Do I want the Garmin 810 or 520

Triathlon Forum
1

Here are the features I want:

  • At least navigation to the extent of a notice and an arrow showing where to go next (i.e. in 250 ft turn right)

  • Ability to get about 8 different sections of data on one screen

  • Quick and easy wireless upload ability after ride

  • smaller, compact device (i.e. I don’t want some big hunkin thing that looks like a huge smartphone on my beautiful sleek ride)

  • Stays charged for a reasonably long time 8+ hours

  • live tracking

  • Reliability, reliability, reliability

  • Easy to create and download courses

2

If you’ll be doing a lot of navigation then you’ll want an 810, but I think the 520 is a better device - overall.

3

Both should be able to do what you want it to. The 520 is quite a bit smaller, which is one of your requirements. The 520 also gets you smart notifications (calls/texts) from your phone if that matters to you. You want live tracking, so seems like your phone will be with you.

I was wondering why they didn’t come out with a 820…but it seems to me that the 520 has bridged most of the gap as far as map functionality. If you want the bigger screen, you probably get the 1000.

4

520 is awesome device.

5

520 is a rocket…had the 510 and now with the 520 it works perfectly as well as for the beautiful screen.

6

Surely an 820 is in the pipeline. I own an 810, thinking the navigation would be great, but ultimately I never use maps. If navigating a potentially tricky route I was just as happy following a bread crumb trail on my older edge 500.

If I had to choose 520 vs 810, I Would go 520. If you totally need help navigating, there is always a phone.

7

If you are not travelling the 520 is what you want, I have been lucky enough to travel a few times (costa rica, california, alps, etc) with my 810 and it has been invaluable in those situations.

8

As far as navigation, I almost always ride in the same area. I would like, though, when I am doing a planned ride where they have cue sheets to be able to put in the route and not carry a cue sheet of if I want to try a few different roads, I can just put the course in.