Garmin Edge 540 & 840...

[andyoxon]

540 & 840 units announced, with solar option - like 1040.  Quite spendy - unsurprisingly.

https://road.cc/content/tech-news/garmin-reveals-edge-540-and-edge-840-bike-computers-300501
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2023/04/garmin-edge840-solar-cycling-gps-in-depth-review.html

[LateStarter]

My 1040 has been a disappointment , great screen & battery but software on the 1040 (assume the same is on the 540 & 840) has been especially bad, basic stuff like navigation has many “issues”, hopefully with a wider customer base (also known as alpha testers), they might be able to afford some real software developers and testers.

[yoav]

I bought a 830 not long ago but seeing the price hike for the new models even for the non-solar, I’m not unhappy. These newer models finally have USB-C but that’s not enough to make upgrading worthwhile.

[JonB]

My 1040 has been a disappointment , great screen & battery but software on the 1040 (assume the same is on the 540 & 840) has been especially bad, basic stuff like navigation has many “issues”, hopefully with a wider customer base (also known as alpha testers), they might be able to afford some real software developers and testers.

My understanding was that the software for the 530/830 was more aligned with the 1040 plus.
I've been very happy with the 530, especially in combination with the battery extender and don't have any reason to upgrade at the moment. The solar charging would be nice but prohibitively expensive at the moment.

[Hot Flatus]

My 1040 has been a disappointment , great screen & battery but software on the 1040 (assume the same is on the 540 & 840) has been especially bad, basic stuff like navigation has many “issues”, hopefully with a wider customer base (also known as alpha testers), they might be able to afford some real software developers and testers.

That is disappointing to hear. I gave up on Garmin with the 800 series because of Garmin's proclivity to use customers as testers, and the need for twice weekly firmware updates, endless crashes etc. 

I went Wahoo, which was faultless, but the small screen became an issue with my growing long-sightedness.  Current have a Karoo 2, but it is almost too complicated for its own good.

[andyoxon]

My 1040 has been a disappointment , great screen & battery but software on the 1040 (assume the same is on the 540 & 840) has been especially bad, basic stuff like navigation has many “issues”, hopefully with a wider customer base (also known as alpha testers), they might be able to afford some real software developers and testers.

My understanding was that the software for the 530/830 was more aligned with the 1040 plus.
I've been very happy with the 530, especially in combination with the battery extender and don't have any reason to upgrade at the moment. The solar charging would be nice but prohibitively expensive at the moment.

Yes, had my 830 for a year, worked fine - no issues.  I just find navigation (turn by turn) very good & reliable, & like the fact that if you go off course temporarily (by accident or design), you do get a notication, but crucially no auto-rerouting - then it just restarts the route navigation etc when back on track.  Never been close to running out of battery, but no 200km+ rides of late.  Have thought about a 1030+, but prolly won't.

[JonBuoy]

My 1040 has been a disappointment , great screen & battery but software on the 1040 (assume the same is on the 540 & 840) has been especially bad, basic stuff like navigation has many “issues”, hopefully with a wider customer base (also known as alpha testers), they might be able to afford some real software developers and testers.

My understanding was that the software for the 530/830 was more aligned with the 1040 plus.
I've been very happy with the 530, especially in combination with the battery extender and don't have any reason to upgrade at the moment. The solar charging would be nice but prohibitively expensive at the moment.

Yes, had my 830 for a year, worked fine - no issues.  I just find navigation (turn by turn) very good & reliable, & like the fact that if you go off course temporarily (by accident or design), you do get a notication, but crucially no auto-rerouting - then it just restarts the route navigation etc when back on track.  Never been close to running out of battery, but no 200km+ rides of late.  Have thought about a 1030+, but prolly won't.

I have had a 530 for just less than a year.  It went crazy on one of my early rides with it.  A mate told me to turn off auto-rerouting and it has been absolutely fine since then.  The battery life is astonishingly good assuming the battery indicator is anything like accurate.


ETA:  indicating 55% left after doing TBT navigation for 17.5 hours on a 300k at the weekend.

[Lightning Phil]

I’ve turned auto rerouting off on my Edge Explore 2. Similar, went somewhat off script when all I’d done is miss a single turn.