Garmin to launch Edge Touring GPS computer

Weather useful? Pull the other one - not on this little island it ain't. Maybe you won't get wet, but you probably will.

My problem with the Garmins is they try to do everything. Ideally, you could configure the unit for its intended use, so that it could be set up through your PC for touring, or racing, etc.

Instead, Garmin just ladles everything into the unit and hope someone figures it out. The instructions are hopeless - I've never had anyone explain what the little triangle on the 200 Edge means. Ahead/behind some measure that I didn't set?

I bought the 800 solely for the maps (so I would have preferred a "touring" model). It's OK but too much money and too many features cluttering it up I don't care about. It's like selling a car GPS with performance features for racing - what's that, 1% of users?

There are plenty of USB-friendly solar backup chargers at Maplin.

Bike rumor has some pictures but it appears that the back may be screwed on so could be built in changeable only

@dockhill: I have the newest firmware on the 810. I have updated the firmware since I bought it, and before I had, it was even more unstable! I actually lost 3 tracks inside of 3 weeks with the original firmware.
It's not like the ANT+ dropouts occur very frequently, but it has happened on 2 of my last 4 brevets.
And I don't have a problem with a device having some bugs when I'm on the bleeding edge, as long as they get sorted within a reasonable amount of time, but the power issue has been present on the 800 for ages, and the 810 was born with it. And I really don't understand why they make so easy to reset/delete a track. If I were a pure racer, and never stopped the track, I would probably have bought a 510 or 500!

@sponican: Yeah, I know of people who have had this problem as well. It's not a 400km problem, but a 24hr problem. I have a friend who says that Garmin support has told him that they have fixed this problem so that an 800 or an 810 should now be able to record tracks up to 180 hours. He is doing a 600 next weekend and will test this out. Hopefully he wont ride too fast!

The power problem BTW is bad enough that I may well take my 800 on tour instead of the 810 because of it. It's not like the 810 has better navigation than the 800, it's actually worse!

I wonder if it will be capable of of recording long rides? On some Audaxes I have ridden many riders have complained of their Edge 800s suffering a 'white screen of death' at around the 400km mark. This then requires a factory reset (with loss of all stored data) to overcome. I still use an Edge 305, which can only record ~200k (more if you remember to reset at each control), but the failure condition is much less severe.

It seems to me that Garmin have quite a narrow set of use-cases defined for their products. If you go outside that unpublished set of scenarios then the system often seems to fail.

@durrin - I recently rode with someone who was having similar problems with an 810 - he did a firmware update, and it sorted-out the ANT+ connectivity.

Garmin does seem to bring out new devices with bug-ridden software - although in their defence can you actually think of any company where the software is bug-free? (OK, I hope Airbus and Boeing are the exceptions)

All the comments about AA or AAA batteries are on the spot as far as a "touring" version, but if this new device is the same form-factor as an 800/810, I can't see that there's going to be the room. There's always the option of something like the PowerMonkey, but again that adds yet another device to the handlebar.

Batteries: for those of us that either tour or ride Audax rides, battery life is a real concern, as is the terrible way Garmins bike computers deal with power.

I own an 800, and bought the 810 largely because of the better battery life, but it isn't that much better. In addition, problems with the damn thing detract to the point that I regret the purchase.
-when you plug the 810 into a power source, it goes to almost full backlight, the same when it loses power!! Although, the 800 does the same thing. This is extremely irritating.
-It seems that the 810 cuts its own power if it thinks it has 100% battery. That would be fine if it was right, but it seems to think it has gotten to 100% on and off while charging via my dynamo. This means it goes back and forth on whether it is on power, and I have to reset the backlight level every time, otherwise I will be drawing more power than the dynamo provides!!

I don't understand why Garmin can't figure it out: if you have chosen a backlight level, that should be the backlight level the device always has until you tell it to have another backlight level. And strangely, the devices remember their "always on", or "switch backlight off after 30 seconds" settings, just not the light level.

-the 800 introduced a really nice feature where it would notice movement and warn you that you were moving if you had stopped the timer. The 810 is not consistent with this. I had hoped Garmin would take it a step further with a feature that said "you have been moving for 27 (or whatever) seconds, should that movement be a part of your track?"
-when you stop a track (with the intention of starting it again) and put the device in your pocket (for example when you are touring, and go into a shop, or at an audax control), the devices screen shows two (easily pressable) buttons: reset the track, or discard it! Why on earth would you want to do either of those things!!
-And of course the intermittent loss of ANT+ connectivity with the damn thing (never seen on my 800) is also irritating.

What is even worse is seeing that Garmin keeps coming out with new devices, and seems to expend little to no effort at fixing the software in their old devices.

It will use rechargeables or a custom NIMH pack.

The battery obsession in the comments is funny. Welcome to the 21st century.

I use an eTrex30, and I agree that using AA's is a big plus. I always chuck a spare pair in my bag (plus I use USBCell ones, so can always recharge them easily enough). It'd be had to see what this will offer that an eTrex doesn't.
Okay, they're not Strava compatible. But I simply export the track and import manually to Strava.

Pah.

I sense that this will be more expensive and inferior to the Etrex30, except for it being more "aero".

CyclingDan, have a look at the Etrex30, or the 20 if hrm is of no interest.

Yay this is the kind of GPS computer I have been waiting for by Garmin (an out and out GPS). Recently with my EDGE 705 going bust I was looking to get the 800 but this looks more my type of thing for Riding on my own and Audax/Reliability rides where I'm useless at Navigation. Yes I know the 800 has these HR/Cadence fuctions, but I hardly ever use these as I'm not a racer/hardcore performance cyclist. I also don't own/need a smartphone, so this looks great. I hope as with the others it is Strava compatible though. Now lets wait for price info

AA's for me too ... AAA's suck, expensive and low capacity.

I would much prefer AAA's as that's what most of my touring lights run on. But yeah, it needs to be battery powered rather than just rechargeable to be truly touring.

Unless it comes with its own solar panel charger...

If it's not powered by AA's, it'll be an epic fail.

Touring is the new sportives

Its gone again....