Warbird21

I give: what is "coop" and "ftw" (that is an offensive acronym in the motorcycle world)

Warbird21

Perfect for my multi-focal contact lens and 60 year old eyes. Thanks for those shots!

Koyote

REI Coop.

ftw = common internet abbreviation of “for the win.”

Warbird21

Ah-ha, thanks Koyote!

I just bought a new Garmin 530. They offered me a two year warranty with the sale price, so I grabbed tht.
Thanks folks!

Seattle Forrest

What's offensive ftw?

Koyote

google "ftw" along with the word "motorcycle."

Warbird21

What he said, you see FTW on a lot of patches, tattoo's and helmets.

mstateglfr 

f the world?
Forever two wheels?

Those are what I came up with on a cursory search. I'm not really offended by either though, so maybe it means something else?

Koyote

I think we’ve all uttered that first line a few times… Or at least thought about it. Have you made a decision on the computer? Given that we are both coming from the same current computer, I’m really interested.

mstateglfr 

I'm in the Chicago area this weekend so I figured I would check out the local rei here. My hometown rei has both in stock, but this one only carries the 530. Well hell.
So I'll have to wait until Tuesday to durect compare the two.

I'm leaning towards wahoo since it's apparently easier to set up and has fewer features. the Garmin's hill climb feature where it tells you how much is left is neat, but 98% of my riding involves hills that I either know won't last much longer or that I can see the top of as I climb.

DC Rainmaker's review of the v2 Bolt is less than complimentary. That is definitely unfortunate.

I really wish Lezyne would just add the Varia capability to its units. I would just stay with Lezyne since it's been dead solid in all conditions for years.

Koyote

I hear you. I am not planning to buy a Varia, but I might in the future, and so would appreciate that capability.

If Lezyne would just push an update to the Super GPS that would allow me to switch screens using the auxiliary buttons on my Di2 shifters, I'd stop considering a replacement. (When I briefly had both the Wahoo and the Garmin, that was one of the things that I most enjoyed.) But I checked with them, and they responded that there will be no more updates to that model - it's old news, apparently.

Steve B.

Hill climb features are nice, but AFAIK they only work if you are following a navigable route. The device needs to know where you are going in order to be able to display a profile and give distance data. Doesnt work when you are just out riding, not navigating and happen to be on a hill. On some devices, you can simply drop a pin on a map, say on the downhill somewhere and have the device navigate to that pinned location. Then hill climb will work. Hammerhead works this way.

Seattle Forrest

The hill climb thing really isn't that useful. You still have to climb the hill...

Steve B.

Hammerhead just added a feature called CLIMBER, or some such, similar to Climb Pro. Tells you the climb profile and distances. The FB page has folks loving this function.

Koyote

That's like having an app that tells you how long a hangover will last.

Helodrvr

I was in the same position last year. I watched Youtube videos. I read user reports/ratings. Finally, I decided that I definitely did not want a touch screen display. I have owned several other Garmin devices (a couple of watches and a GPS Car Nav System) and was familiar with the basics of the Garmin universe. Even then, at first, the 530 was challenging. Fortunately there are any number of excellent "How-To Set Up Your Garmin 530 videos on Youtube and other places. After using it a bit, I have to say that I am extremely happy with it. The battery life is as stated, Excellent. The GPS sensitivity and the accuracy of the data is also excellent. I use it paired with my Android smart phone via Bluetooth and have had no problems. When my phone did a huge OS update, I did have to re-pair the Garmin (and everything else that was connected via Bluetooth.)

My 530 uploads automatically to the Garmin Connect app as well as to Strava's free service. I only use the Strava service to share info with a couple of close rider friends. But I really like the organization of the Garmin Connect app. I can look at individual rides or at a calendar that shows me each ride for each date in a month. It's been a great motivational tool for me as well as generally just fun to play with.

Mel Hughes
Sparta, TN

Seattle Forrest

More Wahooligans vs Garminites please.

njkayaker

The Garmin work the same way.

George

Ditto on all the above.

Steve B.

I'd bet it does. And its doubtful I will ever find out as I live on flat Long Island. What hills we have are not where I usually ride. Ill try this feature someday.

mstateglfr 

I bought a 530 and Varia today. Holy hell, I clearly am and old dog and this is a new trick.

Signing up and setup is pretty easy. The UI is not as easy as Lezyne, though thats probably because ive used Lezyne for 5 years so Ill give it a pass for now.
- A legit negative is not being able to send a route from my phone to the GPS. They connect with each other for a ton of things, but to send a route I have to find a computer and plug the GPS in. Thats lame- its 2021. To be clear, I am on a computer right now and didnt even move to plug the Garmin into a computer, but thats beside the point!
- This weekend the youth team I work with has a campout. 55mi out and 65mi back. I can get one RWGPS route or the other to load. Cant ever get both. Its been 10 tries over the last hour. Other RWGPS routes will load fine.
- The color screen and ability to see roads relative to the route is a nice change.

Pretty sure a good bit of the complaining above is because I am just having to change to a different platform. Tech is fun until it isnt.

ETA- I think I can sync routes to the device via wifi and bluetooth. Ill figure that out once I finish the tiny font manual.

Warbird21

My new 530 Edge was delivered last night, to replace the hand-me-down Edge 500. I programmed it last night and rode with it this evening

My early experience and comments:
- set up is fairly easy, and similar to the 500. Some of the setup is automatically done, one a satellite is located, so overall, a touch easier than the full manual 500
- the SAVE/BACK buttons are reversed vs the 500, that caught me out a few times, but I don't anticipate issues.
- buttons are one function,with two on the bottom of the unit, a plus over the multi-function 500 buttons.
- pairing with my phone was painless, same for my Garmin speed sensor
- my old eyes can easily read all screen fields and determining the battery level is easy and it's also large enough for my multi-focal contacts to view
- There are about 15 different fields to choose from, and those can also be re-arranged.
- I turned off most of the phone alerts (save the emergency one)

This seems WAY more capable than I currently need, but I'm sure I'll add/enable features as I become accustomed to the unit.

Thanks for the tips and the push!

Worked well on a short ride this evening.

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​I do that all the time, different Garmin, but I'd be surprised if yours can't.

In Garmin Connect Mobile, open a route ( Training -> Courses ) and select "send to device" from the three dot menu in the top right corner.

mstateglfr 

thanks! Huge help. I dislike it less now.
Not sure why a course can't be uploaded to the Connect app and the Connect website needs to be used. Odd- apps are kinda the hot thing for kids these days.
But the Connect site process worked so its good enough!

Seattle Forrest

mstateglfr I didn't realize you meant a RWGPS route. I don't use them for planning so I can't say, I think there's a way to load them over the air, @Steve B might be able to help?

If you can export a gpx from RWGPS on the phone, GCM can import that into a route (they call them courses).