Have decided to replace my trusty Edge 500 with one of these. Will be for road bike use where I use speed,  cadence and distance mainly. Not fussed about Strava or nav, the DC Rainmaker reviews sound like it is a natural replacement for the 500, with the benefit of Bluetooth.

Anyone using it yet and any thoughts ?  Cheap 500 in classified soon !

Oh well, ordered one from LBS anyway !

It’s an Internet connected Garmin. It doesn’t matter how good it is now, every few months Garmin will update it without telling you and the update will either be a minor upgrade or completely break it.

If you already have a Garmin device working, just ignore the Firmware update and carry on.

it’s interesting skimming the comment at the bottom of the DCR review, most are (inevitably) about FW updates and related issues…

DC Rainmaker loves it. Natural progression from the 500, and aside from a few power metrics, the sweet spot for computers. Once they add Normalised Power as an IQ feature, I’m in.

I’m presuming that if updates kill it in the first year it’s a warranty job ?

I’ve just been through this and settled on an elemnt bolt.  And I’m glad I did.  Superior visuals and a ton of metrics Garmin don’t include, plus its nice and aero on my road bike.

In addition, simple things like being able to watch your normal screen in “workout” mode yet have the intervals start/finish/info overlay it appropriately then disappear is excellent.

Just sent my week old Garmin edge 130 back. The navigation arrow would disappear off the screen whilst following a course, making it useless for following even a simple course.

No lap by position on Wahoo yet. That is what’s held me back.

Navigation is currently broken (but it’s never going to be any use on a small screened B&W device with no mapping) so not much of a loss.

Screen definition and visibility, even in bright direct sunlight, is brilliant.

I’m liking the BT link to my phone for upload to Strava and text/call notifications.  Strava segments are actually more interesting than i thought on solo training rides – occasionally you want to really push yourself and its a good way of doing it.

Downside – it looks as if Garmin have made a shit decision and prioritised size over battery life.  At the moment it looks as if you only get their 15 hours spec if you’ve nothing connected to it.  Add a few sensors and that drops significantly.

I really like it.

Sounds like an ideal update to the 500 for me. I’ll rarely, if at all, use the nav side and only sensors will be cadence. BT feature will be handy. Cheers for feedback so far !

At the moment it looks as if you only get their 15 hours spec if…

To be fair, other than the old eTrexes when running on top quality alkaline batteries, I’ve never had a Garmin device that got close to its claimed battery life, so I’m totes amazeballed.

Just sent my week old Garmin edge 130 back. The navigation arrow would disappear off the screen whilst following a course, making it useless for following even a simple course.

Ooooh, sounds like they took my favourite feature of my Edge500; randomly disappearing breadcrumb trail during a ride while leaving the arrow in place, & reversed it.
Nice one Garmin!

I recently bought an Elemnt Bolt to free me from the shackles of Garmin shiteness.

Downside – it looks as if Garmin have made a shit decision and prioritised size over battery life.  At the moment it looks as if you only get their 15 hours spec if you’ve nothing connected to it.  Add a few sensors and that drops significantly.

I was going to ask about peoples experiences of battery life for longer rides/events…

Can it still take an external power pack like the 500/520?

I really like my edge 130. Have been using it for a few weeks now. It actually works quite well which is more than I can say for the Edge 800 it replaced . I replaced the bulky big edge because in practice I find that recording rides is better for me than the navigation functions which were not good anyway on the 800. Few GPS have large enough screens for me and if I really need to see where I am I use OS maps on my phone. The advantage with the little edge 130 is its tiny size easy to read screen and easy syncing with the smartphone garmin app. Being so small the little edge easily mounts on handlebars and as it’s light too so will not easily fall off , or get caught even on rough trails. I bought the “Mtb bundle” which comes with a rubber case and remote switch ( i haven’t bothered mounting the remote switch). Does anyone actually use it??? Navigation with the edge is basic and just breadcrumb trails . It’s just about ok but doesn’t give any pre turn warnings. I always find that trying to use gps for find point navigation ruins the flow of a ride anyway so will just use mine for ride recording. I’m not a Strava user but the little Garmin also seems to offer all that too.  I find battery life way better than the edge 800. I would have no problem with a 6hr or over ride if I was that fit! I just us an HR sensor though ( no cadence or watts) . The screen is exceptionally clear and better than larger models even in sunlight so it’s good for those who have poor close vision too😊

Battery life – I’ve been doing a lot of 6/7 hour days out and it still seems to be showing about 50% (can’t get a number out of it so that’s off a small battery icon).  Connected to phone only.

I’ve not used the remote yet either.  I’ve tried using Strava segments on the road bike and I think that’s when you might want it – to cancel the segments when they appear so the thing doesn’t keep beeping at you.  I put mine on eBay but haven’t had any interest (whereas the mount sold pretty quickly) so I’m guessing not many people have been crying out for it.