So, ive been looking into buying a garmin 520, ive never owned one but like the thought of using one as ive recently moved to somerset, so want to explore the quantocks.

Are they a gimmick or actually a good bit of kit to have?

realistically do the batteries last as along as stated?

and are the mounts as bad as people make them out to be?

any input would be great!

thanks ditch!

Get one off EBay, then you can find out for little outlay and if you don’t like it sell it.

Mounts aren’t a problem for me.

The batteries do seem to last as stated.

Mine is on my essential bit of kit list, because I am often navigating new places or even simply exploring the wider area around where I live, and there is a lot of it with tricky navigation.

If you want to do it on the cheap, get an Edge 20, plan your rides on bikehike.co.uk and upload them to the device from whence you can follow the breadcrumb trail. It works well – mapping on the device can be handy but is not essential by any means.

I’ve recently started using a garmin (last 6-8 months).

If you like tracking rides to see if you are improving then they are more convenient than a phone app IMHO. Not to mention you keep your phone tucked away and hopefully more protected. I don’t turn on delivery of text messages etc to the garmin as I’d rather just ride and worry about the outside world later. Oh, and if you do get into trouble then you’re more likely to have a decent amount of phone battery to contact someone (assuming you have signal of course).

I’ve yet to break a mount despite a couple of crashes – I have broken a few “rubber bands” that hold the mounts on though. That seems to be a sensible weakest link to me.

I’ve got an 810 and when I’m in an area I don’t know following a route I don’t know I find a quick glance down at the garmin much easier than stopping to read a map/guide book/etc.

No idea on battery life – lasts for a long time but I’ve never really measured it and it’s a different device to the one you’re considering anyway.

I have an 800 with OS maps an I can honestly say it’s the best and most used bit of bike kit I own.

Battery life as good if not better than stated. Even after nearly 4 years it’s going strong.

Love plotting routes in new areas, or even making up stuff on the fly with the mapping.

I’ve never had a problem with the garmin mounts – I mount them on my stem. Never had the unit eject and it always feels solid. Not sure how people could have a problem with them really. Just make sure the bands go to the diagonally opposite retainer.

I had a 520 which was good for the bike but I sold it for a garmin watch which I find a little more versatile

live segment was good on the 520 for working out where strava segments start/finish. meant you could star something on strava and once you were with 500m of the start it would ping up with a map.

the actual ‘live’ timing was variable in quality…

Awesome yeah I’ve seen the 520 and I like the look of it again I’m sick of stopping pulling out a map etc so will make it easierror I’ve watched a few on eBay and therear still going for stupid prices.
That’s for yourent input! 🙂

When I thought my 795 had finally died earlier this week I looked at newer ones and actually decided I thought I’d get one of the Lezyne Micro colour ones when they are available later this month.
Seem to give you more bang for your buck than Garmin if you can live wi the few limitations.
I’ve since got the 705 working again, so may not bother but if it craps out yet again….

They are great

Battery life is not so good if you leave it on the mapping screen with backlights permanently on. On a data screen and light set to time out the battery life seems as stated for the garmins that I have had

You don’t need the back light on all the time, on mine it just comes on when you need to turn. But in daylight you can still pretty much see it without the light.

I should add I have an edge touring not a 520

They’re really useful. I’ve got an edge 1000 and whilst i’ve never yet been lost and had to use it to get home, I’ve been able to help others who’re lost.

I did the Exmouth Exodus (100+ mile night ride) this year with mine and it lasted the full 8 hours doing guidance and logging ending with about 20 mins remaining. As Molgrips says, the backlight switching helps.

Brilliant doesn’t seem to be many negatives then I may have go out and buy one!

I got an 810 in the spring and in addition to all that’s been said above I’d add that I find mine to be a great motivator when you start down that slippery slope of checking your data.

Love mine. Had an Edge 1000 for 2 years, had a 705 for the 4 years before. Wouldn’t be without one.

Picked up a 520 for £175 in-store at a Cycle Surgery last week – best price I could find anywhere. Bought it for exactly the same reason as you – just exploring local routes & trails.

Replaced the basemap with a higher resolution version from Open Street Map (free), downloaded a few GPX files, job done. It’s been utterly brilliant so far, so much easier than stopping to get map/phone out!

my 800 with os maps died so i got a touring …. one of those bits
of kit that you don’t really think about much but end up “lost”
without it … literally and metaphorically 🙂

I use an Edge 510 (with all the willy waving data collection devices) for road rides and basic logging of off-road rides in areas that I know. For following routes or riding in new areas I’ve an Oregon and OSM maps.

The Etrex and Oregon (at least) can have their (AA) batteries swapped out without losing the current activity. They are a bit bulkier than the Edge models though.

so I bought and edge 520 and so far so good uploaded a couple of routes and I’m heading out this afternoon over the quantocks to see how it fairs! thanks for all your advice!

Granted, I’ve not spent much time on it, but the few times I’ve attempted to follow a route, it’s been unsuccessful. Can’t seem to find the start of the route, maybe I need to try and change the mapping.

It’s going to rain this afternoon, 😉 I’ve just got back from walking the dog up there (Lydeard Hill) and it was just starting.

Hey Joe – funnily enough I’m moving to Somerset in a couple of weeks and have been thinking of doing the same thing. In the end I bought an Edge 510 off a mate for plotting road rides, and will use the OS Map app for exploring off road routes. I’d definitely recommend downloading it, I’ve used it in the Qs, Lakes and Peaks this year to pinpoint my position against trails and never got lost once. You have to buy the maps with the digital downloads, but well worth it. Works without data on too, just need your GPS.

How were the trails? Got a week off in between moving and starting job so was hoping to sneak out at some point…

I’ve been using the 520 for about 8 months now, it was good at 1st but I found that mine missed out loads of segments once I uploaded the data to garmin connect then onto strava and it still continues to do so.

I now only use it to find new trails and use my Sunnto watch to record my rides as it never misses a segment.

I couldn’t imagine living without one! So much more robust and durable than a phone, and way better battery life. So you don’t need to worry about it, just switch it on and go.

Mount on my 500 is great and easy to use. In fact I think I got 2 with it, which is nice – making it really easy to swap over bikes. Mount on my Etrex was kinda secure – I thought, until I lost one. The Etrex mount has become worse over time too.

Battery life on the 500, I’ve never reached the end of. And that includes plenty of all day rides, 10 hours plus. Etrex lasts at least 23 hours on good AA batteries (and about 45 minutes on bad ones, I discovered!). I only swapped them over at that point as to not get caught short.

Definitely good kit.