Garmin launch Edge 530 and 830 GPS units

Has the power / data socket changed to USB-C or are they still with the micro USB? (or the god-awful device specific clippy thing that the bottom end ones use)

I think every Garmin I've owned has ended up eventually losing the little rubber plug that goes over the USB socket, perhaps these ones are better -- not that this is a Garmin-specific problem, seems to be common to most gadgets that try to walk the line between a robust sealed unit and needing electrical contacts

While they talk of alarm features for noticing if your bike moves, what the device needs is a way of locking it to a given Garmin account -- they can already be registered as yours on the Garmin connect site, I think it needs to tie in more closely so that if it is stolen or powered on from completely off that it needs to be reactivated from the associated account.  Would stop people nicking them, or at least render them unusable when nicked.

It'll also need to have vastly better touch-screen performance in the wet, I find my 820 to be unusable in the rain, at least the old 305 and then 605 used to work rain or shine ... until the micro-buttons broke

I got myself a 1030 and so far, so good (but early days).  Only two gripes:

1. Routing and course development are a joke.  You ask it to plot a tour, seems like the computer goes out of its way to pick the worst possible options.  When a choice is available between a scenic route and a major road, it'll pick the road evenif set up with different preferences.  Probably biased by commuter stats.  Most free tools that I know of are much, much better.

2. What I had never expected:  i own a Fenix 5 watch and had naïvely expected that I could simply pair it and have the 1030 use its heartrate data.  Nope.  Doesn't work, I can either do 'everything' except navigation with the watch or else I need to strap on a sensor and do everything with the 1030.

I do also feel that the focus is too much on a load of performance gimmicks and catering to wannabe Vincenzo Nibalis to the detriment of basic functionality.  

Another Garmin user here who will be an ex-Garmin user at some point in the future. There's no excuse for the lack of reliability or the woeful support in this day and age.

Nice new features but like someone said, unreliable and crashing devices past and present have Wahoo a huge boost in sales.

The new Garmins look very nice but fool me twice...

If they've improved the mapping and routing, that would be a start. It's woefully poor - abandoned in favour of power bollocks and live strava and sync-ing ever more "things".

I'm on my second Edge Touring (bought specifically for the mapping as it was the one device that wasn't clogged with all the performance stuff); that was a warranty replacement after the first one became so problematic that I simply couldn't trust it to navigate anywhere. Constant crashes, weird re-routing attempts, system resets where it would revert to auto-reroute in spite of what I'd set on it...

It's also VERY slow, often taking 5-10 seconds to "catch up" after junctions and turns. I suspect it's because it's trying to process all the maps in-unit. Most other devices sync to a phone and use the processing power of that to do that maths (although that in itself is also a pain, I'd much rather have one standalone unit)

So if the 830 has an improved mapping interface, it'd be worth considering for that. Waiting for the reviews on it though, certainly not going to go out and spend money on one yet.

Hi,

Other than the touchscreen and fewer buttons on the 830, is there any other reason to buy it over the 530?

After reading DC Rainmakers review on both, there seems to be very little difference between them spec wise.

Mike.

I'll stick with my Elemnt Bolt thanks.

It just works, not something you can generally say about garmin if my experience, and that of many others, is anything to go by

Worth upgrading from an edge 1000?

The 1030 is also getting all except of one software feature (Trailforks database).

So now I am torn between upgrading my 1000 to the 830 or 1030. The colour of the 830 wins though.

Being a 520 plus owner the most enticing new feature is the upgraded processor and the improved performance that brings to the user interface. Spending actual time waiting for a computer to do simple stuff and draw it on screen in 2019 feels kind of archaic.