I use this computer when I ride during the weekdays. I like that it does not have a touch screen, as my 830 has. Sometimes on my 830 I accidentally touch the screen and I can not get back to the original screen. What I do not like about the 530 is that when initially entering data, it is more difficult to enter and save data without a touch screen. Since my 530 was a replacement for my 820, I wish I could have transferred the data from my 820 to my 530.
Upgraded from Edge 130 and very happy.
Able to move seamlessly from my trainer to my road bike with different profiles. (Original edge 130 does not allow this).
Screen much larger than 130.
Love that it uploads my ride via WiFi on trainer rides. When I get home from a ride it seems I have to link via phone to Garmin Connect instead.
Haven't taken advantage of climb pro yet because I typically don't download routes.
Still wonder whether touch screen would be better, but I wear full finger gloves much of the year, so that might be problematic with touchscreen.
I did buy a silicone cover on Amazon in case I drop it as the glass is otherwise unprotected. The Garmin cover is about double the cost of others.
This was an upgrade from an old Edge 500 and I have to say that the difference is like night and day. The unit is so much more customizable, has many more features and color graphics. Like the 500 you can add screens and format them as you wish, but it also has modes for a road bike, a trainer or a mountain bike right out of the box. Pair it with a set of power meter pedals and you'll be overloaded with data during and after your ride. Then when you're done with your ride the 530 provides you an evaluation of your effort and provides a summary. Brilliant!
Very stylish. Loaded with lots of stuff I'll probably never use. I believe that Garmin is phasing out support for 500 so I decided to upgrade to the 530. I had great success with the Garmin 500. It had just the right amount of basic functions. The 530 has all the 500 has and lots more, more than I really need. I can link the 530 to my IPhone and get my ride results immediately. That I like. It's a little bigger and heavier, but it has a very nice look on the bike.
I've had a Garmin 500 for some time, about 5 years, which has worked just fine with no issues. But... the 530 gives me so much more, especially nice is the routing. Yet then there are the other stats, training options and status updates which are great too. And simply put, I don't mind the setup even though it takes a little time to figure out. I've even configured the Activity Profiles individually by bike (4) as well as for the specific activities such as Indoor Training, so I can break out the data more easily.
Full retail price a little painful for me, but this does what it says it will. Supplied mounting hardware works, the screen is visible and informative, and it quickly pairs with the Varia radar unit and my Vivoactive 3 watch (for heart rate). That said, I find the side buttons difficult to operate, and it took me a while to figure out how to navigate all the different display options (still learning).
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.
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!
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.
Good bike computer, I like that it gets brighter when I ride a dark trail but the normal display on a sunny day with dark sunglasses on is difficult for an experienced (67 years old) rider to see all of the values. Will remove some data and try larger fonts I guess. Overall good value, battery life and product performance.
This is the best cycling computer I have used to date. The battery life is phenomenal. The boot time is faster than I can open Strava. I can upload my rides from zwift so it can calculate my training load. I used the edge 820 prior to this and the upgrade is well worth the price.
Upgraded from a 5+ year old model. Battery life and satellite acquisition is great, and maps have been useful when trying some new routes on the fly as well as doing some "asynchronous group rides" with planned routes. Garmin needs to work on the interface...too many buttons on the device and too many clicks to do the basics.
Great GPS if you want to stay in the Garmin ecosystem and not want to have a touch screen (although initial setup is slow due to the button-only interface). Really liked to new popularity coloring on the maps and the built in TrailForks integration.