you may want to research that a bit if you have one.

Overall, I like the 810 better and the wireless syncing to the phone is awesome. With garminsync.com I never need to log into anything and all of my rides post to strava.

gecho

$100 rebate on the 800 now, so I bought one this week. Not having a smart phone I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of some of the 810 features anyway.

The base map was useless so I installed the free Open Street Map on a microSD card instead of buying a map from Garmin.

gilaasepeda

im getting 810 soon, just love those tracking your mate stuff when you got leave behind. always last in team

JackoDandy

Me too. Aint I the hypocrite $200 after rebate was too tempting. I love new toys and can probably cover the $200 difference by selling my 705...

kenji666

I still love my 500. When I finally get a PT hub, it has ANT+ to log my awesome power.

lhendrick

I am enjoying immensely boring my Facebook friends with my new stream of ride updates using my 810 and smartphone. Navigation and heart rate monitoring is great too.

Tony N.

I'm in the same situation as you and am wonderin how you like the 800 now that you have had it for a while. They have brought back the sale and $100 rebate.

unterhausen

where is it on sale?

Tony N.

Here on sale, https://www.westernbikeworks.com/product/garmin-edge-800
lhendrick, how dose the 810 actuall function in live stream mode for your friends? I have a friend who is on the road right now and has included me in his live stream prograam. It shows on my pc in 6+ mile spurts and has a yellow alert in the upper right corner of map that says No signal. Trying to reconnect.

unterhausen

Thanks, it's in the mail

calgary_jim

How do I download Open Street maps?

Tony N.

My friend has been doing nightly 50+ mile rides and sending me the live tracking link. It is working flawlessly now that he is out of the mountains and has good cell tower coverage. I would like to hear from BF users as to how they like are dislike the 810. Also my guess is Garmin's next big thing will be voice prompts turn by turn.