Garmin have launched their latest GPS bike computers, the Edge 530 and Edge 830. Both feature Garmin's new ClimbPro feature, first seen on their luxurious Marq Athlete multisport watches launched back in February.
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The new units are more compact than their predecessors, the Edge 520 and 820, with dimensions of 50 x 82 x 20 mm and 49 x 73 x 21mm respectively. The screens are 58mm wide on both computers, and the weights are 78g for the 530 and 67g for the 830. Interestingly, that makes the higher spec 830 quite a bit lighter and smaller in size. The significant difference is the lack of buttons on the 830, as it utilises a full touchscreen that Garmin say works just fine through gloves and in the wet. The 530 sticks with buttons on the left side and bottom of the unit.
Battery life is also the same for the 530 and 830, at 20 hours with GPS and up to 40 hours in battery save mode or with Garmin's optional Charge power pack.
Most of the capabilities have carried over from Garmin's existing devices, but the ClimbPro app is new. It automatically shows you the remaining ascent and grade when you’re climbing, while following a route or course. The idea is to help you gauge your effort over the remainder of your ride, so burning out on your first climb of the day when there are plenty more to come should become a thing of the past. It will also be welcome news for Strava KOM chasers.
There are a whole host of other performance monitoring features as you'd expect, including options to analyse your VO2 max, recovery, training load focus, nutrition and hydration.
The mapping options are extensive, with the Garmin Cycle Map routing software built in to both devices. The mountain bike additional bundle is a particularly significant upgrade for off-roaders, with integrated Trailforks data. The MTB dynamics tracks jump count, jump distance and hang time as well as 'Grit', which measures your ride’s difficulty. 'Flow' also tracks and rates the smoothness of your descent so you can attempt to beat your score next time around.
In terms of safety, Garmin have added the new bike alarm feature that notifies you on your smartphone if your bike has been moved or tampered with - useful to give you peace of mind during coffee stops. Group messaging and tracking is also possible, just in case you get separated from the pack on a group ride, and there's an incident detection feature that automatically sends your location to emergency contacts if it detects you've had a fall or collision.
The Edge 530 comes in at £259.99 for the unit only with no add-ons, and the Edge 830 is priced at £349.99. You can also add sensors and/or a mountain bike bundle for an additional cost. Head over to Garmin's website for full specs and buying options.
After cobbling together a few hundred quid during his student days off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story), Jack bought his first road bike at the age of 20 and has been hooked ever since. He joined road.cc in 2017, having previously worked for 220 Triathlon magazine. Jack's preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking (the latter being another long story), and on Sunday afternoons he can often be found on an M5 service station indulging in his favourite post-race meal of 20 chicken nuggets, a sausage roll, caramel shortbread and a large strawberry milkshake.