I'm a longtime fan of the smaller form factor of the 830/840 series. Was going to go to 850 until I saw the battery life hit the new screen causes. I decided to go for the 1050 as a compliment to my 840 rather than a replacement. Overall, I like this setup. As other have said, the screen, the nav, the bell and on are great. Also, having lived with slow, short runtime devices like the 820 with radar, the 1050 is fast and has plenty of battery life. Only downsides for me are the mounting requirements and the weight. If you have aerobars, the Garmin supplied mount won't work and it's likely your existing mount that would work on an 1040 will be short for the 1050. Good choices like Silca exist for aero bars but factor in you may need to get one with your 1050. On the weight, it's a heavy unit. That battery life has a price and its weight. My solution to this is to use my 840 when if I'm concerned about it. Switching between the 840 and 1050 is simple. Now back to the positives, that big screen is worth a few grams for 95% of my riding. Super happy I got the 1050.
Interfaces with radar/light unit, easy on/off mounting (came with numerous mounting options). Good battery life. Like the feature ability to track fellow riders over busy courses (e.g RAGBRAI type events).
I was updating my old Garmin Edge 530 which served me faithfully for 6 years or so. I don't replace gear that often so this was a big change for me. My first impressions after 200 miles or so indoors and out. The unboxing process was seamless; I unboxed it and synched it using house wi-fi. Everything from my old unit worked seamlessly and the process was fast. Initially I noticed my phone would interfere with the Wahoo Kickr core signal. Solution was to connect phone last. Same thing happened using a Garmin Varia. I just needed to connect ap on phone after getting 840 set up. Otherwise system is a great upgrade. I actually was on the fence about touchscreen but after using it for a couple months I've gotten used to it and love it. Overall great experience and I'm happy I didn't spring for the extra solar charging unit.
This replaces my Garmin Edge 830 and is a huge advance in many ways. It's notably faster--nice to see the road incline in near realtime vs. a 10 second delay and everything loads much quicker. It's a major step up in navigating the various menus. The display is awesome--much easier to read, more options, more responsive.
While its increase in size is noticeable, it's worth it for the better, clearer display. Good for us aging baby boomers!
My only gripe is that that attachment piece on the bottom is more centered on the unit so it doesn't fit well with many of the existing Garmin and face-plate mounts. I have a Bar Fly mount and even with their special mount adapter, the back of the 1050 is barely clearing the face-plate bolts. Not sure why they couldn't have positioned it so it fit existing mounts.
