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TECH NEWS
Garmin reveal Edge 810 and 510 GPS computers +video
Garmin have launched two brand new GPS computers today, the Edge 810 and 510 GPS computers, which feature smartphone connectivity, live tracking and weather updates and easy social media sharing.
Externally, the 810 is virtually identical to the previous 800. The same dimensions and colour touchscreen, with no improvement in the resolution. The 510 meanwhile has a larger form factor, and gets a full colour screen and improved interface over the current 500.
The Edge 810 has a 2.6in colour screen with a 17 hour battery life and is compatible with optional detailed street or TOPO maps including BirdsEye Satellite Imagery. The Edge 510 has a new larger 2.2in colour touchscreen display and is compatible with both GPS and GLONASS satellites for faster satellite acquisition and improved signal lock. The 510 offers the promise of a 20 hour battery life.
We expected there might be a big update for the popular Edge series in our 2013 predictions and trends article, but it’s clear from the name this is a smaller update than we might have expected. There’s a lot more functionality packed inside both new computers however, and both now boast the ability to connect to your smartphone so you can do cool things like live tracking and easier sharing of your ride data through various social media networks. Perhaps most useful of all to us UK cyclists is the live weather mode. The Edge 510 does everything the 810 does bar the navigational stuff.
The new Garmin Connect Mobile app (runs on iOS and Android) hooks up to the new Edge via Bluetooth so you can post details of your ride straight to Facebook or Twitter the moment you step of the bike at the end of a ride. No waiting to plug the Edge into a computer before you can share. In a world where more and more people are using smartphones and tablets, this is a smart move by Garmin.
Live tracking means family and friends can follow your ride from the comfort of the sofa. This will be of limited interest to many people, but for big races and challenge rides it is a good way of letting anyone interested track your progress live.
Perhaps more useful is the real-time weather forecasts and alerts the Edge 810 can serve up when paired with your smartphone. Now you could adjust your ride accordingly if there is a storm approaching. I wonder if it would be possible to ensure you always finish a ride with a tailwind?
The new Garmin Connect Mobile app will also make it easier to download routes and activities to your Garmin. Simply choose a route you want to follow and send it from your smartphone to the Edge computer.
The Edge 810 now does mutliple bikes and activities more easily, which those people who use their current Garmin on different bikes will appreciate. So you can easily swap it from your mountain bike to your road bike and back to your cyclocross bike. You can adjust the displayed data for each activity, so you could display a power based output on the road bike and switch to heart rate data on the cyclocross bike.
“With these new connected Edge devices, riders can continue to expect robust data, industry leading accuracy and durability that cyclists have come to know from Garmin,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “Using the connectivity through smartphones, we will enable cyclists to take advantage of features such as real-time tracking and instant uploads, while keeping their phones safe in their saddle bags and relying on the power of the Edge on their handlebars, to provide accurate data in all conditions.”
The aftermarket silicone protective cases are now available in some bright colours to complement the colour of your bike.
More info at www.garmin.com
Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.
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39 comments
This may sound off, but the life of the battery is what I like most. Not all phones can last that long.
Parker,
Spectra
Re mounting phones on handlebars, and mounts not being up to it + smartphone screens being power-hungry and eating the batteries within hours....
Have a look at: http://www.wahoofitness.com/RFLKT/
It's a head-unit for smart-phones. Battery lasts ages. Communicates via bluetooth with your phone. At the moment, they only seem to have an app for iPhone, but perhaps the programming specs could be coaxed from them and/or they'll support Android at some point.
It's probably not a useful option right now, but definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
something we're going to see more and more, i think. wahoo are very much tied in with the iphone right now but no doubt they'll expand to android too.
devices like the pebble and sony's liveview are other options
Connected Edges! Are they able to show me where my mates are going? That would be a killer feature for anyone who has ever been late from a group ride.
I agree about poor quality mounts Dave A. Even dedicated cycle computor mounts fail in my experience.
The gps should still be live even though the screen is in blank mode. most phones just require a touch of the screen to light up.
Even my sony experia arc s works for an entire ride of 5hr+. There arn't any good bike mounts at all for this phone or battery boosters!
I made one out of a silicone cover,extra rubber underneath(to absorb road shocks) neatly cabletied to stem and bars. you have to prise phone in and out of it to remove and replace it everytime, being the only downside.
Another reason to go for an iphone...loads of acessories available for them!
Please have a look at the wahoo site, as its mounts are some of the best (although as an engineer,they also can be improved!) I have physically seen them and used one to test the iphone cyclemeter app on my bikes.
i have tried cases with a built in battery, btw. although i've yet to try one i'd really recommend
Can you get those Garmin boys to schwag one or two !!!
If Endomondo makes your iPhone go flat in 'a couple of hours' you have a problem with your phone.
My year old iPhone 4 lasted the whole of the Dunwich Dynamo running Endomondo, though it was flat when I pressed 'stop' on the beach. That's 10 hours of continuous recording (yeah, I certainly wasn't the fastest out there).
Sorry all,forgot to mention some of the better iphone holders for cycles have an additional battery built in to increase ride time!
Save your money everyone! I have been using various garmin products now,poor quality,poor backup and service. edges are great as a cycle computor,lots of glitches though. satnav maps etc,are complete crap. Buy an Iphone and install cyclemeter app. I promise you wont look back! Invest in a good waterproof mount.its compatible with ANT+ and bluetooth heartrate straps,powermeters,cadence transmitters. (I was anti iphone til I borrowed a mates one with this app,I was very impressed!)
i wouldn't mount my phone to my bars, personally, having tried it on several occasions. I've yet to find a mount for a smartphone that really does the job, and phones aren't really designed for it. plus, any ride over about 3 hours is touch and go with my phone's GPS on and any kind of screen usage - you can't leave it on all the time or you'll get even less battery life. it's a faff to have to turn the phone on every time you want to see the map, and you have to wait for a GPS fix too.
if you just want to log your ride, phones can be good. but for more than that, i find a dedicated unit a *much* better option
@Colin Peyresourde: my 800 works perfectly fine with my MBA (Mountain Lion).
No problems connecting Strava or My Garmin. BaseCamp unfortunately is a dumbed-down version of Mapsource and hopeless for creating bike-specific routes easily. Also, it is way too much hassle to export routes from Google Maps to the 800. Garmin, get your act together!
Given that the 810 adds little useful functionality to that of my 800 (I have no interest in bike-specific displays, I know what I want to have displayed - the display has been configured to my requirements - and I want that to see on all my bikes), I see no need to upgrade until Garmin improve the route creation process, either in BaseCamp or with a connection to Google Maps.
@Pauldmorgan: Yes, GPS works in aeroplane mode, at least with Android generally.
I gotta admit to being a techie/gadget addict and yet i find myself trying to balance the cost Vs function designs of these Vs mobiles.
I havent used any Garmins and currently use 2 devices to track my rides/performance; Polar CD800Cad and a iPhone4s with Strava and a spreadsheet.
Polar does speed, cadence, time and HR well, logs about 15 rides and clears the oldest to leave room for new rides. Wire free but loads of cable ties and 2 big sensors. Display is great and HR works well.
Communication is via my fingers and a spreadsheet as I dont use a PC anymore, smartphone only.
Strava we all know, it also tracks distance, always different from the bikes actual, logs my route for others to see and gives me some additional performance stats like segments and gradients that can be broken down easily enough.
I dont have issues with my iPhones battery though I dont often do rides over 4 hours. I do use Airplane mode when I do club runs as they tend to be longer times rides and Strava hasnt has an issue as yet but I have lost one short ride doing the same, just one though.
Non of the Garmins do everything either but the 510 looks to do things much better albeit with a cadence sensor being required.
The communication via bluetooth looks excellent against having to addon an adapter to a smartphone or plug it into a pc physically, still not foolproof as BT is problematic at best but the link to a smartphone is the main key for me in this scenario.
Id not have to take a mobile and bike computer on myrides anymroe...except I always would as I like to have emergency backup of a phone and I use the camera loads. The iPhone also has great mapping options for review rather than direction in my case and the battery will never be in doubt if using a Garmin.
This will be on my list, as will testing one at a sportive that rents them for the day.
Best start saving for a 510 then...
Hi Farky,why don't you use your iphone only? cyclemeter app is excellent,can be used with bluetooth or ant+ cadence,speed,heartrate or power transmitters.there are wahoo waterproof h/bar holders with extra battery power too. you can use good mapping with it and you only need to carry one gadget! Having owned various garmin products that have been great when they work,but unreliable,glitchy,and worst thing of all poor support/backup.Having bought the edge 705,then the 800 I have given up,£800 on those two products alone,(god knows how much have spent on their car satnavs!!!)I always was against the apple iphone (I have android sony) But borrowed a mates iphone4,its excellent! you can view a ride and info on the phone at any stage,whereas the garmins have to be downloaded to a pc.(who carries one of those on a ride?...Exactly!)
Try the cyclemeter app (£2.99) It should pair up with your polar transmitters if they are ant+. You may have to check exactly what works with your model of iphone,if you go to cyclemeter site there should be a link to wahoo site to help you. if you dont like it,you have only lost £2.99,a lot less than the cost of a garmin edge510!!!
I've been using a 705 for years and the navigation/mapping is handy but I could live without it. The live tracking is pretty good as the wife does worry when I go out on those cold dark nights....despite the fact I'm a mobile advert for exposure lights.
Any chance of doing a long term review, maybe reader input based, since I find that these devices are all very well when shiny and new, but a few months later, when the battery life is vanishing, the mount has broken, a button has failed or the device crashes regularly mid ride then you really regret buying X, Y or Z model as you struggle with customer services. Maybe do a survey?
Like the update to the 510 but the 810? Im not convinced at all by - it appears a bit desperate.
The mapping on the 800 and 810 is a right mess - first thing you need to do is go and download a different map...why? you shell out all that cash only to find the main reason you bought it (maps) are rubbish.
Ultimately these devices need to compete with mobiles and not many products survive in that space - the future is clearly some kind of front end dum device that extracts and displays data from your mobile in your pocket...
'Live weather'? Don't you experience this for free when you are out on your bike? I look at the forecast before I go out, but once I've left I'm going to get wet if it rains, aren't I?
Will these versions work with a Mac? I have a terrible time with uploading data from my 800.
The mobile link sounds great. But will it work with an iPhone!
Sorry. My little grumble since the after sales service and support I've received since my purchase was lousy.
Do WADA know about this?
I love that video, makes me
I'm sure JV sits in a darkened control room in front of multiple screens. All he needs is a white cat to be a bond villain!
Put your phone into aeroplane mode and it'll *greatly* increase the battery life (easily 2 or 4 × more)
Does the GPS tracking work in aeroplane mode? If not then the extra battery life would be a bit pointless!
So I'm out riding, its windy from the SE and warmish. I push a button on my GPS-enabled £350 mega-device and it tells me it's windy from the SE and warmish?
On another subject, please get in touch if you are interested in the old rope I'm trying to sell
Great timing Garmin, you really know how to piss off all those people who got an 800 for Christmas !
@mikeprytherch - getting an 800 for xmas - I wish!
This update seems essentially a software one at least on the 810. I was hoping for an improvement in the screen and the same kind of ease of use that you get with a smartphone app allied to the Garmins internals. Bluetooth is welcome but is still a bit clunky and this seems an opportunity wasted unless of course another device is planned.
Anyone want to buy a 1 month old 800 - VGC
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