Ubie

Not convinced this is legit, but the Adorama site has links to the Garmin Edge 540 and 840 head units up. The images are all the same, but they list specs and pricing:

540
https://www.adorama.com/gp0100269400.html

540 Solar
https://www.adorama.com/gp0100269420.html

840
https://www.adorama.com/gp0100269500.html

840 Solar
https://www.adorama.com/gp0100269520.html

Koyote

According to the link, the 840 Solar costs $550 and has 32 hour battery life; I'm trying to understand why anyone would buy it, when the 1040 non-solar costs just $50 more and has longer battery life -- and a much larger screen.

PeteHski

I agree on the price comparison. Although some people may still prefer the smaller profile. To be honest that's why I originally chose the 530 over the 1030, but I've since changed my mind and would now prefer a bigger screen! Especially if the cost is more or less the same.

Koyote

Yeah, I suppose the smaller size might appeal to some, and perhaps some people prefer buttons to a touchscreen. But the 1040's size is its best feature: it allows me to include more data fields, and yet each is more legible (at a quick glance) than on a smaller screen. I also find a touchscreen much easier to use than buttons. But that's just me.

PeteHski

I have no doubt that a touchscreen is better for set up off the bike and map zooming/scrolling, but I'll need convincing it's better on bike and can deal with wet conditions and gloves etc. Does the 1040 still have physical buttons for start/stop and scrolling through display screens etc?

Koyote

Start/stop, yes -- though saving the ride is on the touchscreen. No option for scrolling with buttons.

I've not ridden in the rain yet with the 1040. Maybe I'll go out to my garage today with a spray bottle and try it out.

pdlamb

As @PeteHski notes, the push buttons on the 5X0 series are better than a touchscreen when it's wet (or when the rider is sweating heavily!). The 10X0 series mitigates the effects of water, somewhat, if you lock the screen -- but I normally notice that after I've inadvertently changed screens by dripping on the device.

OTOH, on a dry cool day, the easy of a touchscreen makes the 5X0 seem clunky with its fussy "push button 3 to scroll down, then push button 2 to perform a function, or button 4 to do something else. Remember to push button 5 to go backwards through the menu structure."

So it's yet another case of pick your poison.

Koyote

Another benefit of the 1040's huge screen is the ability to run sooo many data fields (with each still being large enough for easy legibility) that there's not much reason to switch screens very often.

PeteHski

That would be good if you could check it out. It's not often I would need to scroll through the screens, but I do sometimes flick briefly to the nav page to check my route. Ideally, it would be nice to have both the buttons and touchscreen but I guess we can't have everything. I find the buttons work really well while actually riding, but not so great when navigating through setup menus off the bike. Although it's more the poor UI than the actual buttons that make it hard work. Nav map scrolling with the buttons is terrible too, but thankfully I don't need to do that very often.

Koyote

I'm not experienced in making videos, and I only have two hands, so didn't bother trying. But I did try it in order to report back to you. The Garmin allows left/right swipes to change through data screens and to access the map page, and up/down swipes to go to the homescreen and to access the widgets; it also allows you to change data fields by pressing individual sections of the screen.

After drenching the 1040, I found that it moved to the home screen and the widget screens as it does normally, and allowed me to change out data fields and such -- but swiping left/right to different data screens and the map screen didn't work. After wiping it off, I gave it a lighter spritz of water, and it worked just fine in all respects.

This mirrors my experience using the 1040 with gloves. If a glove is designed with the touchscreen-compatible fingertips, it works great in all respects; even if a glove doesn't have that feature, I can swipe up and down to access the home screen and the widgets, but have more trouble swiping left/right.

DC Rainmaker did post a long video and found that it worked fine for him, but I didn't see him trying to swipe between data and map screens.

It's all good for me, since I am running seven data fields on my main page, and don't regularly have the need for anything else..And even if I do, I usually use the 1040 with my Di2 bike, and I have the aux buttons programmed to scroll through screens.

I'm wondering if the touchscreen might actually be even better for riders who often find themselves in the rain. I mean, do you want a lot of buttons, each of which is a potential point of water ingress?

If I haven't already made it abundantly clear, I think the 1040 is absolutely brilliant, and would be happy even if I'd paid full retail price for it.

Hope this helps!

​​​​​​

PeteHski

Thanks for taking the trouble to do this. It sounds like it wouldn't be a problem unless riding in extreme conditions and at that point it would be the least of my worries! Although I have done a couple of major events in appalling conditions, with everything completely soaked and my 530 worked fine.

unterhausen

Is that a legit site? I have never heard of them before

Koyote

Adorama.com is legit, though it's known more for discount camera gear. Back when I was into photography, I used to order from them all the time.

Ubie

Yeah, they're based in NYC with brick and mortar stores and everything. In the past I've gotten astronomy equipment, SLR cameras (film, natch!) and recently a Fender guitar.

The links are dead now, and I'll probably get my next Garmin from REI due to the member money I have saved up. This is the only place I've seen anything remotely indicating and imminent release though.

Ubie

These look to officially be on sale everywhere now.

znomit

Up on garmin now.

https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/798938

Steve B.

DC Rainmaker has a review

DC Rainmaker

Koyote

Here they are on the Garmin site.

I still don't see the value proposition for the 840 solar at $550, as it has a shorter claimed battery life than the 1040 non-solar at $600.

znomit

No real reason to upgrade from the 30 series unless you want better button control on the 840.

PS, I never knew there was a wired power mount for the garmins. I wasted a few minutes looking until I saw the price, 180 US$ with cable. They really don't wan't people buying this or the similarly exorbitant power pack.
https://www.garmin.com/en-US/p/784702/pn/BUNDLE-EPM-UAC

tempocyclist

I prefer the smaller profile and screen of the 800-series, but ask me again in five years and I may be singing a different tune! 👴😂

Koyote

The 1040 screen is so large that I can run MORE data fields, and each one is even easier to read, than on a smaller computer.

drewguy

You could buy a $30 Anker pack and wire that up instead . . .

znomit

I usually use a Magicshine RN900 light. Provides usb charging as well as being a decent backup light.
https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005002014707360.html

Koyote

Pete, I need to amend my earlier post on this -- when I sprayed water on the 1040 screen to see how well it worked. I reported a little difficulty swiping to different screens, but no difficulty swiping up or down to get to the home screen or to widgets.

I discovered why it would not swipe left/right during my test: I had it set to "Road" profile, and I only had one screen for that! I had not even turned on the ability to swipe over to the map. So, it wouldn't swipe because there was only one screen. I almost never use the Road profile, so only now figured this out. I was looking into this because I have now ridden several times in the rain (sometimes in hard rain, like today), always in Gravel profile (in which I have several screens), and it has always worked perfectly in all respects.

Hope this helps!