hammond9705

I have a 500 and 800. Love the 500, so-so on the 800. I only use the 800 when I want routing, but it is often frustrating with routing

I don't understand the 1000. Personally I think I would use the 500 and a phone for routing

StanSeven

No it's not. Garmin also is not a software or hardware vendor. They are GPS vendor with a track record of very poor performance with new products and customer support.

Darth Steele

I have the 810 and I am disappointed by the limited functionality, especially with the virtual partner/training partner.

for example, it gives you an average speed but that average speed is for an entire course. Sometimes during training I push myself hard on certain sections/segments. But there is no way to do know how I am doing relatives to other times I have ridden that same segment.

Same goes for heart rate.

inspclouseau

GPS is a technology that needs hardware to run on and software to run, present, & calculate it.

Drew Eckhardt 

$1000+ for a bike computer is way too much (those of us with power meters would need new ones which speak bluetooth not ANT+).

If you don't want a Garmin the Joule GPS and Mio are ANT+ compatible.

raqball

The 810 is a mess.... Never again!

I see a few claim they don't have the issues that are plaguing the 810. Maybe they are not using the features? Maybe they have a unicorn 810?

I don't use live feed but everyone I've spoken to says it's broken and does not work. Weather is broken and does not work. The training partner feature is half baked like Darth Steele mentions above.

The 810 is a disaster! I guess in all fairness, speed and distance work just fine... LOL

Understood.. I guess I just wish Garmin would fix the buggy / non working features before it's abandoned for the 1000...

Darth Steele

I use my Garmin every day, I can truly say that a $100 cadence/heart rate/speedometer from CatEye would have met my needs.

I thought that the Garmin 810 was a serious device for hard core riders and their training...nope, that training partner is just good for average speed. And as others have pointed I have never been able to see the weather on my device. Also, save the money and buy the 510, the 810 mapping features are useless.


to beat a dead horse... you ride up a mountain at a high speed and coast down. The Garmin will treat it as someone that takes it easy up and pushes it on the downhill. Interval training/Hill repeats are not tracked very well on the Garmin since it only gives average speed (not per segment)

kleng

What version of the firmware are you running ? the latest is 2.90, maybe some of the bugs have been corrected ?

I've had my 810 a year with no problems at all, I like the small form factor, 15hr battery life and directional mapping (like a car gps), which the Polar v650 doesn't have.

Because of the long battery life and mapping, I also use it for hiking and exploring new places.

Darth Steele

and pissed me off underneath is that the 1000 is probably the same hardware as the 910 with a new OS. Yes, the 810 has been abandoned by Garmin

raqball

I have 2.90..

Agree!

roadiejorge 

Some features seem nice but not for that price tag and considering that I don't read texts or answer calls while riding, those functions are lost on me.

Drew Eckhardt 

Training dictates pacing off power or heart rate which indicate the same effort regardless of whether you've got a head-wind, tail-wind, slower tires, faster tires, or have made position changes that are better or worse.

A "virtual training partner" is a gadget for less than serious cyclists.

You hit lap when you begin an interval, then a second time when you finish.

Lap power, lap heart rate, and lap speed are all available data fields.

My issues are all with the software quality and user interface (hangs, edge 500 won't start recording other metrics until it acquires a GPS signal, total miles stop accumulating when there are too many activities stored).

That's probably because Garmin considers software engineers fungible and therefore has limited experience evaluating their quality and hiring good ones as suggested by their move to close the San Francisco Garmin Connect office and move that development to Olathe KS.

TheSame

The Garmin 1000 looks interesting to me.

Some things that stand out to me.
- txt / phone alerts - Sometimes people get dropped / lost on social rides. Gotta find them. or if the wife is trying to find you.
- Segments (Though, I really think they Garmin should buy Strava and fully integrate them instead of recreating something that already exists).
- Bigger / Better / hi res screen (i'm using the Edge 510... and the screen is very mediocre)
- Faster cpu.... I wish my 510 booted faster and was more responsive

it's pricey... but what bike stuff isn't? $1000+ power meters? Dura ace to save 200grams? carbon parts?

btw... i'm also really happy with my Garmin 510. it's not perfect... but its much better than my old Cateye computer.
I'm not looking to upgrade. But.. it's nice to see Garmin developing better / feature rich devices.

kleng

The weather seems to work on the iphone, location services might need some settings in the iphone, setting/ privacy / location services / garmin connect ON,
I am assuming your using and iphone and it's blue tooth connected to the 810. Apparently the android version of Garmin connect does not support the weather.

You can see both units align

WHOOOSSHHH...

Why would you do that to someone?

Bacciagalupe

The "Virtual Racer" is what you're looking for. You can use your past efforts or a downloaded activity, so it won't use an overall average course speed as its guide.

So. That's 1 feature that works fine, 1 superfluous feature that you don't use, and 1 feature that does seem to work.

Yup, definitely "broken." Much in the same way that putting out a firmware update 2 months ago is an indication that Garmin has "abandoned" the product.


Speed, distance, courses, re-routing, tracking, ANT+, HR, power, bike profiles, custom screens, etc etc all seem to work just fine.

I'm sure that like every other Garmin product, it will take them forever to get everything really solid. But I have no qualms in saying that the 810 is fully functional.


As to the 1000, I would agree that it's a bit over the top. I'd assume it's not really designed to sell a lot; more likely is it's part of a pricing strategy. By offering a moonshot item at an insane price, the other models seem more reasonable in comparison (and yes, this is well-known behavior).

Darth Steele

not exactly what I was talking about. I want to design/download a course where I define certain metrics for certain segments. So for example on segment one I can set an alert for heart rate lower than 160 and speed lower 20 miles. Where as on a hill segment I might want an alert for speeds lower than 15 miles.

Also to take your "lap recommendation further". Why do I have to hit a button why can't I design a lap segments when I create a course? I guess that I want better features on Garmin Connect.

but hey.. I use my Garmin 810 every day, I just think some features could have been better designed. Basically the 1000 has "segments" and that is what I want as well.

anyway Drew, I will explore the lap feature(s), thanks for pointing that it can do more than I am using it for.

jsutkeepspining

I have a garmin 810 that i never really use. I had to use it while in hawaii to show me where to go. it crashed every time i used it, and the live track feature would bug out within miles. Garmin's have too many useless features, and too many necessary features that don't work (ask anyone who owns a garmin own many files they've lost). Overall, if i was looking to buy a garmin i would go with a 500, they worked a lot better, and right now it's software has been finalized and "perfected". However, my pc7 is a heck of a lot better.

raqball

Just because they put out an update 3 months ago does not mean they have not abandoned it.. To my knowledge, their update fixed pretty much nothing...

Yes all these functions are working just fine.. I never use live track but I hear it is still busted and does not work.. The 2 features I really want to work don't.. Instant upload after ride and Weather..

TheSame

On my Edge 510, Live track works most of the time. i've had maybe 1-2 rides where it dropped.

velocity

My 510 works great no problems. I have turn by turn and it lets me know well in advance of the turn coming. Did STP without being dropped and I think that is because I use AT&T (another thread). I have the virtual partner geared toward my current average and not the course so the challenge is always on. Weather is a feature that I use at the beginning of the ride rather than a long it so I can not tell you if it works or not. I am not satisfied that I have got my money out of the 510- I need at least a couple of more years using it and then Ill move on. But for now all is good.
V

StanSeven

There's your Garmin problem. The time has funny numbers and it and your phone have funny temperature readings.

FLvector

The 500 does routing as well. Just import the route as a TCX file and you'll have turn by turn directions and a snail trail to follow.

shyonelung

FYI until May 31, Garmin is offering a $100 rebate after purchase. I'm serious thinking about getting either a Garmin or the new Polar V650. This thread has been helpful. I have a very basic polar computer that does cadence and heart rate. I'm ready to upgrade but, l'm on the fence deciding what to get.

Gus90

my 810 had some issues losing connection to iphone but has been fine since last software update. At least so far.