Garmin....DCR now seems fed up with them

keef66

I just read the 830 review on here. Sounds like the same idiosyncratic on-device routing algorithms I have on my aged Touring Plus! I'm assuming the 530 will be the same.

StillGoing

Slowbike wrote:

I do find it best not to jump in on the first release of pretty much any product - especially electronics. Product testing is rarely exhaustive and it's fairly frequent occurrence for new users to discover "new features".

So, sorry - I let you lot do the testing - then usually buy when it's EOL .... as that's when it's at its most stable!

Except with Garmin, it seems units are at their best prior to any firmware update, particularly with 810 and 1000.

chris_bass

i must be lucky, i have had many garmin devices and other than a few minor things they have all bee great.

keith57

I’ve had many Garmin’s over the years. Always buggy to start with, eventually working ok. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the 830. Very fast map scrolling, excellent battery life. No crashing or glitches (yet). Well done Garmin, a first for me :shock:

awavey

my 510 can periodically be quite flaky, Ive lost rides several times with, it was having a wobbly at the weekend actually as I was trying to follow a route which it persistently claimed I was off course even though you could see I was on the road I was supposed to be and following the route, and then the course arrow completely froze. plus it can be very slow to respond to saving rides etc, cant find a satellite if it sits next to my cycliq on the handlebars.

for the amount it cost when new, I cant say Ive been overly impressed enough to spend just as much again to get a 530, especially when it still sounds as flaky.

maybe wahoo are the way to go

gethinceri

I had a 500 which was flawless until the screen started to die, I bought a 2nd hand one with a knackered battery for £10 and swapped the screen, it is flawless. At the time the screen started to fail I bought a 520, which I use on 90% of my rides, it has been flawless for three years.
I update firmware as soon as it is released.

ddraver

I've recently noticed that the glass/plastic over the HR sensor on the back of my fenix 3 has cracked slightly, in no way that I could feel by the way...

I googled it, as one does, and discovered that Garmin have just removed every post about old models from the garmin forums. In effect they no longer exist. Seems like they re stealing plays off of Apple

FatTed

I have had enough Garmin issues such that my next device will probably be a Wahoo.

redvision

I posted the link as it is a really interesting article from a well respected sport technology journalist/ blogger, and highlights that Garmin really do need to up their game.

I think it is clear that on paper their products, cycling in particular, are fantastic and offer more than any other competitor. But in reality every product they launch, be it a gps watch or computer, power meter pedals, etc seems to be plagued by bugs or faults and they never appear to find the right fix.

As DCR points out, the competitors sales have grown not necessarily because the products are better, or better value, but because they simply work and are reliable.

It is a shame because the 830 and 530 should have been the best cycling gps out there. Likewise the vector 3 pedals. But again Garmin has released them before they were ready, and who knows if they will ever find and release the necessary updates to sort the software issues.

I guess the interesting question now is will Garmin ever send a new product for DCR to review again?

meursault

I'm not sure 'plagued' is the correct term.

I'm about to change to 530, but the 810 I've had for years has been almost perfect. Only issue I can think of is not always getting turn by turn on a newly downloaded map. But I suspect that is more to do with the data file than the head unit.

There probably does exist some corporate arrogance, but there always is.

sloppyschleckonds

Ive had 3 garmins pack up just outside warranty. Constant software glitches etc

No such software issues with Wahoo, but had one hardware failure

alanyu

I preferred wahoo ... until the release of the new Roam. It's not that Garmin 530/830 is so perfect as I want but rather the Roam is really disappointing.

philbar72

strange one this, but anyone tried using the lezyne gps's. they seem to be a decent price, reliable and have decent battery life. I'm stuck with garmin because of the proprietary nature of my bars and out front mounts. otherwise I might change over.

awavey

redvision wrote:

As DCR points out, the competitors sales have grown not necessarily because the products are better, or better value, but because they simply work and are reliable.

It is a shame because the 830 and 530 should have been the best cycling gps out there. Likewise the vector 3 pedals. But again Garmin has released them before they were ready, and who knows if they will ever find and release the necessary updates to sort the software issues.

I guess the interesting question now is will Garmin ever send a new product for DCR to review again?

yeah but I bet the mantra among the product line management in Garmin is get first to market with it, even if its not quite right and try and fix once youve suckered people into buying it. As for all the woes we document about them and I do think alot of the issues are maybe caused around the extended set of functionalities they provide rather than some of the core functions, we still buy them, Garmin still make money out of it even if competitors sales are rising.

I mean I was still thinking if the 530 had received better reviews Id probably have got one, literally because you go well its Garmin theyve done GPS for years so they must make things that just work by now.

cycleclinic

My phone e and garmins barely talk to each other however neither did my wahoo. The Garmin just has better mapping. The 1030 lasts for 20+ hours with a route being followed. Did 700km with the 1030 and the battery extender and I just used up the battery extender.

No other gaps offers that to my knowledge. I could not care less about live track or bluetooth. So long as I can get the ride off via a cable then I'm happy.

StillGoing

alanyu wrote:

I preferred wahoo ... until the release of the new Roam. It's not that Garmin 530/830 is so perfect as I want but rather the Roam is really disappointing.

If you watch Shane Miller's blog, you'll see that Wahoo have already started updating the firmware with some of the promised additional functions. Routing couldn't be simpler and as someone that never bothered with the ELEMNT Bolt simply because I need a larger screen, I'll upgrade my ELEMNT to the ROAM eventually.

The beauty of Wahoo devices is the ease of set up and working the things. Even though I was a long time Garmin Edge user and got used to their set up SNAFU, I would never want to go back to it.

thecycleclinic wrote:

My phone e and garmins barely talk to each other however neither did my wahoo. The Garmin just has better mapping. The 1030 lasts for 20+ hours with a route being followed. Did 700km with the 1030 and the battery extender and I just used up the battery extender.

No other gaps offers that to my knowledge. I could not care less about live track or bluetooth. So long as I can get the ride off via a cable then I'm happy.

You don't need a cable to download routes. Just use WiFi?