Originally Posted by
Steve B.
A decent model designed for touring is the Edge Explore, sells for around $250. Doesn’t have a lot of the functions related to performance functions - power meter, timed intervals stuff, etc... it’s a more basic unit with a touch screen (useful for panning and zooming a map) as well as a
larger screen than the 520 Plus, which is a button control unit.
I own Edge Explore and it is not a "more basic unit" compared to 520 Plus - it is basically Edge 1030 hardware (with a slightly smaller screen) that is artificially limited by its software in some areas, most notably power meter support.
I take it that most of these units you can probably have two profiles setup and just select the profile you want when you are going to ride.
Not with Garmin - even if some of the devices (not Edge Explore) support multiple profiles they'll all still be assigning mileage to the same default bike
AFAIK. But after the ride is completed you can assign it to the different bike in Garmin Connect. You can also do this on Strava.
Comparing Garmin to Wahoo, the Garmin looks harder to setup and program, relying on the buttons instead of the phone app like Wahoo. Seems like the Wahoo Bolt does GPS as well (albeit not in colour like the Garmin 520) and has turn by turn navigation. I am just wondering if this is redundant and using a phone with GPS would be nearly as effective. I have only ever had basic cycling computers, so I am still learning what features might be useful to have.
It is trivial to setup Garmin (but I'm a software developer, so YMMV) and less reliance on the phone is an advantage. Phone has great navigation capabilities, IMHO better than any bike computer but at the same time IMHO it is a poor choice in practice and something like Edge Explore is better. Phones have higher quality bigger screens, more powerful hardware, more advanced software (and lots of additional software) - and all these things also mean that phones discharge much, much faster compared to dedicated bike computer in navigation mode. They are less reliable - sometimes navigation/ride recording can just stop for some reason (app just sleeps, crashes etc.), GPS sensors or navigation software seem to be less precise (I definitely had more navigation errors with phones using Strava or RWGPS compared to Edge Explore), if you'll not turn on the airplane mode then in areas with poor reception phone during navigation will consume battery as crazy. And if you'll turn on airplane mode then you don't have a phone anymore. Again, if your phone will discharge you can still navigate with Garmin (and with Garmin with full navigational capabilities, like Edge, plot new route, recalculate the existing one, search for POI etc.), in the unlikely case something happens to Garmin, you can use your phone as a backup for navigation or call for help. If it was one device that did both functions now you are stuck without navigation and without way to communicate. Phone screen even though has a higher quality overall, usually has worse visibility in the direct sunlight. It is typically more difficult to use phone app touch UIs during the ride. Also, phone is
WAY more delicate. You'll need a really bulky well protected case for it - while Garmin devices easily survive many drops and crashes even without any case. And if you think that it'll not fall - believe me, it will. In a sense phone feels like a multi-tool compared to a dedicated tool for a job - it can be used but... Some people use two phones - one cheap and less powerful strictly as a bike computer, another one as actual phone.
Originally Posted by
bluehills3149
Most modern bike computers are made to be paired with an app or website where they tally your ride data and you can setup multiple bikes there. You can even jog with a bike computer and designate the activity as a "run". This is why you will not easily find this feature on the computer itself.
I don't think this is the reason. The most likely reason is that bike computer (and in general, fitness equipment) companies have very bad software development departments. They (Garmin in particularly) can produce great hardware but software side of the things is always buggy and user experience is not the best. Unfortunately same can be said about many originally mostly hardware companies (e.g. this is what I immediately feel in any Subaru car - horrendously outdated everything except for actual driving).