Garmin Edge 820 offers

js14

I see both Amazon UK and Halfords are selling the Edge 820 for £225. Is there a better deal out there?

StillGoing

I would seriously go and look at the Garmin forum and the complaints about the Edge 820 before buying one.

bobones

Wiggle are also doing them for £225. I bought an one in June, primarily to use Connect IQ apps with Xert and to get advanced cycling dynamic metrics with my Vector 3 pedals, and I have been very happy with it. Ignore the scaremongers and make up your own mind.

shamrock134

I found the 820 to be a downgrade from the 800/810 generation.

Battery life is disappointing and the touchscreen is truly awful for a device released this decade.

No scaremongering, just my experience having used it for the last year whilst still running my old 800 since 2012.

bobones

Perhaps they've modified the hardware since the early models, but I have zero issues with the touchscreen or battery life. I come from using the 510 touchscreen for the last 4 or 5 years and the 500 before that, and the 820 is better than both by far.

shamrock134

Maybe I got a defective unit. Probably too late to do anything about it now.

The touchscreen is barely responsive with bare skin. As soon as I put gloves on it doesn't work at all!

I rarely do rides over 10 hours but I don't believe my 820 will go up to their claimed 15 hours, especially not when following a GPX route.

garryboy1888

It's £225 in Halfords

I have a NHS staff discount voucher I can email you. Gives 7.5% off in-store when presented at checkout. I have never been asked for ID or a payslip so may be worth trying.

Iast week I bought a tent in the sale and used the voucher. She scanned it and it gave me 10% off instead of the 7.5%

bobones

I was out for 8 hours last Saturday with settings of brightness at auto, backlight stays on, and battery save mode off, and I didn't get a low battery warning and had juice left at the end of the ride. I was following a course, and had bluetooth, wireless, cycling dynamics, 3rd party apps, and everything else on. I can't be sure, but I suspect that 15 hours may be achievable with battery saver switched on and some other more conservative settings applied.

I have left the touchscreen sensitivity at the default of medium and I find it works perfectly adequately with and without gloves. If the screen is soaking wet from rain then I do find it harder to register presses or swipes, but I expect that to be the case and so don't get unduly upset about it.

It's the same with the Vector 3 pedals: the forums are full of people with problems, but mine have worked perfectly from day 1.

First.Aspect

bobones wrote:

Perhaps they've modified the hardware since the early models, but I have zero issues with the touchscreen or battery life. I come from using the 510 touchscreen for the last 4 or 5 years and the 500 before that, and the 820 is better than both by far.

I'd agree with this. The touch screen isn't the same type as you get on a smart phone. You actually have to press it. Otherwise it would not work with gloves and would respond when you didnt want it to when wet. People who whinge about it don't understand what it is they are whinging about. Presumably this is why Garmin made the retrograde step of reverting to buttons in the end.

The screen is very clear and I've not noticed much difference in battery life from my 510.

You get what you'd expect with this. It's a 520 with maps. Main reason I got it is to be able to see junctions coming up without the faff of leaving waypoints on route I plot, as with my old 510.

shamrock134

First Aspect wrote:

People who whinge about it don't understand what it is they are whinging about.

I'm aware of how it works. My Garmin 800 screen works better.

This illustrates what my 820 does sometimes: https://youtu.be/ulLgY0xoB3o?t=1m16s

StillGoing

First Aspect wrote:

bobones wrote:

Perhaps they've modified the hardware since the early models, but I have zero issues with the touchscreen or battery life. I come from using the 510 touchscreen for the last 4 or 5 years and the 500 before that, and the 820 is better than both by far.

I'd agree with this. The touch screen isn't the same type as you get on a smart phone. You actually have to press it. Otherwise it would not work with gloves and would respond when you didnt want it to when wet. People who whinge about it don't understand what it is they are whinging about. Presumably this is why Garmin made the retrograde step of reverting to buttons in the end.

The screen is very clear and I've not noticed much difference in battery life from my 510.

You get what you'd expect with this. It's a 520 with maps. Main reason I got it is to be able to see junctions coming up without the faff of leaving waypoints on route I plot, as with my old 510.

No not at all. My experience of the 820 was it was the worst Garmin device I ever owned and the last. The touch screen was virtually non-existent. One day you could touch it and the thing was impossible to control. The next you could hold your finger on it and nothing would happen. The drop outs from the sensors and firmware issues were continuous.

Yes, there are good and bad in all things, but Garmin are more renowned for it than most.

bobones

Garmin must have revised the hardware or you had a faulty unit because the behaviour described above and illustrated in the linked video is clearly unacceptable. Not all 820 units behave like this.

First.Aspect

shamrock134 wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

People who whinge about it don't understand what it is they are whinging about.

I'm aware of how it works. My Garmin 800 screen works better.

This illustrates what my 820 does sometimes: https://youtu.be/ulLgY0xoB3o?t=1m16s

That video is self evidently showing something other than a touch screen issue.

Are you the sort of person who carries on hammering away at your keyboard while your laptop is obviously loading something? The guy in the video clearly is.

kingstongraham

shamrock134 wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

People who whinge about it don't understand what it is they are whinging about.

I'm aware of how it works. My Garmin 800 screen works better.

This illustrates what my 820 does sometimes: https://youtu.be/ulLgY0xoB3o?t=1m16s

I have one from when they first released it, and it doesn't do that. Looks like you got a faulty unit.

The touchscreen is not very good with gloves on, that's true - but without gloves, it's fine.

shamrock134

First Aspect wrote:

Are you the sort of person who carries on hammering away at your keyboard while your laptop is obviously loading something? The guy in the video clearly is.

I'm the sort that smashes the keyboard over a knee and lobs the Garmin 820 against a wall.

First.Aspect

shamrock134 wrote:

First Aspect wrote:

Are you the sort of person who carries on hammering away at your keyboard while your laptop is obviously loading something? The guy in the video clearly is.

I'm the sort that smashes the keyboard over a knee and lobs the Garmin 820 against a wall.

I think I can help with that. Don't try to start all of the applications on your computer at the same time and dont get annoyed when your gps takes up all of its processing power trying to find a satellite signal indoors.

shamrock134

First Aspect wrote:

I think I can help with that. Don't try to start all of the applications on your computer at the same time and dont get annoyed when your gps takes up all of its processing power trying to find a satellite signal indoors.

Sage advice right there.

Anyway, I've got an RMA number from Garmin so we'll see if they can fix it for me.

js14

Thanks for the replies and the kind offer of the NHS voucher.

Internet tells me that the 820 does seem to be worse than the previous models for the touchscreen and some other features like the gradient. I am now leaning towards replacing my dead 800 with a Garmin Edge 520 Plus or maybe the Edge Explore.

The Explore is cheaper, has a large touchscreen that by all accounts works (well according to DC Rainmaker) and can do route planning quickly and efficiently. The disadvantage for me is that it doesn't support my power meter, but I can maybe live with that as I mainly train with power on the turbo. Also the Explore doesn't support multiple bikes, so I would have to pair the speed and cadence sensors every time I changed bikes.

The 520 Plus can do proper navigation, all be it the processing power is lacking for complicated routes, but the route planning has to be done on a mobile phone and it is now more expensive than the 820.

StillGoing

JS14 wrote:

Thanks for the replies and the kind offer of the NHS voucher.

Internet tells me that the 820 does seem to be worse than the previous models for the touchscreen and some other features like the gradient. I am now leaning towards replacing my dead 800 with a Garmin Edge 520 Plus or maybe the Edge Explore.

The Explore is cheaper, has a large touchscreen that by all accounts works (well according to DC Rainmaker) and can do route planning quickly and efficiently. The disadvantage for me is that it doesn't support my power meter, but I can maybe live with that as I mainly train with power on the turbo. Also the Explore doesn't support multiple bikes, so I would have to pair the speed and cadence sensors every time I changed bikes.

The 520 Plus can do proper navigation, all be it the processing power is lacking for complicated routes, but the route planning has to be done on a mobile phone and it is now more expensive than the 820.

Don't discount the Wahoo ELEMNT series. Both do proper navigation with turn by turn, connect to ANT+ and BTE sensors, give alerts to calls etc (if that floats your boat) and the monochrome screen is easier to see in dim or bright light.

dstev55

Best offer is here:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/wahoo-elemnt-bo ... omputer-1/

sloppyschleckonds

JS14 wrote:

I am now leaning towards replacing my dead 800 with a Garmin Edge 520 Plus or maybe the Edge Explore.

The worst thing about giving advise is people not listening to it

bobones

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

JS14 wrote:

I am now leaning towards replacing my dead 800 with a Garmin Edge 520 Plus or maybe the Edge Explore.

The worst thing about giving advise is people not listening to it

Indeed.

stueys

Think the 820 is well known to have screen issues, garmin released a chunk of firmware fixes to help address which I believe made it better. It's a 2 year old device now so I'd probably pass, take a look at the 520+ and see if that covers what you need.

First.Aspect

SloppySchleckonds wrote:

JS14 wrote:

I am now leaning towards replacing my dead 800 with a Garmin Edge 520 Plus or maybe the Edge Explore.

The worst thing about giving advise is people not listening to it

Personally when I advice people and they take my advise in entirely the wrong tense it effects me bad.

step83

I stuck with my 800 for years till it started doing weird things, picked up a Wahoo which is about the same money as a 520.
Have to say I much prefer it so far.

js14

Well I took the advice not to blindly replace an 800 by an 820. The weak point of the Wahoo device AFAIK is that it doesn't do dynamic rerouting to get you back on course. But no doubt the competition from Wahoo is forcing Garmin to improve its devices.

scott_w1987

The rerouting on the Garmin is terrible, as is the screen and the battery. Wouldn't recommend one to anyone, awful device and I'm glad I didn't pay for it!

I'd buy a Bolt to replace it, but can't justify it at the moment...

sniper68

I must have had FOUR faulty 820s over 12 month as they all had crap touch screens,abysmal battery life and despite installing all the patches/fixes they didn’t improve.I got bored with sending them back.My Edge 800 was a much better unit.I sold my last 820 to a mate.Despite my warnings he wanted it as an upgrade from a 520.He offloaded it a week later and reverted back to his 520.
Worst Garmin unit by a country mile.Go on the Garmin users Forum to see just how many issues they have.
Elemnt Bolt all the way.

First.Aspect

Sniper68 wrote:

I must have had FOUR faulty 820s over 12 month as they all had crap touch screens,abysmal battery life and despite installing all the patches/fixes they didn’t improve.I got bored with sending them back.My Edge 800 was a much better unit.I sold my last 820 to a mate.Despite my warnings he wanted it as an upgrade from a 520.He offloaded it a week later and reverted back to his 520.
Worst Garmin unit by a country mile.Go on the Garmin users Forum to see just how many issues they have.
Elemnt Bolt all the way.

Isn't this just a bit "Microsof bad Linux great"? You are bound to have more confirmation bias with a brand that sells 10 times as much. I just did a 6 hour ride in Mallorca and I left it on for the times I was sat at the side of the road wondering where my youth went. . My 820 worked fine, although it did tell me to do a u turn every 150 m up the Col de Soller. Battery was pretty low after being on in nav mode for 7 hours total. Not too bad. I could see this being an issue if battery life drops to 5 hours. Whereupon I'll buy something new. For sub £200 I can't complain.

sniper68

First Aspect wrote:

Isn't this just a bit "Microsof bad Linux great"? You are bound to have more confirmation bias with a brand that sells 10 times as much. I just did a 6 hour ride in Mallorca and I left it on for the times I was sat at the side of the road wondering where my youth went. . My 820 worked fine, although it did tell me to do a u turn every 150 m up the Col de Soller. Battery was pretty low after being on in nav mode for 7 hours total. Not too bad. I could see this being an issue if battery life drops to 5 hours. Whereupon I'll buy something new. For sub £200 I can't complain.

Not realy no.
I've used Garmins for years(and have had niggles) but the 820 is by far the worst unit I've had the displeasure of owning.Had the 820 worked I would not have given the Wahoo a second thought and would probably now be considering a 1030.However it didn't and now I've discovered the Wahoo I just can't see me going back to Garmin.
7hrs Battery from a claimed 15hrs...that's over 50% less!!!My Edge 800 easily did 12hrs!?

First.Aspect

Who claimed it had 15 hour life in nav mode? Its probably about 12 the rest of time time. But honestly who does 15 hour rides?

Look I read.the reviews and I'd never have paid full whack for it, but at £180 or whatever I paid it's fine. It is small, the screen is a good size, i can use the touch screen with gloves in anything less than a monsoon. I've not had the software issues that others have reported. Its basically like my 510 but with a better screen and base maps.