Had enough of Garmin - recommend me something simple

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Liggero
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by Liggero

All garmins are crap, there are designed to be a crap that breaks, not to last for ever so you never replace it. It's called planned obsolescence.

Batteries are not hard to replace, but buttons have weak micro switches, they break very fast. The 500 is the best, and is still a crap, buttons break, check on google. and anything with the included track follower freezes 5 times in one minute, at least. gave up on that function few years ago.

regular ciclocomputers are crap nowadays too. Just get a 500, and replace when it breaks. at leas tis the cheapest way.
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Tinea Pedis
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by Tinea Pedis

RyanH wrote:
Tinea Pedis wrote:...there to be a real alternative in the marketplace.


There is, it's the PC8. It's exorbitantly expensive but it's fantastic and IMO worth every cent. It's a training device first.

And when that price doesn't buy you the simple ability to be water resistant, then that's a fail of epic proportions.

If they fix that you'd have a point. Until then, nope.

Nefarious86
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by Nefarious86

Its a feature... what other unit can claim to have a water feature on sunny days. SRM were quick to delete comments on Insta regarding this too...
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Frankie - B
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by Frankie - B

Although I'm a edge 800 user, I had the opportunity to test both the bryton rider 310 and 530. I have to say, both are very much to my liking. Both computers connect with powermeters and show all the interesting data you need.
'Tape was made to wrap your GF's gifts, NOT hold a freakin tire on.'
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euka
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by euka

I have some cash, keys, spare tube and pump when I go riding. And I have plenty of fun.

KarlC
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by KarlC

+1 to all of the above.

Had Garmin 500 had 0 issues

Have Garmin 520 with mostly 0 issues and better overall device
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sanrensho
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by sanrensho

Frankie - B wrote:Although I'm a edge 800 user, I had the opportunity to test both the bryton rider 310 and 530. I have to say, both are very much to my liking. Both computers connect with powermeters and show all the interesting data you need.


I would buy a Bryton in a heartbeat if I knew it was more accurate than the Edge 500. (The Bryton 310 does not have GLONASS.)

Did you ever compare the accuracy of the Bryton units?

Grill
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by Grill

sanrensho wrote:
Frankie - B wrote:Although I'm a edge 800 user, I had the opportunity to test both the bryton rider 310 and 530. I have to say, both are very much to my liking. Both computers connect with powermeters and show all the interesting data you need.


I would buy a Bryton in a heartbeat if I knew it was more accurate than the Edge 500. (The Bryton 310 does not have GLONASS.)

Did you ever compare the accuracy of the Bryton units?


Edge 500 doesn't have GLONASS either...

sanrensho
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by sanrensho

Grill wrote:Edge 500 doesn't have GLONASS either...


My point exactly...no GLONASS and I found the Edge 500 tracks to be even less accurate than a lowly Forerunner 610 watch.

eaglejackson
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by eaglejackson

KarlC wrote:+1 to all of the above.

Had Garmin 500 had 0 issues

Have Garmin 520 with mostly 0 issues and better overall device


+1

I had a 500 for years, liked it a lot.

I got the 510. Definitely not one of Garmin's finest. The best features were Glonass and automatic upload via the phone. Getting a satellite on the 500 can be really slow. Here in the PNW where there is a lot of tree and cloud cover, sometimes it would take the 500 minutes, delaying the start of my ride; sometimes it wouldn't get the satellites at all. With Glonass+GPS, the 510 got satellites very fast. Not having to plug into the computer was also a big plus. Not just because of the convenience, but also I found that sometimes when plugged in, the Garmin would unsafely disconnect itself from the computer, scrambling its internal state and I had to master reset. Any time it's plugged into a computer is an opportunity for the Garmin to get messed up. I didn't like the additional size and the touch screen didn't work well at all. I had a hard time swiping left or right to see alternative data screens, etc. I went back and forth between the 500 and 510. The 500 was a better overall device.

When the 520 came out, I figured it would be the best of the 500 and 510. The external size of a 500 but with a bigger screen, and all the good things of the 510 without the bad. And indeed that's what it's been. I think it's the best Garmin so far. The only issues I've had are that it also disconnects itself sometimes when connected to the computer and occasionally that leaves it in a bad state. I connect it to the computer only when I really have to, and for the shortest possible length of time. The rest I do via bluetooth to the phone.

solarider
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by solarider

Just bought a 520 against my better judgement, but they do seem to have a decent reputation.

Thanks for all the input.

eaglejackson
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by eaglejackson

solarider wrote:Just bought a 520 against my better judgement, but they do seem to have a decent reputation.

Thanks for all the input.

I think you'll be happy with it.

Of course, Garmin just announced earlier this week the 820... It's a 520 sized device with mapping from the 810, and a touch screen. Here's DC Rainmaker's review http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2016/07/garmin-edge-820.html. Also check out his other bike computer reviews. The 520 has been his current favorite.

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Frankie - B
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by Frankie - B

sanrensho wrote:I would buy a Bryton in a heartbeat if I knew it was more accurate than the Edge 500. (The Bryton 310 does not have GLONASS.)
Did you ever compare the accuracy of the Bryton units?


Since I found myself wondering what the heck GLONASS was i looked it up. ГЛОНАСС: ГЛОбальная НАвигационная Спутниковая Система
Glonass is as GPS a Russian positioning system that uses satellites, ground stations and a handheld device for cross-reference of a position. (in short)
Enabling Glonass next to GPS will suck the life out of the battery a bit faster (10%), but on the other hand it effectively almost doubles the accuracy of your location and the bread crumb trail we leave when we are recording our rides on our devices. Be it Garmin, Bryton, bio etc. Whatever floats your boat.

This sparks another thought with me, do we really need that accuracy? are we trying to build a bridge over a channel, starting from both sides, and would it look odd if we missed each other in the center point by a meter?

We are cycling and having fun, segments are meant for fun as well, if you loose sleep over missing a segment there are easier ways to fix that. SNAP Strava Needs A Polish.
The OP asked for something simple and somehow I found myself diving into the wold of GLONASS at 5am. Please keep things simple, get a unit that you like, is easily readable and that can record your ride.

The Bryton rider 530 has a battery life of 33 hours, uses a highly sensitive GPS chip (marketing blurb, probably a strong antenna) and hooks up to your wifi so you can upload your ride once you get home.

simple.
'Tape was made to wrap your GF's gifts, NOT hold a freakin tire on.'
If you want to see 'meh' content of me and my bike you can follow my life in pictures here!

nemeseri
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by nemeseri

Frankie - B wrote:
sanrensho wrote:This sparks another thought with me, do we really need that accuracy? are we trying to build a bridge over a channel, starting from both sides, and would it look odd if we missed each other in the center point by a meter?


If you are deep in a canyon / valley / under trees not having it can cause accuracy issues. Once I had to correct my gps file because strava didn't recognize the segment. You may or may not care about that. I rarely do and it rarely happens with me even without glonass, but sometimes it's annoying. It's also faster to find the satellites and you get more accurate speed estimation if you don't have a speed sensor.

If I was looking for a device now, I'd look for wifi and glonass as features nothing else. Unfortunately there is no device out there that's simple, small and have these. So I'm happy with my pioneer 99% of the time.

Ozrider
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by Ozrider

I've had a 705 for nearly 8 years, replaced the battery once. It has fallen off at high speed (just a few scratches) been dropped, ridden in the rain and I'm only replacing it with the new 820 (which is much lighter) because the rubber button covers are wearing out. Zero reliability issues at all.


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by Weenie


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