I have a 2010 Edge 800, which works fine plugged into an external battery. I use a charging cable. They don't have the data wires in them, just the charging wires. I've been doing this for so long I don't remember if regular USB cables work or not. I put the external battery pack in my little toptube bag.

Normal USB cables work just fine (I don't own any charging only cables).

I'm probably returning my 820.

Advertised 15 hour battery life is only possible in battery save mode which turns the screen off.
I didn't buy a $400 GPS to ride around with the screen off.

4.5 hours is the actual runtime if you need to monitor effort throughout the ride.


-Tim-

I read that earlier in the thread, Tim. My experience is very different than that. In automatic brightness mode (display light always on) with HR, power meter, and phone all connected, and with 1s sampling, I still have about 30% battery life left at the end of a 5- or 6-hour ride. I did one 8-hour ride without auxiliary battery and still had power at the end of the day. I do between three and six 5-hour rides every month. If I didn't get enough battery life from my 820 to easily cover 5 hours, I wouldn't be happy.

I wonder if you got a bad battery.

I have a 520 and just did a 12 hour day. I turned brightness to 0% and it lasted the entire time. I think I ended the day with a 5% charge. I was constantly scrolling the screen, partially out of boredom, but also to check the elevation and map. It lasted longer than I expected.

Here's a picture of mine from a trail run last month. I'd never been on most of the section of trail I ran. Didn't have cell reception for 50+ miles before I got here.

If I'm in the drops or on the hoods, I can kind of roll my wrist enough to see the watch. It's mostly doing hill repeats where I want a constant eye on my power output that I miss using an Edge.



It nailed this and every trail junction, the creek crossings, etc.

No secret. It's a 500. Per my earlier post, I bought it in 2014, when the 520 was being introduced. Per multiple posts in this forum the 520 had multiple software glitches. My mistake - I believed those posts, and bought the older model.

Good question - and fortunately, the answer is no. The eTrex keeps the route.

I've used it on several 24-hour rides, and when the AAs died, I simply replaced them - and the eTrex kept on working as if there was no interruption. It's inconvenient, but it works.

From what I've read so far, it seems that perhaps just the 500 has non-standard USB wiring. See this thread:
https://www.bikeforums.net/long-dista...ong-rides.html

The 500 definitely does not continue to work while it's being charged with a normal mini-USB cable. I tried it. It simply changes over to "Charging" mode, and does not record while in that mode. Per my reading it was supposed to work with some cross-over wiring, and the Gomadic I bought was supposed to address the problem. Sadly, my Gomadic did not work - and I was not able to record the last 40 miles of a 300 mile race.

So back to my original question, and (to some extent) the original poster's question: How long would the battery last on a Wahoo Elemnt Bolt? (Perhaps that's a question for a different thread?)

You didn't mention the model and implied that the charging issue was general to all Edges.

The 520 was announced 7/2015 (https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2015/07/...-edge-520.html).
The 510 was announced 1/2013 (https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/...th-review.html).

I retuned the 520 and got the 510 for the touchscreen, which I love. I get 12-14 hours out of it. I am looking at the 820 and 1000 though will wait till I see what Garmin comes out with in the next cycle. It has to at least go 8 hours for me to switch.