Believe it or not, I had still been using my trusty old 500 because I so disliked the 820. It was difficult to read in bright sunlight and it constantly changed pages and settings when I dripped sweat on it no matter how I tried to tweak the settings! A friend implored me to get a new 830, assuring me that it was vastly improved over the old 820. I took his advice and must admit that he was right. Not only is the screen noticeably larger, it is also easier to read in bright sunlight. The touchscreen is way more usable and it boots up three times faster. The sweat-dripping thing is still a problem, however. I'm either going to have to quit working so hard, or reposition the unit so it is more out of the way.
The Edge 530 has been excellent--it provides really usable data, the ability to customize screens to give me just what I want to see while I'm riding, and easy connectivity with HR strap and my trainer when I use it indoors. It has been an excellent training tool and a way to log my workouts, let my family know where I am on the trail, and more. The bundle gave me everything I needed to outfit three bikes--my mountain bike (with the MTB-specific mount) as well as a road bike and my tri bike.
Replaced my 10 year old Garmin 800 Edge with this unit. works fine! I do miss the swipe and touch capability of the 800....but not the 800 price. Does all you expect a Garmin head unit to do. the bluetooth link up to the Iphone is nice - no more running to the laptop to upload data. comes with the incident notification feature - which does work, based on personal experience. A good value if you want a Garmin unit and are willing to use some slightly older tech.
I have used a Garmin 820 for years and the 830 is a huge upgrade. The screen is much more responsive, the battery life is so much better and the screen is sharper. If you like the 820 you will love the 830.
As winter falls upon Wisconsin, I have been training (biking & running) indoors more often. The profiles allow me to set certain data fields for indoor biking vs ones I want for the open road. I used to use my Garmin watch for the bike, but having a head unit is a great improvement. Being cheap I utilize Garmin Segments, creating ones to mimic Strava segments, which then allows me to race against them. This feature alone makes the purchase worth it for me. I had been trying to take the crown on particular segment all summer and with the real time feedback, I smashed it by 20 seconds. We don't have many "climbs" in Wisconsin, but I could see how that new feature would be very useful after using it just two times. I had a couple issues with losing connection to my Garmin Vector pedals, but since the latest update, that has improved. Connects well with other sensors: heart rate strap, speed/cadence sensors on my other bikes. Nice to have decent mapping as well. I find the menu arrangements slightly different than other Garmin products. I also sometimes wish I had spent more for the touch screen model.
Going from a Garmin Edge 200 to the Edge 530, is like BC to the Jetsons. Yes, I know 90% of you are probably laughing. Reason I hadn't upgraded, was the old one was sufficient. Since I have upgraded to the 530, its easier download rides, keep better spreadsheets of all the statistics of every ride. Absolutely love the Edge 530 and all of their products.
I have a road profile for my road bike and another profile for my gravel bike. The unit came with two mounts and I have one on my road bike and one on my gravel bike.
The road profile includes average speed in addition to distance, time, and speed. The gravel profile adds temperature and time of day to the parameters. My only concern is that with my sunglasses prescription I don't have a reading lens and I have to limit the number of parameters displayed so they are large enough to read. Not a complaint since there is flexibility in the number of parameters and size of the boxes for the information displayed.
All in all, very pleased with the product. Now that I am wearing winter gloves, I can say that the buttons are really easy to use!
I have owned a Garmin 520 for several years. One too many mtn bike crashes probably did it in. Anyway, my biggest complaint with the old 520 was battery life, especially in cold temps. I didn't want a bigger computer, so I took a gamble with the 520 plus. Battery life is exceptional (8-12 hours average) and am really enjoying the navigation features. I have it synced with my wife's cellphone number so she can track my riding, thus giving her peace of mind that I'm not dying on the side of a road or trail somewhere. All in all, I am very pleased with the features and the price was the lower than anyone else offered.
A great feature set for riding. I've been using this on road, gravel and mtb with specific and customizable profiles for each discipline. The maps are great, and I was impressed at how accurate the trail maps have been. This is my first bike computer having relied on my garmin watches in the past. I've since added a cadence sensor and hrm, both of which provide good info when connected to the 530. One feature I thought was goofy, but have had fun with after riding with it for a while, is the 'jump' recording in the MTB profile. Measures distance and hang time, which of course has translated to passing this around to see who can go the biggest. I was skeptical, but jumped during the sale and glad I did.
My Garmin Edge 530 was easy to set up, sync with Garmin connect which syncs with MapMyRide. It is easy to read under clouds or direct sunlight. The battery lasts a long time--should be no problem for a 100 mile ride. I can see text messages coming in through phone pairing. Interesting to see the grade % on those tough climbs--although it does lag by a few yards. There are certainly more features than I have used so far. Mount is solid as well.
Been a fan of the Garmin's 500 series for quite sometime. I bought the Garmin Edge 530 to replace my aging 500. The screen is bigger and brighter than its predecessor. The new features such as turn by turn map, live strava segment, and MTB tracking (air time, ft) if you're into that sort of things.
One thing is taken out and i wish Garmin leaves it, the bike profile which tracks each bike odometer (up to 3 bikes). On 530 you can set your bike profile as eitber road or mtb.
Been a fan of the Garmin's 500 series for quite sometime. I bought the Garmin Edge 530 to replace my aging 500. The screen is bigger and brighter than its predecessor. The new features such as turn by turn map, live strava segment, and MTB tracking (air time, ft) if you're into that sort of things.
One thing is taken out and i wish Garmin leaves it, the bike profile which tracks each bike odometer (up to 3 bikes). On 530 you can set your bike profile as eitber road or mtb.
I use the 830 to guide me through Oregon's forestry roads, out of cell phone coverage. It shines when the road on the map doesn't exist or is washed out by a landslide. It's clear and easy to read while rattling downhill and offers a wide array of features (if you take the time to learn the details.) I tried a Wahoo and am much happier with the Garmin.
Takes a bit to learn how to quickly get the information from it that you want while out on the trail, but once you use it a few times it becomes easy to use. I use it almost exclusively mountain biking. Love the trail forks feature. On the road the navigation/map function is quite useful, but I've only been on the road a few tin times with it. GPS is much more accurate than my phone which is helpful on the mountain bike due to all the tight turns as compared to being on the road. Very happy!
I had some difficulty getting it to work at first, but great customer support from Garmin got me going. 520+ doesn't shut down mid-ride like my 510 was doing. It also automatically reads the right sensor from different bikes.
This is my third Garmin and far & away this is the cream of their crop. On a cross country trip I could sometimes go 60 miles on 17% of the charge. Screen is bright, map colorful. Flips screens off my Di2 buttons (top of the hoods Domane SLR7). Interacts with my Varia with clear readout of approaching traffic. No downsides. Love it!
This is my second 520. The first died after heavy, heavy use. The cyclone has all the metrics required for effective training in a small body yet readable screen (I use at least 5 screens with 10 elements in each). It is easy to shift from one bike to another, connect to you phone, get messages, alert a designated person in the event of a crash, plan and follow routes, and the list goes on.
I'm still figuring it out and expect to be figuring it out for the foreseeable future. It's challenging to get TrailForks to talk to Garmin or vice averse. I spend more time trying to get the right screen to appear than actually using it for navigation.
I needed to upgrade my 520 that I've had forever and the 530 far exceeded expectations. I use this thing on many organized rides and the thing I love the most is the auto switch to elevation profile view and when you start a climb (I'm sure there is a tech term for this). Of course the easy connectivity with Strava is a winner too. Great value and I wouldn't hesitate to get the same thing if I needed to replace mine anytime soon.
I got my 830 coming off an 810. I debated long and hard between it and the 530, as the only difference is touch-screen vs buttons. And, after several months, I can say I made the wrong choice. The touch screen actually makes this less valuable than the 530. It is terrible with gloves, and their software is terrible at dealing with it. I am constantly pulling down something when a want to slide, and so on. It is just annoying. I heard the touch screen was improved, but my 810 did better.
Everything else is fine. I still can't find the compass, the menus are huge disorganized messes, but they are trying to deal with a small space and few controls, I will cut them some slack.
Get the 530. Save $100 AND get a better unit.
