revchuck

All I've seen have been 520s or PC8s. The 510 has been discontinued for a while, though they last for a few years. I have to wonder about how many riders they polled.

spectastic

I tried using the 510 at one point. It was a lot like using tinder. *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *swipe* *finally does what you want*

and yea, I guess 500 it is then.. I'll just go off of RPE whenever I decide to try out new routes. nbd..

It would be awesome if they can make the 500 more customizable..

tetonrider

i have a used 500 i've been thinking of selling. works perfectly. i just reinforced the tabs (proactively) using this thing from dogearsgps.com (recommended, by the way). still have the original box.

i also have an older 800 and an 820; the 820 is new in the box.

i think the 520 & 820 are now the same size; the 820 has better routing ability -- i think it can create routes on the fly and re-route you if you make a change while riding. the 520 can only do routing from one's computer. if that is important, definitely verify it because i've never turned on the 820.

also have a PC8 new in the box (black) in case anyone is interested. probably will list all of those on eBay in the next couple days, unless someone here wants any of them.

miyata man

Euro pros are notoriously resistant to change. I'll try to track down the article.

globecanvas

I'll put in a strong vote for the 520. IMO the 520 is the 500 with all of the bad features fixed. You can load very good open source maps, which makes the mapping very good. The other major upgrades from the 500 are wireless uploading, which I wouldn't have considered a big deal but now I wouldn't want to live without, and the ease of customization. The 500 annoys the heck out of me how it has fixed size arrangements for the fields. Like if you want 5 fields, you have to have one big and 4 tiny.

Ttoc6

I bought an elemnt for the mapping. Mapping has definitely made a huge improvment in my riding, but also my racing. I put the route on before hand and I can see "ahead" on the descents. It's soo nice knowing if a corner coming up is something I need to come out of tuck for or I can sit. Sometimes you can't see around the corner and it's sharp, other times its very slight.

mike868y

the 520 is the only garmin i've had, but i really quite like it. it just works for me, wireless uploading as you mentioned is great, and the mapping seems good enough to me. also not really sure why what euro pros use matters in this context.

miyata man

toy vs tool

I'll note my preferences fall closer to the old quarter sized bike computers with auto start/stop that ran off a watch battery. My longtime choice for a gps enabled computer has been a Forerunner 305. No smart phone, no PM, nothing that has broken in many years of riding through all four seasons. Sorry this kind of type A fun doesn't appeal so strongly to very many anymore, but I'm happy with just the ride. Half the time I just go ride without it anyways.

topflightpro

When my 500 died, I went PC8. I love it. It's simple to use and has all the info I want. Yeah, it's expensive and lacks a lot of the bells and whistles of the Garmin, but it works. (I tend to like simple tech.)

I do still use my wife's old 500 on the track bike though. I haven't really tried to get the PC8 to pair with her old Garmin Speed/Cadence sensor. It still works well enough. It's chipped on the edges and we had to use a Dogear to fix the mount tabs after she crashed a couple years ago.

She has a 520, but I can't figure out how to use it. (I probably could if I had to, but since I never use it, I don't know how it works.)

miyata man

Word on the street was GPS integration didn't go so well for SRM on their first try. Then Shimano cut them out. As prepared as I was to trade up, interest waned precipitously. Consistency and accuracy like I had in DA 7400 and the aforementioned watch battery computer didn't align.

ancker

510 here. Works fine. Auto-uploads via my phone, which syncs to like 400 other sites via FitnessSyncer.

I had my original 510 stop syncing GPS out of warranty. Called Garmin and they replaced it for free.

When it comes time to replace, I would consider a 520 for the eTap integration, though not sure how useful that information really is. The Stages Dash looks interesting as well.

spectastic

the $820 would be nice, but it's $100 more than the 520. What about the 800? I'm guessing it doesn't do wireless uploading

spectastic

how much battery life do you get?

one thing I love about the 500 that I think I would miss is that I can go on several rides, and not have to worry too much about battery depletion. I imagine the 520 would have to be charged every single time, due to the better screen, glonass gps, bluetooth, etc.

revchuck

I've done a nine hour ride with my 520 and it lasted, though it was down to 4% power at the end. I usually charge it every five hours of use or thereabouts.

globecanvas

500 and 520 have similar battery life. In practice though it's easy to forget to charge the 520, since it uploads rides wirelessly.

Ygduf

I don't keep track, but I feel like I only charge my 520 once a week. I have brightness set on 10% though and never use the maps.

globecanvas

I think the brightness setting only affects the backlight, which is only on for a few seconds after you press a button (unless you specifically set it to "always on" which would just be for night riding). For regular use I don't think the brightness setting really affects the battery life.

Ygduf

I definitely have the backlight duration set to the shortest option as well. anything to preserve battery I selected.

spectastic

do you guys turn off bluetooth and only use it to upload routes? strava live, group tracking, etc all use bluetooth, and just having it on can be a battery suck.

what about glonass? do you have that turned off, because I read that drains battery faster as well.

globecanvas

I leave bluetooth on but only use it to upload routes. the phone call / text alert thing worked for a while, stopped, I never bothered to re-initialize it or whatever. glonass on. battery life is honestly fine -- equivalent to the 500.

revchuck

I keep mine set to "always on" because I often ride around sunrise. Brightness is set at 70%.

globecanvas

That reminds me .. I still use the 500 for trainer rides, because the 520 is impossible to read indoors with the backlight off, and it takes way too many button presses to set the backlight to stay on.

revchuck

That's why I leave mine on all the time.

miyata man

Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.

- Albert Einstein

Harlan

So I got a free TT frame that fits. It's kind of like getting a free puppy because I have to build it up and that won't be cheap.

I'm all about the di2, but pricing it out for a bike I'll race on thrice a year just hurts.

9 or 10s DA with mech bar ends maybe? It's like a couple hundred bucks total. How bad is it for a TT? I haven't ridden mechanical bar ends on aero bars but I have ridden di2 and it's pretty amazing to not have to think about even having to let off the power for more than half a second.