Garmin - If you buy one - treat it as highly fragile.

ZMC888

My Garmin Edge 520 is barely 9 months old and a total brick.

Rather than going on an 'I hate Evans Cycles' type rant I'll just say be bloody careful if you have one as they are as fragile as a carton of eggs.

It turns on when you plug it in and works as it should until you disconnect it from power, then it just turns off. The silly rubber thing that covers the micro USB slot fell off in the first few days. Dropped it from 2 foot onto a tile floor and cracked the screen after 3 months use.

If you own one and it isn't broken yet or are thinking of buying one for the love of God buy some kind of protective case for it and don't use it in the rain. Also don't update the software if you don't need the functionality of the new software.
Maybe only use it on those summer days on your best bike and use a watch and a smart phone on your winter/commuter bike.

This was a public service announcement. And yes I will try to warranty the thing. Tried all the factory resets and troubleshooting to no avail. :roll:

fenix

Their customer service seems to be pretty good -which is handy as a lot of users seem to need it...

diamonddog

Had my cheap and cheerful Edge 200 over 4 years now and never had a problem with it. 1000's will have the 520 and be happy with it and you may just be unlucky to have a dodgy one. More features mean more possible glitches IME.
Contact the shop you got it from re standard guarantee (usually 12 months) they should pursue this for you.

paulwood

No problems with my Garmin after 5+ years. No case. Ride in the rain. Treat it with the same care as my phone (apart from the rain bit)

lostboysaint

Interesting comment. My 800 (yes, it's really that old) is still working perfectly despite many thousands of miles in every kind of weather condition and having spent many a happy hour covered in mud and water on the MTB.

schlepcycling

lostboysaint wrote:

Interesting comment. My 800 (yes, it's really that old) is still working perfectly despite many thousands of miles in every kind of weather condition and having spent many a happy hour covered in mud and water on the MTB.

+1
My 800 is still going strong after about 4 years and 20,000 miles in all weathers with no issues.

bigmat

My 500 still going strong, I must have had it 6 or 7 years and use it pretty much daily. It has fozen a few times, very occasionally I have lost ride data, and the seal around the case has started to fail so it is no longer 1005 waterproof, but for the amount of use it has had I can't really complain. Maybe I should replace it with another 500 rather than a 520?!

bigmitch41

Ive just replaced my 500 with a 520, updated with the latest software etc. so far its worked perfectly. synced using the app on my phone so the rides upload automatically, Happy with it so far.

mamba80

i do take care of my 520 but my daughter doesnt and it is still going strong, one bad apple i guess......i also upgrade to latest f/w every time, seamless.

kingstongraham

If you have a cracked screen I wouldn't use it in the rain.

Bobbinogs

No problems with my 500 and many in club use it as the 'go to' device. Worked every time for me without issue...and in some shocking weather. The only thing I would improve on it is the quality of the GPS tracking in some remote areas or landscapes with dense trees/rock formations, etc., but I think the 520 GPS was upgraded to address that.

OP, sounds like you have a specific unit problem rather than it pointing towards anything generic.

step83

schlepcycling wrote:

lostboysaint wrote:

Interesting comment. My 800 (yes, it's really that old) is still working perfectly despite many thousands of miles in every kind of weather condition and having spent many a happy hour covered in mud and water on the MTB.

+1
My 800 is still going strong after about 4 years and 20,000 miles in all weathers with no issues.

Same, mines been battered about in falls off road never missed a beat. OK once it went a bit thick on me and refused to sync but a reset solved that.

redjeepǃ

I'd say that you've been unlucky. I have a 520 and have never had a problem with it and it's been dropped a couple of times.

Same goes for other Garmins I've owned. I had a 305 Forerunner that survived a fall at speed from my handlebar mount, slid about 20 feet across the road between the wheels of cars driving in the opposite direction and didn't even suffer a scratch. It eventually died a couple of years later (maybe from delayed shock ?).

I've also still got 3 or 4 other Garmins of various vintages all of which still work.

I'd speak to their customer service. I think that I'll also buy one of the silicone rubber cases for mine before fate steps in.

tangled_metal

My £80 25 played up. Garmin gave me a claim reference to return it. Saw ALDI had dropped the price of them to £40 so I replaced it. Been working well since.

I think they suffer from producing dodgy units occasionally but they seemed quite fair about replacing them. It's a large company and they'll factor into the unit cost a certain level off replacements. So if you've had it only a short time and had issues like rubber socket seal coming off and the potential water ingress issues then contact Garmin. I'd bet you'd get a return and replace from them.

BTW my edge 25 has been through a few washing machine cycles lasting over an hour. They're certainly tough units IME.

kingstongraham

I had to give up on my 500 ever failing and upgraded to the 820 while it still worked. Same went for the Forerunner 305. I lost my Forerunner 301, so that didn't fail either. Guess I've been consistently lucky over 10 years.

bernithebiker

All good with my 520 so far (1 year or so).

Completely lost one ride once, which was annoying, and if it rains it doesn't record the altitude correctly (but why ride in the rain, right?).

Otherwise fine.

wongataa

I've not had any issues with my Edge 800 or my Garmin hiking GPS units and none of them have ever been in any sort of protective case. The hiking ones have been scratched and bashed and all of them have survived heavy rain. I have occasionally dropped my Edge with no ill effects either.

mugensi

I use mine regularly in the rain without any cover on it (is there even a cover that will prevent rain getting into it?) Anyway last Thursday after about an hour in light rain, It powered off momentarily and came back on again. I pressed start once it came on again and the current ride was still there and it just continued. I didn't think of it again until I uploaded the ride to strava and seen a 400m spike in elevation at the point it switched off/on. Have no idea what caused it or if it was related to getting wet, just hoping its not something that happens again.

londoncommuter

How's the battery life going for you fellow 520 users? I'm sure mine has started to last less and less time. I can't remember when I bought it, maybe 18 months ago, and it gets charged once a week. Planning lots of long rides next year where I'll need mapping so getting a bit concerned.

bernithebiker

londoncommuter wrote:

How's the battery life going for you fellow 520 users? I'm sure mine has started to last less and less time. I can't remember when I bought it, maybe 18 months ago, and it gets charged once a week. Planning lots of long rides next year where I'll need mapping so getting a bit concerned.

Think it depends how you use it; I have it connected to the Iphone and the Di2 sender so this will use more juice.

I reckon it'll do about 8 hours on a full charge.

StillGoing

Had a 705, no problems. Upgraded to an 810, no problems other than user error and Garmin replaced it without quibble. Upgraded to an 820 and again no problems other than my failing with age eyesight and a small screen, which is an issue with the user rather than the unit.

I've used all my units in torrential downpours, with and without covers and not suffered any problems. I've crashed heavily with the 810 being flung through the air into a field through a bramble bush. Still worked fine.

cgfw201

My 520 survived an hour in the washing machine @ 40C a couple of months ago and still works like new.

Seems pretty indestructible.

tangled_metal

cgfw201 wrote:

My 520 survived an hour in the washing machine @ 40C a couple of months ago and still works like new.

Seems pretty indestructible.

That's how I clean my 25. Always forget about it in my pockets when putting the washing in.

napoleond

My 810 is great, when the Zipp mount snapped whilst doing about 40mph downhill during a race and the Garmin smashed earlier this year I used my 705 from 2008 in the meantime, it too was great.

Bobbinogs

NapoleonD wrote:

My 810 is great, when the Zipp mount snapped whilst doing about 40mph downhill during a race and the Garmin smashed earlier this year I used my 705 from 2008 in the meantime, it too was great.

I thought you climbed at that speed Nap, sure the unit wasn't faulty??

napoleond

Bobbinogs wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

My 810 is great, when the Zipp mount snapped whilst doing about 40mph downhill during a race and the Garmin smashed earlier this year I used my 705 from 2008 in the meantime, it too was great.

I thought you climbed at that speed Nap, sure the unit wasn't faulty??

I was stuck behind my 10 minute man.

johnmiosh

I got my 500 at Xmas 2009, no problems except for one lost file after I had followed a 60 mile course. A known problem at the time and later fixed in a software update (none of the updates ever gave me a problem).

One of the rear fixing tabs failed in feb 2012 and the unit was replaced free of charge.

On the new unit, one of the buttons failed in May; Garmin replaced it free of charge even though it was just outside the 90 day warranty period.

One month later the blue tab fell out of the back. Garmin sent me a free one through the post.

Now just about seven years on from purchase and still going strong, except for one speed/cadence sensor I had to replace. Not too bad from my perspective, although I understand they are not accepting the broken tabs as a warranty issue any more.