Garmin Edge 20 GPS Bike Computer

If you want a simple GPS cycling computer for tracking your speed and distance and sharing rides through a popular social training website like Strava, the new Garmin Edge 20 is very easy to use, compact and provides a decent battery life.

The Edge 20 GPS cycling computer costs £110. The more feature-packed Edge 25 (recently reviewed on road.cc - read the review here) costs £140. That £30 difference sees the cheaper Edge 20 do without Bluetooth and ANT+ compatibility, which might not seem like much, but means you can't use a heart rate or cadence sensor with it. And for some, that might be the deal breaker that makes the Edge 25 the better long-term investment.

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Those differences aside, the Edge 20 looks and functions identically to the Edge 25. If you want a GPS cycling computer so you can easily track basic metrics like speed, distance and elevation, and be able to easily upload to the web, using either Garmin Connect or any of the third-party training tools, the Edge 20 works a treat. And because it uses GPS, it's completely wireless and easy to swap between different bikes, with no setup required out of the box.

It's tiny, barely any bigger than the mount, and looks great on the stem. It measures 4 x 4.2 x 1.7cm with a 2.3 x 2.3cm screen. It's light as well, just 25g. Garmin's own quarter-turn mount hardware is a doddle to use and it'll work with the vast number of aftermarket mounts.

The battery is charged via a special cradle that clips to the back of the computer, and the USB lead also uploads your activities to the web. The more expensive Edge 25 allows you to sync it with a compatible smartphone via Bluetooth, so you can upload rides without going anywhere near a computer. Battery life is a claimed eight hours and we got pretty close to that in testing.

The display is sharp and displays just the data you need to see. You get two data screens showing all you really need when you're riding. It's easy to switch between the screens when riding.

>> Check out our guide to cheap GPS cycling computers here

There are four buttons on the unit, to turn it on and off and navigate through the available menus. It's very intuitive to use, no manual is required, and after a couple of minutes you have the measure of the device. The buttons are easy to use with gloves as well.

The top left button switches the Edge 20 on. The top right button is the OK button, while the lower left button takes you back a screen. The lower right button scrolls down (you can only scroll down) through the menus and options. the home screen presents you with Ride, and you can very quickly go straight into action. Scroll down if you want to access your previous activities or adjust any settings.

While there's no actual navigation like the bigger and much more expensive Edge 1000, the course mode does allow you to download a route from Garmin Connect and follow a breadcrumb trail. It's not as easy as following a map, but does keep you on the right track.

Conclusion

The Edge 20 is a very good GPS cycling computer that is easy to use, light, compact, and with a decent battery life. But the lack of ANT+ and Bluetooth compatibility does make the extra £30 for the Edge 25 a better buy if you want to be able to harness heart rate or cadence data.

However, the cost of a heart rate strap, if you don't already have one, has to be factored in. A Garmin heart rate monitor is going to cost you at least another £25 on top of that, so you could be looking at nearly £60 just to add heart rate data. If you're sure you're never going to want to use a heart rate monitor, the Edge 20 will be just fine. If you think you might one day want to upgrade, you're better off buying the Edge 25 in the first place.

Verdict

Small and easy to use, but lack of Bluetooth and ANT+ compatibility is a limiting factor