Amazon have the edge 130+ at £110 and edge 530 at £180, that’s cheaper than my works discount scheme with 25% off. Cheapest price seen them for a while.

Tempted.

You can also potentially knock another tenner of by price matching with Halfords and signing up for their (free) Drivers’ Club for a £10 voucher.

Yeah, think I’m going to order one, been umming and erring for a while, tempted to wait for the replacement (edge 540 solar?) but as with all Garmin devices it’ll be extremely expensive for a year after release…

Refurb Edge 130s for £80. IIRC The plus model doesn’t add any useful functionality but what they did add reduces the battery life slightly.

b33k34
Full Member
Refurb Edge 130s for £80. IIRC The plus model doesn’t add any useful functionality but what they did add reduces the battery life slightly.

Plus has same battery and life, just that the Edge’s life was incorrectly overstated, they were more honest about it with the plus.

Oh and fenix 6 pro at £300 too, not the sapphire or solar version but still a very good deal.

I almost cracked and bought the fenix, had to stop myself, I just don’t need it

How reliable are their battery life estimates for the 530 for all-day riding with navigation? Any real-world experiences?

How reliable are their battery life estimates for the 530 for all-day riding with navigation? Any real-world experiences?

A quick search and results from the Garmin forums suggests the 20hrs is pretty accurate, depending on what you have turned on, what you’re using etc.

I can get 250 miles between charges on my 530, that’s with powermeter and HRM attached, if that’s any use. It’s not navigating but it is always on.

Thanks. Any reason I shouldn’t buy one?

Thanks. Any reason I shouldn’t buy one?

There’s probably (maybe) a new model due out in the next year, or 2? But as above it’ll probably be £300+ for at least 6 months after launch.

The edge devices have so many MTB features like trailforks maps which pop up when you stop tool look at which trail you’re on.

Just be aware if it’s your first Garmin device that it’s like a gateway drug, you’ll end up with 3 watches, 2 computers, HR straps, cadence sensors, power meters, rear radars before too long… 🤣

I have a forerunner 245 and now an edge 530, and will probably have a fenix within a year or so.

My 530 did a full 12 hour ride with about 40% left on the battery, I’ve got the underslung extender for weekends bike packing and probably don’t need it tbh.

Just be aware if it’s your first Garmin device that it’s like a gateway drug, you’ll end up with 3 watches, 2 computers, HR straps, cadence sensors, power meters, rear radars before too long…

This is true! The only reason I’d be hesitant is due to Garmins ability to break something with most updates. Recent daylight savings time changes didn’t alter the time on my unit. Plugged it into the PC and ran Garmin Express and this fixed it. They’re a great device, a few training niggles (i.e. alarms, can turn alert beeps off, but not on screen notifications when out of zone.)

I’ve had an edge 800, 810 and now on a 530. Don’t miss the touchscreen at all and the 530 is easily the fastest and has the best battery. I did an 8 hour ride (well, hikeabike!) at the weekend with a HRM connected and maps on, I still had loads of battery left at the end. Did a 3 hour ride before that and had over 85% left.

I’ve also got a Fenix 6 and it’s brilliant, they really seem to have got their act together. I nearly threw in the towel with the glacial response times and awful battery life of the 810 but glad I didn’t.

Refurb Edge 130s for £80. IIRC The plus model doesn’t add any useful functionality but what they did add reduces the battery life slightly.

I would disagree, it now detects jumps and you get a little fanfare when you catch modest air. And it has crash detection, like that ANGI thing. The two features may be linked.

I got mine for £99 in the Halfords sale.

530 is a great device. I’ve had a few of the Garmin range and it’s battery life is superb. Running navigation, HRM and phone connection it comfortably manages 12h. I would see 20+h being realistic.

It’s a faff to scroll around the map so not great if that is something you do. Generally I tend to plot a route in advance and follow it. For that I notice no difference over the 1000. I think the buttons help make it more reliable in the wet – my 1000 used to lock all the time. Also easy with gloves and you don’t scuff the screen (protector).

I have an 830 as well which is basically the same but touch screen. I don’t feel I lose anything when I take the 530.

Oops, just bought a fenix6s pro. My forerunner 935 has been great but getting a bit long in the tooth. For 339 it seemed worth it…will see if the remorse kicks in.

Been looking at both a fenix and the 530 a lot recently…

Hmmmm which to buy, which to buy, which to buy…

Fenix is a bit of a bargain. Absolutely love my 6x pro and at £340 it’s a steal (compared to what I paid it is!)

Typo in my post above – my purchase was actually the Fenix 6x pro, thought they had 6s too.

Just get both @donslow! The more you spend the more you save

That’s a good PSA for the Edge 530. They were £170 on Black Friday just passed, so not far off.

I just picked up the Edge 530 MTB bundle (with the mount, remote, and speed sensor) for €270 delivered from Bike24. At the current exchange rate that worked out at £230 which was a nice deal. As the official MTB mount is £30 I essentially got the remote and speed sensor for £10 a piece.

Absolutely loving it compared to the Edge Explore 820 it replaced. Much faster processing and better MTB integration. Totally sold. A bit faffy to set up because of the seemingly endless menu options but once dialled in works a treat.

Any reason not to buy an Edge 530? If you want training features and stats, no. If you only want navigation, then the Edge Explore is a significantly better device.

Does the edge remote make it any easier to pan and zoom the map?

@oblongbob if only the purse string would stretch that far…

Admittedly I’ve had two 530 units, used them once and then sold them as I didn’t think I’d use them enough again to warrant them sitting in a box, seemed a bit of a waste but now I find I’m wanting one again because it is a great unit and navigation on them is spot on

But on the other hand…I like watches and need a new one as my last garmin watch died a watery death (apparently common with the model it was) last year…

Ooh I do love a Garmin PSA.

Takes me back to Christmas/New Year 🙂

This is very tempting but can’t help but feel the 540 is just round the corner.

Yeah that’s the only thing that might have stopped me from buying one, but the replacement has been due ‘soon’ for ages now. And it’ll be £300+ with no discounts for ages anyway.

Of course now I’ve got an edge 530 coming the 540 pro solar will be released next week at £200… 🤣

I notice the Elemnt Bolt appears to be a very similar price

Which should I choose for normal turn by turn nav on and off road?

^^ Edge Explore.

Pan and zoom via touch is soooo much better than buttons. And very handy for a quick orientation. I really miss it when using the 530.

If you’ve never used the Amazon app there is £10 off any spend over £30 the first time you log in.

I’ve had an Edge 530 for a few years now and it’s been great.

Use my 530 in the forest and the gps is terrible. The ride should around the 19km mark but last time it logged 14,5km. The trail is all over the place. I don’t put it on my bars and it is in my jacket pocket. From what I have read this would cause a gps shadow but it is worse than my iPhone and I also read that the 530 struggles in woods. Any tips. I will try with it on my bars

Which should I choose for normal turn by turn nav on and off road?

The bolt doesn’t have proper maps, doesn’t have true turn by turn navigation, and doesn’t have trailforks maps.

It only has a breadcrumb trail and can’t do anything if you go off route.

^^ Edge Explore.

Pan and zoom via touch is soooo much better than buttons. And very handy for a quick orientation. I really miss it when using the 530.

Perhaps, but the main place the Explore falls down (relative to the 530) surely has to be battery life? I love my explore but range is it’s Achilles heel, remedied by a power bank, but the 530 will go much longer and Garmin sell their special range extender pack for it, where your stuck with a micro USB port on the explore…

They’re very different devices I think. £180 isn’t bad for the 530 but if there’s a ‘530+’ or 540 on the horizon I’d expect to see cheaper deals within six months perhaps (Garmin have a pattern)…

I thought no one was buying Garmin again? (After the Xmas sale mess up) 😁

Got my edge 530 all set up now, they don’t seem to like mesh and/or 5ghz WiFi so I’ve created a secondary 2.4ghz network on my main router for it to connect to.

I could probably just do the phone connection only uploads but I probably won’t always have my phone connected, for battery life etc.

Also updates are easier with WiFi.

Perhaps, but the main place the Explore falls down (relative to the 530) surely has to be battery life?

Well, it’s good for ten hours, or more if you use battery save mode, and the number of people knocking out ten hour rides has to be fairly small? I’ve done a few rides longer than that, and I just brought a mini powerbank with me. I was prepared to plug it in whilst riding but turned out that plugging it in before a shop stop gave it enough charge to carry on.

I’d put up with that for the benefits of touch screen pan/zoom. I did a 2hr ride on my 530 yesterday and when approaching roundabouts it zoomed right in on the ‘slight left’ which turned out to be the turning onto the roundabout, which is utterly unhelpful given I was actually turning right. The ‘turn right’ bit popped up when I was actually on the roundabout which was even less helpful.

I’m fairly sure the Edge Explore doesn’t do this, but if it did I could zoom out of the close-up map easily showing me the next turning, and if I’m not on the map screen generally the pop-up maps remember the zoom you had last time.

The trail is all over the place. I don’t put it on my bars and it is in my jacket pocket.

I don’t think I have this problem, I think it’s optimised for being on your bars whereas phones might be optimised for being in a pocket? Mine is pretty accurate.

All sold out, just as I got my old one sold on the classifieds. Bollocks.

Sport Pursuit had the Fenix 6 Pro Solar for £399. But I procrastinated and they’ve put it up to £449. Today I looked in the window of a local jewellers and they have it for £429 – so I’m really quite tempted.