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Electronic Upgrade - What do I want?
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I'm looking at making some upgrades before the spring comes into full swing. I mainly gravel or mtn bike ride and run now. My current setup is running with a Garmin Forerunner 220 and biking with my Android Strava App. Strava is my main training log.

Main focus is I want to load GPX route into my gravel riding, so if I do rides or races I don't need to rely on a paper cue sheet. I think heart rate would be nice as well, but I never really trained using heart rate.

So with that being said, my thoughts are I can either upgrade my current bike computer to a Garmin Edge 520 or upgrade the watch to a fenix 5 (or similar).

What is the ST community thoughts? As for price range....well I haven't even brought this up to the wife yet, so I need a good argument if its more expensive.
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Re: Electronic Upgrade - What do I want? [AndysStrongAle] [ In reply to ]
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A Garmin 520 can do mapping, but it is a so-so experience. It is a far cry from the 820, 1010, and 1030 devices. The new Wahoo Element is supposedly much better at mapping than the 520. I have done mapping with my 520 and an 820. The problem with the 820 is low battery life (it won't get much beyond 80 miles) and the touch screen sucks. I am thinking about upgrading to a 1030 for my road bike to get a maximum mapping experience, because I often ride that bike on unfamiliar routes that need mapping.

I will keep the 520 dedicated on my tri bike, because I love the 520's size and ease of use in a race.I rarely ride my tri bike when I care about mapping support.
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Re: Electronic Upgrade - What do I want? [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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Thank you.

So that leads to the question, can anyone comment on how the mapping support is on the Fenix? For the price of an 820, may as well look at something that can do something other than just biking.
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Re: Electronic Upgrade - What do I want? [AndysStrongAle] [ In reply to ]
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AndysStrongAle wrote:
So that leads to the question, can anyone comment on how the mapping support is on the Fenix?
Check the comments at the bottom of this review. It seems to be sufficient, but not a replacement for an 820 or 1030. Plus, it is only the 5X that does mapping.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...x5-5s-5x-review.html
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Re: Electronic Upgrade - What do I want? [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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exxxviii wrote:
A Garmin 520 can do mapping, but it is a so-so experience. It is a far cry from the 820, 1010, and 1030 devices. The new Wahoo Element is supposedly much better at mapping than the 520. I have done mapping with my 520 and an 820. The problem with the 820 is low battery life (it won't get much beyond 80 miles) and the touch screen sucks. I am thinking about upgrading to a 1030 for my road bike to get a maximum mapping experience, because I often ride that bike on unfamiliar routes that need mapping.

I will keep the 520 dedicated on my tri bike, because I love the 520's size and ease of use in a race.I rarely ride my tri bike when I care about mapping support.

I've got an Elemnt Bolt, and I bought it especially for its routing capabilities after getting lost a couple of times last summer. Really like it - only downside is that the contrast can be a bit low for me to read the screen properly in lower light with sunglasses on. But then I've got a serious case of old man eyes.

As always dcrainmaker has pretty good info on the device.

Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.
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Re: Electronic Upgrade - What do I want? [exxxviii] [ In reply to ]
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exxxviii wrote:
AndysStrongAle wrote:
So that leads to the question, can anyone comment on how the mapping support is on the Fenix?

Check the comments at the bottom of this review. It seems to be sufficient, but not a replacement for an 820 or 1030. Plus, it is only the 5X that does mapping.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/...x5-5s-5x-review.html

I've got the 935 (I splurged on electronics last year :-) and I understand that's the same as the Fenix. And the mapping capabilities are not in the same zip code as what you get on e.g. the Elemnt. For one, you wouldn't have the base map downloaded onto the device.

Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.
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