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Need help picking a GPS

8K views 69 replies 26 participants last post by  Srode 
#1 ·
I just upgraded my bike from a 14 year old Serotta Concours Ti , to a Tarmac Pro Disc (2016 bought used). It has Ultegra Di2. I would like buy a GPS and enter into the 21st century
I have looked online at the Garmin 1000, the new 820 and the Wahoo Bolt.

I understand the Garmin 1000 is the only one which will display my gearing from the Di2 which sounds like something I would like to see on the screen (is this true).... the 820 is the only one with the new Find your friends feature Group Track - which seems cute, but not sure how useful unless it gets some critical mass. I am also concerned about screen size, as it is 2.3 vs the 3" of the 1000... I am 55 Year old and need reading glasses, which I do not wear while riding... they are in my jersey pocket. If the screen font are large enough I can get by without them, same with map size Anyone with experience here would be helpful!. Are these user adjustable??

The Wahoo Bolt.... not sure, watched a few review video's and not really sure where this fits.

I have a feeling the Garmin 1000 has a lot more than I need, as right now I am not planning on adding a power meter, but do like data, and will ride sometimes with a heart monitor....
I also really like being able to plan a ride on Ride with GPS or Strava, or download rides from others, where I can see distance and how much climbing, and then being able to follow the route....

looking for any and all input!
 
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#3 ·
Best advice I can give, make a list of the features you need the device to have and then look for one that fits MOST of that criteria.

EEC
 
#7 ·
I haven't tried any of the units you mention. But note that the Garmin 520 will also give you gear information (and Di2 battery info, if you care). I wasn't sure whether gear info would be all that useful, but it is actually easier to view than glancing at the back cassettes. And I find this useful because the terrain I ride is usually quite varied, and I'm shifting both front and back derailleurs a lot. Not a compelling reason to buy electronic shifting, but a pleasant little bonus.
 
#8 ·
For me , i want the unit to display grade, speed , distance and allow me me to follow a route. I also value battery life as I ride long. The 810 fits the bill. What may get me to change is if a unit comes out with superior mapping abilities to get me back on track should i go off course. so far from what i can tell nobody does that particularly well so i'm sticking with my 810 and when that need arises i switch to my android phone using google maps
 
#9 ·
I believe the Leynze runs off your phone for Navigation, so limited by your phone battery life if that's a feature you plant to use. The 520, and 820 Garmins will show you gear also, much less expensive than the 1000. Arts has the 520 on sale $50 off, but others will have sales on either of those Garmins this Spring if you aren't in a rush. Wahoo sales are few and far between, no discounting really for them. I have the Garmin 820, and it works great. Also 60 years old and no issues reading the numbers, and I do use readers from time to time for close up work on my bike.
 
#10 ·
garmin edge 1000/820/520 will all display your di2 gears and also do the group ride thing. You'l need the shimano d-fly to run the gears unless it's new duraace (i think the new DA does the ANT like XTR)... but really to figure out all the features of all (and I mean eveything) have a look around DCRainmaker's website.

I have an edge 1000 and use the gear indicator all the time, personally I find i really handy, others may not.
 
#12 · (Edited)
garmin edge 1000/820/520 will all display your di2 gears and also do the group ride thing. You'l need the shimano d-fly to run the gears unless it's new duraace (i think the new DA does the ANT like XTR)... but really to figure out all the features of all (and I mean eveything) have a look around DCRainmaker's website.

I have an edge 1000 and use the gear indicator all the time, personally I find i really handy, others may not.
Thanks for the reply... guess I'd better read up on d fly as I will need to buy one of these too,
 
#16 ·
Very happy with my Wahoo Elemnt. And the few gripes that I have with it (near silent beeps, stiff buttons, kind of ugly), were all addressed with the new Bolt. It's so much easier to set up all the screens through my phone, instead of clicking through menus. Zooming in and out on data fields is brilliant. Not sure how important routing is to you, but Wahoo makes it sooo simple. Make the route on RidewithGPS.com, hit sync on the Elemnt (bolt), and it's there. No more worrying about copying files to the unit, and hoping it accepts it.
 
#18 ·
I always ride with my phone, mostly because it links my garmin to the website so I can run live tracking.
I used to have my phone mounted on my bars to run as a gps computer and it is very craptastic. Sucks the battery life fast, is way too big and inconvenient and is generally crap compared to an actual cycle computer. Plus it's easy to move garmin from bike to bike as it came with a few mounts, and the phone mount would last 30sec on my mtb. Also the garmin seemed to be far more accurate.
If a phone is all you have, then go with it, but (for me) going to a dedicated gps was far superior.
 
#21 ·
When I ony road mtb, 7/8/9 speed, never really had an issue, but when I got a road bike (2x10) I found it completely different weirdly, the anount of times i'd go to change gears and there'd be no more gears. That hasn't changed going to 11sd, used to be I could just look down and see, but I'm not as bendy, eyesight not as good (and heck theres 11 gears down there). For me I find it incredibly useful, others may not, thats fine, the option is there to use or not use, I use it.

"On a good day your in 5th up the hill, on a bad, 3rd." An the thing is, in reality it doesn't matter but me, I like to actually know, it's maybe OCD or something, but its stuff like that I find quite important while I'm actually riding
 
#20 ·
I own both wahoo units - they do display Di2 gear info on your screen - either in visual aid form, or as a number. What they don't do (that the Garmin 1000 does) is summarize your shifting details (how many over your ride) as part of your ride summary.

I used to have an Edge 1000 before I got the Elemnt and honestly I don't miss that feature at all. In fact other than checking my Di2 battery every few weeks, I don't even care about having the thing paired.

Other than just being stable (none of my garmin units worked properly or consistently), the think I like most about the Wahoo units is the screen. It's much easier for my old eyes to read in all lighting conditions. And it's *not* color and it's *not* a touchscreen. The color isn't such a big deal, but I don't really need to pay extra for this, and the touchscreen is absolutely maddening when your hands are sweaty, if it's raining, or you are wearing full fingered gloves (about 9 months out of the year for me). The physical tactile buttons on the Bolt are much easier to manipulate in all conditions that trying to use the touch screen on the Garmins.

The one enhancement I'm eagerly awaiting on the Wahoo units is the improvement of the Live Tracking site data. Right now it's mostly useless to the person viewing your link on a web browser, as all it shows is your dot on a map. They've been promising an update to this for a while now, so hopefully it will come soon.
 
#22 ·
If it displayed the actual cog you are in - 12 on small ring as example, I could see that as an advantage.

Lots of times I'll be moving along, in the small ring, or a big cog on the rear with the large ring, and lose track of where I am. Thus I do a quick glance back and discover I'm in the 12 not the 13, thus should move to the big ring, etc...

Having it displayed on the head unit is moderately safer then glancing back at your cluster. Not a game changer though.
 
#25 ·
That does look really easy to read. How is the map... is that also very easy to read?
I would like to be able to plot out a ride on Ride with GPS or download a ride (a shop I sometimes ride with puts up their ride on their website) that I can get onto my bikes GPS.
Also concerned reading that Garmin is not good in helping you when you go off course. Too often I have experienced that the ride we were planning has something, like a road being paved, or closed, etc and we need to change the ride. Do any of these units help? Sounds like the Bolt has a good return to start feature, which would help me find where I parked my car... which I can always do I on my phone,... but like the idea of being able to navigate with the Bikes GPS
 
#27 ·
Definitely need a smart phone to set it up - it doesn't need to be connected to use it though. The only features you would lose if the phone isn't connected during a ride would be SMS and Phone notifications, and the Live Track feature - everything else works fine without the bluetooth connection.
 
#28 ·
I never care what gear number i'm in. I mostly judge the gear based on how my cadence feels to me. Otherwise its just a number and meaningless. Occasionally I'll try to climb in a hard gear and only then do I determine the gear I'm in. As far as features you say you don't need, there's a tendency for feature creep over time and since you seem to like the gadgets, garmin 1000, di2 etc maybe you already have a heart monitor you might find in a year or two you want to play around with a power meter.

I hear you on the glasses. I'm 52 and on bifocal contacts. I went with the 810 a few years ago over the smaller 510 for the bigger screen. It's mostly served me well over the last three years. Actually it seems to be behaving better now then when I first got it. Either the firmware has improved or I'm not doing dumb things with it anymore.
 
#29 ·
I just switched from a Garmin 500 to an Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT. I love this thing. My eyes are fading too (48-years-old) and, despite the BOLT's compact size, the screen is very (!) easy to read.

I really like being able have only a couple data points, e.g. Power, HR taking up the entire screen, then tapping the button and rest of data points come in - in the order of your preference. So, you can ride with 2, 5, 9... whatever you want. Changing that on the fly is simple and doesn't even require looking - the Up and Down buttons are the only buttons on the right side.

The Live Track isn't as good as Garmin's, but having seen how fast Wahoo responds to customer "needs", I wouldn't be surprised to see their Live Track get much better, soon.
 
#33 ·
Ok I am now leaning towards the Bolt. But there has not been a lot discussed about its actual functioning as a GPS to help you follow a route uploaded from Strava or Ride with GPS, and maybe even more helpful, to help you find your way back to your start point...
Also is the map as easy to read as those big lettering? WOndering how well I will be able to see it without my reading glasses... (which are only a 1.5x)
 
#34 ·
garmin is still the dominant player. its only natural with more garmins around than any other unit it should have the most complaints. bottom line is if garmin wasn't putting out a good product people wouldn't buy it. my 810 has served me reasonably well for three years now and i'm not sure another unit would have worked well based on the issues that have come up.
 
#37 ·
I have had an 810 for the last three years. It quit following routes last fall. In 20,000ish miles of riding plus a bunch of time on the trainer, I think I lost data on two rides.

I was seriously considering buying a bolt. But, I bought an 820 yesterday. I had enough REI money back to pay for the entire bolt or most of the 820.

I went with the 820 b/c of connect IQ and the xert data fields of MPA, recovery time, and 500 w time to exhaustion. It is the closest thing I have seen to live W' and recovery info.

If you don't ride and train with power, those data fields are worthless. But, I saw them as worth spending additional money.

The 820 is smaller than I thought it would be. It is a bit smaller than the 810 on the same mount.
 
#40 ·
I went with the 820 b/c of connect IQ and the xert data fields of MPA, recovery time, and 500 w time to exhaustion. It is the closest thing I have seen to live W' and recovery info.
You will like the IQ, there's some great power apps and others, I use one that has live % W' expended - it's one of the features that is really innovative separating Garmin from the rest of th field IMHO.
 
#41 ·
Hi,
i'm trying to figure out if Garmin 520 or the new Wahoo Bolt is better..

i bought a wahoo bolt for 239€ and amazon had a one day deal for the Garmin 520 for only 179€.

Since this will be my first bike gps, i'm not sure what i want and what i need..
is the Garmin for 179 bucks a no brainer? He's a few years out now, so he should be stable and very reliable?
Are the Features the wahoo has worth the Money? Is the Wahoo stable? any issues so far?
Many thanks!
Mike
 
#42 ·
DC Rainmaker site will give you very detailed info on the features, you may want to check it out.

Anecdotally speaking, the Bolt is getting great reviews on this site and is probably pretty nice. I own the 520 and it is by far the best computer I've ever used. I absolutely love it and the current sale prices are good.

The 520 is a good size and has probably every feature you'll need. While the screen isn't the largest I still find the map useful, and I also like the elevation profile fields. I have no issue syncing via Bluetooth and using that for Strava beacon feature... also I like the Garmin Varia radar for added safety and the 520 works great with it. I don't like touchscreens so the 520 is personally more appealing to me than the 820.
 
#43 ·
thanks for your reply, which is making things not easier :)

I got both now, here is my first impression.

Elemnt Bolt:
- feels a little bit cheap and looks like from the 90s with his grey plastic body...
- however, buttons respond very well, i like the layout with the 3 buttons at the front
- setup was super easy and almost self explaining
- Syncing routes to the device - no problem at all and done with a few clicks
- logical menu structur

Edge 520
- feels premium quality
- buttons are very hard to press, and because there are some on the left and on the right side, you have to pay attentionthat you don't press some buttons by accident..
- setup and navigation through the menues feel like a pain..very confusing at first
- Map and screen looks a little bit better (color)
-IQ Apps for Route Syncing (is thispossible without PC?) Any suggestions for usefullConnect IQ Apps?

However, will go for a short testride tomorrow to compare both units in the field.
 
#45 ·
Sorry for raping this thread...
Did my first testride with both units today, and what can i say, they are both good..

Just a couple of things that came into my mind:

- Is it possible on the Edge to zoom in and out the map while actualy on the map? Only option i can find is to enter menu, disable auto zoom and set zoom %.
- Is there a way to easily(!) sync routes to the edge?

Also, the Edge seems to be slightly accurater (altitude, GPS?)

On the other hand, the Bolt is easy to use, and the app is very refreshing compared to garmin connect.
But still few things that are bugging me. Still have a few days left to decide, which will not be easy :)
 
#48 ·
it would seem a better to do the comparison between the Bolt and the 820, which is what I am trying to decide between . I like the idea of the color screen, but of major importance to me is being able to easily upload rides from Ride with GPS and Strava, either from routes I create on a PC or routes others have ridden. When I do not know an area, I search for rides others have done, looking for the area and similar distance I am looking to ride....
 
#46 ·
yes, you can zoom easily on the 820 anyway, would assume it's the same on the 520 - tap the screen when on the map and you have 3 options a Plus and Minus sign which when you tap zooms in our out, and a hand - when you tap on it and hold you can drag your position on the map around. As far as syncing routes, how are you doing it now? Bike routetoaster or Ride with GPS files can be dragged and dropped to it easily or you can turn any ride you have done that is saved in the activities into a map if you want to do the same ride again. Or you can copy a GPX file from Strava to it and make a route. The Garmin 820 has GPS and GLONASS which makes it pretty darned accurate even with limited view of the sky like in a canyon or heavy tree cover, don't know what the 520 has but the 510 has GPS plus GLONASS too.
 
#47 · (Edited)
520 is GPS+GLONASS

I find easiest way to move routes to 520 is copy the GPX file to the NewFiles directory when you attach the device to a computer. The route will then exist after you unplug and the 520 restarts. It isn't the most elegant process but simple and works.

Since 520 has no touchscreen you can't tap to initiate zoom. So yeah you have to disable autozoom, not great. They probably figured if you really want good map features you'd get one of their larger devices and for the 520 you should just be happy there is mapping and routing at all. Probably the reason I'm okay with the map on the 520 is I didn't expect to even use it, so it doesn't really disappoint me. The zoom functionality leaves a bit to be desired, though.
 
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