Considering Garmin 830, but...
 

I have the Garmin 820 and was quite happy with it until the Bluetooth connection no longer worked with my iPhone 11. I've attempted to reconnect it to my iPhone 11 multiple times, including directions from a few people here, but it still does not connect. Once I get home or to my office where both the 820 and my iPhone connect to the same WiFi, the ride will download to my iPhone. But I no longer have real-time connectivity between the 820 and iPhone during a ride. This drives me crazy. I've heard of Garmin 820 Bluetooth problems from many, but not all owners. I want to know if the Bluetooth connectivity with the Garmin 830 is more reliable from those of you who already have the Garmin 830.

Thanks, Bob

It works great on Android. My friend with an iPhone had problems at first. I'll ask him to comment.

I had a Garmin 530, and the BT connection was the fatal flaw that led me to send it back. iPhone 6 with latest OS.

It’s a Garmin problem. I had multiple BT issues with iPhones since I began using Garmin units. When I switched a few weeks ago to an Android phone, my BT issues went away. MOSTLY. Garmin just doesn’t invest in the effort to make this stuff work well. I have a saved file that details the methods to dump and restore the BT settings and I had to do it about once a month.

Yeah, I had to do it every single day: had to "forget" the connection on the phone, the app, and the device, then re-pair them all and answer the Garmin app's questions about whether I use a powermeter and such. I did that for about three days in a row (about ten minutes each time) before giving up. But, for the OP: I now remember that my iPhone 6 was NOT running the latest ios, as that phone would not accommodate it. So, perhaps the Garmin stuff will work better with the latest phones...? Dunno.

I went to a Wahoo Roam, and it's charging failed within six weeks, so it got returned too. I did decide that, if I do try another newer computer, it'll be a Wahoo -- much better UI. For now, though, my old Lezyne still works well, even if it is a bit basic.

Well a Garmin/Apple software problem. Garmin and Apple for whatever reason have never gotten along. Who's at fault between the two I have no idea.

My last workplace, for years, we BEGGED the IT folks for our own dedicated wifi LAN that could be managed in house with just a passkey uname. Reason being we every week had guests come--and they'd always bring Apple products on the road...and the managed wifi guest LAN was known to never work with Apple products.

Agree, it's also an Apple problem. Apple is the 800 lbs gorilla and can do nothing wrong, so good luck getting them to deal with it. I like to think that Garmin would be more likely to try to solve the issues, but in the past 3-4 years, they have not stepped up to the plate either

Makes me wonder if the problems I have with my car BT are because it's designed to work with apple.

Garmin was never very responsive until Wahoo came along. I think Wahoo needs to put out a more competitive device before Garmin will really fix things like this.

Given that car manufacturers are not always so great at digital technology and software, your problems must be due to Apple.

(My car doesn't seem to have any problems with Apple or Android.)

I'm not sure what you are trying to communicate, but you have failed at it. My previous car had no issue at all with my phone. This new car makes me go through settings gymnastics almost every drive. Both toyotas.

eta: Toyota is definitely apple centric nowadays, but it appears that my issues are with the version of android I'm using. Which is too bad, because I'm stuck with it unless I try to side-load a different version.

I was asked to troubleshoot a family member's Toyota in dash unit and their Android...was like a 2012 car and a Sammy S8. Which back then were established product very common in the ecosystem. Well, first thing I did was check Toyota's official phone/car compatibility on their site...according to Toyota, of 400 some advertised features only half worked. And that was according to Toyota themselves. And that was a Sammy S8, basically 'Android' to everyone not a phone enthusiast.

Well. Second stop was looking at their pairing app on the Google Play store. EnTune. Best rated most liked review read, and I quote; 'You're better off f----ing taping your phone to your god d-----ed dashboard'.

So, it doesn't seem your problem is related to Apple at all.

Toyota wasn't particularly Apple-centric. I know people who have been using non-Apple products for years in older Toyotas.

Maybe, you are talking about Car Play but that's a recent concern of Toyota and doesn't use Bluetooth at all.

You really don't know why it doesn't work. There's no real evidence that it's some sort of conspiratorial "apple bias". It could be other things (including just flaky automobile manufacturing software versions).

There are much fewer versions of iOS and Apple hardware to support and Apple might put some effort into making sure they work the same.

"Android" is a much-more ambiguous target to support. Much older versions of Android are still in use and there are many, many more different phones made by many more different companies. And there is likely much more effort put into making sure they all work the same.

Thanks to all who replied. Any information, specifically about the BT reliability with the 830?

I had the Edge 520 and moved to the 530 this year. BT is vastly improved in the 530. IMO, the "connected" features such as Incident Detection were totally unusable on the 520 but are rock solid on the 530.

Not exactly the info you're looking for, but maybe comparable.