Wondering if anyone has used the new 40 series Garmin Edge units enough to offer some thoughts. I have had several 530’s and honestly they have all been really glitchy. I have relatively frequent drops from the Varia Radar is about 1/2 the time I use it the phone does not immediately connect. I have had several of these and the one I use now is actually better than any I have had, but I have found my old 520 Plus to be 100% better at most everything, other than being kind of slow and pretty iffy battery life. The thing always connects to the phone and actually tracks through the live tracking better than the 530.
Any daily use of the 540-840 would be appreciated.
I’ve had a 830 which I used for a while, but have just got a 840. Miles better. Definitely more refined and less sensor buggy. The 830 is now my commuter unit.
I do need to use it more as the first time I used the new power guide feature. Just didn’t seem to work thou.
As to the 540. The reviews I’ve read unfortunately say it’s a dud as the new interface on the 540 and 840 is mainly touch based and they have forced it to fit a non touchscreen device.
Any daily use of the 540-840 would be appreciated.
I use three Edge units on a daily basis for dual/triple recording different meters. The 840 Solar has slotted into position nicely as a daily use device. No major complaints, even on the beta firmware track. It came with a few interface issues they’re still ironing out on the x40 range. No issues with activity sync up to Connect… until they suspended my account without notice the other day… but that’s another issue. 🤷ðŸ»â€â™‚ï¸
The reviews from GPLama (who replied in this thread!) and DCRainmaker have been spot on in my opinion. But I can give you my first impressions as someone who upgraded from an old first gen Wahoo ELEMNT Bolt to an Edge 840 recently:
Battery life lives up to the hype, even with routes loaded, Varia radar connected, sharing live tracking, and anything else I could think of to test it (I only gave up on my Wahoo after the battery life waned to the point where I couldn’t do my longer rides and races with it). My 840 is non-solar by the way.It pairs with sensors quite well, with one major exception: It cannot find my inReach MINI 2 device. I don’t know if that’s an issue with the 840 or with the inReach. Everything else, power meters on multiple bikes, HRMs, my Varia, no issues whatsoever.ClimbPro (with loaded routes or free rides) is awesome. Although in my area (I’m in SoCal and ride San Gabriel and Santa Monica mountains frequently) there are some very popular big climbs where there seems to be a poor amount of data for it to use. I can’t really fault Garmin for that one, as it it has to live within the constraints of the data it can access for the climbs. If the climb data is good, this is one area where the Edge 840 blows away my old Wahoo.The auto-pause feature doesn’t seem to work well for me. If I stop real quick to put on warmer gear, or regroup with riders behind me, it often keeps going (I have it set to pause at 3mph or less). Or, once it does pause, it will resume the activity if you barely move the bike forward.I did have an incident where I was prompted to do a firmware upgrade to my Garmin Rally pedals (during an activity, which I thought wasn’t something that could happen). Being new to the user interface and touch screen, I accidentally told it to proceed, causing me to have to site there for awhile as it did the upgrade. It did succeed, however.The live tracking features, including the ability to send messages, works just fine. The messaging part is an upgrade from my Wahoo, and in many cases saves me the need to use my inReach (which as I mentioned above doesn’t pair with my 840 as of today).
Fortunately, I haven’t had any need for the incident detection or emergency features outside of the setup steps when I first got the computer, so I can’t comment on those. But hopefully the other info is helpful to you.
Thanks for the responses. Really hard to justify $450 if I am honest. The 520 plus just does everything I need. It actually connects to the phone all the time, doesn’t drop sensors, etc. I use Garmin Connect enough to want to stay there (in Garminverse).
On the auto-pause thing, I can’t speak to the 840 in particular, but I have found with Garmins it is best to not be too smart. They usually have an option to pause below some specified threshold like 3mph and a different option to pause “when stopped”. Just go with that last option.
I bought a 540 last week, and have 4 rides with it so far. I specifically bought it for the Varia, otherwise I’d have been perfectly happy with a cheapo GPS without any smart features. Putting it on my bike has literally doubled the value of my setup, as I’m on a 22 year old aluminum workhorse still.
So far, so good. The varia integration is absolutely terrific - a nice loud beep and easy to read graphics - it automatically kicks in and starts the varia when I start my ride. Idiotproof so far. It also can display the battery life of the varia and of the unit itself on the main screen when you configure it, so I’m pretty much set.
It also does some stuff with hill climbing automatically detecting where you you are on the incline and how much further to go, along with live strava segment stuff, but after the 2nd ride, I turned both off. Too much beeping.
I’ve been using the 540 for about three weeks. Got it as birthday present. Previously only used Strava on my phone for years and then for about six months a Garmin Forerunner 55 Watch. I don’t have a power meter.
Climb feature was annoying and I had to look up how to turn it off. I have to google just about everything as I still have no basic understanding of how the screens work. I couldn’t figure out how to save a custom screen. My son, who has an 830, was also baffled for a while and then figured it out. Maybe it is because I’m old, but DC Rainmaker had the same complaint.
To elaborate on the functioning, there is not a “home” button. There is a back button, but it won’t always go back to were you were. During ride, I stopped (can’t do this button pushing while riding) and I did figure out how to get out of my workout and look at navigation screens in order to zoom in on the map. I could zoom, but couldn’t move the map directionally, so it was not very helpful for navigating. Then I had no idea how to get back to my workout. Somehow I stumbled back to my workout screens. I will use my phone for navigating from now on.
Yesterday I couldn’t get it to turn on. Had to google to learn that sometimes you have to hold the power button for 10 full seconds.
If mine broke, I probably wouldn’t get another, but might consider upgrading to 840.
Thanks for that. I try not to be overly critical of relatively niche companies as they really don’t have the resources of an Apple etc, but it does get frustrating with these units. The interface has never been overly intuitive. I just don’t understand how a years old 520 Plus will immediately connect to a phone, not drop the Varia, follow the ride on live track and immediately upload the ride after finish while the 530 just does this about 50% of the time well. Tech support is"firmware update" (which it never needs) and “factory reset” (which never solves anything). I like the bigger/better display, battery life and speed of the thing though…
I am sure some will wonder why not Wahoo or other. Like I said I like Garmin Connect for making workouts and courses. I’m a free Training Peaks person and can’t create workouts with a free account. I have had a few Wahoo Bolts and I had such trouble with them draining my phone’s battery I went back to Garmin.
My personal view: I give the x40 line a big thumbs up. I put a 1040 on my road bike last year. And I got an 840 at initial release this year. I had a 520, 530, and then 840 for the TT bike. The x40 UI is much better, and if it fits the budget, I highly recommend the 840. The reason is that it really works well as touch and the 840 has all the hard buttons as the 5xx line. (In the past, the 8xx series shorted buttons.)
The dynamic Climb Pro is excellent. I have been using that on the 1040 and Hammerhead, and it is every bit as good. And the touch configuration is the bomb - it is so much easier than the hard-button variant. Oh yeah, setup of your ANT+ & BLE devices is beautiful compared to prior generations.
I have to push the little sync button, top right of Garmin Connect on iphone, to get a ride to load up from the 540. My Forerunner watch does that automatically.
I’ve been in the Garmin universe for six months. I still have no idea what is a widget.
That is what I mean, I can mostly get the 530 to sync, if I force it to. The thing that prompted this question in the first place was Saturday. I was doing a self time trial and had placed it in a pocket in my skin suit without making sure it was connected. Of course the live track didn’t start, and I was not about to dig the thing out to start it manually. My wife lost track of time and was getting concerned when she thought I was late. She went to check the tracking, and of course there was nothing there. The 520 Plus does it automatically every time.
The “rave” reviews of the 840 are interesting though, I just have to justify the cost.
I love my 540 way more than my 530. Did a 30 mile ride yesterday and used a whole 5% of the power. Hooks right up to my radar unit and play nice with it too. My 530 would turn the light on constantly on after I started my ride and during the day I want it to warn me and go one when I’m approached by a vehicle to my rear. I totally disagree while DC Rainmaker and love the buttons.
Mine 540 is a keeper. Did buy the battery only since the solar is no where near perfected. Still have to charge the solar and the little charge you do get of the sun is very little.
Wishlist item? Garmin make the computers wireless chargeable and or make the solar really work.
So, not a direct ansewr to your question.
But… I pickedup the 840 Solar about 2 weeks ago, so far I am absolutly loving it.
Though I am aslo noticing what others have mentioned, you need to “force” sync it on your phone after a ride while the 830 and 1030 that I had before synched automaticly as soon as you saved the ride on the edge.
So I did a bit of digging, apparently your phone needs to be unlocked and then it will sync automatically.
So if you finish a ride with the phone in your pocket you just need to quickly unlock your phone, but you do not need to open garmin connect or force sync it.
And that is what is so frustrating about about four or so 530’s I have tried. They have had to be forced synced about half the time while the 520 Plus syncs before I even walk up the steps into the house. I don’t even lock my phone. I actually ordered a used 830. Try that first.
yeah this is really weird. I have the 520, and as I’m rolling up to my house on my bike my ride will be uploaded as soon as my wifi is in range. my phone is not even part of the equation.