Garmin Edge 820 Vs 530

joey54321

After a recent accident, I am looking for a new Garmin. I have up until now been using the 800 which I have been very happy with.

I have looked at the features added with the 530 and they seem to be mostly mounted bike orientated, things like "flow" for MTB trails.

I use the Garmin for routing a lot, I'd like a decent battery as my 800 would often run out on longer rides towards the end of it's life. I'd also quite like crash detection features as well as the feature to 'live track' other Garmins. However, it looks like all of these are available on the 820.

Given there is a £70 price difference is the more expensive 530 worth it? Has it got significantly upgraded 'internals' which aren't' reflected in the feature list?

mamil314

Consider 520 Plus, it's an 820 without touch screen and POI search.

super_davo

Read the DC Rainmaker reviews of the 530 which gives a very detailed breakdown of the upgrades...
Sounds like a significant upgrade on the older generation in areas that really matter like processing power and battery life.

I would definitely be going for a 530 if I was in the market today, sounds like the sweet spot of the new range and you'll forget about the £70 pretty quickly.

Livetrack, crash detection are pants on all Garmins - there is a different DC Rainmaker article about that.

joey54321

The 520 plus is actually more expensive at Halfords (or anywhere else I can find) than the 820. If it's a better unit then the 820 I'd consider it though.

alex222

As an 820 owner I would take a 530 for £70 more at the drop of a hat.

joey54321

What are the gripes with the 820? And do you think the 530 fixes them?

One thing I read about the 520 plus is that you can't choose a location to navigate too, but it CAN calculate a route if you already have the location saved. I quite frequently 'drop a pin' on the 800 and get it to route me there. Does this mean this is unavailable on the 520 plus? How about the 530? Perhaps as a workaround, is there any way to 'push' a route from google maps app on an android phone to a Garmin?

wongataa

joey54321 wrote:

What are the gripes with the 820? And do you think the 530 fixes them?

A lot of 820 complaints were about the touchscreen. The 530 doesn't have one. The 830 does an the one it has is supposed to be better according to Garmin.

joey54321 wrote:

One thing I read about the 520 plus is that you can't choose a location to navigate too, but it CAN calculate a route if you already have the location saved. I quite frequently 'drop a pin' on the 800 and get it to route me there. Does this mean this is unavailable on the 520 plus? How about the 530? Perhaps as a workaround,

I think you select a point on the map to navigate to on the 530. You definitely can on the 830. Check out the DC Rainmaker review and the manual which is on the Garmin website.

joey54321 wrote:

is there any way to 'push' a route from google maps app on an android phone to a Garmin?

Not easily.

StillGoing

joey54321 wrote:

What are the gripes with the 820? And do you think the 530 fixes them?

The 820 was the final nail in the coffin for me with Garmin. My old 705 was great. The 810 I had was great until the 520 ruined the firmware. Upgraded to the 820 and it was woeful, an utter piece of junk. Returned the first one for exchange faulty but the second one was just the same. Sold it and moved to a Wahoo ELEMNT that never let me down. I've just upgraded from that to the ROAM and that is also faultless. If you can afford it go Wahoo.

k3vinjam3s

Ive just upgraded my 800 to a 820 as was priced at £157 so thought was a good deal. Reason i went for this over the 530 was i prefer a touchscreen and like the extra navigation features. So far so good. No problems with the touchscreen either which seems to be the main gripe with the unit.

alex222

I don't find the 820 terrible, but my main gripes are the touchscreen and the battery life. If you are navigating with it you really need to nurse the battery (e.g. disconnect phone connection, keep it off the map screen where possible, turn down back-light to lowest setting etc...). Recent holiday in the Alps I was charging it at lunch breaks to make sure it had sufficient power.
I've also turned off the crash detection as you get false positives, which are then impossible to cancel due to the sh1t touchscreen.

530 and 830 battery life is meant to be massively increased, plus they have some new features that I like the look of.

bobones

I like my 820: it's great with my Varia radar, Vector pedals and the Xert Connect IQ apps are amazing. I don't have too many problems with the touchscreen and the battery life has never let me down, but after trying an 830 in Evans the other day, I can see that they've improved the touchscreen sensitivity considerably. I much prefer the intuitive interface of a touchscreen so I would never go back to buttons only, and the 800 series navigation features are much more sophisticated than those of the 500 series.

thegreatdivide

I bought a 530 the other month. I already had a rock solid 810 and 520 but the urge to buy a new toy was too strong. I can confirm the battery life is superb and the processor is incredibly fast! A click of the power button and it instantly starts up, locates sensors/GPS and it’s ready to roll in seconds. I’m running Vector pedals, a speed sensor and a phone connection and I’m getting pretty much 10hrs. The new map is great. I also like the unit itself, it looks and feels really nice.

joey54321

Hmm, that's add more to the dilema.

I think the 830 is out due to price, so it comes down to:
For the same price:
820 - touch screen (not sure if that is a pro or a con at this point), better navigation
520 Plus - newer device, better battery than 820 (I think)

For ~ £75 more:
530 - Claimed 5 hour more battery life than 520 plus, "much" faster processor, added Wifi (is this needed?) and a bunch of metrics I'll never look at

I like the faster processor and also the idea that the device I've bought will be supported for longer, but not really sure it's worth the 40% price increase

thegreatdivide

At the moment, if you buy a 530 you'll be able to claim back the £50 Garmin prepaid card to spend on what you want where you want:

https://www.garmin.com/en-GB/local/prom ... g-upgrade/

joey54321

oooh, I wonder if it's also available in conjunction with the 10% BC discount at some retailers?

kingstongraham

Think the faster processor is worth it. I have the 820 and the only issue I have with it is the time taken to map a route.

slowbike

Managed to buy my 820 when they had it at £141 - despite my 800 still working (although battery is getting a little old - it still worked). Pleased I did as I don't like spending huge amounts on kit.
I've not had an issue with the touch screen despite using it in the wet.

Had I not, and needed to upgrade then yes - it'd be a toss up between the 820and 520plus - the 530, tempting as though a faster processor would be, is quite a bit more expensive - considering the basic use I use the units for... it is, afterall, just a logging unit.... it doesn't make me ride faster or make my efforts any easier...

joey54321

So it looks like the Halfords and Evans Cycles BC discount excludes GPS units which means with the £50 Garmin cashback scheme the difference is only £30 between the 520Plus and the 530.

Also, does anyone know with the LiveTracking feature, can this track and show on the 530 someone using the Garmin Connect App on a phone?

slowbike

Live track can be done with any bluetooth enabled Garmin afaik - my wife's 810 can do it.
It's OK - but usually flakey - we don't bother with it normally, we just track each other through Find my Phone ...

joey54321

Slowbike wrote:

Live track can be done with any bluetooth enabled Garmin afaik - my wife's 810 can do it.
It's OK - but usually flakey - we don't bother with it normally, we just track each other through Find my Phone ...

Thanks, shame to hear its buggy. Though my question is can it be done with one person using a phone and the other person using a Garmin or do both riders need to have a Garmin.

Can rider A use the map on the Garmin to track rider B's phone when rider B does not have a Garmin.

slowbike

Live track is a method to push the garmin data - track, speed, average speed to the internet - from there it can be viewed by anyone with the link using a normal web browser. I think it's only flakey because the bluetooth link to the phone is flakey.

Are you talking about Group Track? That is supposed to show anyone else in your Garmin Connectons on your map on the garmin as you're riding - never used it.

joey54321

Ah yes! Group track, not live track

Basically, if me and my partner are out it would be nice to 'find each other' without constant use of phones. I often commute home via a longer route and she cycles out to meet me. Group tracks sounds like it could help with this.

philbar72

530 is excellent. you can have the screen on a readable setting, Bluetooth and a map on the go and do a long ride and still have a decent amount of juice in the tank.

make sure you pair the Bluetooth properly though ( there are 2 instances on the phone). I faffed around, and had only one and couldn't upload via mobile. that's now sorted.

screens way better than a 520/820 as well and it processes everything way faster.

wouldn't go with a 520+ whilst it has maps, it doesn't have the processing power to crunch through map data. it takes an age to get stuff running.

itboffin

wongataa wrote:

joey54321 wrote:

What are the gripes with the 820? And do you think the 530 fixes them?

A lot of 820 complaints were about the touchscreen. The 530 doesn't have one. The 830 does an the one it has is supposed to be better according to Garmin.

joey54321 wrote:

One thing I read about the 520 plus is that you can't choose a location to navigate too, but it CAN calculate a route if you already have the location saved. I quite frequently 'drop a pin' on the 800 and get it to route me there. Does this mean this is unavailable on the 520 plus? How about the 530? Perhaps as a workaround,

I think you select a point on the map to navigate to on the 530. You definitely can on the 830. Check out the DC Rainmaker review and the manual which is on the Garmin website.

joey54321 wrote:

is there any way to 'push' a route from google maps app on an android phone to a Garmin?

Not easily.

If its pin drop style routing you're after sign up to the free version of Komoot then create your route by selecting the destination, type of ride and effort level, then install the komoot IQ app on your Garmin 820 or above do a normal Garmin sync and bam you're route is on the device ready to ride. No need for Garmin connect :?

joey54321

itboffin wrote:

wongataa wrote:

joey54321 wrote:

What are the gripes with the 820? And do you think the 530 fixes them?

A lot of 820 complaints were about the touchscreen. The 530 doesn't have one. The 830 does an the one it has is supposed to be better according to Garmin.

joey54321 wrote:

One thing I read about the 520 plus is that you can't choose a location to navigate too, but it CAN calculate a route if you already have the location saved. I quite frequently 'drop a pin' on the 800 and get it to route me there. Does this mean this is unavailable on the 520 plus? How about the 530? Perhaps as a workaround,

I think you select a point on the map to navigate to on the 530. You definitely can on the 830. Check out the DC Rainmaker review and the manual which is on the Garmin website.

joey54321 wrote:

is there any way to 'push' a route from google maps app on an android phone to a Garmin?

Not easily.

If its pin drop style routing you're after sign up to the free version of Komoot then create your route by selecting the destination, type of ride and effort level, then install the komoot IQ app on your Garmin 820 or above do a normal Garmin sync and bam you're route is on the device ready to ride. No need for Garmin connect :?

Awesome to know, can this be done from a phone then? And what is the difference between the free and the paid for komoot app?

itboffin

The free version gives you one region then you either buy per region or a one off for everywhere. I used the web tool to plot routes I already know to see what roads it would choose, in my small test sample its picked the same as I do which is already 1000x better than garmin connect, Strava, ridewithgps once download to your gamin it uses the devices routing software