Today Garmin announced their latest cycling computer – the Edge 820. Well, actually, they announced two cycling computers: The Edge 820 and the Edge Explore 820. The Explore is simply the dumbed down version of the 820. While the Edge 820 is basically an Edge 520 and Edge 1000 that’s had a baby that’s smarter than both of them.
I’ve been using a nearly-final Edge 820 for a short bit now, and so I’ve got some preliminary thoughts on how it works. But I’ll also dive into how the various models are different and some of the minor nuances that might not be so apparent.
Wait…what’s that? You said you subscribed to Garmin’s YouTube feed and a month ago you got a sneak peak about the Edge 820 before they realized following their summer solstice morning after party and delisted them? No worries – now I’m here to explain all! For realz this time. Let’s get started.
(Oh, as the title suggestions…this isn’t a review. I haven’t used the device long enough. Come back in August for a full in-depth review.)
What’s new & different:
As regular readers of my preview posts (what happens prior to an in-depth review), I’m a fan of using bulleted text and simplicity to cut through all the marketing fluff. Let’s start by talking about what the Edge 820 is in most basic terms:
The Edge 820 is an Edge 1000 in the shell of an Edge 520, except that it’s got a new personality (user interface) and a number of new software features found on neither the Edge 520 or Edge 1000. Oh, and it can stalk your friends for you. No really, it can.
As you can see below – the Edge 520 & Edge 820 are identical in outer shell size (though differ in buttons):
Here’s precisely what’s new on the Edge 820 (and if it’s found on other Garmin units):
– Adds in Group Tracking (stalking your friends)
– Contains full/detailed mapping/routing (like Edge 1000)
– Contains 16GB of internal storage (no micro-SD card slot though)
– Adds in phone-based audio prompts (like Garmin wearables)
– Adds in Incident/Emergency Detection/Notifications (like Edge Explore 1000)
– Adds in new Stress Score (seen on wearables)
– Has WiFi (on Edge 1000, but not Edge 520)
– Has a touch screen (like Edge 1000)
– Has a cool new ‘Battery Save mode’ (never seen before)
So are there any things not found on the Edge 820 that are on the Edge 1000? Just a few:
– Doesn’t have landscape mode (for rotating screen)
– Doesn’t have the micro-SD card slot (for more than 16GB of maps)
– Has a smaller screen than the Edge 1000
And…that’s it.
As for the Edge Explore 820, here’s how it’s different than the base Edge 820:
– No WiFi
– No Ambient Light Sensor
– No ANT+ Power Meter or Shifting Support
– No Structured Training Support (i.e. structured workouts)
– No advanced metrics like performance indictor, FTP, etc…
Most importantly though is that you can easily play the $100 game between the three most popular units:
Edge 520: $299
Edge 820: $399
Edge 1000: $499
Super simple math. I mean, as long as you ignore the Edge 20 at $129, Edge 25 at $169, the Edge 820 Explore at $349, the Edge Explore 1000 at $449 or any of the other Edges out there. Let’s just keep focused on the Big Three above. Mmmk?
What’s that? You want a 15 minute overview video instead of text and pictures? Hmmm…ok. Seriously, I don’t know how this ended up as 15 minutes – but it covers everything under the sun on the Edge 820. You’ll be able to be a product support technician for Garmin after this:
Diving Deeper on the New Stuff:
By and large the unit has virtually all the same features you’ve come to expect from the Edge series. So it’ll of course use its internal GLONASS capable GPS chipset to track your rides, and it has a barometric altimeter for proper elevation record keeping. And it’ll allow you to do Strava real-time segments as well as connect to ANT+ sensors like power, heart rate, speed, cadence, eTAP/Di2/etc… And then all of that is uploaded to Garmin Connect wirelessly via Bluetooth Smart or WiFi (or, via USB cable).
That’s all the baseline things found on all the new Edge units these days. Instead, for now let’s focus on what’s new here – starting with the most obvious – the user interface. You’ll see it’s quite changed:
Now the differences are actually interesting – it now looks a lot more like the past Edge Explore editions with a simplified user interface. You’ve got essentially three core paths to take: Just ride (top option), navigate somewhere (lower left), and training (structured training options).
You’ve still got settings of course – which is accessible via the lower left taskbar area. And then on the lower right you’ve got dramatically increased prominence of Connect IQ (the 3rd party app platform). Also, you can still swipe down from the top to get status information like WiFi/GPS/Bluetooth/Sensor connectivity states.
If you want to change activity profiles, you can do so by simply tapping the left/right arrows at the top. The default activity profiles align to Train, Race, and Indoor. With the indoor option turning off the GPS automatically. You can create and customize your own activity profiles. These control things like data fields and settings for that ride. So you might have a different one for mountain biking than touring or racing.
Next we’ve got the addition of Group Track. The idea behind this is that you can see your pre-established connections (friends in Garmin Connect lingo) on your unit in real-time as they ride. Garmin put together an entire (well shot) video showing how one friend stalks two others and then joins them for the last portion of the ride. It’s a cool concept, albeit one that Wahoo introduced with their ELEMNT.
Since I don’t have any other friends with Edge 820’s in the area yet, you’ll have to settle for Garmin’s screenshot on this and how it looks on the unit itself:
Now what’s interesting here is that there’s actually two options in the menu for Group Track, as seen below. Funny…given there’s no running wearable in the Garmin line-up that supports the just announced Group Track. Looks like Garmin is giving a bit of a hint on where things are going.
[Update] However, it may just be because Garmin states that any device that has Live Tracking capability (which is basically every Garmin device for the last 3ish years) can participate in broadcasting its position. It’s only the Edge 820 (for now) that can see it. So if your friends enable live tracking with their device/app – it’ll show up on your screen.
Speaking of places they’re going – it’s the Edge 1000. That’s the only other device Garmin has committed to bringing Group Track to. And even then, it won’t be until later 2016/early 2017.
Next we’ve got incident detection. This was introduced last year on the Edge Explore 1000, and it allows you to specify emergency contacts that can be notified in the event you crash. It uses a combination of accelerometers and seemingly GPS data to determine whether or not you ran into a camel. If so, it then gives you a 30-second countdown to cancel the notification of your emergency contacts:
It contacts them via text and e-mail message, like below (my phone left, her phone right):
Now in my experience with the almost-final device, it seems to trigger some false positives – of which The Girl was not pleased about. For example it triggered as I simply slowed at an upcoming stoplight/sign. Also while I was just holding the bike taking a picture. On the first, I had seen the countdown warning from 30 seconds – but of course had decided to take a picture of the screen. Turns out though that you need to not only tap the button, but then release and long hold again to validate you’re OK. By time that happened I ran out of time, which resulted in this near immediate freak-out message from her:
So…on one hand, it works well on the notification part (remember it uses your cell phone for the cellular network). On the other hand, I hope false positives aren’t as common as I’m seeing them on this beta device – else people will just disable it.
Next, we’ve got a nifty battery saver option. This is kinda like the battery saver feature we’ve seen on some cell phones lately, which will help you eek out the last little of your ride when battery power gets unexpectedly low.
Once enabled it’ll turn off the screen, but still notify you of various events such as upcoming turns and incoming messages. You can configure these within the options. The important thing here is that it’s still recording your ride/sensor data behind the scenes. It just turns off the display to save battery, increasing battery life by about 50%.
I’d be remiss to not mention mapping with the Edge 820 – after all, that’s a key reason (if not THE major reason) you’d get the unit. But in many ways, the mapping is pretty close to what you’ve seen before in Garmin units. With the Edge 820 it uses the internal fully detailed mapset that’s found on the 16GB of internal storage (it still has 6.1GB free though, and about 2GB unusable space for overhead).
For starters you’d tap the navigation menu option from the home screen, which brings you here:
You’ll see that you can load saved routes (from Garmin Connect), or simply enter in an address somewhere. You can also search for points of interest and then do things like have it create a random bike-friendly route for you. That feature has been previously found on some past units and is handy if you just want to go ride something new and different.
Once you’ve selected the route it’ll begin loading it (calculating). On my non-final unit this process took about 90 years, though Garmin says the units being shipped should be dramatically faster and take about 1 minute to calculate/prepare about each 20 miles of routing.
Once it’s done it’ll give you turn by turn directions using true street names (not just generic turn left/right). If you’re on a regular data page it’ll pop-over a small text box at the bottom with the turn direction, distance, and street name:
Meanwhile, if you’re on the map page you’ll see your route (both the future and the past), and you can also tap to bring up a cue sheet of all turns on the route:
Garmin also says it’ll automatically recalculate routes if you miss a turn, though for some reason that wasn’t working on my unit. Otherwise, it worked just fine for me in terms of routing through/across Paris.
In relation to this is the new feature for getting audio prompts, which was introduced on the wearables last fall. This allows you to pair to your smartphone, which in turn will use the speaker/headphones to give you additional stats and in the case of the Edge 820 – directions.
Again to be clear here – the Edge 820 is NOT pairing to Bluetooth headphones directly. Instead, it uses whatever audio device your phone has (the speaker, wired headphones, wireless headphones). On the Garmin Connect Mobile app, you can configure the different options:
Oh, and in case you were wondering about that touch screen – it works just fine in rain or with gloves. Yesterday gave me ample opportunity to test out the rain compliance. Pretty much every time I brought out my camera it dumped on me.
Here’s a video of the touchscreen I shot while the sky was crapping on me:
(Uploading…please hold)
Last but not least, Garmin has ‘normalized’ the different personal metrics on the Edge 820, bringing in some of the additional stats found on a variety of Garmin units over the past year.
So while we’ve seen FTP and Recovery Advisor features before on the Edge series, we haven’t seen the Stress Score before – which is now seen here:
This feature does require a heart rate strap though – so just keep that in mind.
There’s undoubtedly a bunch of smaller new tweaks/features that I didn’t list here as I may not have found them all yet. But I do cover a few more within my exceedingly long YouTube video in the earlier section.
What’s in the box:
Ahh yes, the unboxing. This time I’m giving such lurid details to you in two different flavors: Video and photos. The unboxing video is down below, where I also compare sizes with units including the Edge 520, Edge 1000, Polar V650, and Wahoo ELEMNT.
But first, a quick unboxing gallery of the standard base edition of the Edge 820:
And if you’re now looking for a much longer version of that, here’s my unboxing video along with a detailed size comparison of the Edge 820 to the Edge 520, Edge 1000, Polar V650 and Wahoo ELEMNT. Sorry about the slight echo on the audio, my microphone port on my phone broke, so my lav mic didn’t pick up properly.
Product Comparisons:
I’ve added the Garmin Edge 820 to my product comparison tool which means you can compare it to other items I’ve reviewed or had hands-on time with.
If you want my full product comparison tool, you can use that here and make your own comparison charts with any products in the database (like the Wahoo ELEMNT or Polar V650). For the purposes of this post, I’m just using the Edge 520/820/1000:
Remember that you can create your own product comparison charts using the full product comparison tool here!
Wrap up & Availability:
I think Garmin has a pretty solid unit on their hands here. I suspect there’s a lot of people that have been waiting years for an Edge 520 sized device that does true routable mapping. And, for that unit to be far more affordable than some of the craziness of the past mapping units. At $399, that’s finally getting to that ballpark.
The group track could be cool once it reaches critical mass. Garmin plans to expand it to the Edge 1000 (but oddly not the Edge 520) later this year or early 2017. Which, is a heck of a long ways away. Still, better than not I suppose. In my case, I didn’t have any other friends nearby with Edge 820’s to try it out…so I’ll have to wait a few weeks for that to occur.
It’s nice to see the incident detection shift from the niche Edge Explore series into the mainstream units (Edge 820). However, in my rides thus far, I’m seeing some false positives that aren’t really explainable. I know the technology has been in place for almost a year now on the Edge Explore 1000 – but that’s just not a unit I’ve really spent much time with. So it’s hard to say if my limited issues were just one-offs or more common. Still, I know that The Girl does appreciate the idea of getting a notification if something happens – especially given I live/ride in a foreign country.
Finally, when it comes to availability – Garmin is following the same model that they did with the Forerunner 735XT two months ago: Immediate availability. Units should be shipping from select retailers by the end of the week, or Monday at the earliest. So that’s good news. No long waits required.
Oh, it should be noted I don’t expect to see an Edge 1000 hardware refresh this year, there’s just no reason to do so. They’ve kept continual software updates on the unit and there’s basically no competition in that portion of the category. Thus no reason for Garmin to rev a new hardware platform. And of course, with the Edge 520 being out precisely 1 year, there’s no reason to revamp that either.
With that – thanks for reading and feel free to drop any questions below!
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FYI on pre-orders:
Clever Training US now has stocks of base Edge 820’s arriving on Friday or Monday. For the bundle versions (with sensors and stuff), those won’t be in stock till early August or so. The Edge Explore 820 will also be in stock Friday/Monday depending on whether the UPS man gets distracted with Pokémon Go.
My Edge 820 sometimes seems to change data fields automatically during rides. Not sure, might be sweat dripping onto the display and that invokes the same thing as an extended press on that field. My display sensitivity is set to Medium. Any way I can disable that feature?
Noting all the comments about the touchscreen, here is my experience: the first unit I had was awful. Very fussy screen, and went crazy in the wet as others have noted. After quite a few months putting up with it, I had it replaced by Garmin (they were helpful and quick). The new unit is much much better. Screen more responsive, and no issues in rain today, rode for 30 mins through a thunderstorm without a problem.
So, if you have a bad one, send it back to Garmin!
How hard (or not) is the 820 to see for someone who requires reading glasses? Debating between the 820 and 1000 mainly because of the larger screen size.
Hi, awesome review. Almost convinces me to get that edge 820. Only thing that’s holding me back is whether it supports mountainbiking as good as it does racing. Do the maps support all types of cycling?
Just lost my 520.
Stupid question, I tend to be hard on things, MTNBiker and all. So I usually put on a screen protector. Assuming since the 820 is touch screen… that option is out. Correct?
Nope. It’s not a problem. I have one on mine. You can also find a glass one on Amazon that works. 2 for 7.99. They look great and work the same as if it where in a phone.
Screen Protector for Garmin Edge 820 (2 PACK), Qoosea Ultra-thin 9H Hardness Crystal Clear Scratch Resistant Tempered Glass Screen Protector for Garmi link to amazon.com
Hi On your photo showing “select activity Type” on review for 820
You have three options that include following:
cycling
running
Does this mean the 820 can capture basic running info and down load under running into strata and garman connect??? I currently enter running info manually into garmin connect I have a 800 (well i change event description) which is a pain. And then Strava doesn’t always record it into my history!!!
On the hunt for a new GPS unit to replace my 500, which I love, but I want something I can load maps on. I like the look of the 520 but the memory is too limited. My other half has the 810 but that seems to no longer be on the market so the 820 is possibly what I’m going for but… I’m a bit confused about the navigation side of things. The 810 shows you the turns you need to make on the map (if you’re not on the map page, it pops the map onto the screen in advance of you needing to make a turn) but from what you’re saying here, the 820 just gives a text direction with a street name. How useful is this? Very often, street names aren’t visible, especially at roundabouts. This sounds like Garmin have reduced the navigation capabilities?!
You did say “Meanwhile, if you’re on the map page you’ll see your route (both the future and the past)” – does this mean it shows you the turn on the map? There’s no pic of this.
This is completely awesome: the feature I missed most from the Edge 800 finally back!
I just tried it today, and indeed the map page popped up for turns.
Also, routing does seem more robust after going off course briefly: when back on course, it properly returns to turn-by-turn navigation, instead of generic “continue to “.
It took a year, but I think routing is finally pretty much as good as it used to be.
I have an 810 and want to upgrade to something that will control my lights properly – sounds like a detail but on a long, dark commute it makes sense, trust me.
The choice I’m struggling with are; 820 small, lots of capabilities I’m used to plus stuff or 1000, big, and all the same stuff but probably need a new/different mount (I have the Blendr system on my Trek Domane). The cost nearly the same on Amazon UK at the moment.
I currently have a Garmin 810, which is pretty old and am using a Bkool Pro smart trainer over the winter. In an ideal world, i’m looking to take the power feed from the trainer onto my head unit so save me having to swap my power meter between bikes.
The 810 won’t detect the trainer as a power meter. Will the 820? Or is it the trainer i should change?!
I have stuck with the 520 primarily because the 1000 is too big for a TT bike to go in-between the extensions. Plus the 520 battery is really good. I am not bothered by lack of turn by turn instructions but the default maps are unusable. And that is where the lack of memory sucks as I keep having to delete and upload different sections of more detailed maps, depending on where I am riding. The 820 has more memory but I wouldn’t take that touch screen, even if you paid me. Garmin really needs to take another crack at it fast because I am sure Wahoo will nail their next bike computer.
Hi Ray – do you know if any of the Garmin touch screen units allow manual control of the Varia Headlights via the touch screen to mimic the controls of the Varia remote?
I ask as I used to have my Varia headlight (original square style) in Auto mode with my 520 so the beam throw changed with speed but I was getting flashed a lot by cars and dazzling pedestrians, so I added the varia remote so I could manually dip the beam. This has proven really useful as as a courtesy I dip the light to pedestrians and fellow cyclists, plus cars as they overtake me. I can also flash the light to get oncoming cars to dip their lights, or when approaching pedestrians from behind to alert them that a bike is approaching at speed. I consider these really useful features…
Trouble is you can’t pair the headlight to two things or they just fight for control and the headlight keeps resetting (a challenge in the dark), so I swapped to just using the remote and disconnected the link to the 520. So I lost the speed adjustment.
I am wondering if an 820 (or 1030?) would allow me to get both features via the head unit – so speed based adjustment and touch screen to manually dip the beam? That way I can ditch the Varia remote and get the best of both worlds?
I’ve trawled for this online but not found anything useful as moist people just seem to stick with the speed related setting.
I have a strange issue with my 820 and I haven’t found any questions/answers on it. The speed and distance shown on the unit are incorrect. Yesterday I rode a standard round of (flat) 72km. The 820 registers in total barely 60km. The speed as shown on the unit fluctuates a lot (far too much), but in general is too low. This happens on all my rides. When uploading to Garmin Connect and Strava, it’s also incorrect. However if I synchronize Garmin Connect with Rubitrack (kind of ‘trainingpeaks’-software, in which I keep track of all my trainingdata), Rubitrack shows the correct values (distance, speed etc). Probably because Rubitrack uses another format-file. Anybody knows this issue and how to solve it ?
Are you using a speed sensor? If so, put a new battery in it and make sure that the 820 hasn’t screwed up the wheel circumference. (It’s always safest to use manual calibration and to not permit the 820 to recompute the value.) The reason RubiTrack shows the correct distance is because it’s using the GPS track to compute the speed and distance and ignoring what the device says. You can change that to device values by using the Options… selection in the Activity menu. Strava usually recomputes the speed/distance from the track as well but I’m not sure that’s always the case or under what conditions it does/doesn’t. Garmin Connect always uses device values.
Thx Paul, although the battery is okay, indeed it seems to be the speed-distance sensor. I think it’s broke, because also with a Garmin 500, registration of speed/distance is incorrect.
Are the 820’s shipped with specific region maps depending where they are distributed too or are they extracted from a full archive when the first region is selected on startup? I have just bought a brand new one in the UK for use in Australia , I didn’t buy it for the mapping but I may use it and wondered how that was going to work out!
Anyone successfully connect Edge 820 to Garmin Connect on Galaxy Note 8? The Bluetooth seems to be not compatible between the devices… both are of latest firmware.
Chup, I have a 820 and a Note 8 and I have no issues connecting. My biggest frustration is that in order for my phone to connect to the edge that I have to open the Garmin Connect app before I turn on my unit.
I posted this on the Edge 1000 and 1030 site but am looking for coverage. My Garmin 1000 has a cracked screen. I can get a refurbished model for $200. I can also trade it in for an 820 thru Garmin at 20% off makine a new 820 cost around $320.
I am leaning toward the refurb unless the 820 truly offers something I am missing on the Edge 1000.
@Tim: Late response. Do not get an Edge 820. It has a terrible touch screen and bad battery life. After about 1.5 years of use, the screen started to develop a halo ring around the edges of the display.
Worked great initially but after a year it won’t last longer than ~5 hours without going dead. I tried to work with Garmin support on this, but all they offered were promises that a future firmware update “might” fix it. In the meantime I was stuck riding with a janky setup where I’d put a jackbattery in a frame bag and run that connected to my 820 which is ridiculous for normal weekday ride. In addition it suffered from other bugs that Garmin support was unable to resolve like getting stuck in metric units for who knows what reason. Ultimately I gave up on my 820 and bought a Wahoo Bolt and couldn’t be happier. I’ve gone on all day rides with it and still had >60% left at the end of the day.
Yeah, my battery life has gone downhill. That coupled with the janky touchscreen, and turn by turn navigation that is like 50/50 whether it’ll work the whole ride or just totally spaz out and stop giving directions I’m pretty much done with Garmin. I would never recommend a Garmin product to anybody after this experience.
This is the reason why I came here to check other user comments: I’ve noticed a sharp drop in battery performance as well. Intially I could get about 11 hours from one charge (no backlight, only GPS, no BT or WiFi). I race long distance, getting at least 10 hours is important for me.
However, now I only get 6-8 hours (depending on temperature) from one charge. If I use mapping 3 hours maximum. I also use an extra battery pack but this does not work in winter.
I must say this 820 has been a constant source of frustration for me. The touchscreen, which is just bad, just bad, spoils everything. Here we wear gloves 3/4 of the year. Not usable with the 820.
Then the frequent ANT+ drop outs. I’d say 3 or 4 times per ride.
And finally, I have real problems with my P2M NG. I get huge spikes with the 820. Not with any other head unit. P2M told me to switch off “Torque”. Did so, still get these spikes but not as many.
But what bothers me most: I spent so much money on a crappy product. The 820 does not come cheap but it does not deliver. I’d be very hesitant to buy another Garmin product.
I’m using the Garmin Edge 820 with a Quarq Power Meter. The FTP test failed each time I tried to calculate by doing the FTP Test. Is there a way to set the FTP manually on my Edge 820?
Other than abysmal battery life (my Edge 820 will not last more than 8 – 9 hours on 40% brightness while connected to a power meter, speed sensor and a HRM), is anyone else’ screen suffering from this “halo” effect? I started noticing this halo thing on the screen (around the edges) a few months ago and it has gotten worse.
I purchased an 820 and have been using it for over a week now. I’m disappointed with the touchscreen at this price point and wonder whether my issue is a fault that will be fixed if I return mine or just a generally poor performance of the 820 and I should consider sending it back foregood.
The issue is something I found in Google as a forum post (“Data screen with 10 data fields: changes to top left data field …” is all I get from the Google search), but for some reason I cannot access the garmin forum (forums.garmin.com). Is it just temporarily down or something more drastic?.. Any help is appreciated before I finally return it, as I think it is unacceptable to pay 370 EUR for something that does not work as promised.
I am putting up a video on YT titled “820 touchscreen issue – data fields” for those interested.
So the issue:
I use many data fields on one of the data screens (the full 10) as during interval training I need to monitor my HR, time, cadence and many more, plus some nice-to-have ones. The ones I want to see at the top are the Heartrate, time (when to sip), cadence. When I set the HR at the left top field however, the 820 does not accept this change and changes it back to vertical speed! Or rather, leaves it at vertical speed, unchanged.
Changing the field goes well until the point when I need to press the tickmark at the bottom to approve the change, the result however is that it not only briefly “highlights” the tickmark to indicate that it has been pressed, but also either the left or right fields next to it, as if they had been pressed! Once this happens, I get back to the data screens’ selection and when I select this one, it shows that the left top field is unchanged.
I neither have big fingers with which I would accidentally press next to the tickmark, nor would this happen 11 times in a row by coincidence.. I was doing it indoors at room temperature with totally clean screen, so water cannot be an issue either. I also changed screen sensitivity, to no avail. The Garmin has not been in any rain or extreme weather in the past days since I had it, so clearly this is the new state and clearly a shortcoming. I saw a forum post on this but sadly cannot access the Garmin forums, so I don’t know whether it’s software, hardware or whatever.
Garmin Forum works again at least, was down termporarily only.
Well, more people seem to have had this issue since end of 2017 and the workaround is to change to 9 data fields, then back to 10. Not a bright prospect, to start working with workarounds for the simplest of features, right at the first week of use..
Rather sad to see as well that after over 1,5 year, nothing has been done to fix obvious issues. I cannot imagine that such a high priced product does not go through thorough testing where these issues are found out, Garmin must know about it.
@Peter: The biggest draw of the Edge 820 is its touchscreen. That touchscreen, unfortunately, is also the biggest flaw of the device. When the Edge 820 became available, quite a large number of users suffered from the extremely sensitive touchscreen. Garmin was forced to release a firmware update that allows you to set three sensitivity levels. I find that even at the lowest sensitivity setting, sweat can occasionally trigger the touchscreen.
I have just received a replacement 820 yesterday for one that developed a halo ring around the display. The replacement is a refurbished unit that may unfortunately have a faulty altimeter: i was in a local criterium yesterday evening and the elevation gain for each lap is about 50 ft. After 24 loops, the Edge 820 should have recorded an elevation gain of about 1200 ft. It recorded only 243 ft ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . The interesting thing is if you look at the elevation profile recorded in the activity, it looked correct.
Yes, many comments seem to indicate this touchscreen issue. However, I tend to take this with a grain of salt, since most people nowadays expect a Garmin to perform like a smartphone, as smartphones have been around for many a year now and touchscreens have been perfected, unlike what the Garmin has to offer here, which clearly has shortcomings.
Reading the comments, most are annoyed about not being able to press efficiently. A friend was using his Edge 1000 in front of me and was annoyed when he couldn’t press at the required speed. His expectancy is of that of a smartphone, I can handle my device just fine since I do not expect a smartphone. We could argue that Garmin should provide such responsive and accurate screen at this price, but does the competition? Also, I am of the mind that when I bike, I bike. I don’t play Tetris on a smartphone or compose a concerto or write emails. The screen is there to watch it, not to tamper with consantly. And when I do, like shifting the map, I don’t want to resort to 20th century scrolling mechanics by button or get finger cramps just to select a data field instead of pressing it. Ultimately I can always buy a remote, neglectible at 40 EUR compared to the full price if I want full convenience.
So the arguments about wet screen issues would only be valid in my opinion if it were the norm, but it seems to me it is more the exception. Anyhow, my 820 goes under the shower next time (perhaps with a cup of salty water to reproduce sweating) to make sure I don’t assume it won’t piss me off totally ;).
The specific issues you mention in addition are probably valid for more people as well, but I don’t have proof for the alternative offers (the Wahoo Elemnt being mostly mentioned) being better at this, so a bad example remains just that, an example. It would be helpful if there were some statistics about these gadgets somewhere, but for lack of that, I guess reading as many forums as possible helps, testing my device for these shortcomings (any list of those somewhere?..).
What I would definitely like to avoid is getting back to Polar, Beurer, Sigma and others I tried through the years, with their faulty signal transmission and other shortcomings. Switching on my LED lamp and the comp goes dead, ridiculous. Stretching in saddle and no heartrate, bummer. The list is long.. The Garmin is an expensive toy but aside from the Wahoo I don’t know of that many good alternatives that have so many features to offer and have such solid reputation as a brand. Maybe not the 820, but Garmin as a whole, the 520 seems to be the star, so how bad could the 820 be, aside from a touchscreen that most people detest, for reasons of convenience mostly? The 820’s features are what make it for me though (navigation foremost) vs other Garmin models, so at this pricepoint I don’t feel I have much choice at all unfortunately. The number of times we were turning back and forth on trails for race recon, just because friends used the 520 that does not do turn-by-turn made me wonder why to spend all that money on a device if you can’t use that function properly. I hope the 820 does it well and today’s ride was about me going the right way with the 820, my friend getting lost with the Wahoo, as it deserted him as soon as he left the track (according to GPS signal, mind you, so not even necessarily leaving it..). The road is still long though, let’s see how it works out during recons and training.
Speaking of which, is there a Wahoo forum around? Garmin can get a lot of salt I guess due to huge sales volumes that market leaders have, hence the number of complaints will of course be higher in absolute terms. I wonder whether the percentage of their sold Garmins shows worse stats than that of the Wahoo, which I’m sure has its fair share of issues as well, just perhaps not in high numbers, so a low profile prevents them from being nailed to the cross publically, like Garmin. I disagree with the price point as well: I bought my 820 for 370 EUR as a bundle, the Wahoo Elemnt is priced 380 EUR with all the sensors included. Sure, if someone has sensors in the drawer, that saves a penny, but I like things to be seamlessly compatible. Makes you wonder where those older sensors came from as well, if the devices are no longer used..
Having said all this, I find it unacceptable that I have to use a workaround for a brand new and expensive device that is priced like an expensive smartphone but only displays some numbers and a map, for a pathetic issue that was known over a year ago. If this is what Garmin has to offer, I just may return it before the month return deadlines expires.
Let’s see how my testing goes.
That’s the thing. Garmin didn’t really have any competition until Wahoo came along with its ELEMNT bike computers. Without any healthy competitors to keep it honest, Garmin could – and has – release a crappy device and expect to sell a lot of it. I have owned many Garmin bike computers: 500, 800, 810, 510, 520 and 820. Both the 800 and 810 are touchscreen bike computers, just like the 820. The only difference is the 820 uses a capacitive touchscreen. I have no issue with the touchscreen on the 800 and 810. They work well all the time and I could even use them while wearing gloves. I have never expected the touchscreen on the 820 to behave like a smartphone. But after using it for more than a year and a half, it’s very underwhelming. In over a year, the battery life of the device went from average to bad. It is becoming quite difficult to get more than 9 hours of use, with a HRM, power meter and a Garmin speed sensor paired to it while not navigating a course.
I cannot believe you guys are still talking about the crappy 820.
Keeping my 810 was the best think I ever did for my bike even when my VivoActive HR on my wrist has better GPS receiver than the 810. On the other hand the touch screen on the 810 is perfect.
True to form, Garmin have managed to screw up my Edge 820 with their latest firmware update (V9.0).
Prior to this it was working fine, but since the update it refuses to upload activities via my iphone 6, so I’m back to using a cable to get stuff on to Strava. I’ve tried unpairing & re-pairing the devices, and turning everything off and on a few times but to no avail.
A quick look on the Garmin forums reveals that I’m not alone in having this problem. Looks like they’re using paying customers to beta-test their firmware.
I’ve tried to contact Garmin & Garmin UK via twitter & Facebook & messenger, but they haven’t even acknowledged my comments.
I’m close to ditching this company and switching to a Wahoo Bolt, and I’m so pleased I didn’t opt for their Vector 3 pedals when I bought a new powermeter recently!
@James: I have noticed that with the latest firmware, quite often I have to launch the Garmin Connect app on my iPhone manually to force it to sync. With this firmware, Garmin changed the way how the Edge 820 presents itself to the phone so you will have to remove the old pairing and re-do the pairing. In the old pairing, the device would show up as two separate devices (BLE_Edge 820 and BT_Edge 820). In the new pairing, it only shows up as “Edge 820”.
Had the same issue with iphone 7 and apple Garmin app. Then I swapped for 1h to my second android phone and the first sync took place and it took extremely long – say 1h or so, but it finalized this successfully, including uploading a just completed ride.
After, I re-established the iphone connection and all works as usually before. Very strange and I agree with your frustration. However, this “workaround” seems fine now. Still need to test battery life, but first indication was positive. Also the overall appearance was not too bad. Hope this helps, and works for you. Just pair via Bluetooth with any other android device / app and do the BT sync, after apple was ok.
Since the latest software upgrade – Strava segments are not showing up live on the Garmin when riding. Does anyone else have this issue and if so a solution?
The update appears to have disconnected the sync between the 820 and Strava. All I needed to do was uncheck and recheck a favorite segment, and things re-synched and segment notices started appearing again.
Others have had to go into Garmin Connect and disconnect/reconnect Strava. A Google search will lead you to other folks’ experiences and how they fixed it.
Have you noticed any issues with the latest firmware versions (starting with either 8.8 or 9.0) and eTap? My Edge 820 will no longer connect reliably to my eTap. The Edge will find my eTap, but will not connect. Or when it does connect, it loses the connection almost immediately.
This isn’t a battery charge issue, as it happens even right after I charge both my 820 and eTap (both front and rear).
Is there is any definitive advice on the Edge 820 dropping power data from the Stages power meter. I have 2 second gen Stages and one works fine, other not so much. If the problem be solved without moving the unit to top of stem and other silly manipulations, wonder if the Wahoo units experience the same problem?
inches can make the difference. If you’re using an out-front mount on the right hand side of your handlebars, try moving it to the left side of your handlebars.
The Edge 820 is ~2 years old now, and I see Garmin is now offering a $50 rebate. Is a new unit on the horizon? I am in the market for a new head unit and wouldn’t want to buy the 820 only to have a new version come out the following week!
I have the same doubt about the new version release, got the edge 820 on the week it came off and so far I’d love it, but would like to get a newer version before battery starts running shorter charge cycles, in my experience that happens after abou 3 years…
What drives me insane about this item is trying to load a second set of maps. I live in Australia and it came loaded with our maps. I purchased the European cycling maps from Garmin, but when loading it got the ‘out of memory’ warning. You cant be serious, 16GB storage not enough for two sets of maps ? I called support. They tell me the entire European map package is 4GB, but couldn’t tell me how much the Australian maps require. Hence, the 820 is now useless for me for travel. …..
If you connect the device to Windows / Mac you shoud easily be able to see how much free space there is.
I was surprised how much I was using for stores routes and ride histories which AFAIK are not removed when you sync to Connect, so if you are a regular rider these could have backed up.
“Memory” in an error message like that generally means what it says. Either your computer ran out of random access memory or the device did when processing the map (don’t know how much RAM those things have, but I’ll bet it’s less that 1 Gb). Memory usually doesn’t mean storage (what we’d call in the old days “disk space”, but since it isn’t a disk that’s not the right term). In my experience maps are a few Gb if they’re continent sized (and the European map is probably bigger than the Australia map because more people so more roads and POI’s), so you should be able to put a few on. I have two on my Epix, which has 8 Gb.
But you’re not going to “Europe”, you’re going to specific places in Europe and you probably know where before hand. Try using MapInstall to install only the portions of the map for the countries that you’re visiting and see if that works.
Yeah, thanks for the replies. DC, I will try the OpenStreet maps. It is in my nature to just buy the commercial variant, so did that first, hoping it would be simple, but alas no. Other responders, I have erased all my saved history and routes, to see if that cleared sufficient space but alas no. and yes, I am going to “europe’, in the sense that I travel there most years, and go to a different place each time, so I wanted to just load the maps and not have to worry about uploading more for each trip.
What interests me now is going back to the Garmin web site and looking as the descriptors of the Edge series. If you hit the ‘compare’ button, the only model that is listed as allowing ‘upload more maps’ is the 1030 ! Clearly now Garmin dont even advertise the 820 as being capable of uploading more maps.
I purchased this computer after reading this review but I’m slightly disappointed with my choice. The touch screen feature is hard to operate after few hours in the saddle under southern sun with swat pouring all over you. Also the GPS accuracy is questionable, compared with other models. I’m getting quite different readings on distance and altitude readings versus other Garmin computers and watches.
For touch issues, toy around with the sensitivity settings. Most people are pretty good for those buying units made anytime in the last year or so and with the latest firmware/settings. Certainly lots of mixed issues early on, but I think we’re past most of that these days (aside from just being a small surface to use touch on).
As for accuracy – that’s actually not something I think I’ve heard from anyone. Double check you’ve got 1-second recording on, as well as that your barometric altimeter holes on the back of the unit aren’t blocked.
Seems like it’s actually supported on 820 since firmware 9.0.
Got confused by your 520 plus review claiming “Edge 820 doesn’t have Trendline popularity routing, Edge 1030 does”.
Have you got any news fo a hardware revision on this unit? There seems to be a 10.10 firmware only with new shipping units with a new revised hardware. Garmin people have confirmed it on the forums: “I can confirm new builds from the factory rolls out with this software.”
Any ideas on how to permanently turn off Strava Live Segments? I’ve gone through the steps to turn this off – Training -> Segments. I’ve tried disabling segments, deleting all segments, but the segment alerts keep coming back.
Short of disconnecting Strava from Garmin Connect, any thoughts on how to permanently turn off segments from showing up on my garmin?
Yes, screen halo issue is present at Garmin 1030 edge purchased in 2018 Jan.
According to Garmin Forum, Garmin is handling warranty inconsistently. I read on forum.garmin.com that in Austria it was replaced via request (without checking if it is a real issue or not). They sent a new device first, then they requested the old device back, regardless if the warranty was over.
On another country someone is already using his 4th device because of replacement.
As in my country there is no direct Garmin I attempted to contact Garmin Europe who were asking questions then closed ticket without action so far, then they requested my feedback.
I surprised on this “customer support”.
I purchased mine for 175 GBP last week, which was a bit cheaper than the 520 Plus, and now it’s even down to 142 GBP at Amazon UK, which is around the price of an Edge 130.
I wonder if Garmin will soon announce an Edge 830? Looks like Amazon started clearing its stock.
I’m glad I decided to buy the Edge 820, despite the bad critics on the touchscreen. Likely Garmin has improved the display since the device was released three years ago, because so far I cannot complain.
It works as reliable or unreliable as other non-highend-screens such as the Sensus in my Volvo, the screen of a Logitech Harmony remote, or screens of cheaper tablets such as the Samsung Tab A series or Amazon’s Fire devices.
I wear Giro Zen gloves, which come with a touch-screen-enabling fibre in the fingertips, so using the Edge 820 works pretty well even on the ride.
Anyone else having problems with satellites since the last firmware update? I keep getting the satellites lost message, and strava live is now completely worthless because I’ll be off course immediately. I’ve tried gps, gps plus glonass, or gps plus Galileo. Nothing seems to work. The touchscreen has been worthless since day one, but at least it used to work really well as a gps unit, but now that it can’t even do that right I am really thinking hard about moving to wahoo.
Don’t have many users have problems with the screen’s sensitity? Mine standard needs several attempts to listen. Buttons will get a colour but nothing happens.
Also delay in functioning, aka slow!!!
Very irritating!!!!
Dear DC, I’ve just purchased the latest Garmin edge 820, and uploaded firmware 11.00.
I’m trying to get the “Performance condition” app to work, with a Garmin HRM, but to date, it still reads nothing.
On the Garmin webpage, there is a “YouTube” post saying how to set this up, just with a HRM.
Question…, is this a firmware problem, or do I require power meter?
Many thanks JB
Hi, I found my way here based on the news of the recent price drop for the 820. I currently have an 810, how is the navigation of the 820 versus the 810? I’m not 100% happy with the navigation on the 810 and trying to decide whether to upgrade to the 820 or just use a smartphone for my occasional navigation needs.
I own an Edge 820.
UnfortunatelyI have to state that the Firmware of this device (latest version 11.20) is a real disaster.
The gread% display while climbing is totally off!!! In a climb for 20minutes, with VAM constantly more than 800, never flat always climbing => grade was constantly 0, ZERO!
Totally crap device, and this is the answer I got from Garmin support.
“There is a difference in the algorithm the Edge 820 uses to calculate grade due to a minor difference in the baro in the device. This is likely to affect a users experience with the grade readings having a delay but there are no changes planned for the Edge 820 to improve the grade calculation performance.”
I have the same problem. It’s the result of the altitude measuring which comes in in intervals. So there’s not single meters added but chunks of 4 or 5. I get 0 or 1% while the climb is 7 or 8.
I’m already talking to Amazon, I have the idea that they are willing to assist, although the unit is almost a year old.
There’s no longer bike profiles. Instead for sensors you have a sensor pool concept, so basically you can add as many sensors as you want and then it’ll automatically connect when the sensors wake up.
You can then create activity profiles as well, which allow you to create something like mountain-bike specific settings (like for maps), and then another for road, or racing, or whatever you want.
Hi I picked up a 820 at the weekend and got up and running ok. Went for a ride and tried setting a route to my coffee destination…all cool with that arrived, paused the ride , flat white done and set off again. Hot start, Hit the Red Cross to stop navigation to the random address I’d added in the town and then thought I’d set a new route home…and that was the problem I found no way to do that! Seems like a pretty standard requirement to set a new route while on a ride so is the only way to stop and then start a new ride if you haven’t set a there and back course in advance? Or have I missed something?
Cheers
Si
Newbie with garmin edge explore 2 : Despair Since unbox experience is plagued by a large blue vertical bar and flashing light across the whole screen that only appears when you ride.
There is much ado about this on various forums and other Garmin things. But none explains to a newbie how to stop it Nothing in garmins manual / getting started /or some such
Any simple step by step to get shot of it . Garmin no use . Now wish I’d just gone Komoot
Ms O
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My Edge 820 sometimes seems to change data fields automatically during rides. Not sure, might be sweat dripping onto the display and that invokes the same thing as an extended press on that field. My display sensitivity is set to Medium. Any way I can disable that feature?
Noting all the comments about the touchscreen, here is my experience: the first unit I had was awful. Very fussy screen, and went crazy in the wet as others have noted. After quite a few months putting up with it, I had it replaced by Garmin (they were helpful and quick). The new unit is much much better. Screen more responsive, and no issues in rain today, rode for 30 mins through a thunderstorm without a problem.
So, if you have a bad one, send it back to Garmin!
How hard (or not) is the 820 to see for someone who requires reading glasses? Debating between the 820 and 1000 mainly because of the larger screen size.
Ray-
Do you have any information on the beta software that is listed on Gamin’s site for the 820?
link to www8.garmin.com
Thanks in advance.
6.53 is an old beta. current production fw is 8.0
Thanks
Hi, awesome review. Almost convinces me to get that edge 820. Only thing that’s holding me back is whether it supports mountainbiking as good as it does racing. Do the maps support all types of cycling?
G.
Just lost my 520.
Stupid question, I tend to be hard on things, MTNBiker and all. So I usually put on a screen protector. Assuming since the 820 is touch screen… that option is out. Correct?
Nope. It’s not a problem. I have one on mine. You can also find a glass one on Amazon that works. 2 for 7.99. They look great and work the same as if it where in a phone.
Screen Protector for Garmin Edge 820 (2 PACK), Qoosea Ultra-thin 9H Hardness Crystal Clear Scratch Resistant Tempered Glass Screen Protector for Garmi link to amazon.com
Hi On your photo showing “select activity Type” on review for 820
You have three options that include following:
cycling
running
Does this mean the 820 can capture basic running info and down load under running into strata and garman connect??? I currently enter running info manually into garmin connect I have a 800 (well i change event description) which is a pain. And then Strava doesn’t always record it into my history!!!
On the hunt for a new GPS unit to replace my 500, which I love, but I want something I can load maps on. I like the look of the 520 but the memory is too limited. My other half has the 810 but that seems to no longer be on the market so the 820 is possibly what I’m going for but… I’m a bit confused about the navigation side of things. The 810 shows you the turns you need to make on the map (if you’re not on the map page, it pops the map onto the screen in advance of you needing to make a turn) but from what you’re saying here, the 820 just gives a text direction with a street name. How useful is this? Very often, street names aren’t visible, especially at roundabouts. This sounds like Garmin have reduced the navigation capabilities?!
You did say “Meanwhile, if you’re on the map page you’ll see your route (both the future and the past)” – does this mean it shows you the turn on the map? There’s no pic of this.
Thanks.
They just added a feature in the latest firmware update (8.40) that allows a map turn popup. link to www8.garmin.com
Thanks Jon. :-)
This is completely awesome: the feature I missed most from the Edge 800 finally back!
I just tried it today, and indeed the map page popped up for turns.
Also, routing does seem more robust after going off course briefly: when back on course, it properly returns to turn-by-turn navigation, instead of generic “continue to “.
It took a year, but I think routing is finally pretty much as good as it used to be.
Maybe “completely awesome” and “after a year” are somewhat incompatible. How about “welcome” and “finally”, I shall give it one last chance.
any Idea why the Training status like the fenix 5 or 925 available ?
I have an 810 and want to upgrade to something that will control my lights properly – sounds like a detail but on a long, dark commute it makes sense, trust me.
The choice I’m struggling with are; 820 small, lots of capabilities I’m used to plus stuff or 1000, big, and all the same stuff but probably need a new/different mount (I have the Blendr system on my Trek Domane). The cost nearly the same on Amazon UK at the moment.
I currently have a Garmin 810, which is pretty old and am using a Bkool Pro smart trainer over the winter. In an ideal world, i’m looking to take the power feed from the trainer onto my head unit so save me having to swap my power meter between bikes.
The 810 won’t detect the trainer as a power meter. Will the 820? Or is it the trainer i should change?!
Thanks!
Correct, the Edge 810 doesn’t support ANT+ FE-C, whereas the Edge 820 does. As does the Edge 520 and 1000/1030, and also the Wahoo BOLT/ELEMNT.
Note that the 820 is on sale now for $299, so that’s something to consider.
With the 1000 closing out at $299 these days, is there any reason you would opt for the 820 or 520 instead?
I have stuck with the 520 primarily because the 1000 is too big for a TT bike to go in-between the extensions. Plus the 520 battery is really good. I am not bothered by lack of turn by turn instructions but the default maps are unusable. And that is where the lack of memory sucks as I keep having to delete and upload different sections of more detailed maps, depending on where I am riding. The 820 has more memory but I wouldn’t take that touch screen, even if you paid me. Garmin really needs to take another crack at it fast because I am sure Wahoo will nail their next bike computer.
Ist the auto start/stop feature like move is, where it automatically starts an activity once certain movements are detected?
Ray, are you expecting an Edge 830 to be released in near future?
Hi Ray – do you know if any of the Garmin touch screen units allow manual control of the Varia Headlights via the touch screen to mimic the controls of the Varia remote?
I ask as I used to have my Varia headlight (original square style) in Auto mode with my 520 so the beam throw changed with speed but I was getting flashed a lot by cars and dazzling pedestrians, so I added the varia remote so I could manually dip the beam. This has proven really useful as as a courtesy I dip the light to pedestrians and fellow cyclists, plus cars as they overtake me. I can also flash the light to get oncoming cars to dip their lights, or when approaching pedestrians from behind to alert them that a bike is approaching at speed. I consider these really useful features…
Trouble is you can’t pair the headlight to two things or they just fight for control and the headlight keeps resetting (a challenge in the dark), so I swapped to just using the remote and disconnected the link to the 520. So I lost the speed adjustment.
I am wondering if an 820 (or 1030?) would allow me to get both features via the head unit – so speed based adjustment and touch screen to manually dip the beam? That way I can ditch the Varia remote and get the best of both worlds?
I’ve trawled for this online but not found anything useful as moist people just seem to stick with the speed related setting.
Thanks!
I have a strange issue with my 820 and I haven’t found any questions/answers on it. The speed and distance shown on the unit are incorrect. Yesterday I rode a standard round of (flat) 72km. The 820 registers in total barely 60km. The speed as shown on the unit fluctuates a lot (far too much), but in general is too low. This happens on all my rides. When uploading to Garmin Connect and Strava, it’s also incorrect. However if I synchronize Garmin Connect with Rubitrack (kind of ‘trainingpeaks’-software, in which I keep track of all my trainingdata), Rubitrack shows the correct values (distance, speed etc). Probably because Rubitrack uses another format-file. Anybody knows this issue and how to solve it ?
Are you using a speed sensor? If so, put a new battery in it and make sure that the 820 hasn’t screwed up the wheel circumference. (It’s always safest to use manual calibration and to not permit the 820 to recompute the value.) The reason RubiTrack shows the correct distance is because it’s using the GPS track to compute the speed and distance and ignoring what the device says. You can change that to device values by using the Options… selection in the Activity menu. Strava usually recomputes the speed/distance from the track as well but I’m not sure that’s always the case or under what conditions it does/doesn’t. Garmin Connect always uses device values.
Thx Paul, although the battery is okay, indeed it seems to be the speed-distance sensor. I think it’s broke, because also with a Garmin 500, registration of speed/distance is incorrect.
Are the 820’s shipped with specific region maps depending where they are distributed too or are they extracted from a full archive when the first region is selected on startup? I have just bought a brand new one in the UK for use in Australia , I didn’t buy it for the mapping but I may use it and wondered how that was going to work out!
Region-specific.
But you can download free maps using these instructions: link to dcrainmaker.com
Anyone successfully connect Edge 820 to Garmin Connect on Galaxy Note 8? The Bluetooth seems to be not compatible between the devices… both are of latest firmware.
Chup, I have a 820 and a Note 8 and I have no issues connecting. My biggest frustration is that in order for my phone to connect to the edge that I have to open the Garmin Connect app before I turn on my unit.
is the garmin edge 820 explore power meter capable?
I posted this on the Edge 1000 and 1030 site but am looking for coverage. My Garmin 1000 has a cracked screen. I can get a refurbished model for $200. I can also trade it in for an 820 thru Garmin at 20% off makine a new 820 cost around $320.
I am leaning toward the refurb unless the 820 truly offers something I am missing on the Edge 1000.
nope don’t do it Tim. I also cover all edge sites
Gabe – so are you saying do not buy the refurb or do not buy the 820?
Thanks!!
i’d go refurb
Right on…that’s my plan. I like the Edge 1000…it’s been a good device thus far and I have had no real issues. Thnaks
@Tim: Late response. Do not get an Edge 820. It has a terrible touch screen and bad battery life. After about 1.5 years of use, the screen started to develop a halo ring around the edges of the display.
Worked great initially but after a year it won’t last longer than ~5 hours without going dead. I tried to work with Garmin support on this, but all they offered were promises that a future firmware update “might” fix it. In the meantime I was stuck riding with a janky setup where I’d put a jackbattery in a frame bag and run that connected to my 820 which is ridiculous for normal weekday ride. In addition it suffered from other bugs that Garmin support was unable to resolve like getting stuck in metric units for who knows what reason. Ultimately I gave up on my 820 and bought a Wahoo Bolt and couldn’t be happier. I’ve gone on all day rides with it and still had >60% left at the end of the day.
Yeah, my battery life has gone downhill. That coupled with the janky touchscreen, and turn by turn navigation that is like 50/50 whether it’ll work the whole ride or just totally spaz out and stop giving directions I’m pretty much done with Garmin. I would never recommend a Garmin product to anybody after this experience.
This is the reason why I came here to check other user comments: I’ve noticed a sharp drop in battery performance as well. Intially I could get about 11 hours from one charge (no backlight, only GPS, no BT or WiFi). I race long distance, getting at least 10 hours is important for me.
However, now I only get 6-8 hours (depending on temperature) from one charge. If I use mapping 3 hours maximum. I also use an extra battery pack but this does not work in winter.
I must say this 820 has been a constant source of frustration for me. The touchscreen, which is just bad, just bad, spoils everything. Here we wear gloves 3/4 of the year. Not usable with the 820.
Then the frequent ANT+ drop outs. I’d say 3 or 4 times per ride.
And finally, I have real problems with my P2M NG. I get huge spikes with the 820. Not with any other head unit. P2M told me to switch off “Torque”. Did so, still get these spikes but not as many.
But what bothers me most: I spent so much money on a crappy product. The 820 does not come cheap but it does not deliver. I’d be very hesitant to buy another Garmin product.
I’m using the Garmin Edge 820 with a Quarq Power Meter. The FTP test failed each time I tried to calculate by doing the FTP Test. Is there a way to set the FTP manually on my Edge 820?
820 manual:
link to www8.garmin.com
Other than abysmal battery life (my Edge 820 will not last more than 8 – 9 hours on 40% brightness while connected to a power meter, speed sensor and a HRM), is anyone else’ screen suffering from this “halo” effect? I started noticing this halo thing on the screen (around the edges) a few months ago and it has gotten worse.
link to forums.garmin.com
I purchased an 820 and have been using it for over a week now. I’m disappointed with the touchscreen at this price point and wonder whether my issue is a fault that will be fixed if I return mine or just a generally poor performance of the 820 and I should consider sending it back foregood.
The issue is something I found in Google as a forum post (“Data screen with 10 data fields: changes to top left data field …” is all I get from the Google search), but for some reason I cannot access the garmin forum (forums.garmin.com). Is it just temporarily down or something more drastic?.. Any help is appreciated before I finally return it, as I think it is unacceptable to pay 370 EUR for something that does not work as promised.
I am putting up a video on YT titled “820 touchscreen issue – data fields” for those interested.
So the issue:
I use many data fields on one of the data screens (the full 10) as during interval training I need to monitor my HR, time, cadence and many more, plus some nice-to-have ones. The ones I want to see at the top are the Heartrate, time (when to sip), cadence. When I set the HR at the left top field however, the 820 does not accept this change and changes it back to vertical speed! Or rather, leaves it at vertical speed, unchanged.
Changing the field goes well until the point when I need to press the tickmark at the bottom to approve the change, the result however is that it not only briefly “highlights” the tickmark to indicate that it has been pressed, but also either the left or right fields next to it, as if they had been pressed! Once this happens, I get back to the data screens’ selection and when I select this one, it shows that the left top field is unchanged.
I neither have big fingers with which I would accidentally press next to the tickmark, nor would this happen 11 times in a row by coincidence.. I was doing it indoors at room temperature with totally clean screen, so water cannot be an issue either. I also changed screen sensitivity, to no avail. The Garmin has not been in any rain or extreme weather in the past days since I had it, so clearly this is the new state and clearly a shortcoming. I saw a forum post on this but sadly cannot access the Garmin forums, so I don’t know whether it’s software, hardware or whatever.
Any hints?
Garmin Forum works again at least, was down termporarily only.
Well, more people seem to have had this issue since end of 2017 and the workaround is to change to 9 data fields, then back to 10. Not a bright prospect, to start working with workarounds for the simplest of features, right at the first week of use..
Rather sad to see as well that after over 1,5 year, nothing has been done to fix obvious issues. I cannot imagine that such a high priced product does not go through thorough testing where these issues are found out, Garmin must know about it.
So the workaround worked?
Yes it does, luckily.
@Peter: The biggest draw of the Edge 820 is its touchscreen. That touchscreen, unfortunately, is also the biggest flaw of the device. When the Edge 820 became available, quite a large number of users suffered from the extremely sensitive touchscreen. Garmin was forced to release a firmware update that allows you to set three sensitivity levels. I find that even at the lowest sensitivity setting, sweat can occasionally trigger the touchscreen.
I have just received a replacement 820 yesterday for one that developed a halo ring around the display. The replacement is a refurbished unit that may unfortunately have a faulty altimeter: i was in a local criterium yesterday evening and the elevation gain for each lap is about 50 ft. After 24 loops, the Edge 820 should have recorded an elevation gain of about 1200 ft. It recorded only 243 ft ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ . The interesting thing is if you look at the elevation profile recorded in the activity, it looked correct.
link to connect.garmin.com
Yes, many comments seem to indicate this touchscreen issue. However, I tend to take this with a grain of salt, since most people nowadays expect a Garmin to perform like a smartphone, as smartphones have been around for many a year now and touchscreens have been perfected, unlike what the Garmin has to offer here, which clearly has shortcomings.
Reading the comments, most are annoyed about not being able to press efficiently. A friend was using his Edge 1000 in front of me and was annoyed when he couldn’t press at the required speed. His expectancy is of that of a smartphone, I can handle my device just fine since I do not expect a smartphone. We could argue that Garmin should provide such responsive and accurate screen at this price, but does the competition? Also, I am of the mind that when I bike, I bike. I don’t play Tetris on a smartphone or compose a concerto or write emails. The screen is there to watch it, not to tamper with consantly. And when I do, like shifting the map, I don’t want to resort to 20th century scrolling mechanics by button or get finger cramps just to select a data field instead of pressing it. Ultimately I can always buy a remote, neglectible at 40 EUR compared to the full price if I want full convenience.
So the arguments about wet screen issues would only be valid in my opinion if it were the norm, but it seems to me it is more the exception. Anyhow, my 820 goes under the shower next time (perhaps with a cup of salty water to reproduce sweating) to make sure I don’t assume it won’t piss me off totally ;).
The specific issues you mention in addition are probably valid for more people as well, but I don’t have proof for the alternative offers (the Wahoo Elemnt being mostly mentioned) being better at this, so a bad example remains just that, an example. It would be helpful if there were some statistics about these gadgets somewhere, but for lack of that, I guess reading as many forums as possible helps, testing my device for these shortcomings (any list of those somewhere?..).
What I would definitely like to avoid is getting back to Polar, Beurer, Sigma and others I tried through the years, with their faulty signal transmission and other shortcomings. Switching on my LED lamp and the comp goes dead, ridiculous. Stretching in saddle and no heartrate, bummer. The list is long.. The Garmin is an expensive toy but aside from the Wahoo I don’t know of that many good alternatives that have so many features to offer and have such solid reputation as a brand. Maybe not the 820, but Garmin as a whole, the 520 seems to be the star, so how bad could the 820 be, aside from a touchscreen that most people detest, for reasons of convenience mostly? The 820’s features are what make it for me though (navigation foremost) vs other Garmin models, so at this pricepoint I don’t feel I have much choice at all unfortunately. The number of times we were turning back and forth on trails for race recon, just because friends used the 520 that does not do turn-by-turn made me wonder why to spend all that money on a device if you can’t use that function properly. I hope the 820 does it well and today’s ride was about me going the right way with the 820, my friend getting lost with the Wahoo, as it deserted him as soon as he left the track (according to GPS signal, mind you, so not even necessarily leaving it..). The road is still long though, let’s see how it works out during recons and training.
Speaking of which, is there a Wahoo forum around? Garmin can get a lot of salt I guess due to huge sales volumes that market leaders have, hence the number of complaints will of course be higher in absolute terms. I wonder whether the percentage of their sold Garmins shows worse stats than that of the Wahoo, which I’m sure has its fair share of issues as well, just perhaps not in high numbers, so a low profile prevents them from being nailed to the cross publically, like Garmin. I disagree with the price point as well: I bought my 820 for 370 EUR as a bundle, the Wahoo Elemnt is priced 380 EUR with all the sensors included. Sure, if someone has sensors in the drawer, that saves a penny, but I like things to be seamlessly compatible. Makes you wonder where those older sensors came from as well, if the devices are no longer used..
Having said all this, I find it unacceptable that I have to use a workaround for a brand new and expensive device that is priced like an expensive smartphone but only displays some numbers and a map, for a pathetic issue that was known over a year ago. If this is what Garmin has to offer, I just may return it before the month return deadlines expires.
Let’s see how my testing goes.
That’s the thing. Garmin didn’t really have any competition until Wahoo came along with its ELEMNT bike computers. Without any healthy competitors to keep it honest, Garmin could – and has – release a crappy device and expect to sell a lot of it. I have owned many Garmin bike computers: 500, 800, 810, 510, 520 and 820. Both the 800 and 810 are touchscreen bike computers, just like the 820. The only difference is the 820 uses a capacitive touchscreen. I have no issue with the touchscreen on the 800 and 810. They work well all the time and I could even use them while wearing gloves. I have never expected the touchscreen on the 820 to behave like a smartphone. But after using it for more than a year and a half, it’s very underwhelming. In over a year, the battery life of the device went from average to bad. It is becoming quite difficult to get more than 9 hours of use, with a HRM, power meter and a Garmin speed sensor paired to it while not navigating a course.
I cannot believe you guys are still talking about the crappy 820.
Keeping my 810 was the best think I ever did for my bike even when my VivoActive HR on my wrist has better GPS receiver than the 810. On the other hand the touch screen on the 810 is perfect.
True to form, Garmin have managed to screw up my Edge 820 with their latest firmware update (V9.0).
Prior to this it was working fine, but since the update it refuses to upload activities via my iphone 6, so I’m back to using a cable to get stuff on to Strava. I’ve tried unpairing & re-pairing the devices, and turning everything off and on a few times but to no avail.
A quick look on the Garmin forums reveals that I’m not alone in having this problem. Looks like they’re using paying customers to beta-test their firmware.
I’ve tried to contact Garmin & Garmin UK via twitter & Facebook & messenger, but they haven’t even acknowledged my comments.
I’m close to ditching this company and switching to a Wahoo Bolt, and I’m so pleased I didn’t opt for their Vector 3 pedals when I bought a new powermeter recently!
@James: I have noticed that with the latest firmware, quite often I have to launch the Garmin Connect app on my iPhone manually to force it to sync. With this firmware, Garmin changed the way how the Edge 820 presents itself to the phone so you will have to remove the old pairing and re-do the pairing. In the old pairing, the device would show up as two separate devices (BLE_Edge 820 and BT_Edge 820). In the new pairing, it only shows up as “Edge 820”.
Had the same issue with iphone 7 and apple Garmin app. Then I swapped for 1h to my second android phone and the first sync took place and it took extremely long – say 1h or so, but it finalized this successfully, including uploading a just completed ride.
After, I re-established the iphone connection and all works as usually before. Very strange and I agree with your frustration. However, this “workaround” seems fine now. Still need to test battery life, but first indication was positive. Also the overall appearance was not too bad. Hope this helps, and works for you. Just pair via Bluetooth with any other android device / app and do the BT sync, after apple was ok.
There is a mention of video with touchscreen under the rain in the review…. Two years ago, it is still *uploading*? :)
Funny, it’s been there for two years: link to youtube.com
Must have never noticed I didn’t put the video in up above. Doh!
Since the latest software upgrade – Strava segments are not showing up live on the Garmin when riding. Does anyone else have this issue and if so a solution?
The update appears to have disconnected the sync between the 820 and Strava. All I needed to do was uncheck and recheck a favorite segment, and things re-synched and segment notices started appearing again.
Others have had to go into Garmin Connect and disconnect/reconnect Strava. A Google search will lead you to other folks’ experiences and how they fixed it.
I have tried everything – nothing works
Ray,
Have you noticed any issues with the latest firmware versions (starting with either 8.8 or 9.0) and eTap? My Edge 820 will no longer connect reliably to my eTap. The Edge will find my eTap, but will not connect. Or when it does connect, it loses the connection almost immediately.
This isn’t a battery charge issue, as it happens even right after I charge both my 820 and eTap (both front and rear).
Any thoughts?
Is there is any definitive advice on the Edge 820 dropping power data from the Stages power meter. I have 2 second gen Stages and one works fine, other not so much. If the problem be solved without moving the unit to top of stem and other silly manipulations, wonder if the Wahoo units experience the same problem?
inches can make the difference. If you’re using an out-front mount on the right hand side of your handlebars, try moving it to the left side of your handlebars.
The Edge 820 is ~2 years old now, and I see Garmin is now offering a $50 rebate. Is a new unit on the horizon? I am in the market for a new head unit and wouldn’t want to buy the 820 only to have a new version come out the following week!
I have the same doubt about the new version release, got the edge 820 on the week it came off and so far I’d love it, but would like to get a newer version before battery starts running shorter charge cycles, in my experience that happens after abou 3 years…
G
What drives me insane about this item is trying to load a second set of maps. I live in Australia and it came loaded with our maps. I purchased the European cycling maps from Garmin, but when loading it got the ‘out of memory’ warning. You cant be serious, 16GB storage not enough for two sets of maps ? I called support. They tell me the entire European map package is 4GB, but couldn’t tell me how much the Australian maps require. Hence, the 820 is now useless for me for travel. …..
You can simply try downloading the OpenStreetMaps variant instead (which is basically the same anyway), and see if it fits: link to dcrainmaker.com
Is the internal storage full?
If you connect the device to Windows / Mac you shoud easily be able to see how much free space there is.
I was surprised how much I was using for stores routes and ride histories which AFAIK are not removed when you sync to Connect, so if you are a regular rider these could have backed up.
“Memory” in an error message like that generally means what it says. Either your computer ran out of random access memory or the device did when processing the map (don’t know how much RAM those things have, but I’ll bet it’s less that 1 Gb). Memory usually doesn’t mean storage (what we’d call in the old days “disk space”, but since it isn’t a disk that’s not the right term). In my experience maps are a few Gb if they’re continent sized (and the European map is probably bigger than the Australia map because more people so more roads and POI’s), so you should be able to put a few on. I have two on my Epix, which has 8 Gb.
But you’re not going to “Europe”, you’re going to specific places in Europe and you probably know where before hand. Try using MapInstall to install only the portions of the map for the countries that you’re visiting and see if that works.
Yeah, thanks for the replies. DC, I will try the OpenStreet maps. It is in my nature to just buy the commercial variant, so did that first, hoping it would be simple, but alas no. Other responders, I have erased all my saved history and routes, to see if that cleared sufficient space but alas no. and yes, I am going to “europe’, in the sense that I travel there most years, and go to a different place each time, so I wanted to just load the maps and not have to worry about uploading more for each trip.
What interests me now is going back to the Garmin web site and looking as the descriptors of the Edge series. If you hit the ‘compare’ button, the only model that is listed as allowing ‘upload more maps’ is the 1030 ! Clearly now Garmin dont even advertise the 820 as being capable of uploading more maps.
I purchased this computer after reading this review but I’m slightly disappointed with my choice. The touch screen feature is hard to operate after few hours in the saddle under southern sun with swat pouring all over you. Also the GPS accuracy is questionable, compared with other models. I’m getting quite different readings on distance and altitude readings versus other Garmin computers and watches.
For touch issues, toy around with the sensitivity settings. Most people are pretty good for those buying units made anytime in the last year or so and with the latest firmware/settings. Certainly lots of mixed issues early on, but I think we’re past most of that these days (aside from just being a small surface to use touch on).
As for accuracy – that’s actually not something I think I’ve heard from anyone. Double check you’ve got 1-second recording on, as well as that your barometric altimeter holes on the back of the unit aren’t blocked.
Hi Ray,
Do you know if there are any plans from Garmin to bring trendline popularity routing to the edge 820?
Cheers
Seems like it’s actually supported on 820 since firmware 9.0.
Got confused by your 520 plus review claiming “Edge 820 doesn’t have Trendline popularity routing, Edge 1030 does”.
Have you got any news fo a hardware revision on this unit? There seems to be a 10.10 firmware only with new shipping units with a new revised hardware. Garmin people have confirmed it on the forums: “I can confirm new builds from the factory rolls out with this software.”
link to forums.garmin.com
Ray,
Any ideas on how to permanently turn off Strava Live Segments? I’ve gone through the steps to turn this off – Training -> Segments. I’ve tried disabling segments, deleting all segments, but the segment alerts keep coming back.
Short of disconnecting Strava from Garmin Connect, any thoughts on how to permanently turn off segments from showing up on my garmin?
So if you had the choice right now to use the 820 or the 1030 which would you roll with? Is it truly worth the cost to upgrade to the 1030?
Only if you need the large screen and longer battery life. Otherwise they do pretty much the same thing.
Now with GPS+Galileo with FW 11.00.
hello!
is the halo screen still an issue ? i am between 520+ and 820
My advice: Stay there, halo is still an issue. Possibly also for 1030!
Yes, screen halo issue is present at Garmin 1030 edge purchased in 2018 Jan.
According to Garmin Forum, Garmin is handling warranty inconsistently. I read on forum.garmin.com that in Austria it was replaced via request (without checking if it is a real issue or not). They sent a new device first, then they requested the old device back, regardless if the warranty was over.
On another country someone is already using his 4th device because of replacement.
As in my country there is no direct Garmin I attempted to contact Garmin Europe who were asking questions then closed ticket without action so far, then they requested my feedback.
I surprised on this “customer support”.
I purchased mine for 175 GBP last week, which was a bit cheaper than the 520 Plus, and now it’s even down to 142 GBP at Amazon UK, which is around the price of an Edge 130.
I wonder if Garmin will soon announce an Edge 830? Looks like Amazon started clearing its stock.
I’m glad I decided to buy the Edge 820, despite the bad critics on the touchscreen. Likely Garmin has improved the display since the device was released three years ago, because so far I cannot complain.
It works as reliable or unreliable as other non-highend-screens such as the Sensus in my Volvo, the screen of a Logitech Harmony remote, or screens of cheaper tablets such as the Samsung Tab A series or Amazon’s Fire devices.
I wear Giro Zen gloves, which come with a touch-screen-enabling fibre in the fingertips, so using the Edge 820 works pretty well even on the ride.
Anyone else having problems with satellites since the last firmware update? I keep getting the satellites lost message, and strava live is now completely worthless because I’ll be off course immediately. I’ve tried gps, gps plus glonass, or gps plus Galileo. Nothing seems to work. The touchscreen has been worthless since day one, but at least it used to work really well as a gps unit, but now that it can’t even do that right I am really thinking hard about moving to wahoo.
The full review never came to be?
Don’t have many users have problems with the screen’s sensitity? Mine standard needs several attempts to listen. Buttons will get a colour but nothing happens.
Also delay in functioning, aka slow!!!
Very irritating!!!!
Dear DC, I’ve just purchased the latest Garmin edge 820, and uploaded firmware 11.00.
I’m trying to get the “Performance condition” app to work, with a Garmin HRM, but to date, it still reads nothing.
On the Garmin webpage, there is a “YouTube” post saying how to set this up, just with a HRM.
Question…, is this a firmware problem, or do I require power meter?
Many thanks JB
Hi, I found my way here based on the news of the recent price drop for the 820. I currently have an 810, how is the navigation of the 820 versus the 810? I’m not 100% happy with the navigation on the 810 and trying to decide whether to upgrade to the 820 or just use a smartphone for my occasional navigation needs.
I own an Edge 820.
UnfortunatelyI have to state that the Firmware of this device (latest version 11.20) is a real disaster.
The gread% display while climbing is totally off!!! In a climb for 20minutes, with VAM constantly more than 800, never flat always climbing => grade was constantly 0, ZERO!
Totally crap device, and this is the answer I got from Garmin support.
“There is a difference in the algorithm the Edge 820 uses to calculate grade due to a minor difference in the baro in the device. This is likely to affect a users experience with the grade readings having a delay but there are no changes planned for the Edge 820 to improve the grade calculation performance.”
Either they fix, or buy a different device!
I have the same problem. It’s the result of the altitude measuring which comes in in intervals. So there’s not single meters added but chunks of 4 or 5. I get 0 or 1% while the climb is 7 or 8.
I’m already talking to Amazon, I have the idea that they are willing to assist, although the unit is almost a year old.
I was riding up 15-20% grade earlier this summer and my 820 said it was 0 !!
One of the reason I got a Wahoo – no more grade issues.
how do set up bike profiles if you can?
There’s no longer bike profiles. Instead for sensors you have a sensor pool concept, so basically you can add as many sensors as you want and then it’ll automatically connect when the sensors wake up.
You can then create activity profiles as well, which allow you to create something like mountain-bike specific settings (like for maps), and then another for road, or racing, or whatever you want.
Works pretty well.
Hi I picked up a 820 at the weekend and got up and running ok. Went for a ride and tried setting a route to my coffee destination…all cool with that arrived, paused the ride , flat white done and set off again. Hot start, Hit the Red Cross to stop navigation to the random address I’d added in the town and then thought I’d set a new route home…and that was the problem I found no way to do that! Seems like a pretty standard requirement to set a new route while on a ride so is the only way to stop and then start a new ride if you haven’t set a there and back course in advance? Or have I missed something?
Cheers
Si
Newbie with garmin edge explore 2 : Despair Since unbox experience is plagued by a large blue vertical bar and flashing light across the whole screen that only appears when you ride.
There is much ado about this on various forums and other Garmin things. But none explains to a newbie how to stop it Nothing in garmins manual / getting started /or some such
Any simple step by step to get shot of it . Garmin no use . Now wish I’d just gone Komoot
Ms O