Garmin Edge 510 v Strava app

widge34

Is it worth buying the Garmin Edge 510 over using the Strava app?

craker

Battery life, mounting a phone on your handlebars in such a way that it wont fall off are the primary ones. If you can live with the faff of a phone go for it, if you've got the cash and want a dedicated GPS bike computer then the Garmin wins.

DiscoBoy

Unless you need the specific features which the 510 offers over the 500 (bluetooth), then get the 500. In many ways it is better...

https://buy.garmin.com/en-GB/GB/catalog ... duct=36728

widge34

I've read that a lot of people have gps connection issues with the 500. The 510 uses gps and GLONNASS, so is much quicker connecting and more reliable.

aberdeenal

Never ever had GPS connection issues with my 500.

homers_double

510 with heart rate and cadence is on my birthday list, iPhone app is just for playing with really.

dizarch

Do not buy anything made by Garmin.....a world of frustration awaits.

Lumpy Roads

Hi Diz, you've obviously had a bad experience with Garmin!

OP, I have just used the Edge 500 for my Lejog, cycling for 5-7 hours each day, the battery never dipped below 30% remaining each evening. The mapping feature led me straight through the centre of Bristol without the need to look at a single roadsign and the HRM and other trip recording features all worked spot on. The 510 gives you the ability to upload directly with wifi rather than connecting to your computer, I believe.

I would recommend it.

Mikey23

Been using garmin products for years of running and cycling entirely without problems or issues. Have a 500 and a 405 ATM and a 110 which is mainly used as a wristwatch. I use my phone for what it does best ie sitting in my back pocket waiting to communicate ...

Hollow-legs

I have both a GARMIN 500 and a IPHONE 4s ,i have used the strava ,map my ride apps with the iphone,both apps work great, i even bought a topeak iphone holder for my phone,but after a few rides with the iphone their are issues i cannot live with!
I was going to use the iphone for gps mapping duty using Ride with gps and cyclemaps apps but the problems i found annoying with a phone are battery life ,the actual size of the iphone with a case was getting brick like ,even though the toppeak case is pretty shealth compared to other cases.
Bad visabilty of screen in sunlight ,losing gps signal and its damn fiddly trying to touch the screen while moving etc..

I have had a garmin for ages before the iphone adventure ,its works perfectly ,its does what it was designed to do .
I now ride with my garmin on the bike then upload the data to strava .this does me fine for what i want!

I would recommend a garmin edge unit to anyone !

BrandonA

DizArch wrote:

Do not buy anything made by Garmin.....a world of frustration awaits.

because?

chris_bass

Mikey23 wrote:

Been using garmin products for years of running and cycling entirely without problems or issues. Have a 500 and a 405 ATM and a 110 which is mainly used as a wristwatch. I use my phone for what it does best ie sitting in my back pocket waiting to communicate ...

Me too, had an edge 500 (well two actually after i smashed the screen on one!) and a forerunner watch, both work great, i really can't fault the 500 at all

awavey

Strava App on a phone ? comes down to how reliable the GPS unit is, my phones was rubbish and would regularly record max speeds of over 100mph, as where it thought you were could leap away and back again maybe even upto half a mile from where actually you where at the time, and youd have to go back and correct it to be of any use to you.

so I got a 510, its not as function rich if you are coming from a modern smartphone, its a bit like a smartphone from maybe 5 or more years back so feels kind of quite old tech maybe even backward in some of the navigation through the menus, but the GPS works very well, only had it drop out a few times when following a set route, but the routing directions part when following an uploaded trail works nicely well and battery seems to hold up well, but then Im used to my phone eating tons of battery using GPS, worst Ive had on the 510 so far was 50% after 4hrs of recording a route and turn by turn navigation directions, my phone wouldnt have lasted that long doing that at all.

and you can upload your garmin stuff to Strava, curiously though I did one route uploaded to both Garmin Connect and Strava, and they disagreed on the maximum speed, which I thought was interesting suggests theres still some processing on the gpx files

wongataa

awavey wrote:

curiously though I did one route uploaded to both Garmin Connect and Strava, and they disagreed on the maximum speed, which I thought was interesting suggests theres still some processing on the gpx files

It is likely there will be a small difference in max speed between the two sites. Sites such as Strava where you upload a track log have to work out the max speed from the various data points in the log file. The recording interval will affect the accuracy. Your Garmin unit will not work out it's speed during your ride using this method (working out the distance between two sample points and using the time interval to give speed). It will use doppler shifts of the GPS signals and the max speed recorded on your unit will just be the max live speed seen. Garmin Connect will take the max speed recorded by your Garmin unit and so not work it out from the track log data.

Garmin Connect's max speed data will match the max speeds seen on Garmin units. Other sites will often vary slightly due to a different way of calculating speeds from track log data.

andy_s_t

I have a Garmin 510 and an iPhone 5, with the strava app on it. I have had the odd issue with the Garmin losing the route, but only 3 times in over 500 rides, and that may have been down to me doing something stupid (I am quite good at that). I used to use my iPhone 4 for everything, with ant+ sensors etc, but got increasingly frustrated with the battery life. When the phone died and I got the 5 I decided to get a Garmin, while the phone is good for everything, it can be a bit fiddly when on the move. the Garmin just does the cycling bit better, the wireless upload from the phone to Garmin connect is handy though, add copy my sports (when it works!) to that and you have everything the phone was really giving (apart from the map), but with more reliable GPS data.

I would still use the app if needed, but prefer to keep the phone battery for use as a phone etc. If you have the screen on to see the data on the phone you will only get about 2 hours before it's flat, turn the screen off and I could get about 4 hours, but then you can't see any of the data when you're riding.

Garmin on bars, and phone in pocket in case of emergency, either as a phone or map is the best of both worlds to me.

deadhead1971

Good time to get a 510 - the performance bundle has just dropped to the lowest price it's ever been. Probably due to the Edge 1000 coming out.

Anyway, it's dropped to £219.99, and that includes the HR and cadence monitors, which you could sell on ebay if you don't need, to offset the cost even more.
http://amzn.to/1nwBBAD

mjf1975

BrandonA wrote:

DizArch wrote:

Do not buy anything made by Garmin.....a world of frustration awaits.

because?

Because he had a bad experience, ergo all Garmins are rubbish

mjf1975

Andy_S_T wrote:

Garmin on bars, and phone in pocket in case of emergency, either as a phone or map is the best of both worlds to me.

This