I’ve been using a Garmin Edge 520 since I bought it used 8.5 years ago. Now it’s finally time to replace it, as the hard rubber buttons (which have been showing cracks for some time) have started to fall off. I can still use the power button by pressing with a key, but this will happen to other side buttons and then I won’t be able to use them while riding, so it’s time to replace the device, although I may wait til Thanksgiving U.S. sales.
What features in head unit world are worth getting (or at least looking into) these days?
I don’t race, and am not a power user - generally just push rides to Strava and sometimes load routes. The only complaint I’ve ever had with the Edge 520 was inability to load base maps for tours, due to its very limited memory.
I mostly use Strava’s route builder, sometimes load routes from RideWithGPS or elsewhere, though I can fall back to computer-as-middleman for any difficulty transferring or loading routes
prefer long battery life (and not having to think about charging regularly)
In cars, I dramatically prefer buttons over touchscreens, but I haven’t used a touchscreen head unit and don’t know if this preference would transfer
I’ve never had interest in my Garmin showing text messages or calls (typically have my phone in a chalk-bag-type on my handlebar
I’m open to manufacturer - I may get a Varia at some point, but that doesn’t limit me to a Garmin head unit. I don’t use a power meter, although I may finally one at some point. I’m not invested in Garmin’s ecosystem (as much as the company’s apps really want me to be).
Go use a few at a bike store and ask folks who have them to show you how to do what you want. Not because you can’t figure it out, but to see what annoyances you have with each.
I think the 850 is probably the sweet spot these days.
For me, Wahoo seems to be the best of both worlds in terms of sitting between Garmin & Hammerhead.
I love my Karoo, but I hate the screen (impossible to touch it without leaving a fingerprint that invariably then obscures the information beneath it) and I dislike the fact that you can’t seem to do anything useful from the app - by which I mean ALL of the setup is on the actual Karoo screen, which is ok because it’s touch screen and quite user-friendly, but doing it from the app would be way nicer. The mapping is nice on the Hammerhead, but it’s not a reason to choose one over another brand. If I didn’t have SRAM AXS on one bike I wouldn’t bother with the Karoo - when I use it on my other bikes it seems a bit pointless, frankly!
I think Garmin’s screens are less susceptible to fingerprints, but their system is tiresome to use. I got used to it, but I swear I missed a heap of features because I could never be bothered to fully work it all out. Their newer stuff might improve on that, but my last 540 Solar was no better, so I’m not convinced unless the newest stuff really changes that. I got sucked into the Garmin ecosystem a bit because I also wear a Garmin watch, albeit only one of the slim, basic ones. I know people who prefer the Garmin mapping to others, but I think this may be a personal preference thing.
Wahoo seem to strike the right balance between a decent screen and a great UI. You set the device up in the app which is way easier than fiddling with a small screen, and you can even change stuff mid-ride without having to upset the ride recording (also not an issue with the Karoo, but always used to be an issue with Garmin). Mapping seems fine too, although it’s a while since I actually used a Wahoo for that.
You’re actually making me wonder if I should sell my Karoo and go back to a Wahoo…
The other thing that’s coming up now is the huge battery life of some of the smaller players like Coros. If there’s one thing that irks me with a bike computer it’s having to recharge them too frequently. The Hammerhead suffers from this. I liked my 540 Solar because the solar did enough to lengthen the interval between charges. The Coros looks awesome in this regard.
My wife recently went through the search for her first head unit. Got a 540, hated trying to navigate the Garmin menus with buttons. Sold it and bought an 850 and is much happier with the touchscreen.
If you don’t want all the performance metrics, the new Explore 3 might be worth a look. I’ve had an Explore 2 for years and it does what I want. The only thing I sometimes wish it had is free-ride ClimbPro for the times I don’t load a route. I don’t know if the Explore 3 has that. It’s a big price jump to the 850 to get it.
Heck, Explore 2s are probably going to be discounted now.
My favorite source for sports electronics reviews is DC Rainmaker
I’m currently using a Garmin 840, and I like it a lot. It’s got long battery life; a touch screen that works well in rain or snow; buttons to use if the touch screen has issues; searchable maps; 32 GB of storage; live tracking, and a bunch of other stuff. Prior to this I had a Garmin 530 ( and before that a Wahoo bolt, and before that a Garmin 705). That was nice, but it didn’t have all the navigation features of the 840.
You might want to check out the Explore 3. The version without speakers and a microphone is about $400. It sits pretty much in the middle between the performance oriented 1050 and 1060 and the 540. It’s not stuffed with features like the 1050/60. I think it’s a more practical choice with features that seem to align with some of your needs: there’s lots of storage space for maps; it’s got a lot of routing functions for extended tours; and it also has a more practical set of performance features.
Seconding the suggestion of the Edge Explore 3. Or if you don’t mind being instantly out of date, and likely never getting any further updates, the Explore 2 is likely heavily discounted right now.
The exact same thing happened to my Edge too. I bought the Explore 2 recently as all I need is something basic. Battery life is very good, and is generally a slicker experience all round, despite my Edge initially being more expensive. Only downside of getting the Explore 2 was finding out that the metrics on my Edge were exactly right and I’m just as slow as I thought…
I got a Garmin 840 a few months ago. I wouldn’t say I’m particular enamored with it, but still worth considering.
On the plus side, the battery life is great. The 850 had already been released when I bought my 840, but the battery life on the 850 is woefully inadequate (IMHO). And things by and large just work - GPS accuracy has always been spot on; had no problems connecting with sensors; as you (presumably) already have Strava, RWGPS etc. connected to your garmin account, those will continue to sync as before. It’s pretty small and light.
I do appreciate having both touchscreen and buttons. I prefer to use the buttons mid-ride (especially if it’s raining or I’m wearing thick gloves), but the touchscreen is useful for scrolling through menus and panning the map, on the occasions you need to do that.
However, there are quite a lot of little niggles:
There are a lot of features and options. If you don’t want or need most of them, then that just translates into a labyrinthine menu structure that makes it unnecessarily complex to do even basic tasks. It’s quite telling that one of GP Lama’s most watched videos is “Garmin EDGE: Removing the Top 10 UNUSED Features & NAG Screens”.
I don’t find route syncing from external services quite as seamless as it should be. I often have to go into the Garmin Connect app, force refresh, and then force push a route to the Edge.
As with other Garmin units, there is an arbitrary 100 route limit on the number of routes that can be stored on the device, and when it hits this limit, it just stops syncing new routes. No warning, no error message. If you try to push the route from Garmin Connect, it will quite happily tell you “The route will appear on your device the next time it syncs” but it LIES.
I don’t find the route map particularly easy to follow - it’s just a little purple line that looks a lot like a road. It seems hit and miss whether or not it has direction arrows - if your route is a circle or passes the same place more than once, it can end up being complete pot luck whether you choose the right direction.
The buttons are awkwardly placed given the mounting system. If you push any of the buttons too hard, you risk rotating the device out of the mount. And it can be hard to remove the device from the mount without accidentally pushing a button.
The pan and zoom buttons never disappear from the map display. Given the display isn’t huge, this is an annoying loss of usable space.
I slightly regret not getting a new Wahoo - my previous computer was a 1st gen Wahoo Bolt (which was beginning to fall apart) and whilst it had its own foibles, generally it was just a lot more intuitive. That said, to get comparable battery life and the touch screen, you’d have to get the Roam 3, which is bigger and potentially more expensive (it was when I was looking anyway; both are now sold for significantly below RRP so it depends on what offers you can find).
Karoo 3 looks nice, but again battery life wasn’t quite good enough for me.
Unpopular opinion, as long as you don’t need mid-ride rerouting - Magene C706. I’ve had Garmin and Wahoo and the Magene C706 is fine BUT only cost $250 USD (and you can get it on sale sometimes). 3.3 inch color touch screen is really good and works well in rain. Mapping works great (except for expecting it to reroute your missed turn) and it does basically everything else you need.
Depending on where you live Climbpro support is spotty. If there are a lot of local users it’s fine but if you’re the only one in your town (as I am) don’t expect all your climbs to be pop-up in Cliimbpro.
I read (but certainly can’t verify) that the GEOID CC700 is pretty much the same as the C706, for well under $100 on AliExpress. Magene owns GEOID, and they both use the same phone app, so it’s possible.
That is an insanely low price, so I’m wondering what’s missing, or rather, what doesn’t function that well.
I was previously a Bryton user, and absolutely swore by them, depite loads of frustrations with certain features not working that well or the general experience being a bit rubbish. I justified it by saying 'yes, but they cost be x, when a Garmin would have cost me 3x.
Eventually the issues wore me down, and I got a Garmin. What a difference!
So, price is great, but simple no stress, just works, is often worth the money. For the basic everyday ride features and navigation, Garmin have it fully sorted.
That was a long way of saying - I’d want to see an actual independant review of the Magine 706/GEOID CC700 before considering it as a viable option for the front of my bikes. Perhaps @GPLama or @Ray_Maker would see mileage in reviewing one?
