largefarva

I'm in need of a new computer fairly soon to replace my aged Edge 500. It keeps getting crankier and crankier as time goes by. I think I might be on borrowed time as it is with the thing. But as long as it's still working I have time to decide which computer to replace it with. The two front runners are the Edge 520 and the Elemnt by Wahoo.

I really want to jump ship and get on board with the Elemnt but seeing as how it's plagued with connectivity issues with dropouts for many people, and there are no reassurances from Wahoo reps themselves that it will get fixed soon or at all for that matter, I'm finding it a bit too risky to just try it out with only a 30 day return window. If they don't get it fixed within that 30 day window then either I have to make sure I return it before it expires or I'm stuck with a computer that won't work and do it's basic function which is collect data reliably. A computer's ability to collect the data and then send the info to where I need it to go (Strava, Garmin Connect, etc.) are the two most important things to me.

The Garmin Edge 520 has already been out for a while and seems pretty popular. It would seem to be a no brainer for me to just go ahead and get this...but it's a Garmin and as we all know, Garmin isn't exactly well known for it's exceptional customer service. If they screw something up with a firmware update or likewise...it could be months before they address it and provide a fix. But, at least it can do the two main things I believe a cycling computer needs to do...reliably collect data and then send it to where I need it to go.

The sensors I use right now are as follows:
-Stages power meter (2nd generation with the updated battery cover)
-Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor
-Wahoo Blue SC speed/cadence sensor (the one with both Bluetooth and ant+)

Since the Stages can do both power and cadence I'm considering replacing the Blue SC with a magnet less speed sensor, either the one from Wahoo (both Bluetooth and ant+) or the Garmin one (ant+ only).

One question I do have for those who have a Stages and the 520...are there problems these days your 520 losing connection to your Stages? I would be using either the stem mount or an out-front mount. This combo has been rock solid with my Edge 500. I haven't noticed a single dropout in almost 3 months of daily use since I got it. I'm hoping that the 520 would be as reliable as far as the connection to the Stages goes (I've read connectivity problems in some cases).

The other question I have is....which would you guys recommend for me? The 520 or the Elemnt? I'm willing to wait a bit but it really does concern me that reps from Wahoo are totally ignoring this issue on the google user group discussions on the dropout issues. They have no problem answering questions here and there about other miscellaneous things but they are staying out of the longest thread there like it's the plague. This is very troubling indeed and makes me fear that it's a bigger problem than anyone realizes. If it wasn't, then one would assume that they would at least say SOMETHING about it...but nope, nothing but silence from Wahoo. So it leaves me to believe that maybe the 520 is the way I want to go....but I'm just not sure though. So I guess I'm looking for advice on which way to go here.

Hoonigan

I have a 520 that is awesome. I don't have a power meter but I have several other sensors that have reliably connected for the past six months. I've had zero issues. The unit itself is user friendly and intuitive and allows you to customize what data you see.

largefarva

Thanks for the reply. I actually replied to your post in the other thread at the top of this sub-forum here. Good to hear you're having good luck with it. I stopped at my LBS to inquire about these two computers (they are a Garmin and a Wahoo dealer) and the guy I spoke with thought very highly of the 520 and Garmin in general. He said he has heard good things about the Elemnt too but hadn't heard about the dropout problems that the units are having right now. I'm now really torn between which computer to go with....the 520 does look pretty attractive as far as function goes for me while the things that the Elemnt *might* bring to the table are pretty exciting as well. Hope to hear more opinions of users of both devices here.

bhdavis1978

I have a Garmin 520 and I love it. I have had one little issue with it- the bundled Speed sensor didn't work properly. The speed sensor would indicate speeds of between 12 and 80 km/h when I was cruising along at approximately 30 km/h. The speed didn't fluctuate wildly, rather it would 'pick' a speed and sit stably at it for seconds to minutes at a time and then bounce around again. The speed sensor was attached to the front wheel.

We tried replacing the battery, but that didn't help. Then we replaced the entire speed sensor and head unit. That helped a bit, but then the new speed sensor + new head unit would have occasionally tell me my speed had dropped to zero. That is an indicator that the battery is bad, so I replaced it with a new battery. And now it works great.

I love it. It was worth the money. I want to get a Power Meter now. I don't race, I just commute, but it (and Strava) have certainly helped me get motivated to get faster.

Drew Eckhardt 

Get a replacement refurbished 500 from Garmin if you don't need maps, factory refurbished 800 off E-bay if you do. That will cost much less and subject you to fewer show-stopping bugs. If you must chose between the two, the 520 is probably the better choice.

I returned my ELEMNT for an 810 because it didn't display or record power correctly, and turn-by-turn wasn't shipping in Q1 as promised so it was worse than the 6 year old Edge 500 for navigation.

I returned my 810 for a refurbished 800 because it crashed the first day I owned it and I lost data within a few days.

That mostly works - it crashed 140 miles into its first long ride and lost all the data back to mile 20 where I accidentally power cycled it, although I can probably work around that problem restarting it after each 50-100 mile course and joining them after the fact.

I'll be open to the ELEMNT again after they fix the problems and get basic turn-by-turn working - Garmin software is really bad, and the ELEMNT display is much easier to see in sunlight than the color Garmins. End-of-2016 is the official forecast for that functionality.

Fkmueller

I used a Garmin 705 happily for years and then decided I wanted a little bit of an upgrade so I bought a 520. HR sensor and speed sensor went wonky within a couple weeks so I exchanged the entire setup for a replacement. I purposely bought local at an REI store due to their outstanding return policies. Glad I did. So happy I didn't mail order.

Seattle Forrest

I was about to post the suggestion to buy it at REI or some other store with a generous return policy. Fkmueller beat me to it.

largefarva

Right now the 520 is clearly the better computer between the two. I've been reading about all the problems with the Elemnt over at the google forum group and what I find alarming is that Wahoo can take the time to answer questions about various little things that people are asking about but haven't addressed the dropout problems at all. It's being reported by the beta tester guys that the dropout issues are at the top of Wahoo's list of things to fix, but yet they (Wahoo) can't at least say something in that thread? They're completely ignoring it, which makes me believe that it's a bigger problem than anyone realizes. Right now, I'm not going to take the risk of getting burned on something that might not be able to be fixed. If it goes past 30 days I'm stuck with the device whether I like it or not.

I've already talked to my LBS and they have a 520 bundle in stock and have set it aside for me. I'll be picking it up this weekend, and I'll have plenty of opportunities to put it through it's paces. I know about REI's return policy and while it is tempting....I'm going to give my LBS my business instead. They've treated me very well so far so I don't mind supporting them with things like this.

As far as the Elemnt goes, maybe the 2nd generation device will have everything ironed out and will be ready for prime time. In a couple years I suppose I'll take another look at it, but right now it's definitely not a "Garmin killer".

chaadster

Yes, the ELEMNT, besides being too large, simply lacks too many features to be a Garmin Killer, even bugs and connectivity issues aside.

No TbT nav, no Strava Live Segments...no thanks, Wahoo.

There are many points of hope, and probably Wahoo can exploit them with firmware updates, but who wants to sit around and wait?

My biggest complaint with Garmin, as an E500 user, is the clunky UI. 520 has addressed that, and offers a host of features beyond ELEMNT, so it's really a no-brainer staying with a new Garmin for me at this point. I should have the 520 on Monday!

largefarva

Well I got my 520 today, and I must say that I am very happy with it. I did two rides today, the first one was just a test ride of 30 minutes and the second one was an hour and a half. Both rides went smoothly and I had zero dropouts on either ride with the 520. On the second ride I also had my 500 running so I could compare the speed sensors and heart rate monitors.

Paired to the 520 was the Stages for power and cadence, Garmin magnet less speed sensor that came in the bundle and the Garmin heart rate monitor that came with the bundle. Paired to my 500 was the Stages for just power (since my speed/cadence sensor is one unit), my Wahoo blue SC speed & cadence sensor and my Wahoo heart rate monitor. Yes, I was wearing both heart rate monitors.

The speed and distances reported on both devices were the same, and so was the heart rate average. All power and cadence data was the same as well on both devices. Zero dropouts of any sort on the 520 but my 500 did have the usual speed dropout with the associated auto-pause that it has been doing as of late. The blue SC has a new battery as of a week or so ago but it still drops just about every ride, but it's just the speed that drops out...I haven't seen the cadence dropout on the 500. I thought tonight was going to be a lucky night but nevertheless with about 10 minutes left of my ride, I got the dreaded auto-pause because for some reason my speed was at zero. So glad the Garmin speed sensor performed just fine.

Tomorrow I plan on doing at least two rides so I can test everything out some more. I'm hoping that after a couple more successful rides I can just remove the Wahoo blue SC and throw it in the drawer. I'll keep it around for an emergency backup sensor if my Garmin speed sensor every craps out...but I'm hoping I won't have to worry about doing that.

The battery life on my 520 was the same as with my 500. After the hour and a half ride with the backlight on the 500 the whole time and the backlight on the 520 set at the default 60% both devices had 93% battery life left after the ride was over. I'd have to say that the advertised 15 hour battery life is definitely achievable with the 520.

As far as pairing with my iPhone 6 plus and Garmin Connect on it...everything went smoothly. I've read reports with the latest firmware that it has broken the ability to pair with the current iOS and subsequently automatic uploads via the mobile app, but both rides uploaded automatically today and went without a hitch.

All in all....I'm a happy camper. Don't regret the decision to go with the 520 at all.

DrIsotope

Broke in my 520 on it's first ride today, and it went perfectly. No dropouts, no weirdness, stayed paired to my iPhone all day. Super pluses are that the Connect App doesn't use a significant amount of phone battery, and the auto-upload is super fast and requires basically no fiddling. I hit "save ride," and bam, it was uploaded to both Connect and Strava. Battery is sitting at 17% after ~12 hours of constant on-time.

spdntrxi

my 520 has been fine with my 1st gen stages...

largefarva

It sure is an awesome device isn't it? I admit that I was a bit apprehensive in getting it yesterday and had a little bit of buyers remorse before I even picked it up because in reading the Elemnt forums on google it appears that the dropout issues might have a fix soon (it's in beta right now), but since I told my LBS that I would take it and they set it aside for me for a few days, I felt I had to at least give it a chance. Boy am I glad I did. This thing is amazing. The thing I really enjoy most is that it just works. Once set up and getting used to the little differences, it's pretty simple and intuitive to use. I'm glad I stuck with it and bought it. Plus, the expandability with other devices is a nice added bonus too. All in a nice compact design. Garmin got it right on this one imo.

largefarva

Drew,

Have you looked into the 520 at all? I haven't installed a route on mine yet, but it's supposed to have turn-by-turn (since you mentioned it I imagine it's quite important to you) and it's recording all data and uploading it reliably for me so far. No connectivity issues at all, either to my iPhone via bluetooth or to my power, speed and heart rate sensors via ANT+. It's been rock solid so far since I got it last weekend (so far over 14-15 hours cycling total). Battery life seems to be on par with my Edge 500 with backlight set around 50-60% and always on.

With all of the issues being reported at the Elemnt google group forum and people are obviously getting annoyed by lack of functionality there I believe I made the right choice in the 520, and every ride reaffirms that thought as well. It's a great device so far for me. I think Garmin really outdid themselves with this one....maybe you should give it a try?

BigC_82

I am on fence between these two and garmin edge 810. I currently use my iPhone 5S paired with wahoo blue s/c and tickr X for my cycling needs. I do like the feature on wahoo elemnt to have custom led lights for heart rate in the different zones. I also use mmr for all my fitness workouts.

Drew Eckhardt 

It only does turn-by-turn like the 6 year old Edge 500 not like the 6 year old 800.

You get pre-programmed alerts and messages at specific GPS coordinates which can lag behind so you miss your turn, computer generated turn directions popping up 0.1 miles before the turn.

It won't show you the shape of turns which is important when things are ambiguous (second left within 50 feet, or the 45 degree option) or the course software incorrectly gave you a left direction not a right due to a road wiggle.

It won't generate instructions without .tcx CoursePoint entries, as on .gpx tracks downloaded from Strava or on the occasional spot where the software glitches and you don't catch it.

You also only get 50 megabytes of free space for maps, 100 if you delete the included basemap.

Chris0516

I am presently using my Garmin Edge 500. It works great!!!!! It has for several years!!!! Despite this thread being about a comparison involving the Garmin Edge 520. I am curious if there is a way. When my Garmin Edge 500 gives out. To transfer the data to the Garmin Edge 520?

Steve B.

Why not just sync it onto Garmin Connect ?

Chris0516

Unless I am wrong. Garmin Connect doesn't maintain data like wheel size.

DrIsotope

When used in conjunction with the Garmin Speed Sensor, the 520 automatically calibrates the sensor for wheel size on the first ride. About 10-15 minutes into the ride, the 520 beeps and displays, "Speed sensor calibrated." It's quite accurate, too. I've ridden the exact same course a twice a few days apart and gotten reported mileage with less than 0.1 miles variance over 33 miles.

Steve B.

Curious as to how you use that data. I know that Connect can maintain data about gear used and am pretty sure you can indicate info. like wheel and tire sizes.

One oddity though is when you choose Ride on a device, like my 810, I can select from my bike collection. For some odd reason, Garmin has never seen the need to have that piece of info track over to the Connect data base, when uploading a ride. You have to manually note the gear used in Connect in order to make use of that data in Reports.

Steve B.

Ive been lucky with my 810 as its within a mile in a hundred as compared to a calibrated Cateye wireless unit, thus no need to buy speed sensors.

Chris0516

Thanks for telling me.