Which Garmin for MTB

The scratches are your story. Allowing a super flash watch to gain some scratches tells a better story – it’s getting used for what it was designed for.

Anyway, I’ve never found the navigational features of the Fenix 6 to be particularly reliable, I think that the way you plan your routes is really important, it seems to miss indistinct junctions, and you can easily overshoot a junction. More often than not it’s telling me I’m off-course, as opposed to telling me that I should make a turn. I’m sure if I made the junctions ‘harder’ when plotting my routes it would work better.

A big plus for the Karoo2 is the navigation and speed that it re-routes. A couple of the display designs could do with a rethink (pop ups staying on too long and covering other info) but I’ve no doubt they’ll address them.

Allowing a super flash watch to gain some scratches tells a better story – it’s getting used for what it was designed for.

Trust me, I keep testing out the scratch resistance of the glass, in errr, controlled experiments that I totally planned, and have nothing whatsoever to do with incompetence. My Fenix 5 is 5 years old new, and regardless of wearing it every day and being, frankly a clumsy oaf, the glass polishes up like new, the case has some nicks and scars and the base metal is starting to show through the anodising, and I’m on my 3rd strap (I think) , but that glass is absolutely worth the extra.

True, the glass on my Fenix 6 is fine, the outer case has a few nicks and the first time it happens it jars a bit, but you learn to love them!

You can get all sorts of aftermarket bezel and screen protectors.

The Garmin straps are a bit disappointing mind, the genuine ones are nearly £50 and I’ve found that the rubber begins to split at the hole that is most frequently used. I’ve found that the cheaper non-Garmin ones always seem to have a pointy bit of metal in the wrong place. I’m going to try one of the elasticated velcro ones next.

There’s also a real inconsistency about what works well and doesn’t across the phone platforms they operate with, I find that the device syncs much better with certain iOS apps like OS Maps – I can send routes directly to my device whereas with Android theres a really convoluted process of emailing them etc. whereas the weatehr information on Android is much more reliable, and I can tailor app notifications much better in Android than I can iOS, though i suspect that that’s because its not an apple watch, where as its part of the ‘eco system’ you can tailor it to your liking more.

Jumping in on this thread since I lost my Vivoactive 4 the other day. I used that as my daily watch and for MTB and runs using Spotify too.

I’d like to maintain the above features but also allow for following a route. I’ve only ever used the OS app on my phone so I’m not familiar with following a watch. Is it a worthwhile feature considering it doubles the cost? How do you get routes and maps onto it in the first place (I’ve got trailforks and OS)? Anything else to look out for?

Pieface

I’m going to try one of the elasticated velcro ones next.

Any recommendations? Would like the same….

I recently got two off Amazon (Songsier) if you have slim wrists check the size as I’m at the very smallest size. They fit well, a little more fiddly taking on and off (probably more so if you have big hands or wrists) but stretchier elastic may make this less of a problem. Main gripe is that they stay wet for a while, if I wear my watch during a shower I’ll get wet patches on my clothes until it’s fully dry, whereas the silicone strap is dry after a wipe with a towel.

The silicone strap needs to be stretchy to get a good fit, but means that the strap splits (not yet entirely) near the holes you use the most.

Overall the elastic strap fits better, but day to day practicality the silicone is better.

I have a Fenix 5s watch and an edge 810 for the bike as it’s easier to load/view maps and with the hr strap & cadence/speed sensors is a lot more accurate at tracking bike activities.

Good prices on Sport Pursuit at the moment, albeit with 1 month lead time.

A month in with the 530 and I’m liking it a lot.

As a basic info and ‘record my rides’ unit (also basic e bike data) the 130 is a great device – very readable screen, super compact. BUT, and a big but, the battery life isn’t good enough and once it starts dropping off over time it’s unusable. I got that in 2 years with mine and with the replacement.

The Karoo is a fantastic device in many ways but I never loved it. The potential for third party apps and integrations never really seemed to happen. It’s finally got some e-bike support now but only Ant+ (so no good for the Shimano motor on my Orbea Rise where I want it). It’s almost certainly the best for navigation, the ‘climb graphs’ are brilliant for road riding (especially as they “just work” without a route loaded) the screen is great but it’s big and the battery life has the same issues as the Garmin 130 – in real life use you’re not going to get an ‘all day’ ride out of it.

530 battery life does seem up towards 20 hours in real world use. The mapping is decent. e bike support is excellent (with a Shimano Steps screen or individual fields). I’m liking the Trailforks integration – can see that being super useful exploring in France next year and the ‘mtb stats’ stuff is fun. The profiles are easy to change (I have road/emtb/mtb and it auto loads to Strava with the correct ride type).

Also, looking at Garmin Connect I reckon it’s probably better than Strava now in many ways though bizarrely it has no equivalent of ‘segments’- which of course is the whole point of Strava. I wonder if they’ve got some kind of patent on that?

I’m dangerously close to hitting buy on an Epix Pro 2

£1099 for the new all singing 51mm Sapphire model with leather strap. But, 10% deposit and £20/month interest free so hey…

@b33k34 – Garmin Connect also has Segments and you can create your own.

@scotroutes

how do you see them? Looking at a recent Surrey hills ride nothing seems obvious (I’m guessing there are far fewer entered than Strava but I’d still have expected a few to show)

Does anything these days have OS mapping? And if not, how does the standard of the mapping compare?

I’m still using an Edge 800 (bought to do JOGLE in 2012) mainly because it has the whole UK in OS 1:50k on the included SD card. (Yes, you can follow a route on anything, but having a decent map makes it a lot easier to change routes on the go, or just head out and string a route together on semi-familiar roads)

Back then, the basemaps were useless so I’ve also made custom maps from OSM when going on holidays abroad – presumably you don’t need to do this kind of thing any more, but not sure what mapping is actually on the device versus what you have to download? Would I be using masses of mobile data next time I took it for a ride in Lanzarote, for example?

It would be good to upgrade to something a bit more modern so I don’t have to connect to a computer to upload rides (800 doesn’t have bluetooth), but the old one still works fine so bar that minor inconvenience I’m struggling to justify the expense.

@MrGreedy – I think the go-to these days is a Garmin Edge with TalkyToaster mapping.

This is OSM mapping refined by Mr TalkyToaster. Round Stirling this is far superior mapping to that by the OS.

I’m dangerously close to hitting buy on an Epix Pro 2

£1099 for the new all singing 51mm Sapphire model with leather strap. But, 10% deposit and £20/month interest free so hey…

Thing is how are you going to feel going out and about tumbling over rocks and jumping in lakes or whatever with a grand dangling off your wrist? And once it is scuffed and looking tired and you’ve still got another couple of years of finance to pay on it… Nah these things need to cost no more than you’re willing to lose on them. (All IMO of course)…

I love my instinct, but I wouldn’t shed a tear if it got smashed tomorrow, cos it was (relatively) cheap.

Thing is how are you going to feel going out and about tumbling over rocks and jumping in lakes or whatever with a grand dangling off your wrist?

Yeah it would be in the back of my mind for sure. But I have two Samsung smart watches, one of which is a beater. The rides where I’d use the Garmin for maps would tend to be more sedate. And I quite fancy one regardless 🤣

The rides where I’d use the Garmin for maps would tend to be more sedate. And I quite fancy one regardless 🤣

Thing is an edge on the bars is probably a better bike navigation tool, you could easily buy a posher one (840/1030/1040?) within your Epix budget. The Epix really isn’t the obvious device to choose for bike navigation, but if it works for you and you have the money/finance, why not I guess…

I’ve used Garmins bike computers since day dot pretty much,

The 530 does all I need and also includes ebike battery and power modes, as well as electronics shifting info if you have it.

Terrific bit of kit.

@mrgreedy

Does anything these days have OS mapping? And if not, how does the standard of the mapping compare?

I’ve had a Garmin with Ord Survey and never found it very satisfactory on a small screen in sunlight – not enough contrast, not clear enough. I sold the card and installed OSM. The OSM based mapping that Garmin include (which is global as well I think?) is better for on bike navigation, particularly off-road where it includes far more tracks that don’t appear on OS (including a lot of cheeky trail pixie stuff)

I’ve got Ord Survey on my phone (after buying various UK wide OS mapping over the years I’ve realised the cheapest way is to buy the 1:25 paper maps for the areas you ride frequently which come with a code for offline mapping in the OS mobile app.

£1099 for the new all singing 51mm Sapphire model with leather strap. But, 10% deposit and £20/month interest free so hey…

Surely you’ll be paying that off way after it’s out of date and confined to a draw…. 20/month is like 5 years isn’t it?!

20/month is like 5 years isn’t it?!

4.2 years…

Seems a crazy price to me for any sort of watch, let alone one to ride when biking. and my rule is never to have anything on tick that I could still be paying for after I’m likely to have lost, broken or got tired of.

Have the 830 and the first Instinct Solar. For quick rides I just use the watch, longer rides it’s an HR strap and the 830. Battery life is dying on the Instinct now, so trying a Venu 2 Plus, which seems to have all the features of the Instincts plus a bit more smartwatch stuff, but still with about a weeks battery life. Not as rugged though, but screen is holding up so far.

So just for funz I charged the 520plus and used that yesterday, and a couple of things. 1. It very nearly ran out of juice on a 6 hour day – that’s crap; right? I think the battery’s just old and it’s had too many updates 2. I forgot just how annoying it is when it beeps and chirps at me all the time. 3. It was so laggy..I’d make a turn and then wait 20 secs for it to make up it’s mind if I was on the right track…So probs going to have to get something newer.

1030plus for £300 (too big for MTB?) or the 830plus for about the same money?

So is the consensus that the 530 is all I’d need for decent on-bars navigation then?

Don’t want any other features, but do need something that I can use to navigate for long all day off road rides.

I’ve read that touch screens aren’t great off road.

@ahsat loves her 530 and the battery life is great. I prefer the bigger screen of the 1040 which also has great battery life. I’ve never had any issue with the touchscreens. DC Rainmaker used to back the 530 over the 830, but I think he now prefers the 840 over the 540. There should be good prices on the Singletrack rewards

I much prefer the 840, the touchscreen makes on the fly use much easier, I didn’t want to spend the extra but just short test of the 540 was enough to convince me to send it back and get the 840 instead.

on the fly use

@MSP what sort of things would I need to do on the fly?

The Edge Explore 2 is well worth a look too. It’s got a bigger screen than the 840 but is missing the training features.

If you’re not using much of the function then the button interface of the 530 won’t be much of an issue. I have a 530 and an Oregon 700. The latter has a bigger, touch, screen, runs off AA batteries and has both OSM and OS Maps. Which one I take/use just depends on what sort of outing I’m doing. For shorter (especially road/gravel) rides, the 530 works well. For multi-day, particularly off-road, rides, I prefer the Oregon. 

@MSP what sort of things would I need to do on the fly?

Mainly changing screens to see other information and responding to changes in navigation.

Although the whole operation of the of the unit is simplified by touchscreen IMO, for me using the buttons is a bit too much faf doing anything on it, when my mind is trained for touchscreen use after over a decade of smartphone use. It is meant to be a tool to make cycling better, using the buttons is too much of a chore for me and makes the user experience just a little too obtrusive when I just want to ride and glance at the information I want every now and then.

Quite the opposite to my new garmin dive watch, where I have disabled the touchscreen and wished they offered a cheaper version without that functionality.

DC rainmaker’s take on Garmin buttons is that they are great for switching screens etc but if you come to a point when you want to scroll around the map then it becomes a PITA. If you’re only ever going to be following a pre-planned route via GPX then you can probably cope with buttons and save the money on the cheaper 530/540 models. The 840 actually has both buttons and touchscreen so is best of both worlds.

I find if I am in an area I don’t know well and want to have a good look at an alternative route or something I very often just whip my phone out anyway as it’s much quicker than looking on my 1030.

Yeah, I’ve got OS maps on my phone, which is what I’ve been using up until now, but am planning on going further afield and could do with something that’s easier to access.

Whichever Garmin you go for, I’d also recommend Talkytoaster maps – much cheaper than OS, and regularly updated.

FWIW, I use a Garmin Etrex Touch, mainly because it uses AA batteries,which can be bought almost anywhere.