Garmin 1040 solar
 

Looks good! Not sure it is worth upgrading from the 1030 Plus as DC Rainmaker suggests, so agree with him but a worthy upgrade for other Garmin users.

Happy I went with my Karoo2 though when my Garmin died and didn't wait for this, I like it's size better, screen and a host of other things not least of which is that it is still being improved 2x monthly!
I'm not at all bothered about battery life, its Achille's heal for many, I charge it regularly and can do a 300km ride with no issues so suits my use case since that is a rarity for me and I don't do longer rides.

The 1040 Solar though is ideal for those who do touring and are away from charging points for an extended time.


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ff5be84126.png

I wonder if any other model, especially the Edge 530, are due for a refresh. I just picked one an Edge 530 when they were on sale; my nine year old Edge 510's rubber gasket finally broke enough for the little button thing to fall out, and it was tough to actually press the button anymore. I figured the first gen release of any Garmin trip computer is likely to be so terrible until they sort things out that it'd be safe to pick up the current model, especially on sale. Still curious to see if something new comes out, though.

540 and 840 will surely follow with predictable updates based on the 1040 release, i.e., no game changers unless you are a bike packer and need the solar and battery boost. I waited for the 1040 release to see what could be expected with the 540/840 and then ordered the Bolt V2.

No LTE is disappointing.

Just got mine a few days ago. Bought it at REI during an extra-rebate weekend for a net cost of about $240. Pretty happy with it so far, esp since the setup is sooo much easier than on a Garmin.

Wow. That's some pretty impressive battery life!

Doesn't look like there's much there as far as other innovations. Perhaps the multi band GPS stuff and USB-C is what people are looking for? The price for the Solar option is 163% more than I paid for my Cannondale SuperSix Evo frameset, headset, seatpost and bars back in the olden days of early 2020...boy prices are hard to take.

I'm hoping the 540/840 will be a big hit so I can pick up a used 530 as people dump them for the new hotness.

Has a USB-C charge/data port. Thats a major improvement as you technically dont need to worry about a cover.

​​​​​​Multi band GPS is excellent, but this was already good enough.

From what little I've seen of screen shots, they seemingly have updated a lot of the assorted data screens with more graphic design. Remains to be seen if any of it is useful.

I saw this being promoted on a social media platform this morning. I liked the solar charging and it seems that it can be setup and configured via smartphone. But when I saw the price, my cheap self said my 530 "ain't broke so don't fix it".

Aside from Bikepackers, does anyone else need the Solar version? I wonder who else will be ordering the Solar one.

Tourists, Randonneurs, ultraracers, lazy people like me

Does it need it ?, as in, what function uses it that the 1040 doesn't do ?

Phoneless tracking. Like, literally, that's the thing LTE does. My wife used to use a Quarq Qollector, but the 3G shutdown killed it. Now she has a 945LTE that she uses for bike rides just for the tracking so I can see she's ok. She also uses a 530 for actual ride tracking, and would like an Edge with LTE to handle both LiveTrack and activity recording. A 1040(or 540, or 840)LTE would be an easy immediate sale. The lack of it on the FR955 and now 1040 is concerning to us regarding Garmin's long-term plans for LTE devices, which we'd thought were to be .

if it could share a charge (ie to smart phone) , it would add a nice convenient benefit for local long haulers

What I am asking is while LTE was what Garmin used on previous devices to enable Live Track, Incident Detection and Notifications, I assume they did not kill off those functions on the 1040, just maybe doesnt use LTE ?, but enables it another way ??

You can use it through a phone, as before. However, we'd really like to avoid that and not kill phone battery to have tracking. Only the 945LTE had an LTE chip onboard to send data independently of a cell phone. That will work on the 1040 (I assume), but the lack of onboard LTE means for us (and possibly only us... I assume Garmin knows how popular the 945LTE's service was) there's no compelling reason to upgrade.

There are 3 ways Garmin computers and watches can get to the internet: Bluetooth to go through your phone's data connection, wifi, and LTE. LTE is what phones use. Having LTE in a Garmin means you don't need your phone with you to use the features you mentioned. But you need a data plan for your Garmin.

I appreciate having it in my watch but don't feel any need to have it in a bike computer. The battery is more than almost anyone needs without it. Garmin already had the technology though.

Yes, brain freeze. LTE is the newer cell communication. I was thinking of BLE the BlueTooth low power connection. In theory Garmin would have had to make the 1040 (and the replacements for the 830 and 530) use LTE and essentially become cell phones to use cell data ?. They might have had to go the Hammerhead route and allow a SIM card to do that and I'm glad they didnt as I have a Karoo 2 and its a pain in the arse to get the SIM card and get it working. The method Garmin uses of using BT to the phone Connect Mobile app is a much easier system to use in my experience, as long as you keep GCM running in the background. One advantage is the device connects regardless of whether you have an LTE phone, 4G phone, whatever. You can upgrade your phone and never worry about will whatever version of cell data the cell companies movento next, be compatible with my LTE cycling computer.

No. The 954LTE is a very limited cell connection for a very limited volume and type of locked data. However, it is independent of the phone, which some of us like. It uses a Garmin-specific plan and is completely independent of your normal cell plan/ carrier. You're not going to use it for your Twitter updates.

The internet: it costs $800 and I can't use it for Twitter updates! :mad:

If I already carry a phone that has connectivity and is paired to the computer, what would LTE gain me?

It would make the data go directly from the Garmin to the internet without going through your phone on the way. I guess if you have Bluetooth issues that would be good since BT wouldn't be involved. In theory a little less drain on your phone battery and if you don't have an unlimited data plan there's that. But that's all more theoretical than practical, if live track works most people don't care how. This is for people who want to leave their phones behind.

For those changes, you need a data plan for your Garmin.