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Garmin Edge 820 or 1000

With crimble and a birthday around the corner it's been ok'd for me to have a GPS for the bike. It's coming down to the Edge 1000 performance bundle or the Edge 820 performance bundle. if you assume they are the same price as they would be for me which is the better and why.
Having looked on various forums and the Garmin website itself they seem very similar. They both have the round route thing, mapping, directions, interval timers that can be set customiseable screens. Only thing seems to be this track your riding buddies and I have none of those.
So which do people think is better and why...
Cheers for any help.
Having never had a GPS before either should be an improvement over my phone and I'll be getting heart rate, cadence etc

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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11 comments

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Man of Lard | 7 years ago
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That's the theory... I'd really suggest trying it out before you go riding - first ride I tried it on descended into ½hour of Garminfiddling™ out of 1½ "ride" as various proponents got their settings sorted properly.

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tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
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Nice just spotted last night that Group Track was in the 1000 options and came here update the thread. Seems you guys are on the case already though!

 

Going to try it on Sunday. Should be able to see the 520 on the map if they're listed as a connection with LiveTrack running, if I gather how it works correctly.

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Dante256 | 7 years ago
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You are getting the same piece of kit with the Garmin 820, as the 1000

The garmin 820 gets crash detection, as an addition, and perhaps better battery life

garmin 100, has bigger screen

I dont know if the crash detection is hard ware

http://www.titaniumgeek.com/gear-reviews/garmin-edge-820-cycling-gps-rev...

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Man of Lard replied to Dante256 | 7 years ago
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Dante256 wrote:

You are getting the same piece of kit with the Garmin 820, as the 1000

You aren't - you're getting something that one day might be functionally equivalent (the current issue with elevation in the 820 makes a big difference - same route, same time 820 underreports elevation gain/loss by 15-25% compared to Edge 810, Edge 520, Edge 1000, Fēnix 3)

Dante256 wrote:

I dont know if the crash detection is hard ware

It is and on UK roads quite flaky (that's to say prone to sending false alarms)

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Man of Lard | 7 years ago
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Indeed it did 

Quote:

Changes made from version 9.20 to 10.00:

New feature! Added support for GroupTrack

Current version of Edge 1000 software is 11.10

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Da_Burb | 7 years ago
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I think the last software update on my 1000 inclued the "buddy tracking" - there is a menu item called GroupTrack?

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Johnnyvee | 7 years ago
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Thanks for the comments and I'm thinking of going for the 820.  with my ongoing Wiggle discount (spending too much per year there) they do come out at the same price.  

I'm getting the bundle so I can try working with heart rate and cadence to improve over the winter on both rides outside but also turbo trainer.  I was thinking of cheaper alternatives to try but the Garmins seem to be the leaders...and I'm sure I'll use it lots. 

Cheers. 

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tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
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You can pick the cheapest one and not feel like you missed out on anything. Bigger screen v lighter weight? Maybe you can weigh it up like that. SD slot and buddy tracking don't seem to be killer features to you so you can't lose with either choice.

 

We have the 1000 and 520. Both ace but given the motivation I'd love to ditch the 520 for an 820 for the buddy tracking. The 520 just looks dead cool and sporty though so don't feel like burning around 140 quid in the exchange for just one feature..

 

If I were you, I'd take the 1000 cos that big screen is lovely, responsive and super easy to use even when pissing down. If I were me, I'd take the 820 for the buddy thing. A new release 1000, which may be a year or two away, will be much more expensive and probably not have anything to offer you anyway (buddy tracking, higher res, would be two predictable new features).

 

Caveat - If you go for the 1000, I wouldn't expect any new feature updates beyond a year or two from now. 

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Man of Lard replied to tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
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unconstituted wrote:

Both ace but given the motivation I'd love to ditch the 520 for an 820 for the buddy tracking. 

A feature that could conceivably be ported back to the 520 (there is a plan to bring it to the 1000 apparently)

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tritecommentbot replied to Man of Lard | 7 years ago
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Man of Lard wrote:

unconstituted wrote:

Both ace but given the motivation I'd love to ditch the 520 for an 820 for the buddy tracking. 

A feature that could conceivably be ported back to the 520 (there is a plan to bring it to the 1000 apparently)

 

Hope they do, shame to limit the hardware for the sake of hierarchy crying

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Man of Lard | 7 years ago
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In theory the 820 would be a better bet because it is approximately 2 years newer (so you might expect a replacement for the Edge 1000 in 2017 on Garmin's normal release cadence) but there appears to be a longstanding issue with elevation on the 820 (that elevation is reported as around 40-50m below reality - I rode much of my ride this morning at 20-25m below sea level as an example). Garmin have acknowledged the issue and are trying to fix it with a firmware update.

The Edge 1000 is a behemoth of a device though and has a 4" screen compared to the 2.3" of the Edge 820. If a large display is important then the Edge 1000 makes sense...

Keep your eyes firmly open though because there have been recent deals and/or pricing cockups on both that have knocked up to 25% off the normal prices... Typically very short lived though.

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