This product has been discontinued by the manufacturer. It's been replaced by the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus, you may want to check out that review instead.
Back in April Garmin unveiled their latest and most expensive cycling computer to date – the Edge 1000. The unit would be bigger than any previous unit, as well as add a number of new features – like included maps. But would it be worth the $600 price tag?
For the past month I’ve been poking at the new unit, getting plenty of rides in all sorts of locales and testing grounds. As such, I’ve got a reasonably good idea on where the unit shines and where it stumbles. And based on that, I’m here to give a pretty clear rundown of what I like and don’t like about the unit (and trust me, I have plenty of opinions this time).
To be clear, Garmin sent me over an Edge 1000 to start testing with until retail availability. Like always, I’ll be shipping that back to them in Olathe, Kansas in the next few days and going out and getting my own via regular retail channels. That’s just the way I roll.
Lastly, at the end of the day keep in mind I’m just like any other regular athlete out there. I write these reviews because I’m inherently a curious person with a technology background, and thus I try and be as complete as I can. But, if I’ve missed something or if you spot something that doesn’t quite jive – just let me know and I’ll be happy to get it all sorted out. Also, because the technology world constantly changes, I try and go back and update these reviews as new features and functionality are added – or if bugs are fixed. So – with that intro, let’s get into things
Unboxing:
The Edge 1000 comes packaged up in two varieties. The first boxed version comes with mostly just the unit (+ some mounts). Whereas the bundle comes with the base unit, then the speed sensor, cadence sensor, and heart rate strap.
After cracking open the box you’ll find a slew of plastic bags with parts in them. In this case, I had the bundle version – so I’ve got more plastic baggies than the non-bundle version.
Post-baggie removal process you’ll have the following collection.
Along the top row is the Edge 1000, the out-front mount (+tool/adapters), and the heart rate strap/pod.
Along the bottom row is the manual, then the cadence sensor bands, the speed sensor & cadence sensor, a bunch of standard mounts, and the micro-USB cable for charging/downloading.
Running through all the pieces briefly, the transmitter pod will pop-in the heart rate strap. The unit is the HRM3 premium strap, with the post-July 2013 firmware, so it’ll pretty significantly reduce heart rate spikes and dropouts.
Next you’ve got the out-front mount, along with two little bar adapters in case you have differing handlebar sizes. Additionally there’s a small tool seen above, plus a lanyard that you can use to further secure your Edge 1000 to the handlebars.
If the out-front mount isn’t your thing, then you’ve got two standard quarter-turn mounts that can be used on a stem/handlebars, as well as a plethora of rubber bands (only two needed per mount).
Next is the ever-exciting micro-USB cable. This is the same type of cable that’s used for virtually all non-Apple phones.
Then we have the speed sensor and cadence sensor. The speed sensor is in the upper left, and the cadence sensor in the lower left. The rubber bands are for the cadence sensor. I’ll dive into that more later.
Finally, there’s the unit itself – but, let’s not get ahead of ourselves!
Size & Weight Comparisons:
When it comes to size, the Edge 1000 takes the cake for the largest cycling computer I’ve seen to date – at least from a dimensional standpoint:
(Left to right sizing: Edge 1000, Mio Cyclo 505, Polar V650, Edge 800/810/Touring, Edge 510, Edge 500/200)
Even comparing it to just other Garmin devices, it’s quite a bit bigger in height and width:
However, it is a fair bit skinnier in depth:
But, if you were to compare it to the latest iPhone (5s), then you’ll see it’s still some bit thicker, even excluding the mount:
When it comes to weight, the Edge 1000 is the heaviest Garmin unit to date, but not quite the heaviest cycling computer on the market:
The weights of others that I measured on the same scale at the same time from the comparison shots are as follows:
I’ll talk a bit later in the summary section on my thoughts about the size and whether I think it’s what folks actually want.
The New Touch Screen:
The Edge 1000 includes the largest and highest resolution screen we’ve seen on a Garmin fitness device. To compare, the Edge 1000 has a resolution of 240px by 400px, whereas the older Edge 800/810/Touring units have a resolution of 160px by 240px. Further, the size of the screen has increased from 2.7” to 3.0”.
Astute Garmin watchers will actually note that this screen first appeared on a golf device, the Approach G8, back a few months earlier. Garmin almost always re-uses the device hardware in other markets with different software (golf/marine/hiking/etc…). And in almost every case a device will either originate or end up in the fitness segment. Thus, one can often look to other Garmin segments to see what device profiles are coming along.
With the Edge 1000, Garmin has introduced a new touch screen that differs from past Edge units (such as the Edge 510, 800, 810 and Touring). Those units used resistive technology, which meant that it was just fine in rain and with gloves. Whereas the Edge 1000 uses capacitive technology, similar to what’s been used in smart phones.
Historically, capacitive technology doesn’t work well with rain or gloves – but the Edge 1000 appears to have only few issues with either of those. Below, a test showing utilizing it in the rain:
Further, having an abundance of rainy rides lately – I haven’t seen any rain-specific problems with the screen.
In addition to rain, I tested it out with gloves. I found that it wasn’t quite as good here as past units that I’ve tested.
While I was able to accomplish the majority of in-ride swiping, some of the configuration items it struggled a bit on (which I’ve never seen on past units). Here’s a short video of me putting it through some of my basket of gloves:
I’ll again note that during my riding this past weekend with gloves in the mountains, I didn’t have any issues with during-ride taps, but as you can see during the video, those sort of tasks it seems to be fine with. It’s the trickier ones that required me to remove gloves.
Now, while I’ve had no issues with tasks that are typically hard to accomplish (gloves/rain), I’ve had many troubles with the touch screen in more simple scenarios…like pre-ride and even during a ride on a clear day with just my fingers. I’ve discussed these more in the ‘bugs’ section, so definitely check that out – as some of them are pretty significant.
Finally, note that the unit includes an ambient light sensor which allows it to automatically adjust the screen brightness depending on the environment. For example, if you go through a tunnel it would automatically turn-on the backlight, and then turn it off once you’ve exited. The goal with this being that you can reduce battery drain by having an appropriately lit screen while also ensuring enough visibility to see it.
Activity Profiles & Sensor Connectivity:
While there are a number of new features on the Edge 1000, perhaps one of the biggest shifts is the evolution away from bike profiles. In the Edge 510/810, Garmin introduced the concept of Activity Profiles, which allowed you to configure data screens for a given purpose – such as a set for racing and a set for training. These were color-coded and also changed a number of settings including which maps to use and things like auto lap settings. Overall, the concept made quite a bit of sense and made it really easy to allow your Edge device to be more versatile:
At that time though, there were still bike profiles. Bike profiles contained specific sensor pairings, so that “Bike #1” was paired to (for example), a specific power meter, or a specific speed/cadence sensor. They also contained a few minor settings like bike weight and crank length (used in some power meters). Finally, they contained an odometer feature.
When you went out for a ride you simply switched to whichever bike profile you wanted and you were good to go.
However, with the Edge 1000 that functionality has been removed. Instead, there’s now a full ‘sensor pool’, where you can pair as many sensors as you’d like for as many bikes as you’d like. This means that you no longer have to associate specific sensors to specific bikes. Rather, it’ll simply connect to whichever sensors you have enabled at the start of the ride.
In theory, this works out great because you don’t have to change bikes (or forget to do so). Further, if you swap sensors between bikes it makes it easy – all while still retaining the data/screen/ride customization of activity profiles (which are separate).
However, in reality there’s one specific item that was dropped: The per-bike odometer. This means that at present you are unable to track how many miles a specific bike has been ridden. Rather, only a generic overall odometer for the Edge unit. In practice this wouldn’t be horrible if Garmin Connect actually tracked equipment – which it doesn’t. Thus, if you had been able to simply tag a ride on Garmin Connect from a specific bike then I would think that’d appease most folks. But alas, it’s a long-requested feature never implemented (also useful for runners and shoes).
As for sensor pairing, you’ll dive into a master menu to pair up any sensors you’ll need. It’s here that you can select the sensor type:
From this list you’ll start the pairing process with any of the allowed ANT+ sensor types. At this point, the allowed types are:
You can seemingly save as many of a specific sensor type as you’d like. For example I have a number of heart rate straps, three power meters, a handful of speed/cadence sensors, and many other sensors paired. Perhaps my favorite function is that I can actually name a specific sensor.
It’ll by default be the ANT+ device ID, but then you can give it a friendly name:
I also love that even if I have multiple sensors of the same type visible during pairing, it’ll just list them all, rather than throwing an error message like it has for all previous Garmin units (see photo below). When it comes time to ride the unit will automatically connect to each of the sensors and show that in the top status bar. If two or more of your already paired sensors are visible, it’ll even ask you which one to use.
When it comes to the sensors piece – this all works quite well. And, I like that I can easily disable certain sensors by just flipping an enabled/disabled checkbox. It doesn’t remove the pairing (though, I can do that too), but rather simply tells the unit to not try and connect to it.
Finally, it’s worth noting that the Edge 1000 does not at this time connect to any Bluetooth Smart sensors (i.e. a Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap or speed/cadence sensor). It only connects to ANT+ sensors. However, unlike the Edge 510 and Edge 810, the Edge 1000 actually contains a full Bluetooth 4.0 chipset, thus it could be programmed to connect to such sensors down the road if Garmin were to enable it to.
Mapping & Routing Functionality:
Perhaps the biggest changes to the unit actually come from the mapping side. The Edge 1000 is the second such cycling unit that Garmin has actually included the maps with (the first was the Edge Touring). Like the Touring, the maps on the Edge 1000 come from OpenStreet, which is a free community sourced map set. These are the same maps that you can get for free for your older generation Edge units following these instructions.
It’s the mapping functionality that ultimately differentiates itself from most other cycling computers. Most other GPS cycling units don’t have any mapping functionality, nor the ability to give you street-level turn by turn directions. Some might have the ability to help you follow a breadcrumb trail, but the unit wouldn’t know if you were on Maple Street or Main street. Whereas the Edge 1000 (as well as the Edge Touring/705/800/810) all have the ability to understanding your position on a street.
It’s with that understanding that it will give you turn by turn directions based on street names. As you approach turns it’ll then tell you of an upcoming turn:
And, if you miss a turn it’ll tell you about that too, and how to get back on route. Though, I found that in some mountain situations with switch-backs it was a bit overambitious in assuming I was off-course (trust me, off-course here would have really hurt being off the side of a cliff). Thankfully, it always got back on track by itself.
Of course while you can simply operate in map-on mode without a specific destination in mind, you’ll be best served by putting a destination in. To that end you have two basic options: Creating a course ahead of time (online from a computer), or simply selecting an address/point of interest on the unit itself.
First, looking at the course creation ahead of time you can do this on any computer connected to Garmin Connect (website). It’s here that you’ll simply plot your route however you’d like:
Then, once complete you can click ‘Send to Device’ to send it to your device via USB. Alternatively, if you’ve saved the course then you can use Bluetooth on your mobile phone to grab it and push it to the Edge 1000. Note the little checkbox for inclusion of ‘Cycling Segments’.
Once on the Edge 1000 you can then load the course and get an overview about it, including elevation:
After which, you can start riding:
As noted above, as you ride around it’ll automatically give you those turn by turn directions. Further, it’ll have downloaded elevation information about the route, and you can see your little blue dot on that elevation profile:
I found it somewhat interesting this past weekend where I had created a course that made a bit of a ‘Y’ and I skipped coming back on one portion that the unit eventually realized I wasn’t going to do that portion and in turn properly skipped my little blue dot ahead on the elevation graph. Kinda nice.
In addition to pre-planned routes you can simply enter in an address, or lookup a point of interest (i.e. food, tourist locale, etc…):
In this case, it’s just going to route you more or less non-stop to that location.
There’s also a ‘Route Planner’ feature that allows you to add more than one destination to a list. This is handy if you’re doing a bit of a day trip from point to point, and don’t want to go directly to the end point:
You can then build a list of places you want to go to, and easily edit that list as well. This is ideal for touring where you want to be able to tweak your route mid-stream if you decide to skip a town or point of interest.
Note that you can change map settings within the ‘Activity Profiles’. For example, you can associate different maps (if you have other maps, i.e. off-road terrain maps) with different activity profiles. Or, you can change the routing preferences for a given activity type too:
In addition to being able to follow a predefined course or route, you’ll now find another Touring feature: Round Trip Routing suggestions. This feature enables you to simply tell the unit how long you want to ride for and it’ll automatically come up with three route selections:
You can tap on any of these three to get more information about them, such as the exact route.
Once you’ve selected to navigate on one of these it’ll work just like any other course would, thus it’ll give you turn by turn directions and mapping information. In my testing with Round Trip Routing it takes approximately forever for the unit to initially load the routes. Perhaps that’s just because of the complexity of downtown Paris, but other competitive units (i.e. Mio Cyclo) took far less time.
Finally, I do find some oddities in Garmin’s overall approach to mapping here. The Edge 1000 and its $600 price tag of included free maps does include your local region (i.e. if you bought in the US, it’ll include North America). But, you cannot simply download from Garmin’s site other regions to load onto the unit. For example, one might think that if you’re buying a $600 mapping bike computer that you might travel from the US to Europe to use it while touring or the like. Alas, while the GPS piece will work, you won’t have any maps in Europe, and there’s no way to load them from Garmin Express or Garmin Connect.
Instead, you’ll need to use the instructions I’ve written in the past on downloading free maps to a small Micro-SD card in order to get them on the device. The Edge 1000 contains 8GB of space internally, but almost all of that is used up by the included regional map set, thus needing to use the Micro-SD card to grab other maps.
General Use While Cycling:
I’ve tried in this review to focus primarily on new features and functionality (new to the Edge lineup), rather than pouring over what many might believe to be more ‘fundamentals’. However, I wanted to briefly cover a few of the basics of cycling with a GPS unit.
First, when you turn on the unit using the left side button you’ll notice it turns on a heck of a lot faster than previous units – and that’s even ignoring the standby mode which makes it turn on within just a second or so (kinda like a phone). Like past units, you can customize a little message on the startup screen, if you’d like.
The unit finds satellites quite quickly. In all of my testing it was usually the first of the Edge units (I typically had 3-4 concurrently being turned on), to find satellites. It connects on both old school GPS as well as WAAS for higher accuracy. You can look at the satellite signal strength at any time by simply swiping down from the top menu and then tapping the satellites:
From there, you’ll be ready to get started riding. If you have sensors (such as a heart rate sensor), those will automatically be found. I touch on that more in the sensors section though. To start recording the ride you’ll press the bottom right button on the unit itself (not on the touchscreen). This will begin the session.
While cycling speed and distance will automatically come from the GPS (you don’t need a separate speed sensor). Elevation will come from the internal barometric altimeter.
You can use features like Auto Pause if you want it to automatically pause the recording when you slow below a specific speed (such as at a stoplight), but for me I tend not to bother with that. If you’d like to segment your workout you can use laps to do so. I do that when I’m breaking up pieces of my workout, such as this trainer workout below. To do so you’ll tap the lap button (lower left physical button):
In addition to manual laps you can also create automatic laps after a set distance (i.e. every 5 miles or 10 kilometers), as well as laps by position. Laps by position are useful if you’re doing endless loops around a simple circuit. I talk about this quite a bit in this past post.
When it comes time to end your ride you’ll just tap the stop/pause button. At this point the unit will give you a red edged border around it – indicating it’s stopped. Further, it’ll give you a giant VCR-style stop logo over the top briefly. This isn’t a touch logo, it’s just a ‘Yo, fool, you stopped your ride’ image.
After which, you’ll be given a touch-screen option to end the ride. This will get you one step closer to ending things for real.
Finally, you’ll be given this option to Save or Discard the ride:
Once you’ve done the saving piece it’ll show you any PR’s that you may have hit during the ride. PR’s are ‘Personal Records’, and track things like longest ride, most ascending, and max 20-minute power levels. Note that it doesn’t appear to pull these from Garmin Connect today (or on my device anyway), but rather, only relative to the device itself. So all your past awesomeness means nothing here.
Finally, there are a slew of ways that you can customize the display of the unit while riding. Specifically, the data pages/screens, which are customized per activity profile. A ‘data screen’ contains multiple ‘data fields’. With the Edge 1000 you can have five data screens, with each screen (page) containing up to 10 data fields (1-10). Further, you have a map page, a compass page, an elevation chart page, the lap summary page, and the virtual partner page. Each of those ‘special’ pages allows you to specify two additional data fields on them.
Because I’m your bestest of friend, I’ve written down all the data field options for ya. Here they are:
Edge 1000 Data Fields - Part 1
Cadence
Calories
Courses
Gears (Di2)
Distance
Elevation
General
Cadence
Calories
Course Pt. Dist.
Di2 Battery Level
Distance
Elevation
Battery Level
Cadence - Avg
Dist. To Dest.
Front Gear
Dist. - Lap
Grade
GPS Accuracy
Cadence - Lap
Dist. To Go
Gear Ratio
Dist. - Last Lap
Total Ascent
GPS Signal Strength
Dist. To Next
Gears
Odometer
Total Descent
Sunrise
ETA at Dest.
Rear Gear
Vertical Speed
Sunset
Heading
VS - 30s Avg
Temperature
Time to Dest.
Time of Day
Time to Go
Time to Next
Edge 1000 Data Fields - Part 2
Heart Rate
Navigation
Power
Power (cont)
Speed
Timer
Workouts
Heart Rate
Dist to Dest.
Balance
Power - kJ
Speed
Laps
Calories to Go
HR - %HRR
Dist . To Next
Balance - 3s Avg.
Power - Lap
Speed - Avg.
Time
Dist. to Go
HR - %Max
ETA at Destination
Balance - 10s Avg.
Power - Lap Max
Speed - Lap
Time - Avg. Lap
HR to Go
HR - Avg.
ETA at Next
Balance - 30s Avg.
Power - Last Lap
Speed - Last Lap
Time - Elapsed
Reps to Go
HR - Avg. %HRR
Heading
Balance - Avg.
Power - Max.
Speed - Max
Time - Lap
Time to Go
HR - Lap
Location at Des.
Balanace - Lap
Power - NP
Time - Last Lap
Workout Step
HR - Lap %HRR
Location at Next
Pedal Smoothness
Power - NP Lap
HR - Lap %Max
Time to Dest.
Power
Power - NP Last Lap
HR - Last Lap
Time to Next
Power - %FTP
Power - TSS
HR Graph
Power - 3s Avg.
Power - Watts/kg
HR Zone
Power - 30s Avg.
Power Zone
Power - Avg.
Torque Effectiveness
Power - IF
Again, you can mix and match all of these up to 10 fields per page/screen, and up to five custom pages per activity profile (and you can create multiple activity profiles).
Garmin Segments & Competition:
Update: Garmin has since introduced Strava segments on the Edge 1000 (and the Edge 520), which is pretty much what everyone wanted. As such, nobody really uses Garmin Segments anymore. Read all about it in my post here.
Back earlier this year Garmin introduced the concept of Garmin Segments into the Garmin Connect platform. Segments allow you to race or compete on short snippets of a given route, such as a popular sprint location or a tough few mile climb. These segments include leaderboards and your ranking among them. In short, it’s like Strava. Except, it’s not Strava – it’s Garmin (a few years later).
The Edge 1000 extends this system by allowing you to race against leaders on specific downloaded segments, where your status is shown real-time on the device against those leaders.
To start, you’ll need to find a segment of interest that you want to race. In my case, living in Paris there were approximately zero segments. So, I created some. Once I did that and waited a while the segment leaderboard populated. Following that I was able to ‘Send to unit’ which then sends the segment via USB. You can also favorite a segment for easy access and tracking later.
Once that’s done, over on my device I can look under the Segments button to see all transferred segments:
After I pick one I can pull up details on that segment:
Within that, I can check out the leaderboard. What’s cool here is that if I had friends on Garmin Connect (that are listed as ‘Friends’, just like in Facebook), then it’ll allow me to race against them instead of the leaderboard. In my case though, I lack such friends in Paris that have said device and have raced across my magical segments – so, I can’t validate that actually works.
With everything set I’ll head out for a ride. As I approach the segment (within 1/10th of a mile), it’ll automatically show a segment alert that I’m coming up on a segment.
And as I cross the invisible starting line it’ll give me a ‘Go’ message:
Then, as I hit the beginning of the segment while riding it’ll give me notifications of where I am against the leader, effectively like racing a virtual partner:
Finally, at the conclusion of the segment it’ll let you know your time against the leaderboard.
Overall, I’ve found the segment feature to work fairly well once you get the segments onto the device. Unfortunately, at this point you can’t simply search and select random segments from the phone app and shoot them to your phone (they have to be pre-favorite). Further, it won’t just auto-enable popular segments along your route in real-time like Strava’s app does.
Which, brings me to the biggest point: It’s not Strava.
It doesn’t integrate with it, nor have anything to do with it. It doesn’t share data with it, nor have any of the hundreds of thousands of cool and unique Strava segments. It is a separate walled Garmin by itself. A garden which at this point seems pretty empty. For example, I would have assumed that in a smallish city like Paris someone from Garmin would have gone through and populated the most popular local riding segments. But that appeared not to be the case. From this weekend, despite riding two of the most popular climbs in the Tour de France with literally hundreds of Strava segments created on them, there wasn’t a single segment that I triggered on Garmin Connect. Not one!
This is where the lack of some sort of Garmin ambassador program seems to really become visible. I would think it would have been easy to have ambassadors in hundreds of global cities go and mark/make the most popular segments. Heck, even local Garmin employees, of which Garmin has many globally. But that seems not to have been done.
Further, even if you do go and re-create new segments, they’ll only go back on populating the leaderboard from April 1st, 2014. This seems like a huge mistake, not only for my personal records but the massive online data cache that Garmin Connect is. Ultimately, I’d wager a fair sum of money that Garmin Connect has far more historical data (rides) than Strava does. Ignoring that data and the records set there is bewildering. It’d be one thing if they were slowly working their way back in time, but, it seems like that date was it. In this day and age of flexible cloud computing resources – I would think Garmin would simply buy the computing power to perform the calculations needed to fill out the leaderboards.
Because of that I’ve mostly already lost interest. ‘Records’ that I would have set even just this winter, let alone last year or two years ago will never show up. Contrast that with Strava which goes back forever.
Mounting Options:
I wanted to call out a specific section on the Edge 1000’s mounting options, since it’s a bit larger than past units. As such, it may not fit into all past Edge mount locales. While the actual quarter-turn mount is identical, it’s the increased length of the size of the device that can cause issues. For example, it is NOT compatible with the 3T Integra mount system which works with previous Edge devices – it’s just a hair bit too long (or short, depending on your perspective).
The Edge 1000 does come with an out-front mount, which is a slightly longer and beefier version of the previous out-front plastic mount that Garmin has produced. This mount continues to work with all past Garmin products.
I’ve used the Garmin mount a little bit, and it seems just fine – I saw no obvious issues.
It’s also compatible with the new K-Edge metal mount designed for the Edge 1000. Basically it’s just a tiny bit longer than their previous mount, and still works with all past products.
Of course, you can always just use the rubber band mounts, which I’ve done as well. In this case I put it on my stem, because I felt like it might be a bit wobbly out on the handlebars itself.
If you’re of the triathlon persuasion, your best bet is using some sort of mount in between the bars. For this I used the Bar Fly TT mount, I did all my riding in the Pyrenees this past weekend with this mount, and saw zero problems.
There are of course other mounts on the market – just be sure that you actually twist the unit into position length-wise. In most cases it’s not so much the mount length that’s the issue, but rather bike components (bars/headset/etc…) that will block you from twisting the Edge 1000 into the mount. It’s that it’s just a tiny bit (couple millimeters) longer while twisting in, than otherwise mounted.
Indoor Cycling:
When it comes to indoor riding on a trainer, the Edge 1000 can easily track your trainer rides – assuming you have some sort of sensors to use indoors. In this mode you’ll disable the GPS and be fully dependent on connected sensors.
For example, if you have an ANT+ speed sensor, then it’ll pair to that and display speed while on the trainer. Same goes for a power meter with speed (such as a PowerTap). And of course, it’ll still track cadence and heart rate, as well as any other sensors you have paired (such as Di2).
If you’ve got an ANT+ capable trainer, it’ll generally receive data from that as well. For example, the Wahoo KICKR and the CycleOps PowerBeam Pro can both send power and speed data to the Edge 1000. To pair your Edge 1000 to your trainer for reading power and speed data, you’ll simply go to pair a power meter, since that’s officially what the KICKR and PowerBeam Pro are sending data as.
Note however that the Edge 1000 does not have any of the new ANT+ Trainer Control features (officially called FE-C, Fitness Equipment Control Profile), so it can’t control your trainer unfortunately. It’ll just read from it using the existing power meter profile. Hopefully down the road Garmin will actually adopt this profile from their own subsidiary Dynastream/ANT+.
Shimano Di2 Support:
The Edge 1000 is Garmin’s first fitness unit to offer support for integration with Shimano Di2 systems. This means that the Edge 1000 can now track your current gearing while you ride, as well as recording it for later access (though, that piece isn’t quite ready yet). Garmin is however not the first company to do this, rather, that honor went to Mio and their Cyclo units about a month before Garmin.
In order to get the Edge 1000 to talk to your Di2 system though you’ll need one little $80 component – the SM-EWW01. This little doohickey seen below is what sends the data from the Shimano side of the house out over private-ANT to the Garmin device:
As noted, this isn’t actually ANT+, but rather Shimano’s private-ANT. This means that not quite everyone in the industry can see the data, only those that have a relationship with Shimano. You’ll pair the Di2 system in the same sensor menu as you would a heart rate strap or power meter. And at the start of each ride you’ll simply need to shift once to wake-up the Di2 transmitter so the Garmin unit sees it.
The data transmitted one-way from the Di2 platform to the Edge includes shift information (each time you shift) and battery power of the Di2 battery. Your gearing though first needs to be configured through the Edge 1000 Di2 sensor menu, where you’ll select all of your gears (front and back). This information is not stored/sent from the Di2 platform, but rather, only ‘matched up’ by Garmin on the Edge 1000:
Next, you can add any Di2 related data fields that you’d like to the screen. I’ve gone ahead and made a whole page just of Di2 stats simply to show you all the options. But ultimately these can be placed on any custom page you’d like:
When it comes to shifting, the Garmin cannot control Di2. Rather, it only reads the information. Again, at this point there is no control going on anywhere. Longer term (I’m betting 12-18 months), I think we’ll see this. But there are some challenges to work out in ensuring that the system is properly secured (authenticated and authorized) so that a competitor doesn’t randomly shift you right before the finish line. Both ANT+ and competing technology Bluetooth Smart are capable of encryption for this data, so it’s more the case of letting the market grow up a bit. Given that Shimano competitor SRAM recently sorta-announced their fully wireless system, it’s only a matter of time before Shimano follows.
Ultimately, the real interest here for many, specifically time-trialists and triathletes, is the ability to have a set wattage (perhaps from a pre-defined race plan) and for the gearing to automatically maintain the correct/optimal gearing based on that plan.
Finally, upon completion of the ride the unit will show you how many shifts you made in the front and the rear:
Note that while this data is saved to the .FIT file, there’s no software tools available today to actually render it after the ride. So you can’t view your shifting information on Garmin Connect afterwards, nor any 3rd party platforms.
Edge Remote Control:
Along with the Edge 1000 announcement was the inclusion of an announcement for a new Garmin Edge remote control. This remote could be attached to your bike handlebars to allow control of the Edge 1000 without directly touching it.
The reason you might want this is for scenarios where moving your hands to change a display field or start a new lap might not be ideal. For example – mountain biking, or in aero position on a time trial bike. Or, as I learned this weekend – descending on wet and steep roads.
The remote includes two different mounts, which can be plopped into a number of locations. The first mount is rubber-band based. I found it works great on the inside of both my road bike handlebars, as well as my triathlon bike aerobars (for climbing/descending).
On the flip side, a more ‘proper’ placement on a triathlon bike would be out on the aerobars themselves. For this it’s best to use the included small-bar clip:
It’s here that I place it out right next to my fingers.
When it comes to the remote, there are two pre-defined buttons and one customizable button. I’ve drawn a little picture below of which are which:
The customizable button can at this point be customized to the following functions (above, I did it as Start/Stop):
– Start and Stop Timer
– Start Timer
– Stop Timer
– Turn Backlight On
– Show Map
– Show Compass
– Show Elevation Profile
– Show Lap Summary
– Show Virtual Partner
In addition to the customizable button you can also define a press and hold action, which mirrors the above actions.
Though, I’d expect (hope) over time Garmin will enable other functions to be controlled by it, for example, starting/stopping the Garmin VIRB. Speaking of which, while the Garmin VIRB remote looks identical to the Edge Remote, for reasons unclear to me Garmin has made it such that you can’t pair the VIRB remote to the Edge. Ironically, you can actually pair the O-Synce remote control to the Edge, but I found that only the change of display buttons work when doing that.
In any event, when it comes to use, it’s pretty straight forward. You’ll pair the Edge Remote in the same sensors area as any other sensor. Once that’s done, you’ll simply tap a button to wake it up. The first time you tap a button it may take a couple seconds for it to register/wake-up. Then after that, I found that the reaction time is generally about one-second for display page changes.
Overall, it works just perfectly – I’ve got no complaints at all on the device and have definitely found it kinda handy. Garmin has stated that they are considering adding support to other Edge units (specifically the Edge 510 & Edge 810), but haven’t decided yet. A decision would potentially come later this year.
Now, the ‘cool’ thing here is that even if Garmin doesn’t add support for past units – other companies actually could. It just uses the standard ANT+ Remote Control device profile and any other company could add support, as could software companies like TrainerRoad or Kinomap, allowing you to control functions in the computer apps with it. I’d love to be able to increase/decrease my resistance on TrainerRoad with it.
Magnetless Speed and Cadence Sensors:
I’ve talked at length about these new sensors in this post from a few weeks ago, however I’ll touch on it here a bit more, along with a bit more data. In short though, Garmin introduced two new sensors as part of the Edge 1000 announcements. They were a new speed-only sensor, and a new cadence-only sensor. These are both separate sensors, each performing their own duties.
The speed-only sensor is magnetless in that it wraps around your front or rear wheel hub, just as shown below – using simply only the included rubber-band style mount:
You’ll generally want to put it around your rear wheel, since that’ll work better on a trainer. The unit uses an internal accelerometer to automatically measure revolutions, no magnets required.
In my initial testing in my earlier post I saw some oddities with speed and noisiness of the data using the new sensor, compared to traditional magnet-based sensors. Garmin did some poking and believed it was due to the new sensor being installed on a PowerTap hub, which they believe may have introduced some electronic interference. So instead, I moved it to both a different wheelset, as well as to the front wheel. In doing so, here’s the data I saw on about a 90 minutes or so ride:
(Note: Data is in wheel rotations, in order to ensure everything matches exactly, it’s not in precise speed which is simply a function of the wheel circumference)
Here’s a smaller section (1,000 to 1,800) zoomed in:
And, zoomed in one step further (250-500 of the above chart):
As you can see, it’s far cleaner now, and I’d have no problems recommending it.
Next, we’ve got the new cadence-only sensor. This sensor uses one of the three included rubber bands (three sizes included), to attach to your left crank arm. You can technically put it on your right crank arm, but in my experience that’ll last approximately one revolution before your front derailleur will impede future revolutions.
Like the speed-only sensor, it also uses an internal accelerometer to measure cadence. This is ultimately like the Wahoo RPM, and other accelerometer based cadence measuring devices – such as those found in the Stages Power Meter, Garmin Vector, and ROTOR Power Meter.
In my earlier testing I found it generally fairly good, with no specific issues of note. I found this to be the case over the longer run as well, with no variance of note in any of my tests. Here’s a graph from earlier that explains what I mean:
Ultimately I have no issues in recommending either of these sensors at this point. They do work just fine. However, do note that with other companies coming onto the market developing dual ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart sensors in the coming weeks, the new Garmin ANT+ only sensors would seem to likely limit your long term usage of them. I talk about this more in-depth at the end of my other post on the topic.
When it comes to compatibility of these sensors with other units beyond the Edge 1000, here’s a handy chart:
ANT+ Speed and Cadence Sensor Compatibility Matrix
Product Name
ANT+ Cadence-only Sensor
ANT+ Speed-only Sensor
ANT+ Speed & Cadence Combo Sensor
Garmin Edge 200
No
No
No
Garmin Edge 500
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Edge 510
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Edge 705
No
No
Yes
Garmin Edge 800
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Edge 810
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Edge 1000
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Fenix
No
No
Yes
Garmin Fenix2/2SE
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Fenix3
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 10
No
No
No
Garmin Forerunner 15
No
No
No
Garmin Forerunner 60
No
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 70
No
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 305
No
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 310XT
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 405
No
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 410
No
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 610
Non
No
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 620
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 910XT
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Forerunner 920XT
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Tactix
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Touring
No
No
No
Garmin Touring Pro
No
No
No
Garmin VIRB
No
No
No
Garmin VIRB Elite
Yes
No
Yes
Garmin Vivoactive
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Vivofit
Yes
Yes
Yes
Garmin Vivofit2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Magellan Switch
Yes
Yes
Yes
Magellan Switch Up
Yes
Yes
Yes
Mio Cyclo 505
No
No
Yes
Motorola Motoactv
Yes
Yes
Yes
O-Synce Navi2Coach
Yes
Yes
Yes
Polar products (any/all)
No
No
No
PowerTap Joule
Yes
Yes
Yes
PowerTap Joule 2.0
Yes
Yes
Yes
PowerTap Joule 3.0
Yes
Yes
Yes
PowerTap Joule GPS
Yes
Yes
Yes
Suunto Ambit
Yes
Yes
Yes
Suunto Ambit2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Suunto Ambit2 S
Yes
Yes
Yes
Suunto Ambit2 R
No
No
No
Suunto Ambit3 (all models)
No
No
No
Timex Cycle Trainer 2.0
Mixed
Yes
Yes
Timex Global Trainer
Mixed
Yes
Yes
TomTom Products (any/all)
No
No
No
Wahoo RFLKT
No
No
No
Wahoo RFLKT+
Yes
Yes
Yes
Finally, do note that if you buy the sensor bundle, that it’s simply just the speed-only sensor and the cadence-only sensor in the same box. It’s not a specific new combo sensor, just two sensors.
Power Meter Support:
Many of you who are looking at the Edge 1000 from a power meter perspective will likely have past experience with Garmin Edge devices, thus, I’ll skip over some of the basics here save a short overview of what the Edge 1000 does.
When it comes to power meters, very little has changed between the Edge 1000 and past Garmin Edge units. The unit supports all ANT+ power meters on the market today, and records all of the newer left/right and related power meter metrics that newer ANT+ power meters transmit. All of these data fields are listed within the ‘Data Fields’ section in the review.
From a pairing perspective, you’ll go ahead and pair the power meter just like any other ANT+ sensor, from the sensors menu:
Like the other sensors, you can save multiple power meters just as you would multiple speed/cadence sensors.
After pairing you’ll want to go ahead and calibrate (zero) your power meter. The Edge 1000 makes this easily accessible via a swipe-down menu at any time from the top menu bar:
At which point it’ll trigger normal calibration options:
From a recording standpoint the unit retains the same options for including or not including both zero-value power and cadence options (I prefer ‘Yes’ to both), as well as the ability to set 1-second recording. By default it should flip into one-second recording when a power meter is attached.
Afterwards, all of this data is shown on Garmin Connect and recorded to the saved .FIT file for analysis in other applications. Note however that while Torque Effectiveness & Pedal Smoothness are shown on the display, and saved in the .FIT file, they are not enumerated onto full graphs on Garmin Connect at this time (only a summary statistic on the left side).
If you’re looking at power meters in general, start with my buyers guide from last fall, which covers all the basics and my recommendations.
Altimeter Accuracy:
This past weekend I spent a number of days in the mountains purely for the purposes of testing out altimeters across a wide range of units, including the Edge 1000. I was looking at accuracy in tracking total ascent, as well as accuracy to a given point on the route (i.e. the start/end, and peaks).
While I have a much more detailed post coming up next week with all of the devices I was testing and all the tests, I will briefly cover some of the Edge 1000 stats as part of that. Overall, I saw zero problems with altitude tracking.
For example, in this case below looking at just three Edge units, all three were within +/- 43ft on total ascent, out of nearly 5,000ft of climbing. That puts them within .8% of each other (less than 1% difference). That’s definitely in the ‘normalcy’ range.
Further, I didn’t see any wild swings in the total ascent/descent variances. You want them to be very similar, and in this case it was within about 16ft (I started and ended in the same spot).
If we look at a point the next day on a different pass, here’s the Edge 1000 next to the altitude sign. It reads 4,864ft (Edge), and the peak sign converted is 4,888ft (1,490m), so it was within about 20ft – not too shabby.
I did notice a tiny drift of a few meters between the first climb up this pass, and the second climb up this pass. But, I also saw similar differences on other units (Garmin and non-Garmin).
For all of my tests I simply let the unit utilize GPS to calibrate the barometric altimeter. While I definitely understand I could have likely made the unit slightly more accurate by using a known elevation value – I don’t believe that’s realistic of 99.9% of riders on 99.9% of rides. Most people have no idea what the exact elevation is at their starting point, and it certainly wasn’t marked on any sign-posts for me in the small village I started in.
Mobile Phone & WiFi Connectivity:
The Edge 1000 follows along in the footsteps of the Edge 510/810 (and FR620) in having Bluetooth connectivity to mobile phones. However, unlike the Edge 510/810, it extends that functionality to Bluetooth Smart – enabling you to get missed phone call and text notifications on your Edge 1000. As of this writing, the notifications component is only available on iOS devices, but Garmin has noted it will be on Android devices by the end of the summer. The non-notification pieces already work on Android devices today.
To start, you’ll begin by initiating the pairing process from the Edge 1000:
This will initiate pairing the legacy Bluetooth (non-smart) side of the equation to your smart phone:
Once that’s completed, it’ll prompt you on the phone to allow it to talk to the Edge, as seen above.
Following opening up of the Garmin Connect app (be sure that’s pre-installed and signed in first), then you’ll start the Bluetooth Smart pairing process:
Along the way you may get random disconnect, unsuccessful, and failure messages, don’t worry, you’ll grow used to those:
Or, it may ask you to do something that you can’t, because Bluetooth Smart isn’t even showing up yet. Again, ‘retry’ is the name of the game here. Once you eventually succeed, you’ll click ‘Allow’ again and it’ll open up the Garmin Connect once again. At this point your configuration is all set and ready to roll.
With everything setup I’ll cover what you can do with the unit. First is the ability to save data straight to Garmin Connect after completing a ride. This will automatically happen assuming you’ve got the option selected in Garmin Connect Mobile (that’s the phone app):
Next there’s weather information and alerts that come via your phone for your local area. I’ve never had much luck with these alerts showing up – even on the Edge 810. In the mountains this weekend when rain storms were rolling in, it never notified me of anything. Still, I do know it seems to work for some.
There’s the ability to ‘push’ courses and workouts you’ve created online on Garmin Connect to the Edge 1000 via Bluetooth. This is handy if you’ve created courses online and want to quickly grab them to ride. Note that you can’t create a course from the phone however, nor can you create a workout. Everything has to be pre-done:
Last but not least there’s the ability to get text message notifications and missed call notifications. It’s this component that depends on Bluetooth Smart to work (which is why Garmin pairs the device twice). You don’t have to enable these, you can simply leave them disabled if you’d like.
When a text message comes in during a ride, you’ll get notified as such along the bottom of the unit. Note that you can’t respond back to the person using the Edge 1000, rather, it’s read-only. You can access the text of the message via the swipe-down menu:
And, when a phone call comes in, you’ll get notified as well. Like with text messages, you can’t press anything on the Edge 1000 to automatically answer the call with a headset, so it’s more of an ‘FYI’ thing than anything else.
While I’d like to say I’ve got a ton of great experience here, in reality, this has almost never worked except when I’ve sat down and spent quite a bit of time to try and get it to work – but not during a ride. As you’ll see in my bugs section – virtually everything and anything to do with the Edge 1000 and mobile phone connectivity seems broken (at best).
Finally, note that while I’ve mostly covered mobile phone connectivity in this section – note that the Edge 1000 is the first cycling unit from Garmin to offer WiFi connectivity. This means that if you aren’t using a phone to upload activities, as soon as you step into your home the unit will automatically save the data to Garmin Connect. I talk about configuring this a bit more in the next section. The only other Garmin unit to offer WiFi connectivity at this time is the FR620 running watch.
Garmin Express (Desktop):
You’ll use Garmin’s free software, Garmin Express, to do tasks such as configuring WiFi, synchronizing activities (if without WiFi/Bluetooth), as well as updating the firmware and maps. You can also configure WiFi via the Edge directly – a nice change from the FR620 where you must set it up on a computer first.
To get going you’ll plug your Edge 1000 in and it’ll go ahead and then it’ll ask you to associate it with your account:
From here you’ll configure your WiFi networks, saving in as many as you’d like. You can also save preferred access points as well.
Once WiFi settings are saved, the unit will automatically utilize that connection when available. Note however that you cannot use typical WiFi networks found at hotels or a Starbucks, as those all require being able to click some form of ‘I agree’ page, which the Edge isn’t capable of doing. So it’s really for home networks (or some work networks).
Beyond setting the WiFi networks, you’ll also use Garmin Express to update firmware (and maps). To date there’s only been a single firmware update, but down the road there will inevitably be more.
Finally, you’ll use Garmin Express to upload workouts to Garmin Connect. This can also be accomplished via both WiFi and Bluetooth, but this simply offers another option (for example, if you’re out of the country and only have a laptop with mobile connectivity). As always, the raw .FIT files (saved activity/training files) are still accessible on the Edge 1000 in the ‘GarminActivities’ folder, so you can also copy those files up to various services such as Strava, Training Peaks, and many more.
Garmin Connect Online:
Garmin Connect is Garmin’s online free training log platform. It’s this site that the Edge 1000 automatically uploads to (via phone/WiFi/USB). After completion of an activity the activity will show up on Garmin Connect within the ‘Activities’ page (or via the Dashboard as shown above). You can then click on an activity on the dashboard and get the full details on it:
As I scroll down past the maps and summary information I’ll get charts for each of the different sensors I had on, as well as things like elevation and distance.
Data from sources such as the temperature sensor are also displayed – both in summary and in chart. Note at the very bottom left side there’s an option to enable or disable elevation correction. In general, with the Edge 1000 you’ll want to leave that as ‘Disabled’, as the unit has a barometric altimeter. By using elevation correction you tell it to use the GPS track as the basis for it recalculating the elevation from known elevation sources. While that generally works, there are cases, especially in the mountains where that can be problematic.
It’s here in Garmin Connect that you can also setup and transmit everything from workouts to courses. For example, below is one of my custom workouts with specific targets that I’ve setup:
And, within the courses section you can create your own courses to follow later on the unit:
Garmin Connect also contains a bunch of fairly straight-forward reports that you can generate, from total activities to average heart rate. Note however that there are no ‘Time in HR Zone’ reports, despite being one of the most frequently asked for features that I hear in the comments section (especially from ex-Polar users).
Finally, the site has social capabilities such as ‘Friends’ (well, ‘Connections’), groups and the ability to follow other people’s activity through the dashboard and connections page. You’ll see screenshots of that sprinkled about the review. Ultimately, Garmin Connect is a good starter site for many cyclists. It’s not as advanced as Training Peaks or Sport Tracks, nor as socially awesome as Strava. But, it does do the trick.
And in some areas, it actually can do a better job. For example, there’s no better workout builder that I’ve found yet than Garmin Connect’s builder. And when it comes to creating courses, it’s super-easy with the course creator (though, I wish it actually had heatmaps outside the US). Still, I’d start with GC and then move up from there once you get the hang of things.
Random Things That Didn’t Fit
There are a few items that didn’t quite fit into a larger specific section all about them, but figured I’d call them out here:
Weight Scale Support: The Edge 1000 does support the ANT+ weight scale, which is somewhat interesting because some of the newer Garmin running watches haven’t. I sorta would have thought that it’d be more likely that a runner with a Forerunner or Fenix watch would also have an ANT+ weight scale, rather than a cyclist. But…tis not my decision.
Quick turn-on: The unit turns back on nearly instantly from a sort of standby state. Definitely cool.
Calendar View: You can now pull up a bit of a calendar view of activities you’ve completed on the unit itself, which is pretty neat. Each day will show a little blue marker on the corner of it.
Garmin VIRB Action Camera Support: Like a number of other Garmin Edge units, the Garmin Edge 1000 does support controlling the Garmin VIRB action camera. You can dive into how all that works within my VIRB review.
I may think of more interesting tidbits over time, but this seems like a good place for me to stash them.
Bugs:
As I’ve been doing for a few years now, I’ve been adding a ‘Bugs and things of note’ section to the end of my reviews. I do this for a few reasons. Do remember that a ‘bug’ is different than ‘by design’. For example, the lack of a feature is something I highlight within a given section is considered ‘by design’, whereas something not really working right is considered a bug. First is to make it clear the issues I’ve seen.
Now, in order to reduce my work later on, I’ve largely omitted bugs in the upper sections. I do this simply so I can change things down the road as bugs get fixed (well, I hope they get fixed). It’s far easier for me to cross it off a list here than it is to re-word entire paragraphs.
With that noted, I’m going to be blunt: This unit shouldn’t have been released in its current state. It’s simply too buggy at this time. The core functions and features that theoretically separate it from lesser Garmin units simply don’t work. Here’s the major bugs that I’ve been running into as of June 4th, 2014:
Bluetooth Functionality: In my experience, this is basically useless. The connectivity constantly drops between my phone (iPhone 5S) and the unit. As a result, core Edge 1000 functionality such as text message alerts don’t work reliably. Neither does Live Tracking. Ultimately, one of the biggest reasons to buy the unit (call notifications & text message alerts) has been nullified.
Touch Screen Display: This, is also rather ugly. Garmin is using a new capacitive technology here over their previous resistive screens. This makes it more like cell phones than past Garmin devices. The problem is that it’s just horribly sensitive. I can hover over the screen a few millimeters and it’ll randomly touch things. Trying to enter anything into the keyboard is equally as useless because the ‘hovercraft’ action pushes other things I didn’t want in the middle of things I did want. Further, the screen is constantly locking itself without me telling it to – a problem reported by virtually everyone using the unit and Garmin has confirmed as an issue. Update: This has since been fixed.
Di2 Integration: While the Di2 shifting display functionality has been flawless, the actual configuration of said parameters simply doesn’t work. Seriously. You can’t actually set your gearing. It just says ‘Ok’, and then immediately discards the changes. Garmin has confirmed this to be an issue. While this isn’t a huge deal right now since it still shows the correct relative placement, it’s more the principal here. The principal being that there’s clearly no test plans actually being used for device QA. Because any plan would have likely caught “Validate can change Di2 settings”. Update: This has seen been fixed.
Segments: When it comes to Segments, I actually don’t have issues with the device itself and Segments during them. Once I get them on there, they’re perfectly functional and fine. It’s getting them on there that Garmin Express seems to trip over itself half the time. It’s not a show-stopper, but it’s annoying because it seems to take a few attempts and then turning off/on the device to validate that they show up. I have however seen some issues upon exiting Segments and the map view where it zooms me to a full view of the entire continent versus my street. Finally, I’m also seeing an issue where it’s not updating the Segment leaderboards I have on my device (it hasn’t done so on some segments in three weeks). I would have thought it would have updated those every time I connected the Edge, via WiFi, BT or USB. Update: Garmin solved this within their own platform, but has since released Strava segment support, which is what everyone wanted anyway.
From a bug standpoint, the above items are the core of what I’m seeing. Obviously, I recognize other people are seeing other bugs – some widespread, and some seen by only one or two people. Typically speaking if something is only seen by a handful of people it’s either environmentally driven (i.e. a slew of settings causing a condition), or could be a defect with a specific unit.
Now beyond clear bugs, there are also things that technically are what the software industry calls “By Design”, which means that the company (Garmin in this case), made a clear decision to do a certain way. In some cases, users don’t like said design decision. To that end, I want to point out one specific change that’s come under a bit of scrutiny:
Removal of Bike Profiles: Garmin has done away with bike profiles, which means that you no longer have separate saved bikes and associated sensors. Instead, sensors are simply located in a vast pool of sensors and automatically connect when within range. So in theory if you jump on your bike and head out it automatically knows which is which and it ‘just works’. And, from my experience that’s been the case. However, this has a downside, which I’ll discuss in the next bullet point…
Lack of per-bike odometer: With the lack of bike profiles there’s a lack of odometer feature for specific bikes. There’s a general odometer, but not one for a given bike. Some folks use this to track how many miles any given bike has. At present there’s no way to track individual bikes – and obviously, many people are upset about it. While it may seem simply enough to just tie an odometer setting to a given speed sensor, that doesn’t really solve the problem since many folks don’t use speed sensors (just GPS). Thus, I don’t see an easy solution here without going back towards bike profiles. Update: Garmin has solved this by adding the ability to setup a per-sensor odometer.
Now what’s ‘funny’ here is that I’ve long asked for the ability to simply have a sensor pool. So what they did with respect to that piece is great, since it makes it easy to just use whatever sensors you want. But, what I didn’t really ask for was removal of the bike profiles. Instead, what I would have preferred was that Garmin follow what Mio has done with their Cyclo units, or what Polar has done with the V800 – which is simply have the sensor pool, but still have bike profiles that can pair to any sensor in the pool. Perhaps that’ll change.
In summary, the bugs I’m seeing are in some ways unforgivable – they go to the core of what Garmin has touted as the foundational reasons to buy the Edge 1000: Bluetooth Notifications, Better Screen, Di2, and Segments. With flaws in all core areas of the experience, it leaves doubt as to why exactly to purchase it. As of this writing, I’ve confirmed with Garmin that by the end of June they’ll be releasing a firmware update aimed at the issues in the ‘bugs’ section. Of course, time will tell whether that addresses those issues.
Product Comparisons:
I’ve gone ahead and added in the Edge 1000 into the product comparison tool database, enabling you to compare it against any other unit in the database. For the purposes of keeping things tidy in this post, I’ve just compared it to the Garmin Edge 810, 510, and 500 – which I view as the major ‘steps’ with the Garmin cycling lineup for folks who might be evaluating the Edge 1000. Obviously, there’s the Edge 200 below that – but realistically nobody considering the Edge 1000 is also eyeing the Edge 200.
Of course, you can always mix and match any of the units by clicking this link. And this also includes units from other companies.
And again, remember you can always mix and match any units from the database and compare them using this link.
Summary:
Outside of the bugs noted above, the Edge 1000 as a functional cycling computer is generally acceptable. Assuming they fix those issues, I’m sure it’ll be fine long-term. It’s got some neat new features that I definitely find appealing. Some of those features are bigger ticket items like notifications and segments, and others are smaller but handy features like being able to build up an impromptu route with not just one end-point, but a series of points along the way (all without planning ahead of time). Plus the inclusion of the Touring round-trip routing features are handy.
But, that doesn’t mean I’d rush out and buy it. In some ways I feel that it ‘needs more’. Which, is oddly the same way I felt about the Edge 510 and 810 when those came out. Though, those weren’t any more expensive than their predecessor units (unlike the Edge 1000).
I guess at the end of the day I’m just not sure why Garmin made such a device to begin with. To put it in perspective, there have been 137,122 comments posted to the blog thus far. Those comments have covered every conceivable (and non-conceivable) thing that someone could ever want a sports technology company to do. Many of those ‘suggestions’ directed specifically at Garmin. But at no point in those 137,122 comments did someone say:
“I really want an even bigger Garmin Edge that’s far more expensive than any previous unit!” -Said…nobody…ever.
Thus, while I understand that Garmin is trying to chase after the phone market encroaching on their turf, this seemed entirely the wrong way to do it. This fall it’ll have been five years since the Edge 500 was released, and quite frankly – that’s by far the most popular GPS cycling computer ever made. And it’s the only one that I repeatedly hear people asking when a “new little Edge” will come out. Both the Edge 510 and the Edge 1000 – being larger than their siblings, seem to once again be a distraction from what people really want: A new little Edge 500.
Which isn’t to say folks won’t buy the Edge 1000. I get it, it’s a new shiny gadget that has some cool features. But at the moment with many features broken (touchscreen/Bluetooth), and others not fully thought through (how do I view Di2 data afterwards anyway?) – I’m not sure I’d personally recommend it at the price that it’s at. Perhaps a lower price, but not $600.
Now some might say I’m being hard on Garmin. And when it comes to releasing an unfinished product and charging $600 for it – absolutely I am. It’s been out now nearly a month, and it sounds like almost another month till things are fixed (or, the first attempt at it). And quite frankly, I’m a bit irked by how annoying the unit can be to use with these issues.
And less you think I didn’t give them a chance to try and fix it (Bluetooth notifications), minutes before publishing this review I called the regular US Garmin tech support line to try and troubleshoot, just like any other consumer. Ultimately, they couldn’t fix my issue (and didn’t really try) but did leave me with this nugget of the day (an exact quote):
“With this being a new device, we have many issues with it that will need to be fixed in a future update….We’ve had a lot of people with similar issues.”
Ironically after getting off the phone I gave the entire Edge 1000 system yet another full reset…and this time it finally started working.
And finally, it’s probably also true that I’m being hard on Garmin for ‘innovating’ with a new screen technology and a larger unit. But at the end of the day, nobody really asked for either of those. Thus, I’m not going to sit around and sing campfire songs just because there’s a new piece of technology that doesn’t move the user experience forward or fill a gap that people wanted.
Found this review useful? Or just want a good deal? Here’s how:
Hopefully you found this review useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.
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As you’ve seen throughout the review there are numerous compatible accessories for the unit. I’ve consolidated them all into the below chart, with additional information (full posts) available on some of the accessories to the far right. Also, everything here is verified by me – so if it’s on the list, you’ll know it’ll work. And as you can see, I mix and match accessories based on compatibility – so if a compatible accessory is available at a lower price below, you can grab that instead.
Product
Street Price
Amazon
2014 Giveaway Extravaganza
2015 - DCR - Gear I Use: Bike
Edge 1000 First Look
Garmin Edge Units
Left/Right Capable Bike Computers
Garmin ANT+ Replacement HR Strap (for HRM3/HRM-RUN - just the strap portion) $28.00
Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible.
Argh !!!!!!
anybody else lost all thier screen profiles.
I had three
(a) Race
(b) Train
(c) Tour
After update to 2.4 I’ve now got 2 x Train + 2 x Race (but with all the wrong screens) but my Tour one seems to still be correct.
WTF ….
I’ve just updated my firmware and am hoping for improvements in stability – it does seem to get better with each release so lets hope that continues.
A couple of questions. I just called my (android) phone and sure enough I got a notification on my edge but I can’t get the notification to go away. On the home screen (with the big RIDE button) I can see the missed notification icon at the top but there doesn’t seem to be any way of clearing it. For the text notification I clicked on it to look at the message and that removed it from the drawer.
Text messages seem a bit broken. I got the notification but when I tried to read the text all it did was display my email address… K De Weerd mentioned something about enabling message preview but I can’t find that setting anywhere.
Thanks
Using Samsung note 3. Garmin connect app updated. Firmware current on g1000. When my phone gets a text I see a brief on screen notice but it doesn’t say who the text is from. It also doesn’t show the content of the text. That makes it useless. Is there supposed to be more?
In the default messaging app on my S4, when I go into Settings under the header Notification Settings there is an option Preview message than can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, The notification contains the information of the sender and a preview of the message. When disabled, the notification only says you have a message.
I have found that this needs to be enabled for the GE1000 to display sender and content of the TXT.
In other apps, it might be different.
For example, in Handcent in Settings, Notification Settings, it is called ‘Private Mode’ which needs to be disabled if you want the content to be shown.
Hiya! Ray, thank you for the great reviews you put up. Based on your initial 1000 review, I was leaning back toward the 810, but decided to wait a bit and see how the updates would fare. I see Garmin is up to update 2.40 now for the 1000. Do you have any top line comments on how things have improved overall from your baseline review to 2.40? I’d also like to hear about battery life with 2.40, qualified by what’s running, what’s turned off, etc. Thanks in advance!
I’ve been travelling so I didn’t have a chance to get it updated until just tonight. So I don’t have too many thoughts there on stability/usability. However, I am impressed with some of the new little nuggets in there. One line in particular is actually really interesting…
Set up a new profile for a second bike, but when I add a data screen for odometer, it still reads the total mileage since I got the unit. Plus can’t change mileage on odometer at all… Any ideas?
With Garmin, Odemeter is for total of unit, not per vehicle or “trip”.
My suggestion:
Reset unit to factory defaults; this erases all data and zeroes odometer of unit.
Then reconfigure unit to incorporate as many “profiles” as you need. You will of course lose previously stored distances.
I suppose later there will be a “hack” that will enable you to modify the data stored in the Edge 1000, and this will allow you to modify any data stored, in particular total odometer distance and distance per profile. Maybe this hack already exists for the Edge 800/810; a quick Internet search should help! If such is the cas, it my be applicable to teh Edge 1000!
You don’t need any hacks with the 800 (and presumably the 810, since it also has bike profiles). The 800 already has a per-bike odometer associated with each bike profile. It’s even settable so that you can put in the miles accumulated prior to starting to use the 800. Unfortunately for the 800 (at least my 800), as I recently discovered, there’s a maximum mileage that it can store and show, and anything after that is lost.
This is a problem new to the 1000, since Garmin got rid of bike profiles on it.
They should just let us input he odometer data as before. It’s like they provided half a solution for those of us that really miss bike profiles… I keep hoping they will do something…2.4 is a better step, but hope that’s not the last word on it. As to Paul’s comment… I had the 810 previously and other than the missing bike profiles I have found the 1000 better by far. I love that my rides automatically upload as soon as I hit save, and the screen is much easier to see. I also got the remote and it comes in very handy.
Will there ever be an Edge 820, or is the 1000 the 800 series successor?
As an Edge 800 User the only feature i miss since i am using the FR620 is the WI-FI and Bluetooth syncing option. I know the 810 would provide the Bluetooth connectivity, but at home i really love the WI-FI syncing.
As Eurobike ended without garmin edge hardware news is there any chance we will hear something at interbike? or is CES 2015 the event we might see something?
While awaiting Ray’s opinion on 1000 battery life under Rel 2.40, I welcome any/all comments regarding same, and please add what you had turned off (e.g., WIFI) if anything.
Doesn’t seem to have improved for me. For my Commute in / out of work I am getting through about 15% of the battery each time on roughly a 70 minute ride.
I have everything on other than wifi: HRM, stages, speed sensor, Di2, virb, bluetooth
Note that while this data is saved to the .FIT file, there’s no software tools available today to actually render it after the ride. So you can’t view your shifting information on Garmin Connect afterwards, nor any 3rd party platforms.
New kid on the block: http://www.di2stats.com Totally free.
Upload fit file.
See all sorts of data, pie charts, etc.
And, this also serves as a reminder to myself to actually input all the gearing in there. Since the initial pre-June non-save gearing bug, I never bothered to add it in on my new units. Still, pretty cool concept.
Well the thing that everyone said would happen when I told them I was getting Di2 happened this morning… My gears ran out of battery!
I was deliberately letting them run low to see if my Edge would show a popup saying that the battery was getting low – it didn’t.
When I set off this morning and I saw it was at 5% I wondered if I would make it into work and back before it ran out. I didn’t :-( had half my ride in and 18 miles home tonight in one gear – I’ll just pretend it’s a single speed!
I am surprised by this though. When my stages, phone or virb are running low on battery the Edge tells me – very very persistently for my phone actually. I think of all these accessories the gears are the one that is most going to upset your ride if it dies.
Perhaps this has just been overlooked by Garmin and it’ll be added in a firmware update. Is there an easy and reliable way to suggest features to Garmin?
I am pretty sure that the Ant+ transmitter for the Di2 has adversely affected battery life. I’m not bothered by that as it’s much better to be able to see the battery level.
Could be the di2 not sending an ANT+ low battery message, too. I don’t know about phone or virb, but stages definitely complains to the head unit when the battery is low link to stagescycling.freshdesk.com and even simple things like footpods will tell a Forerunner when the battery is low. I mean, it would be pretty easy to code an alarm when the percentage is low enough, but that isn’t necessarily what the Edge is doing when it gives low battery alerts for other devices.
Giles, interesting post on Di2. I think it has reduced battery life as well. Btw, when the di2 battery reaches the end, I heard that the first thing that happens is the front derailure stops leaving you with 50 remaining shifts on the rear derailure. Did that happen?
Interesting there was no final notice on the garmin.
I very rarely use my front derailure and this morning I was trying to conserve shifts so I didn’t try it – especially as it most likely take a lot more power.
I was actually surprised how quickly it got that low but maybe I’ve not been checking the level as much over the last few days.
Ray: Given the fairly critical review of bugs, etc. in your original writeup, it may be appropriate to do a followup update (as you’ve done in other devices), since firmware updates have in my opinion dealt with a fair number of these issues. Right now, people reading your review might get an overly negative impression of this device, that in my opinion now works quite well.
Yeah, it’s something I’m definitely looking at. I was somewhat waiting for an August update to move forward on that. But i’ll look at things over the course of the next month or so in usage.
Bob: Wholeheartedly agree. I put the 1000 on hold after reading Ray’s initial review and only now have ordered one because I’ve been tracking comments here that indicated to me that the bug situation was improving and heading in the right direction.
I’m sure it’s something Ray will get to in all that spare time he must have between working, travelling, attending shows, meeting companies and doing triathlons!!! ;-)
Thanks for all the work you put into this site Ray!
Hey GREAT and very informative review. I have been seriously considering the Edge 1000, but am not sure now after your review AND all the complaints over at Garmin’s forum site! I have two questions:
1. How would you compare the Edge 1000 with its direct competitor, the Magellan Cyclo 505? I know the Magellan is $200.00 cheaper for the bundle and $170 cheaper for the standalone unit!
2. Can you please update your review to include any of the issues Garmin addressed in their two Firmware updates (Ver. 2,3 and 2.4)? It would be very helpful to those of us using your review as a deciding factor to track the issues (both bugs and “By Design” issues) and their subsequent resolutions.
I see the Cycle 505 as a competitor more to the Edge 810 and Edge Touring than the Edge 1000. While it’s a solid unit for many cyclists, I have a hard time seeing the 505 at this point as a true performance unit. For example, lack of lap functionality (to break apart workouts), means it’s tougher for many performance-focused athletes to use.
On the other piece on firmware, as noted yesterday, it’s something I’ll be looking at over the next 30 days or so. By the same token, there are so many other new devices hitting the market this month that it’s tough for me to update this post every time Garmin releases a firmware update or gets around to fixing things that should have been there at the start.
So I was wrong about the acTivity profile..in part…
If you set up a profile for each bike, you can then go to history and see totals for that bike/profile…you go to totals and can see for each profile and the device itself…it would be nice to be able to input the mileage so you have total miles for the bike before the unit added, but it isn’t that bad..so for example, I just got a new chain on my road bike and can keep track of mileage on this bike now with the new profile..
After working quite well for a while my Edge 1000 has stopped automatically uploading my activities after each ride.
I have the latest update that shows your ride summary after hitting the save ride button. I get a prompt saying saving ride then a prompt saying loading ride (presumably to display the summary) but no uploading ride prompt.
I have checked in garmin connect mobile and the auto upload is still checked.
If I open garmin connect on my mobile and turn on the edge activities do sync correctly.
This may seem wierd — i’d really like to see sales figures for the edge 200, 500, 510, 810, and 1000 — even an estimate. How many higher-end (810, 1000) are they moving a year? Do they sell 20,000 of these, 100,000? 500,000? any data at all would be useful. Garmin’s results imply they made a lot more money in the fitness segment in the last quarter but a fair amount of that was running and the vivofit.
After reading this review and the many comments, I finally took the plunge and ordered my Garmin 1000 bundle (2.40). Could not be more pleased. Thank you, Ray and thanx all who provided valuable feedback.
How does the display show gear ratio? Do they show gear position number or gear teeth number?
Also is there a way for the gear indicator to show gear teeth number instead of gear position, for the front and rear gear indicator pages, much like the Shimano Flightdeck Display?
I wouldnt want to memorise what gear tooth is at a particular gear position when I look at the gear indicator display.
I’ll get some pics when I get back home Friday and update. When I originally wrote the review, due to the Di2 config bug I couldn’t actually show it if I wanted to. Now I can though.
Does anyone know how to make this thing display in Landscape mode? DC: I know you said the firmware upgrade was due in Summer 2014, have they done it yet?
Really like the reviews, and especially like the follow-ups that you do. In fact recently bought an Edge 1000.
I was wondering what the outcome of your call re. Landscape mode.
I find the length of time it’s taken Garmin to release this update perplexing (if not a bit annoying), especially given their reference to it in the sales materials pretty much from day 1 release.
Have been using my 1000 for a month now and very happy with it. Except for a new glitch that happened when I put on the Speed Sensor in the front wheel hub. I use a Stages Power Meter and use the GPS for my speed. I always have Pedal Smoothness on my main screen. When I attached the Garmin hub speed sensor, my pedal smoothness stopped working on the screen but the data showed that it still recorded in the background. I have tried everything and cant seem to get the Pedal Smoothness to start showing on the screen again. Could it be something with ANT signals?
Hmm, that’s definitely odd. I don’t suspect any signal issues there, but rather wonder if it’s something else code-level wise in the Edge 1000 causing an issue.
For mtb’ing, would it be possible to add something like a waypoint with visual or audio cues so that when you are riding up to it, it could provide some sort of audible warning? Something like or close to “Danger, switchback ahead” would be awesome.
Now that Apple iOS8 has a Health app and the Edge 1000 captures the data from my Tanita BC-1000 have you heard if Garmin has given any thought to sending the data to the Health app from the Connect App?
If I open the Connect app my weight from yesterday is in the profile so some of the data is displayed now, just not the body fat %, etc.
I haven’t seen anything that indicates they are planning to send data that way. Doesn’t mean they aren’t planning to, just haven’t announced anything yet.
Just purchased a 1000. Seems improved over the 800 in a number of ways except one that is important to me: I cannot install my New Leaf profile onto the 1000. Neither Training Center nor enewleaf will communicate with the 1000. Any idea whether this should be possible? Any feeling for the accuracy or method used by the 1000 for calorie calculation?
Hi, may sound like a daft question but… Is it possible to upload a route created in Strava to the edge 1000? I’m thinking about buying one but my local cycling club creates and share rides in strava so I want to be able to use the garmin for these.
Thanks
Ray,
I’ve had my EDGE 1000 for about two weeks now. I bought the 1000 at the same time as the Vector power meter. While waiting for it to arrive, I read your review.
Now, with 11 rides (and one lost one), all done with my 800 on the bike for comparison, I have a little input to share. First, the 1000 consistently under measures distance and ascent compared to the 800. Distance is off by about 0.2%. Ascent on flat rides has varied by up to 20% (168 vs 204); it is closer on climbing rides (as little as 2%) Calories reported are very much lower on the 1000 (around 30%). Total strokes are higher on the 1000 (by around 25%). Riding time is very close, maybe depending on the order in which I hit the start / stop buttons.
Since I turned on Power on the 800 about six rides ago, power numbers on the 1000 have been higher than on the 800. Left – right balance, interestingly, had my left leading for the first the first four rides, by as much as 56%. For the last seven, it’s been right foot leading by either 52% or 53%.
Strava’s biggest climber concurred on the measurement differences, and still uses the figures from his 800 to report his rides.
One “problem” that you mentioned with the 1000 was the lack of bicycle profiles. When I set up my 1000, I ignored the existing profiles, and added one I call “Colnago”. That’s the profile I always start. When I ride my Trek, I’ll add a profile for it. I think that gives me what I used to have with bike profiles – total distance by bike. Was there something more that you had with bike profiles that is still missing?
I appreciate your diligent testing and insight on these fun (and useful) tools/toys!
The difference in ride lengths may be linked to the fact that, by default, the Edge1000 estimates your wheel circumference based on GPS data of the first ride. If this estimated value is not exactly the same as the one your Edge800, there will be a difference. On the Edge1000, you can manually correct the default estimated value.
In my case, the Edge1000 estimated 2095 mm when the true value was 2100 (that is 2‰ or 0.2% difference)
Connect your speed sensor to your Edge1000.
Go into the sensors page on the Edge1000 and select the speed sensor concerned.
Then review its properties and set the circumference manually.
I’m trying to do this right now. The cadence magnet is still on the left crank arm, and the speed magnet is still on the wheel. I put the GSC-10 back on the chain stay with a rubber band, added a sensor, put in the id, and now it says “Connect”. I press that, but it doesn’t finish, just keeps showing the “progress wheel”. Under details, it says I’ll get details after I connect.
I’ve tried rotating the pedals both backward and forward, but I still don’t see an end to “Connect”. The manual doesn’t tell me much. What am I failing to do?
anyone had any luck pairing the 1000’s Bluetooth smart features with an iPhone 6?.
My Edge (2.5) and the iphone (8.0.2) are running the latest updates but it refuses to connect. I have it connected to the phone but still cant get any txt and call alerts. its remarkable that this has still not been resolved by Garmin.
Same here, running iOS 8.02. Edge connects straight away when pairing but repeatedly disconnects and connects again whilst riding. Haven’t received any texts or missed calls whilst using it…..
Now that Garmin has incorporated cycling VO2max prediction into the 920xt, it sure would be nice for them to add that to the 1000 in a future firmware update.
I keep losing my loop rides. After every loop ride I press the stop pause button and the device starts a new ride rather than stopping the loop ride. Consequently I lose the data of the loop ride. Anyone have this problem or solution to it. What am I doing wrong ? I get directions etc during the ride so I am sure that I have started it right.
Has anybody else experinced a weird jump in thier Odometer Reading – mine seems to have jumped from about 1877 kms (since purchase) to 42,950kms. I have no idea how to chnage it back to the correct reading. Not a big issue as I don’t really care about my TOTAL kms done but curious if anybody else has experinced this and if there is a simple fix to reset it back to correct figure.
Such “jumps” can occur when the GPS has had a reception problem and has inserted in your “route” or “track” a point that is on the other side of the globe. You have never been there, but the GPS file thinks you have and thus computes a distance to go there and get back!
Ok went for another ride today and noticed the Odometer is not moving at all stuck on 42,950kms – any thoughts on how to reset without having to reset the whole unit and loose bike profiles (which seems to happen everytime they send a new software update ??
So that limitation is still there. On my Edge 800, two of my bike profiles have odometers that are stuck at 26687.6 miles (42950 km). Both bikes really do have more than that many miles (although in the case of one, about 1/2 of the total are “miles” done on rollers in the winter). There’s a maximum number for the odometer, although why it’s that particular value I have no idea (it’s not a power of 2, for example).
There’s a way to set the odometers to whatever you want, but you need the fit file repair tool. It has the ability to modify the odometers in the settings.fit file and then you update the edge with the new file.
So last time I checked this page I read that Garmin will probably not support the D-fly DI2 on the edge 810 and decided that I am going out to get the new Edge 1000 and so I did last week.
Today while scanning the web guess what I bumped into: a pre-release firmware version for the edge 810 that adds support for shimano’s DI2 d-fly add-on. In any case its still buggy but shows that they are actually working on it.
For any one that is interested heres the link: link to www8.garmin.com
Cheers…
hi there,
activity profiles and map issues. edge 1000, v2.5, setting up a profile with a map then creating another profile with a different map ends up different profiles with different settings only the map is the same. after updating firmware and maps i did not perform a factory reset.
any suggestions?
map again. when I go to activity profiles-navigation-map-map visibility according to the manual, this is the advanced map settings in which I should get options for visibility mode, zoom level, text size, detail and shaded relief. I am getting only the visibility mode. Is this a failure of the manual or a bug? Could anyone please check on his/her own device? There is one pixel off on the screen, is it an issue for replacement?
guess what, a hard reset solved the advanced map options, and it turned out that the maps are global for each activity profiles, so the one set to a profile will be set for the others too, which is not good. garmin should solve this in the next firmware update. now i do not care about the dead pixel.
WiFi works here as well, though I must note that I rarely have it enabled and it seems to ‘forget’ my preferred network. So on the odd occasion that I turn WiFi on, I need to re-enter the connection details.
Do you always leave WiFi on? I’m wary of the impact on battery life.
Just re-read the review and I have a question about the touch screen. The performance you describe in “Bugs” makes it sound like touch screen is so bad that no matter how good or bad the underlying device is you could never consistently access the functionality in a user friendly way. Bugs are usually thought of as “software” but if the screen takes a lot of ghost inputs and messes you up every other time you try to accomplish something with it what’s the point of the device in the first place, and how do you judge it?
just had my faulty 800 replaced with 1000.love the screen size as mapping so much clearer for touring .i am a bike guide and find the TBT excellent.BUT screen keeps locking on its own. how do i unlock it.???
it seems to unlock eventually but im not clear as to how it happens.i just keep hitting screen till something happens.
Go ahead and download Garmin Express for your desktop. Then plug the Edge in from there. That’ll get your unit all updated and also enable you to quickly setup WiFi connectivity as well.
seemed to have sorted out locking screen problem .1000 working fine now.
one question re round trip routing.plotted 40 miler and took us on great route but we ended up on too many minor footpaths and cycleways.we were road biking.want to ne on quiet roads .how do i set it to keep me on secondary roads and not footpaths.
Strange. It could vary on cranks, but I didn’t have any fit issues with it. Obviously, going with the non-drive (left) side is best for clearance issues.
I had a try fitting on the drive side and the sensor appears to brush the frame. The only way to overcome the issue was to turn sensor so it was facing outwards away from the crank.
The potential issue with turning the sensor outwards is my shoe catching with each revolution.
The one thing that is exciting about this unit for me is the text alerts onscreen. My daughter suffers from Type 1 diabetes. While training, I need to track alerts and text messages from her school. I don’t like mounting my phone on my bike because of size and worries about damaging it. I see Strada has a smart computer with alert icons. Is anyone working on just showing a bit of text messages / incoming number for a call?
Seems like that would be useful for a large segment of this intended market.
hi Ray
I’m just about to pull the financial trigger on a bike computer and can’t decide between this and the edge 810, money is not really an issue between the two but is the 1000 worth the extra £200 over the 810? If you had the cash for either which would you go for? (thinking longevity here aswell).
Also just finished climbing the Teide in Tenerife absolutely fantastic have you done it?
Given the Edge 810 just got yet more features – Di2 and Segments, in general I’m not a huge fan of buying up to the Edge 1000 just for the heck of it.
As for Tenerife, I haven’t done yet it – but had some good friends just head down there the last two weeks…so we’re looking at getting down there stat!
I actually ordered the unit but it wasen’t shipped by day 5 from the supplier, so in the end I cancelled it. I’m going to grab the Edge 810 shortly as looking at it, its a bargain at the current price with the features – good advice, thanks.
As always, your excellent reviews posted on this site are very much appreciated.
Hi all, I’m having major problems with connecting to my iphone. Connectivity is constantly dropping out and will not re connect. I recieve no texts to my garmin while out riding
If the unit is sitting next to each other and doing that, then there’s a problem with one of the two. If it’s in your back pocket, it may be the problems I saw in the review. In any scenario, it’s best to ring up Garmin Support.
Does Edge 810 support di2?
Latest firmware info is:
Changes made from version 3.00 to 3.20:
Fixed an issue causing activities to not always be saved if the device is powered down immediately after saving a ride.
Nothing about Di2.
So how is it?
michal
New beta firmware for the 1000 just came out, finally giving the Landscape option, plus a few other fixes we’ve been waiting for. I’ve installed it and its working fine.
Just a detail regarding your round route routing comment:
“Perhaps that’s just because of the complexity of downtown Paris…”
At least on the screen of your Edge 1000 you are on the border between Helsinki and Espoo in Finland, not Paris, France. I should know, I do travel past that particular Hanasaari point about 200 days a year both ways.
The route as such is not at all a bad choice for a run, on the contrary. If only the weather was ok it should have been quite enjoyable.
Next time please just let me know and I’ll be more than happy to take you out on any guided ride along the seasides, be it summer or winter. You can have one of my bikes, I think we are quite close regarding size (185cm).
Funny, yeah, I finished up the review while at the hotel out there. So needed a couple of final photos I was missing. Was quite a nice area for running/exploring though.
How legible is the edge 1000 with the backlight off in daylight? I want to be able to maximize my battery life like i do with the gpsmap 62s. I can read the gpsmap 62s screen prefectly in daylight with the back light set to zero.
Thanks for the great review Ray. I’ve been using a Cateye Stealth 50 for a while and haven’t had any complaints except for battery life. Now that I have the opportunity to get into a Garmin for the first time. would it be wise for me to go straight into the 1000 or should I invest in the 810? I’ve read a few threads where people have mentioned battery life issues with the 1000 v.s. better battery life on 810. Also a bit concerned with its large size and I like to mount my computers out front. The one thing I do like is the resolution. Do you feel it’s worth going for the 1000 over the 810 just for the better resolution? Thank you!
I bought the Edge 1000 when I purchased the Garmin Vector power meter system. I still have my Edge 800 (and I started with the 705). I did a fair amount of “guided” riding with the 800, and found the maps easy enough to view. The larger screened 1000 is better. I had the 800 mounted on my stem. The 1000 includes a “barfly” type mount,and is easier to read, both because of the screen size and the position. I think contrast is better, too. (Note: I’m 70, and my vision isn’t what it once was.)
The 810 and the 1000 both have extra features compared to the 800. I’ve used the Live Track a couple of times. I’ve only let the 1000 sync my ride to Garmin Connect once or twice. The 1000 has a couple of extras such as round trip routing that aren’t on the 810. I haven’t used them yet. (Go to Garmin.com, Shop, Cycling, and “compare” the two units for a concise look at the differences.) You have to decide whether the latest is worth the extra cost (a good part of which is due to standard maps, which you can make for free for the 810).
In my opinion, you have to decide you need, or want to use, or at least want to try, all the features, or you’re just wasting your money. A $600 cycling computer is slightly ridiculous. The Edge 200 will let you be a player on Strava at a quarter of the price.
Thank you for your input Colin. What if I told you that I would be paying just $200 for the 1000 or $0 for the 810? I was given a GoPro 4 silver a gift and have the opportunity to swap it out for the Garmin. I already have one GoPro so don’t really need a second one right now. so money is really not an obstacle. My main concern is that the 1000 may be too big (like mounting a cell phone on the bike) and that the battery life is poor. But I do hear the resolution is so much better on the 1000. Colin, how long does the battery last for you?
I’ve done one seven hour ride, where I had guidance on part of the way. Then I stopped using guidance, but I think it was still guiding me in the background (telling me I was off course). (I didn’t stop to make sure I had stopped guidance.) I had 30% battery left when I finished. I think that if I’d done everything right, I’d probably have had about 50% left. This seems acceptable to me, because I seldom do longer rides than that, and I ride almost every day. I also charge my Edge every day.
The unit is pretty big, but it hasn’t caused my bike to tip over, and no one I ride with has remarked that it looks ridiculous. I’ve been carrying both units recently, because I’m doing a Strava climbing challenge, and the 800 registers more elevation!
As for making the right decision, you have to go BIG!
Dino,
I pretty much had the same questions you did before I pulled the trigger on my edge 1000. Although I can’t give you a comparison on battery life compared to the 810, my little edge 200 had far more battery life. But that’s pretty much comparing apples to oranges.
I myself was worried about it’s size, but once I mounted it on the bike using the included front mount, it looks right at home. And beings there is a new beta update with the new landscape mode, you can mount the unit sideways. I haven’t tried that on my bike yet, but I did download the beta version and I am pretty impressed with this option.
The resolution is great in my opinion. It took me two months to make my decision on the edge 1000 and once I found a good deal on it I went for it.
For now I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Thanks for the input Jerry. i used to attach my iPhone on the bike and did away with that because of its size plus wanted to conserve battery life on my phone…so I went with an actual cycling computer. While I do like my Cateye, it doesn’t have maps/navigation and the battery life is not great. Now I have an opportunity to either get the 810 as an even swap for my GoPro 4 Silver (it was a gift) or do the swap and pay the difference of $200 for the Edge 1000. While the resolution on the 1000 is very impressive, do you really think it’s a deal breaker when deciding between the two units? As for battery life, how many hours has the 1000 lasted for you?
Dino,
I just bought my 1000 just a bit ago and have been on only one shakedown run.
I was out for about 3.5 hours and had about 65% left. I have heard about options for getting more battery life out of it so that is something I need to experiment with. I probably won’t be on a ride for more the 8 hours so battery life shouldn’t be a problem for me.
If your an ultra distance rider then you might have to take battery life into consideration.
Once again, I’m sure the size will grow on you once you see how nice the data displays are. I have a large Samsung Galaxy smart phone and it is smaller then the phone.
With the added options on the edge 1000 compared to the 810; and with you getting it for $200.00 bucks I wouldn’t think twice……go for it!
Thank you. Still thinking about it. I know for just $200 the 1000 is a bargain but not sure yet if I want the bigger unit. Still researching in regards to battery life and screen resolution difference between the 810 and 1000. More than likely I’ll end up getting the 1000 since it’s the latest. I was originally interested in getting one of the new Pioneer cyclo computers. Have you looked into those? Thanks!
Well the Pioneer head units are smaller in size compared to the 1000 and 850 but I still would like the maps/navigation features…therefore I’m going with Garmin. I just can’t decide if it would be a good idea just to get the 1000 since I would only have to pay $200 after trading in the GoPro 4 gift I was given at work. Or just trade in the GoPro 4 for the 810 as an even swap. Ray, how did you feel about its size? Do you think it’s too big of a unit for the bike? Also, what are your thoughts on the battery life? I don’t expect to ride extreme distances I would normally do about 100+ miles a day at our local charity rides which would take me about 5 to 6 hours at most. You feel the battery life on the 1000 is sufficient? Thank you.
Is it not possible to enter your ODO manually on the Edge 1000? Id like to input the mileage my bike currently has when switching from my Cateye to the Garmin and take it from there. If you’re not able to enter the information, does the 810 allow to enter it? Thanks!
Does anyone know about the question I have on the odometer with the Edge 1000? Not sure if it has already been answered. I’ve been reading around that you are not able to enter an the odometer manually onto the 1000. If not, has there been a firmware update to add this feature? I’m getting ready to make a purchase today :-)
You cannot enter an odometer value manually on the edge 1000. I am running the latest beta firmware. You can do this via manually editing the device totals .fit file, but that requires a fit file editor.
Thanks Bob. Well that is one feature I wish it did have since I’d like for it to read (more or less) the mileage I have placed on my bike. Also, regarding the maps, I hear that the 1000 comes with the OpenStreetMaps and not the Garmin CN maps. Have you looked at the difference between the two? If so, would I like the CN maps better? I’m a Garmin newbie so not sure. In other words, would it be best to get the 810 bundle that comes with the Garmin CN maps or get the 1000 with the base maps ? Thank you.
Yes, there are separate odometer totals for each profile now, plus a total device odometer, but no the present beta firmware (2.57 beta). does not allow you to modify them. As stated, you can use a fit file editor to do that.
I have been using the 1000 for the whole cycling season, and have not had any issue with the maps. They seem to be just as good as the CN maps I had on my Edge 800. I don’t see the need for the CN bundle.
ps. 2.57 beta gives you landscape mode, and from all reports finally fixes the Bluetooth issues that plagued some Iphone users. ( I have an Android and its always worked for me).
I had the Garmin maps on my 800, and I built an OpenStreetMaps map of the USA and replaced the Garmin maps. I believe I had more information available with OSM. The cost in time to build the map may rival the cost of buying the Garmin maps, but I was able to build a map for two friends as well, just for the price of the microSD cards.
When this question was asked, I went looking for a way to set the odometer, without success. It seems odd that you can create a profile for your bike(s), but the software presumes that they are “brand new” bikes with zero miles on them.
I created two new activity profiles for my Colnago and my Trek. I haven’t ridden the Trek using the Edge 1000. But at some point, I messed up and switched to using the “Race” profile, so now the Total mileage is correct, but the Colnago mileage is wrong. I’d like to have a way to fix it….
The one thing you miss out on using OSM maps, at least the last time I looked, was that if you buy Garmin topo maps BaseCamp will show you a 3D view, and even my old Edge 800 will do some shading to highlight the topography in addition to showing contour lines. Of course, that doesn’t matter if your alternative is buying CN.
Wait, so now you can have separate bike profiles on the 1000 like previous edge models? Was this feature added with the a firmware update? If so, which update was it?
As for modifying the odometer with a fit file editor, is there a link you can provide that will show how to go about doing this? Thank you.
Well, the 1000 is in the mail and I should be expecting it early next week. Hopefully sometime soon there will be a firmware update which will allow for us to manually enter and/or make edits to an odometer figure.. Otherwise, I’ll have to learn to live with starting back at zero. Thanks for all of your help everyone!
Dino
I think you will be very happy with your choice. You can always write a note for yourself in the Garmin Connect training Calender on your previous mileage from your other device and then just add the two totals.
Let us know what you think of the new Edge 1000 and hopefully you live in an area where the weather won’t keep you from trying it out.
hi Ray
i was wondering whether the edge 1000 fares better than edge 500 on temperature readings.
I agree with you that during the workout it definitely falls in the “oh, nice” category, but i find it useful when looking at past workouts.
When reviewing the edge 500 you noticed it read 10F more. My experience is similar, as i can see approximately a difference of 5C. Though my limited sample and the lack of close-by weather stations make it impossible to gauge whether the offset is constant…
I didn’t have time to read the whole review but noticed no W’ or anaerobic reserve capacity data field. A live display of anaerobic reserve would be very useful for racing. Do any other head units offer this function?
Hello. Does anyone else, with firmware 2.50 on their Edge 1000, have the wrong time-zone? Any clues as to how it can be corrected. It is four (4) hours off. Thanks.
Was wondering how the 1000 is faring now? It seems it was a bit of a disappointment when it came out but often Garmin units do get better with firmware updates. Is it a a good idea to upgrade from my 800 yet? I’ve been holding on to see if some of the bugs get ironed out and it’s Christmas soon!
It seems to be doing much better in the firmware department. That said, the Edge 810 also got many of the Edge 1000 features, like Di2 and Garmin Segments support.
You imply the Edge 1000 is still overkill compared to lower priced models like the 810 or even the 510 for some users. Removing cost as a consideration can you recommend the 1000 after the recent firmware updates? Garmin has also posted Beta firmware that will hopefully GM soon and resolves more communication issues and includes horizontal orientation. I’m currently using the Edge 510 which I really like, but want Map functionality on the Trail for the Mountain bike and Streets for the Road bike. I’m riding in some unfamiliar areas and need decent on/off road map support without reaching for the iPhone 6 all the time. I am hoping the Edge 1000 will work. Of course I also want to keep the fitness functionality which work great for me on the 510.
While I have used the beta a ton (on the Edge 1000), I generally find the Edge in its current forma generally reliable device. That said, I haven’t done a ton with the Bluetooth aspects since the summer, simply because I got so fed up with them not working. And I realize that some of the BT pieces are very user dependent (placement/clothing/bike/etc).
And there are things I REALLY like about the Edge 1000 – namely the sensor pool, without question it’s my favorite feature. But then again, it’s probably because I’ve got so many sensors that it makes my life easier (though, I wish there wasn’t an upper limit that I hit almost daily).
I bet the 810 didn’t get a larger screen and GLONASS support (actually, I’m not clear whether that’s a hardware/antenna issue or just a firmware thing). The only thing that concerns me about the 1000 is the elevation accuracy, and people compare it to the 810, but whose to say which is more accurate?
After having had a rather good day decided to splash out on the Edge 1000 Performance bundle. Unfortunately the decision brought my good day to a rather abrupt end. Have to wonder if Garmin do it on purpose….
Yet again the Edge is limited to pairing with 1 device So if I happen to have my work rather than personal smartphone I need to actively ‘forget’ the current phone and re-pair with the new phone until I need to use the old one when I have to go through the process again :(
Current S/W on the E1000 is 2.3 which isn’t the latest but E1000 claims its up to date. Does Garmin really expect me to pack my Mac Pro and 27″ thunderbolt display when I need to travel so I have access to Garmin Express and the required software updates? A whole host of features are denied to me because the SmartPhone revolution seems to have pasted Garmin by. Why can’t I populate my personal records, segments etc via Garmin Connect Android & BT? Why can’t the touch sceen on the E1000 be used to connect to say Starbucks free WiFi for firmware updates for instance? New Garmin Connect via a browser on a phone is a totally unuseable mess. The rubber flaps protecting the sdcard and usb port look rather flimsy on first inspection and when charging its no longer possible to lay the unit flat.
I’m a pretty normal guy who came to the E1000 via the equally flawed E810. Are my criticisms unfair? Am feeling really pee’d off about it.
For the pairing to a single device, this is actually pretty similar to every other wearable device I’ve tested from any company. I can’t actually think of any example that does allow dual pairing (offhand).
Firmware updates on the Edge are somewhat rare – every few months. One of the reasons why you don’t want to update your mapset (annual) over BLE is just that Bluetooth Smart is an incredibly slow protocal. To update the multi-GB maps over Bluetooth Smart, it’d literally take days (I could do the math to get the exact number of days, but it really is days).
WiFi does solve that of course, but the limitation there with Starbucks type WiFi is that you need to click ‘I agree’ on a browser window. The Edge 1000 doesn’t have a browser built in.
Thanks for the reply Ray….
None of my other portable hardware needs to be connected to configuration/CMS software on a desktop to update firmware or content ie Kindle, Galaxy Smartphone and iPod etc
Why can’t Garmin leverage the connectivity of a Smartphone to grab firmware and content like my Personal Records and use the Garmin phone App as a bridge to the Garmin hardware via WiFi? of which both the E1000 & FR620 have. Possibly 10 years ago Garmin would have had a point in doing it the way they do but in 2014/15???
Won’t be home for a few days yet and despite the Garmin App having all the data I want on the E1000 the device is 90% empty.
Apple doesn’t permit apps to bridge to a WiFi network as a straight pass-through (i.e. Internet sharing). It can of course act as an intermediary, but then again, for something like a 4.5GB mapset you’d never want to transfer that to the device via Bluetooth Smart. But for workouts and everything else (including PR’s) that does happen via the phone.
As for firmware updates, the Edge and FR series does grab them via WiFi for networks that are preconfigured. I do agree it’d be nice to configure networks on the FR series via the app – but the Edge series can be done directly.
Also, keep in mind your Kindle, Galaxy phone, etc… all have browsers on them.
Thanks Ray for your great reviews! Always good to read them.
Some thoughts I hope you can comment on: I use an edge 810 with different power meters. SRM and powertap. I program my training sessions in garmin connect and upload them to my edge. My 810 proves to be very unreliable. It crashes very often: just freezes the screen and stops working. My guess is all the inputs (interval program, HR sensor, speed sensor and powermeter) gets it to the limits of its capabilities in computing power and causes it to crash. Am I right or is it software bugs more than anything else causing my trouble?
My hope: edge 1000 = more computing power = less crashes when in the middle of carefully programmed training sessions.
Jonathan,
Maybe since you use a couple of different power meters, you can answer a question I’ve been wondering about: Do different brands of power meters show different levels of wattage?
I have Garmin Vector, and a couple of friends have Pioneer and Stages. We’re all just “casual” power meter users, but it seems that Mr Pioneer registers higher levels of power than I do. Ms Stages (Mr Pioneer’s wife), I’m not so sure about yet.
If you’re getting crashes, I suspect you may have some corruption on the Edge 810 file system. To take care of that, copy all your activity files/workouts to your computer, and then clear off everything from the Edge (including the courses/tracks/workouts/etc…). Then do a full reset on the Edge 810. That’ll likely help. In almost every case for crashes on Garmin products that I usually see, it’s due to some sort of corruption in either the file system, or a file that the product tries to open (like an older activity file or such).
From there, you can go ahead and load the workouts from GC back over again.
Colin- Yes, they do. You can’t compare Stages and Pioneer unfortunately, especially if on different bikes with different riders. The power output would vary with a riders weight and terrain.
So…my edge seems to be more stable now. A big wish however, would be better software on the computer side.
As I understand it you put a great deal of time in talking to garmin, which seems to be hard as a normal customer.
Something I never understood, and leads to a lot of frustration: why all those different software tools. Updating, mapping, route creation, training center…I lost count. And time and again it takes so much time to get things running properly.
My question to garmin would be: ” please please PLEASE…one program that does the same as express and training center, and possibly also a route creator in it.” This program would have more or less the same user interface as garminconnect. It would synchronise with my garmin when I plug it into the computer, and with GC when the computer comes online. With a solution like that, most of my issues would be sorted.
A couple of examples:
1 Why two buttons for importing and exporting workouts from my edge from and to training center? My idea: one button: “sync” then one question: would you like to retain data on your device: “yes” or “no”. And off we go.
2 Why can the user profile not be “just” synchronised? Because I travel a lot for work, I use several laptops and several devices. However, my user profile only changes when I do my lactate/CO2 test. Still, every time I log in there is this question “user profile on device and computer/GC isn’t the same”.
3 When I create a workout, it would be great if I saw it on GC and training center (preferably on both my computers). I find programming training sessions is just so much easier on training center than it is on GC.
I agree on the user profile pieces, and the same for the workout creation. Actually, yeah, in general I do agree that things on Garmin Connect (workouts/routes) should just be there on the Edge. That said, I do think it makes sense to probably make that focused on Garmin Express with GC online integration, rather than Garmin Training Center, which is a bit old these days.
I’ve had a unit on test for 300 miles of use, and generally love it.
But how do Garmin continuously get away with exaggerating their battery life for this unit.
No sensors, no back light, one screen only (like the profiles function a lot) no activity while riding and battery lasted only 9 hours. So why fool us with 15 hrs in the specs!
Love the clarity of the mapping and the screen in sunlight and the very clear route following line in white.
One software thing I don’t like is that on tours away from PC’s I often set up a few routes using the route planner. You have shown one above with the list of places set up. There is then no option to save this as a named route. If you want to set up another you have to start all over again and lose your work! very poor Garmin, sort that out.
I appreciate what a thorough review you did, thanks. I have two questions, my Edge 810 has started to act wonky, how many years should I expect this device to last before upgrading? I am concerned about the Bluetooth LiveTrack feature since its important to my family as I ride solo. Has it improved?
I just wanted to point out some issues I’ve had with the Edge 1000 when I turn off GPS. I turn off GPS when I’m on a trainer. I have the wheel magnet and cadence/speed sensor installed so that it can record speed, distance and cadence even without GPS signal. It works fine until I stop. The timer does not stop but keeps going even though speed and distance go to zero (as they should) and the distance stops. Also, when I stop the time using the start stop button the unit freezes (this only happens when GPS is off). I have to do a soft reset to get it back but it loses some of the data that had been recorded. Hence I can’t use this method to stop the timer while I rest. I’ve made Garmin aware but they insist this shouldn’t happen. Perhaps I have a bad unit so I’d be interested if anyone else is having these issues.
Just tested this with my 1000 indoors, and there is a bug (feature). I am using beta firmware 2.57. With gps off, and using a rear speed sensor, its true that with auto pause on, it does not auto pause when the wheel stops and speed goes to zero. But if I then slowly move the wheel around and let the magnet give the sensor one “click” and then stop the wheel, auto pause happens. The border of the screen turns amber, the pause symbol comes up on the screen and the timer stops.
Looking to purchase a Garmin Edge 1000; also looking for a discount on it. Will the Clever Training VIP Program, give me 10% and/or are there other options
Yup, with the VIP program you’re good to go with the 10% savings on the Edge 1000. Simply sign-up for the VIP program here first: link to dcrainmaker.com
Then 30 minutes later you’ll get your personal coupon code that’s good from there on out for any future purchases.
Since your review in June, have Garmin addressed any of the cons / bugs you picked up on, as of now? I’m on the verge of plunging for the 1000 to replace my knackered Edge 500 unit.
Lastly, what are your thoughts about Shimano confirming that the mystery button in Di2 shifters will now be used to control our head units via their D-Fly box, once Garmin figure out a new firmware for this new integration? A gimmick?
They’ve addressed quite a few, primarily around the touch screen and stability. The odometer was also fixed as well. I haven’t spent as much time on the Bluetooth pieces though, so I can’t confirm there.
The Di2 integration items are also now fixed too. On the new button just announced yesterday, my understanding/assumption is that they’re now broadcasting on the open ANT+ Remote Control profile, but, I need to validate that with someone first. Unfortunately my triathlon bike/TT setup doesn’t have said button as far as I know.
Yeah, I need to update things in that bug section…
I just tried getting the buttons to pair as an Edge remote. Tried pushing both at once, one at a time, combos to try to put it in pairing mode, but it wasnt detected. So, if they have implemented it as a regular ant+, I don’t see it.
They did come out with the latest firmware update for the D fly, and I did install that before testing it. The description of the d fly firmware update says that it implements the buttons feature.
1) Do you care about cadence?
2) Do you care about HR?
If you answer no to both of those, then, no. If yes, then perhaps. The new magnetless cadence sensor is pretty slick. But at the same time, the new Wahoo BlueSCv2 one does both dual ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart, whereas the Garmin is ANT+ only.
Thanks for checking on the auto pause bug. However, I’m running firmware 2.5. Where do I get the beta 2.57? As for bundle versus device only; in the past (e.g. Edge 800, 810, etc.) it’s been less expensive to buy the device and then search the web for lowest sensor prices. I’m not sure if that is still true but it’s worth investigating.
Ugh, should ‘ve done more research. Just bought a Wahoo Tickr to have one strap for both the Tacx Smart and the Garmin, but when I couldn’t get it to work on the Edge 1000 even after the firmware update and went to Google, I found several people having issues with these.
Any solutions at all out there, or money wasted?
I haven’t quite been able to figure out the pattern why it works for some, but not others. Or even why it works for me about 90% of the time, but every once in a while pretends to ignore it. :-/
Thanks for the reply.
Guess I’m just not lucky with my straps. Soft premium strap that came with my FR 310XT gave up after a few months, its replacement did the same. Been using the old hard strap from my Edge 305 since. Finally decided to upgrade, now this …
Created a support request on the Wahoofitness site, we’ll see what they have to say about it. Guess I’ll be recording my Tacx rides with the FR and using the hard Garmin strap when riding outdoors.
FWIW : I did just try a master reset, to no avail.
What I do notice is that wearing the Tickr as I sit here typing and having the Edge beside me, it occasionally connects to the tickr and at the same time disconnects from the phone, only for a second later to connect to the phone again and drop the Tickr.
Could be coincidence I guess, but then again, when I turn Bluetooth off, it doesn’t even seem to find the Tickr at all, whilst it is at the same time connected to the FR 310XT as well as the Galaxy S4 through ANT+.
Something else I’ve just discovered on my Edge 1000 : scratches in the screen
The device is a mere few months old and for the life of me can’t think of anything it has went through so severe that it would warrant such a scratch. Heck, my phone has gone through a lot worse over a period of 2 years and compared to the Edge its screen looks flawless.
Not quite what I expected from such a high-end apparatus.
So! is the Edge 1000 worth the money? I have read many reviews (not just this one) and it is becoming a questionable purchase for me. after a year I would have thought the bugs would be worked out; bottom line does it work?
You can buy mine. I have a real issue with the screen not registering my touch which causes me to look down for prolonged periods whilst I attempt to get it to do what it should do from a single glance, this proves to be very dangerous when I should be looking ahead but lo and behold they are covered from liability by advising that you shouldn’t be operating it whilst moving (what a joke). I bought the remote as a workaround but that is too restricted in what you can and can’t do, why couldn’t you program all the buttons and for any function? so there is no real workaround for the bad screen which incidentally if you sweat on won’t work AT ALL! I hate this device, I can tolerate software to some degree as it can be fixed in time but the hardware (touch screen) cannot be so this device will never work.
Have you updated your firmware? And if not – have you tried contacting Garmin to replace? What you’re describing on the touch screen has been resolved since June.
Yes I keep up with updates maybe mine has a problem to be honest I hadn’t even considered it might be faulty which shows what my expectations are of garmin these days.. Thanks for the reply Ray I don’t make a single move when it comes to bike tech until I’ve consulted the master first
Ray, if issues with the touchscreen have been resolved, please add a note about it in the review.
As the discussion grows in size it’s virtually impossible for the people to Ctrl+F and read all the matched comments, just to see how well the touchscreen is doing after some time from the original review date.
Most of the problems you’re describing are faults with software, so those of us who just want the best edge money can buy, may hope these eventually will get resolved with firmware updates.
However, with screen it’s entirely different, as it’s hardware.
Are you saying that problems with touchscreen were caused by faulty firmware controlling the screen, or current 1000 units are manufactured with improved screen, hopefully resistive?
I use an 810 right now. It’s okay but slow loading maps.
I can’t see it mentioned, but I may have missed it. Does the 1000 have a faster processor? Did you do side by side tests to see if it is better at loading maps and processing across maps. It annoys me when I have to stop because the 810 is being slow and I can’t load maps quick enough on the fly.
For those of you that have asked if the Edge 1000 is worth it. the answer is a big — NO. I have had many issues with mine and the technical support people at Garmin refuse to believe that I’m having any issues with it. Lately the biggest issue is that it locks up when I end a ride so I have to reboot and it loses the ride. I have never been able to get the Bluetooth to pair with my iPhone and can’t use the pause function when on a trainer with the GPS off, i.e. it doesn’t pause when I stop to take a break. If anyone else is having these issues please call Garmin and tell them so that they don’t think I’m the only one.
Not sure what Garmin has had you try yet, but in 99% of cases I see with Garmin devices, locking up is due to one of two items:
1) A bad microSD card
2) Corruption on the hard disk.
With #2, that’s typically resolved by a hard reset and removal of all existing activity/course/settings data. You may have already tried that, and if so, I’d really have them just swap out the unit for you. I’ve yet to lose a single ride on any of the three Edge 1000’s I have (and have largely been using since May/June).
Mine locks up frequently at the end of a ride too when trying to upload via Bluetooth, causing me to reset which then means that I get more frustration than convenience from this function when it happens and I wonder why I’m paying extra for this “inconvenience”. That said it has been improving over the months and I haven’t actually lost a ride, I guess time will iron these things out one thing is for sure I’m not getting the next device, this one will be perfect in a year I suspect and I’ve learnt my lesson on early adoption the hard way.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to view the actual numerical battery % on the unit without plugging it in? I.e. When out on a ride, as you can on the Garmin 510. just having the little picture isn’t really enough for me.
Yes, the battery % can be displayed as one of the many fields that can be selected for display on any of the data pages. The setting is General / Battery Level
Yes that correct, it would be great to just view the % on the top of screen as is on my old 510.
I can’t help but think that currently the 1000 is a mixed bag. its adds great features, and loses basic things
I agree with the way Garmin implemented the 1000 in this case for several reasons
The status line is too small for me to be able to read while moving along a bumpy road, so it is just clutter on the screen as far as I am concerned. On the 1000, this line is only displayed on the Home screen. All other screens do not display this info.
Not everyone will be concerned about battery level, so why should they have to have it displayed all the time. When I am on a training ride, I know the unit has enough battery , so I dont care. When I am on a long audax, I do care about the battery level.
The way Garmin has implemented it, you can create different activity profiles to display only the info you are interested in, with a good clean format. The same is true for the other info on the status line (Date, temperature, etc)
WOO found it!! On the Garmin 1000, if you want to see the battery in %, when NOT on a ride, swipe down from the home screen and it shows the battery in % at the top of the menu showing screen brightness, no. satellites etc
Some people had correctly pointed out, you could create a data field to see the battery when riding, but we could still only see the battery graphic when the unit was ON, but no displaying a ride.
I’m curious if people would pay for a properly tested/supported bike computer with greater customization – plugins, multiple routing engines, robust BLE/ANT+ support, generator/light integration, … What three features do you want most? What standard bike computer features do you not use?
WOO found it!! On the Garmin 1000, if you want to see the battery in %, when NOT on a ride, swipe down from the home screen and it shows the battery in % at the top of the menu showing screen brightness, no. satellites etc
Some people had correctly pointed out, you could create a data field to see the battery when riding, but we could still only see the battery graphic when the unit was ON, but no displaying a ride.
I bought my 1000 for Xmas – 2 rides of 10 miles and 37 miles – I have got to say, everything works perfectly – connected features, sensors, nav – am well pleased at the moment
I quit reading when I found out you can no longer track individual bike mileage which seems silly to eliminate. I am glad I found this review before I got rid of my 810. Thanks for saving me the hassle.
This statement in the review is not accurate. The Edge 1000 came with two predefined “profiles” – Train and Race, I think. I added another profile “Colnago” and a fourth “Trek”. I use one of my two profiles when I ride, and they keep track of distance by bike.
I have since deleted the other two profiles, because occasionally, when I’m starting a ride, I’ll touch the Edge in a way that causes the profile to change, and I would end up using one of those other profiles. The profiles control how many and which screens are used, and the fields on those screens, so suddenly, I wouldn’t have the “climbing” screen, or the one that displayed the temperature.
Now I’m pretty well set up the way I had my Edge 800 working (except that I have added Garmin Vector power meters to my Colnago).
I think my thumb just got a great workout scrolling my iPad mini to the foot of all these comments :) thanks for your awesome support not just on new tech but older tech too.
Anyway I want to upgrade to the 1000 but have you had any wind from Garmin of a replacement for the 1000? It seems the bike computers go through longer life cycles than the watches at least before a replacement is announced but I don’t want to get the 1000 if something newer is on the horizon this year.
After using the Garmin 810 for over a year and a half with no real big bug, and quite satisfied, I nevertheless decides to buy the Garmin 1000 for the HD display and new additional functions.
From 1 day of use you realize quickly that it’s buggy on many points, and among other things, on its supposed functions you will find the following problems:
– Some words are not translated into French
– When the WiFi and Bluetooth are activated simultaneously impossible to connect the device ..
– If unfortunately your WPA2 key is too long it turns itself off as soon as you “enter” for no reason ??
– If you own an iPhone 6 can not connect via Bluetooth to have SMS alerts (see all English forums)
– GPS is totally inaccurate compared to 810
– The virtual partner is bugged
– Regarding autonomy after 6 months of operation, it reduced to 6 hours
Despite all the updates Garmin and mail sent to the support department bugs remain, it seems that the Garmin 1000 is reached as was previous generations.
I really regret my purchase especially when you know the price of this GPS sincerely go your way and you orienterez- another GPS … ..
As I thought it would be nice to keep you posted with some thoughts, here we go.
As discussed before I use my edge as a training help. My interval programs very often consist out of more than 15 steps. As I hate notes on my top tube I rather program it in my bike computer.
Just upgraded from the 810 to the 1000. I love it for several reasons.
1 More computing power, so booting in a couple of seconds rather than a couple of minutes.
2 Due to glonass capability(maybe also better GPS chip/software), no waiting anymore after switching it on. Switch on, put glove on: ready to ride immediately.
3 Synchronising time nearly reduced to zero due to WiFi capability.
4 More stable than the 810. I know you posted some suggestions on how to improve stability. But I found that the 810 never really was capable of doing what it is supposed to do. On long interval rides it would crash roughly one out of every 3-4 rides. I used the new 1000 for at least 15 rides now, it didn’t crash one single time.
5 Better screen. Again for training, this is fantastic because you are finally able to read everything you want to read in one data screen. I could understand people feel it’s a bit too bulky for racing, but for training (imho) it’s a great improvement.
6 Analysing workouts for my trainer is even possible on the edge itself through the “lap” function in “ride summary”.
One question on the edge: No VO2 Max capability on the edge. Do you know if this is this expected any time soon?
All in all I do believe it is much better and much more capable than the 810. To do things properly I also upgraded to a FR920. I must say: in terms of capability, stability and ergonomics Garmin finally solved quit some of the things that used to frustrate me.
Once they will be able to make the same devices a little bit smaller, most of my wishes will be fulfilled.
Only two more things open:
1 Better durability.
2 Better connect/training centre software. Especially some analysis tools like 2peak.com has them would be great.
Thanks again for all the good work! Love your site, keep going.
Thanks for the feedback guys on the device but you’ve got one person saying it’s great and another saying it’s not so I’m still stuck at 50/50 decision :)
I thought also that the 810 might be a safe bet but now having read feedback above I dont know what to do….
Martin T, the Garmin Edge computers are not nearly as bad as some posters would have you believe. They aren’t perfect, either. I know dozens of people who use them, and are satisfied with the functionality. Personally, I have owned the 705, 800, and 1000. I have over 2300 rides on Garmin Connect. I have almost never lost ride data. I added Garmin Vector power at the same time as I got my 1000, and they work well together. I have also used the Garmins to help me navigate, with good results. The 1000 has maps included, so you’re ready to go without buying maps from Garmin for extra bucks. One feature I’ve not yet tried is data transfer between Edge computers, but I can’t imagine that being a big deal for anyone. (The 705 had that feature, and I’ve wondered if the 1000 implementation is compatible with the 705.)
I have been trying to automatically upload rides over the past several days, and Wi-Fi hasn’t worked for me, but Bluetooth has (I have an iPhone 6). This is a widespread current problem, according the Garmin Forum.
If you’re trying to decide between the 810 at end of life and the 1000 which is new (or at least current), I don’t see any real choice – you are better off with the newer model. If the decision is whether to buy a Garmin Edge at all, I think they give more pleasure (and function) than pain, but you have to decide for yourself.
Many thanks for your reply, apologies I didn’t see it until now.
How are you finding the battery life on the latest firmware? with wifi / bluetooth switched off (no phone notifications), some of the rides I am doing lately are 5-6 hours long (training for a 450 mile ride across 4 days in April), that is probably the decisive factor for me now. If the 1000 can last that long then I will go for that.
The 1000 has without doubt a fantastic screen (which is the main reason I am looking to buy a dedicated bike computer rather than just use my Fenix 2), the only feedback points that put me off it was the possibility it could freeze up during rides and you potentially lose your data.
Since my earlier reply, I have gotten the wi-fi working (my problem was that I wasn’t putting my password in correctly!). My rides get uploaded to Garmin Connect before I can even get into my house. So everything that I have tried is working.
I have several rides of nearly 5 hours duration and one of almost 7 hours so far this year. I’m trying to remember what the battery percentage was on the longest ride; I think I had at least 40% left.
Out of 103 activities when I’ve used the Edge 1000, I have had the computer shut down twice. There is no doubt that this is an irritation. You never know just when it happened (obviously, some time after you last looked at the screen and saw it was working). You have to stop right then and press the Power and Lap/Reset buttons until the unit wakes itself back up. I’ve found that I have lost a small amount of data each time, but the unit goes right back to recording, so you don’t lose everything.
I have two friends who each have the 1000, and they did La Vuelta Puerto Rico, which had a 152 mile day and a 133 mile day – no problems with the Edge.
Many thanks for your original post and your following up one regarding battery life and experiences with the device, based on this and DC RM original review I bought the Garmin 1000 and am currently charging / updating / downloading the 5.5GB of maps after it was delivered today.
I am really looking forward to using it tomorrow on my first ride, thanks again for both of you, the device really does look the premium! beats using a Fenix 2 for cycling.
Just for comparison sake and feedback of my own :) I went on a 88 mile ride with just short of 7,000 ft of total ascent, when I got back the battery was around 60% and this was with an average temp of 6c, very happy with the device – the screen is absolutely fantastic and the sheer amount of data fields you can fit on a single page makes it particularly awesome.
I have posted several issues with the Garmin 1000 in the past. However, I must say that the latest firmware update fixed almost all of my issues. It has been functioning great for the past two weeks. As a reminder here are the issues I was having that are now fixed:
Auto pause didn’t work when GPS was off (when I ride indoors on trainer)
Unit locks up after I hit stop at end of ride.
Did not support multiple bikes (i.e. only had one odometer)
What isn’t fixed is pairing Bluetooth with my iPhone 6. Pairing with my iPhone 4S still works. I think several others have experienced the iPhone 6 pairing issue. I suppose Garmin will eventually issue a update to fix this.
Sam, Bluetooth pairing is sort of working for me between my iPhone 6 and Edge 1000. There is a lot of discussion about this subject on the Garmin Forums: link to forums.garmin.com
Basically, you need to make sure your iPhone 6 is up to date on software, that you have the very latest Garmin Connect Mobile app, and that your 1000 is also completely current on software. Then you need to back up the data on your 1000, do a master reset, and restore the data (info on doing this is on the Edge 1000 forum). After all this work, I’ve been able to upload my ride via Bluetooth right into Garmin Connect. I have not tried using Live Track since I got my iPhone 6. On the other hand, I haven’t made Wi-Fi work for uploading yet.
I’ve tried setting the Edge 1000 to landscape mode, and it seems to work fine.
Looking at the Out Front mount, it appears that I only need to unscrew two screws in order to rotate the mount 90 degrees, and then I can mount the Edge sideways to actually try using it in landscape mode. Is that right?
Has this changed since the review? An owner of 1000 and Wahoo Kickr mentioned that is can now be used as a head unit to control the trainer. He also alluded to being able to map a course then load it to the 1000 which would allow the Kickr to simulate the elevation and track the ride. Very computrainerish…
Just looking to confirm this and if so wondering if you’ve tried it and how well it worked.
It’s about 9 months since the Edge 1000 was released, and it looks as though the connectivity (BT, BTLE, and WiFi) issues have been lessened if not resolved by firmware updates. My wife wants me to get the Edge 1000 so she won’t worry about where I am while I’m out on a ride. I see many hopeful posts here and on the Garmin forums regarding this working with current firmware for the phone (iPhone 6, fully updated) and device (I’m still on a non-communicating Edge 1000). Would you say that’s reasonably accurate?
Also, I’m wondering if I can do the uploading via WiFi using my iPhone as the personal hotspot for WiFi connectivity.
Can someone help with my di2 battery level screen. I go to gearing data page but i dont see battery level tab to select from only setting gearing options
thanks, John
hey, just happened upon your website recently while entering the market for a cycling computer. Wow, what a wealth of information. I’m stuck between the 800/810, the 1000, and the Magellan Cyclo 505. I think if the Edge Touring had a way to do heart rate/cadence, i’d probably go with that, as I don’t need all the other fancy stuff. Just want robust mapping, and a reliable way to track cadence and heart rate
Is there an updated way to kinda compare those guys to each other to help me make an informed decision, especially regarding how mature the firmware/software for each is? Does the Magellan work more consistently with less bugs? Is there a massive difference in the mapping capabilities between a 1000 and the Mag505, etc?
again, great site. I think I could spend, literally, days trying to read up on all this stuff. Thanks a ton for providing such a wealth of information!
Hi,I’m from South Africa, and we have more and more multi day MTB races that you need GPS navigation to ride (no route markings). I am training for the Cape Epic in 2016 (8day 739km MTB race) and it looks as if they will also be going navigation for next year.
Will the 810 be the best way to go, even with out the Bluetooth 4.0? Harmon website gives very little info on upgrades and new features.
I’ve not followed Garmin’s release schedule, but I think they’re a bit like Apple, in that a release jumps the “hundreds” place in their naming scheme is a reconception of the platform: i.e., Edge 500, 800, 1000, whereas the mature product at each platform conception changes the “tens” place; i.e.,, 510, 810, and perhaps an upcoming 1010.
Apple’s iPhones do this as 4 vs. 4s, 5 vs. 5s, 6 vs. perhaps this year’s 6s. Certainly works for them (last quarterly revenues bigger than those of MS, Google, and Yahoo combined).
The Edge 1000 is way beyond my needs and I want an 810. However, it would seem that the 810 might be due for a new release (like “820” or “900”). It has been about 2 years and a month since dcr reviewed the then-new 810 in-depth. What do you think, wait or buy?
Despite the usual two-year cycle, I honestly wouldn’t expect a new 810 anytime soon. Given Garmin is still rolling out new features as of a few weeks ago, it’s a tell-tale sign they don’t have anything in store to replace that model (otherwise they’d have stopped rolling out new features).
Thanks for the review. I own an Edge 500, 810 and now a garmin 1000. I am much more positive than you on this new device. I had been looking for a while for a replacement to garmin 810, with a much better screen definition. When following a route on small mountain roads, the Garmin 1000 map is a huge improvement over the 810 (in particular when you are doing mountain bike on small paths). I don’t care much about segments, wifi, smart bluetooth and all the other functionalities which just drain your battery… but for me, better routing on maps, integration of Di2 and the new way of organizing sensors in a common pool are killer features. Some people raised the issue of battery time: it is pretty much the same as on the garmin 810. I have also no problem with the touchscreen, even under rain (probably the bugs you experienced have been fixed in my version of firmware).
hello, i have been using egde 800 for a long time. and like the ability to follow a route without starting the routing function. this way the track keep the colour chosen, and work well.
I cannot get this to work on my edge 1000. Anyone who know if this is supposed to work?
Hi, I thought i read somewhere that if you have 2 Edge 1000’s they have the ability to communicate between them? I dont remember to what extent (sharing route or whatever) but now im confused because i cant find that anywhere again. Was I imagining or do 2 Edge 1000 devices have the facility?
Yup, the functionality was released in a firmware update in the late June timeframe. It was post-review and given how rare it is for two people to actually have Edge 1000’s and want to share a route, I just haven’t had the chance to add it to the review.
The sharing is found under settings, and is called Device Transfers. As you work your way down the menu choices, you’ll see that the Edge looks for compatible devices (I wonder if the 705, which could share, is one of them?), and then you can choose what you want to share.
Notice that the Edge 1000 will transfer the file you select with all compatible devices in the area. At the start of a big ride, you would be sharing with lots of folks you don’t care to share with, so you may have to ride away from the group with the person you want to share with, then come back after transferring.
Thanks, I agree, its not really that important of a feature. Was hoping for a better feature. How amazing would it be if they included a way to live track another rider on the map so if you get seperated you always knew where each other was or how far ahead or behind.
In adjusting the rear derailleur of my Ultegra Di2 I discovered that the Edge 1000 displayed a screen with the state of the adjustments made.
I do not find a decryption of this option in the manual or on internet.
Maybe something to add to your review?
I purchased the Edge 1000, August 2014 and recently completed a 3 1/2 month solo cycling tour of Australia and Tasmania. I used the 1000 exclusively for navigation with the Garmin Australia SD mapping card. My MAJOR complaing with this device is this: I developed routes for this tour from ridewithgps.com and downloaded them as required to my Edge 1000. When I first started out on the tour, I got turn by turn navigation and off course notificaition. However, later in the tour, Garmin came out with a software OS change which took away both the turn by turn and off course as default. It wasn’t until later again that they came out with another software change putting back in turn by turn but only by finding settings under a course and you had to make the change yourself.
My biggest compalint with this device is this. I had both the 705 and the 800. I bought the 1000 primarily for the larger display. Bot the 705 and the 800, whenever I dowload a route from ridewithgps.com that I have developed, I am able to go to settings under the route I’ve developed and the following options are provided: 1. turn by turn can be turned on/off., 2. Off course can be turned on/off, and 3. Virtual Partner can be turned on/off. However, now with the new software changes for the 1000, Garmin put back in the option to turn turn by turn navigation on/off and off course on/off (it’s a small setting to the far right when you load a course you’ve developed, before hitting Ride). But..here is now the problem with the 1000. If you load a course/route, you CANNOT turn off that stupid idiotic Virtual Partner. So that is now ALWAYS running in the background eating up battery life. So for example, my 705 and 800, I could routinely get 8-10 hrs of battery life riding a route I’d developed on ridewithgps.com. Now, because you cannot turn off that Virtual Partner when you load a route (you can only turn it off if you decide to just go out and ride without a course), I got battery life in the range of 4-5 hrs during my tour through Australia. This is insane. I cannot for the life of me, figure out why the software for the 705/800/810 allows you to turn off Virtual Partner when you’re riding a course/route you’ve downloaded but you can’t turn it off on the 1000. So now, because I use this device (1000) almost exclusively for self supported bike touring, I have to carry a backup battery to plug into the Edge 1000 to continue riding my route. I cannot understand paying $700 for this device and it doesn’t even perform to what you get on the 800.
Steve, I’m only partially addressing your comment. My 1000 is on firmware 2.7 which I think is the latest. Yesterday, while traveling near Santa Monica, I created a route on Mapmyride and uploaded the GPX file to my Garmin. I noted that while it showed the route, I did not have turn by turn directions. Your post caused me to take a closer look at settings. On 2.7 the setting is not exactly where you stated. You said, “it’s a small setting to the far right when you load a course you’ve developed, before hitting Ride. On 2.7, its the lower right, 3 horizontal lines symbol, before you load the ride. This is on the page before you get to the RIDE button. So Turn Guidance and Off Course warnings are universal and not course specific.
Just noticed this about Virtual Partner. Go to activity Profiles, then pick one, then Data screens, then down arrow and there is the on/off for Virtual Partner. That help?
I have vector and Edge 1000, absolutely great. In the cycling dynamics screen, there is the graphic of the pedal stroke and where the power is generated, the dark blue portion of the graphic displays peak power. Does anyone know how much power this measures – i.e. is peak power defined as more than 80 % of normal power?
Yup, you can load different country maps on it. Just rename them differently when you save the file to your micro sd card because all the filenames are the same when downloaded.
Eek, the Amazon or CT one isn’t working? I just tried the Amazon one…any chance it’s redirecting you to a non-US Amazon site? And if so – any chance you’re outside the US?
On the Edge 800/810 it’s very easy to add some extra maps on a micro SD card: Just create a folder ‘Garmin’ on the sd card and add maps named gmapsupp.img, gmapsup1.img, gmapsup2.img, etc…
Plug the card into the device and startup. The cards will be recornized and ready to use.
On my Edge 1000 I always had a error message on startup ‘Can’t Unlock Maps…’
After a while a found the way to add maps without that error message:
You can not add more than one map at the time ! So you must create a folder ‘Garmin’ on the sd card and put only one map into this folder called gmapsupp.img. Than put the sd card into the Edge 1000 and startup the device. The card will be accepted without an error message. Then you can add a second map on the sd card (notice that the device created some extra folders on the sd card). First you must rename the added map gmapsupp.img to gmapsup1.img so you can add the new map as gmapsupp.img. Put the sd card again into the device and startup. The new map will be ready to use without error message ‘Can’t Unlock maps…’
Repeat these steps for each map to add.
Can the 1000 track calories while on an indoor trainer? I currently have an Edge 800 and even though I have it reading power, speed, time and HR, calories always stays at zero.
Thank you for this great review – I can only imagine the hours you put into it!
You make very convincing arguments regarding the form factor. I agree completely and personally prefer the more compact Edge 800 to the “almost smartphone but thicker and uglier” Edge 1000. I would only wish for a higher resolution, if that can be achieved without affecting battery life too much.
It’s so typical of Garmin to not listen to all those feature requests. I’ve requested features too but then discovered Strava, where I found all the things I had wished for at Garmin Connect! Silly, really.
Thank you for the opportunity to sign up for Clever VIP. It saved me $70 on my new Garmin 1000 that was ordered yesterday through Clever, It also gave me priority shipping. WOW. I can’t wait. I bought the bundle and figure I saved about $118 from the prices on Amazon even with Prime and $130 over my local big box sports store. Thanks, Don
No. But then again, that’s kinda the point of zones. Explicit range definitions on a given metric. If you were in two power zones at once, what’s the value in that?
The K-Edge mount for the 1000 is flawed. If you want to be able to take long rides and need external power to keep the Garmin going, you’ll quickly discover the arm on the K-Edge mount blocks the power port. The only way you can use external power with it is to set it up for landscape mode. Unfortunately, the Garmin out front mount is almost as bad in this regard. It doesn’t protrude far enough and the handlebar can get in the way, depending on the micro-USB connector tolerating a little bending. I have a Fizik stem and am waiting for BarFly to come out with a version of their Fizik mount for the 1000.
Garmin still needs much work with the software. It’s very buggy. I had so many problems with the latest v2.80 I reverted to 2.57beta which seems to be the leasts unstable version so far. I can’t believe that after a year Garmin still doesn’t have production quality firmware for this very expensive item. I have yet to uses TBT successfully for any ride longer than 40 miles. There is also the problem of sensors disconnecting mid-ride (and I am using all Garmin-branded ones).
Dean, I’ve had my Edge1000 for almost a year (got it last Aug), toured 4 months through Australia/Tasmania with it this past Aug-Nov and used my Goal Zero battery backup on my Edge while riding almost every day (as I was consistently riding on the road 7-10 hrs daily). I had no problem at all plugging into the USB connector on the back of the device and running the cable to my Goal Zero battery backup that I carried in my bike handlebar bag. Maybe your stem has a thicker diameter than mine, I dont’ know but I never experienced any problems.
Regarding TBT, I rode with v2.8 and consistently got turn by turn and off course warning without any problems as well. I just had to make sure that I had both turn on in the course settings. I use ridewithgps.com to develop all my routes, then download to my Edge. The Edge routed me without failure, turn by turn through Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart Tasmania, exactly as my route was developed. I also have the speed sensor and cadence sensors attached to my touring bike, road bike as well as a mountain bike and again, have not experienced any disconnect problems. I’ve been extremely happy with the device, having owned the 305, 705, 800 and 810 Garmin Edge series. I only upgraded to the 1000 because of the bigger display.
Len. I’m not the only experiencing the stability issues I referred to. The Garmin forums are full of posts about them. Just because it works for you doesn’t mean it works for everyone. Maybe you use it in a slightly different way from others who experience problems. The issues I experience are very real, and as a software engineer it’s not like I’m technically challenged when it comes to these things.
As for using external power, the K-Edge mount blocks the power port, period. You simply cannot plug in a cable using it in portrait mode. I have been able to get the Garmin out front mount to work, but it’s tight. It has nothing to do with the stem. It just doesn’t reach out in front of my handlebar far enough. Maybe you are using a thinner handlebar. I’m am using a 31.8mm, standard for a contemporary road bike, but the mount really needs to position the Garmin a few more mm further out from the bar.
I have a USB cable with a 90-deg USB connector. That’s what I use. There is no space for even that. The K-Edge mount blocks the port completely, leaving no room at al for any kind of cable. I switched to a Bar-Fly direct mount for my Fizik stem, and that works great.
How would the speed sensor be accurate? I installed it and there’s no way to set the wheel size. Won’t that make a difference in different wheel sizes? Will the speed and distance be accurate every time on a different sized wheel? but how?
I notice that it calibrates the speed sensor automatically the first time that it’s detected. (I assume that it determines the wheel circumference by noting how many wheel revolutions in a certain distance, which seems to be about a kilometre.)
If one swaps it to another wheel of a different size, how does one trigger recalibration? Disable/enable the sensor? To me, the logical way of doing it would be for it to check the calibration as a background task on the first kilometre of each ride.
The 3200 mAH version I linked has worked fine for me. For another $5 you can get the 6000 mHA version, but it is a bigger case. I use a top tube grub bag to hold it and feed the cable from inside it thru to the Garmin on the handlebar.
Turning off communications (BT, Wifi, ANT+) will help battery life. Map display affects battery life too. I use ANT+, but not Wifi. For longer rides I disable BT. I get around 8-10 hours.
Years ago I had a Garmin Nuvi for in-car navigation. Garmin claimed 5 hours battery life. When I complained that I was getting less than two, they told me to turn off GPS to get better battery life. I am serious! They really said that to me.
I’d say somewhere in the $399-$449 range. The thing is, Garmin keeps on adding tons to the Edge 810 lineup, so these days there’s almost no difference between the Edge 1000 except WiFi and the sensor pool concept (beyond the physical form factor/display).
I devoured every word of both this review and the comments.
I have the Edge 800 for about 2 years and I am very happy with it. I never ran out of battery (even on a Century ride) and the maps are perfect for me.
I am only looking to upgrade so my wife can keep tabs on where I am. I mainly ride through Harriman State Park in NY and with miles and miles of roads and hills, it will give me some piece of mind knowing that I am always being tracked. Until this year I have never owned a smartphone so it wasn’t even an option.
My question is, after reading about the lousy bluetooth capabilities that exist in the 1000, does it pay to settle for an 810? I had also read in some reviews that the 810 isn’t too great when it comes to tracking either (the bluetooth ain’t that great either). Or should I just stay with the 800? Do you know of another device or service that would provide the tracking that I seek?
I’d still go with the 810 to be honest. Garmin continues to add new features, heck, even last week, to it – and these days the features are almost identical to that of the Edge 1000 (minus the screen/size).
Does the Bluetooth feature work better now on the 810? That would be the only real reason that I would upgrade.
Just curious, you mentioned that they just added a new feature recently, is there a site where I can see the recent features that were added to the 810?
Also, why would they add to the 810 if they are looking for people to purchase the 1000?
Edge 1000. I can’t see the maps – I can’t read the OpenFiets map
I live in California. I bought an Edge 1000 on Ebay. It came from Israel, and comes with European maps, but no US maps.
I bought a 32 GB SD card, and formatted it with FAT (on a macintosh).
I called it GARMIN1.
After putting the SD card in the Edge, I see that GARMIN1 has a subdirectory Garmin, and a number of files in GARMIN1/Garmin:
and one file: gmapsupp.img, which is supposed to be the OSM map for the USA
When I start the Ride. I don’t see any maps at all.
When I look at Activity Profiles->Ride->Navigation->Map->Map Information, Openfietsmap Lite is enabled. (I disabled all the other maps, in the hope that it would have to choose that one).
Questions:
1. Is there a way to verify that I downloaded the correct map to the computer?
2. Does the name of the volume on the SD card matter
3. Should I re-enable some of the built-in maps on the main storage?
Why would it necessarily be the OSM file for the US if the device came from Israel? Most likely just from what you describe, you’re not seeing a map because it isn’t the right map.
Anyway, the easiest thing to do is first to install BaseCamp on your Mac (get it from garmin.com/osx, not from the App Store) if you haven’t already, and make sure the installer installs MapManager and MapInstall as well as BaseCamp. Then download the OSM map you want from openfietsmap or wherever else you want to get them after finding instructions on how to install them on your Mac. Install the maps on your Mac, and look at them using BaseCamp to make sure you’ve installed what you want. Then you can use MapInstall or BaseCamp to install whatever you want on the SD card.
It was understandable that a unit being shipped from Israel would have Europe/Middle East on it
I wanted the Edge 1000 for two reasons. The rubber cover on the Edge 800/810 lets moisture (probably my sweat) in, and after a while the USB port rusts up and it won’t take a charge any more. The 1000 uses a micro USB, that is better protected. My other reason for preferring the 1000 is that the screen is a bit larger and a bit brighter. As my vision gets a bit older this is an advantage.
My problem turns out to have been a pilot error.
I started over this evening from scratch – including reformatting the micro SD card. At link to garmin.openstreetmap.nl I selected California, and was able to copy the copy openfietsmap_lite_gmapsupp.zip directly to my system, without having to wait for the server at uni-wuppertal.de to prepare it and queue me up.
So now it works. I don’t know what my error was the first time round – probably not making a good selection.
I am relatively new to cycling (3 years) and haven’t owned a GPS device before. I ride a lot with other groups in towns that I’m unfamiliar with, and want the ability to recreate rides I’ve taken and be able to have turn by turn navigation when repeating the rides. Thus my interest in the Edge 810 and Edge 1000. I also am “on-call” many times when I ride, and the 1000’s feature of the Bluetooth Connectivity allowing text message alerts from my iPhone 6 seemed very attractive. I found your review very enlightening, and I’m wondering if the “Bugs” you described have now been addressed, especially regarding Live Tracking and text message alerts. Has your overall impression of the 1000 improved? Any other input/suggestions on my initial GPS purchase will be most appreciated. Thank you!
I just got a Withings WS-50 scale to integrate my weight into Garmin Connect (and as i hoped in my Garmin Edge 1000). Everything works fine (via MFP) within Garmin Connect. Here is always my actual body weight within the Garmin Edge 1000 settings. But on the device itself the profile data (incl. the body weight) won’t change after syncing (tried WIFI and via Garmin Express). Is this normal (can I ignore in this case the settings on the device) or is there a workaround always to get the actual user profile data on the edge 1000 itself as well? Thank you for help in advance!
Great write up, I`m seriously considering the Edge 1000 as I`m having various issues with my Cyclo 505. Does the 810 have the Round Trip now that its hard a few firmware upgrades or is this Touring and Edge 1000 only?
This is the only feature that would pull me toward the Edge 1000 (The bigger screen is nice but not essential for me)
I am looking to buy the 810 or 1000. I was wondering if Garmin ever upgraded the 810 firmware to enable phone/text messages on that device? I read the comments, but it is not clear.
Also what is not clear is if they finally fixed the phone/text notifications on the 1000?
Another quick question: is it now possible to be noticed of the segments while running a course? (I read in one of the comments that it was not possible). If not, does that mean that we cannot get compete a segment while doing a course?
I also read in the comments that the 810 is just like the 1000, but with a smaller screen. What features is it still lacking compared to the 1000?
Phone/text is still broken on the 1000, at least for me with iPhone 5S iOS 8.2 and 1000 firmware v2.70 (I also tried 2.80 but that was really flakey). I can pair my iPhone for text notification OK. It works one time, and then it no longer works until I pair it again. I gave up on that feature.
Correct me if I am wrong. I have Edge 1000 two bikes and two sets of sensors (cadence and speed). But there is not any way I could record total mileage for each bike. I only can have total odometer. And this odometer can not be set to specific value. It will be zeroed when I reset (master reset) the device. Am I right?
Thank you :)
michal
If you set up two profiles (for example I have “Colnago” and “Trek”) and switch between them properly, the odometer for each profile will be reflected in History / Totals. For me, Colnago shows 3713 km, Trek shows 105 km.
If you want to “reset” these values annually, you can delete and recreate the profiles. Or if you get a new bike, you’d set up a new profile when you start riding it.
I deleted the “Race” and “Train” profiles, in hopes of making it easier to ensure that I’m using the proper profile for the bike I’m riding.
I do agree that it would be useful to be able to set device totals to an initial value other than zero, but then again, these totals are for the device, not for the rider, or for the bikes.
I currently got my trusty old Edge 800. There are three things that bugs me a bit with it.
– The time it takes to get GPS lock (can take up to 5 minutes on cloudy days – on clear days it only takes 10-30 seconds).
– The screen size/resolution when using the GPS. I’ve lost several turns because I had trouble seeing what was the course and what was the road and where the turn is. The screen seems alot better in regards to this on the edge 1000?
– The time it takes to load a pre-made course with turn-by-turn directions enabled. This can take several minutes.
Anyone know how these issues are on the Edge 1000?
1) GPS Lock: Much faster on newer devices, I can’t remember the last time I waited more then 20 seconds with the Edge 1000. Probably helps that it’s basically just starting/stopping in the same place.
2) Resolution is far better on the Edge 1000, just simply more pixels. And, it’s processing is better.
3) It’s under a minute or quite a bit less, depending on the course size.
I guess that settles it for me then. For a.. directionally challanged.. person like myself, I can’t live without a good GPS. I’d never find my way home.. :)
Technically you can take it running. But there’s no ‘Pace’ metric, only ‘Speed’. Also, activities will upload as cycling, though, you can certainly change that afterwards.
Ray, your comments were super-helpful, especially in terms of price point comparisons and what price you’d think it’s worth it. I ended up getting it, and so far in home trainer environment, super happy with it.
Another quick question – is there a way to get Edge 1000 to display battery life in % rather than a simple bar?
On the Edge 1000 you can see the & batter by taking a finger and sliding it from the top of the screen down. On my unit I also get brightness settings, GPS status, sensors connected and wifi connection.
I am new to edge 1000 got it in March and i am very happy with it. My question is is there any way to display the Edge 1000 display on a monitor for indoor training?
Actually, it’s even more simple than that: The Apple Watch doesn’t transmit that information out. It’s neither transmitted as a Bluetooth Smart HR strap, nor does it allow apps running on the watch to access the HR sensor at this time. There’s talk that down the road the 2nd will be allowed, but not near-term.
As an Apple fan boy, I have ordered an Apple Watch but I have zero expectations about heart rate accuracy while engaged in strenuous activity. I could be wrong but unless Apple has developed something new, Many of us have seen how hard it is for even a dedicated heart rate band like Scosche’s Rhythm + to work much less a “casual” product like the Apple Watch. I love the Rhythm+, but it has to be positioned “just so”.
I don’t think I missed this in your write-up but apologies if I did. For the navigation screen specifically, can you set the unit to switch to the turn notification automatically on approach and then switch back to a “default” screen or can this only be done manually?
Thanks!
I don’t know whether it’s a default setting or if I set it up that way, but my 1000 will switch from the current data screen to the navigation page at about 500 ft before the turn. Once I make the turn it will switch back to the data page.
Wonderful review. Thank you. I may have missed it – and if so, I apologize – but is the Edge 1000 waterproof? If I ride in the rain do I need to cover it with a plastic bag? Thanks.
Yup, it’s IPX7 waterproofed, so it can sit at 1-meter deep for 30 minutes. Rain is no problem at all. Even the USB port is internally waterproofed, though, you mostly want to keep the stopper on that section to avoid issues with micro-SD card corrosion, since the card itself isn’t waterproofed. Enjoy!
In Edge 1000 you get the capabilities of registering multiple sensors. In 810 or 510, how do you managed multiple powermeter sensors in one bike? Is it using a Bike Profile to set each ANT+ individually to that one bike? Thanks in advance.
After you do the double pair thing with your iPhone, do you have to do anything else to make text message and phone call alerts appear on your screen? Do you have to somehow set up one of the boxes on the screen to except alerts from your iPhone? My iPhone is showing that I have paired those connections. But on my ride, after I stopped I saw I got one text message. It’s far as I know I got an alert on the screen. I read in your review that you found this feature inconsistent at best. Am I simply experiencing some of the same? Thanks.
As a 500 user I’m still waiting for the proper upgrade…
small size with thin display bezel.
better GPS tracking.
ant+ BT and WiFi with Strava integration (not for the segment, but generally Strava website is much useful than Garmin Connect).
20hrs battery.
faster performance.
clearer screen.
watetproof USB connector without rubbet flap.
200USD for the main unit.
So the old Edge 705 is getting a bit long in the tooth (slow start up, navigation rather flakey), and spurred on by getting a new bike, I was considering upgrading.
Trawling through the comments, while the 1000 has improved with firmware upgrades, there still seems lots of love for the 810.
I use the 705 for the training stats mainly, and occasionally use the navigation (mainly as it’s rather slow and inconsistent/clunky on the 705).
I want a battery life to be OK for a full day’s riding – so greater than 10-12 hours hours for the more epic (read tired and probably a bit lost) rides.
The text alerts would a nice bonus and so would be a bigger , easier to read screen. (Assume Poloroid glasses don’t play up?). Plus looking forward to doing more touring and finding more routes.
So is the 1000 worth the bigger bucks as it stands over the 810?
Appreciate any suggestions.
The Edge 810 has gotten so many updates over the last 4-5 months that it has almost everything the Edge 1000 does software-wise. So much so in fact that while I was using the Edge 1000’s this past fall, I’ve gone back to the smaller Edge 810’s actually. Go figure.
Ray – your website and reviews are the best I’ve seen. Thanks.
810 or 1000 if the price difference was around $50 (unique opportunity). First Garmin bundle purchase for me. I like all sorts of riding (road, trail, gravel, mountain, a little ‘cross).
I purchased the Garmin 1000 recently. Loaded the Garmin software on my PC at work, no problem. Runs windows 7. My home computer is a Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 Laptop, runs Windows 8.1. I cannot get the Garmin software to run properly. It downloads successfully, adds the icon to the desktop and toolbar, but when I try to open either one, it flashes open and then closes. I uninstalled the software, and reinstalled, with the same result. I found a Microsoft discussion about this, but no solutions. One person said he solved the issue by downloading using Firefox, which I tried, unsuccessfully.
Have you heard of this issue? Any suggestions? Thanks
I have the Garmin Edge 1000, an iPhone 6, and Shimano current generation Dura-Ace Di2 Groupo (Compact 50-34/11-28) on my S-Works Roubaix SL4.. I’ve just added the Shimano D-fly, installed and configured by my bike shop (hidden in the frame rather than perched on the chain stay). I have one screen configured to show numeric and graphic displays of my current gear settings as well as the Garmin and Di2 battery levels.
My issue is that the graphic display of current gear cuts in and out. I don’t know if this is a connection issue, but one suggestion that it’s not is that the graph can change from configured and displaying the ring and cluster positions of the derailleur to generic (4 possible front ring positions-hard to believe we’ll ever have front derailleurs that do that!), 11possible cluster positions, none of them highlighted, while the numeric display still says “50-11” or whatever the current gear positions really are. The numeric display DOES blank from time to time as well, but that’s pretty transient. I’ve never seen the numeric display blanked but the graphic display correct.
Does anyone have the D-fly, and if so, have you experienced this? I’ve not been back to the shop that built my bike for me yet. One of their managers has a D-fly, but I think I was their first customer to buy one.
I am amazed to discover that the battery in the Garmin 1000 is the same 1100mAh battery deployed in the Garmin 800 series in 2010 when the 800 launched.
We know that battery draw on the 1000 is greater, so its a bit weak that Garmin failed to adopt any improvements in battery life since 2010. Whatever happened to Moore’s Law?
Yup to battery life. Road 7.5 hours on a century Saturday. I think at about 6 hours I got the low battery warning. I brought an extra external battery and cable and top tube bag to carry it. I wanted the record of the century. Good thing I remembered. Sad the battery life is so short.
I do the same thing for century rides. I add a top tube bag with a USB external battery (I have the Jackery – 3200mAh).
One has to be careful in selection of mounts. Not all Edge 1000-compatable mounts work with external power (e.g. K-Edge blocks the USB port). Even the Garmin supplied mount can be tricky to get right. I am now using the new BarFly direct stem mount for my Fizik stem – they just came out with one that fits the 1000.
So, you get the low battery warning, and then you have to stop, hook up the external battery charger in your top tube bag, and then start rolling again? Thanks.
My 1000 doesn’t last that long, even when I don’t use the backlight or maps. I have four Garmin sensors (HRM, Speed, Cadence, Remote). I have a BT connection to my iPhone, but Wifi is disabled. I have tried disabling BT, but that doesn’t make enough of a difference not to carry external power for long rides.
Today mine crashed mid ride and then when it starts up it says ‘cannot unlock maps’. So no maps or routing for the rest of the ride and probably the rest of the say to try and make it work again.
Wish I had never bought the thing, just one problem after another.
Thanks for the fantastic reviews Rainmaker! I have the 1000 which replaced the 810, purely because the screen resolution on the 810 got to me. I also have the Wahoo RFLTR+ with Cyclemeter, but I find that the Ascent information is almost always significant out compared to Garmin.
I am about to upgrade my group set to the Shimano XTR Di2. Do you know if I will need the Shimano SM-EWW01 Wireless unit for Di2 to display the gear information on the 1000, and whether this will work with the XTR Di2 group set?
I had my Garmin connected to my MacBook and it was charging but not being recognized as a drive. I was trying to upload a route. I tried different cables and nothing worked. I then noticed that if the cable plug was in just the right position it would connect but any movement resulted in disconnection. Bummer. I emailed Garmin support, told them my USB port was “loose” and they immediately agreed to replace the unit if within the one year warranty. Mine was within warranty by 3 days! Just worth checking as yours approaches warranty end.
Ray, given all the recent watches support Garmin Connect IQ, would you think Garmin would be working on a Edge 1010 to include Connect IQ support, assuming they can’t do it via a firmware update to the 1000?
I would seriously doudt they would do it via firmware, even if it was technically possible. The only time Garmin seems to back port significant features is when thouse feature facilitate selling a product (like support for vectors).
Given the Edge 1000 was only released barely a year ago, I don’t foresee a replacement anytime soon.
By the same token, I think they’re vastly missing an opportunity to bolster Connect IQ with a wide swath of users that might actually care (cyclists looking for a Strava app), or a trainer control app (i.e. TrainerRoad), etc….
I’m suprised by a couple of things. #1. The bar mount is too short to access the charging port while riding. This is a problem if you do touring or very long rides. I also hear that if you charge the unit from an external battery and then remove the power it turns it self off. This is pretty dumb. Lastly I wrote to Garmin about 18 mths ago asking them to change the low battery warning to some intelligent logic which asks if you would like to minimise battery drain. So it would ask a question “do you want to reduce power usage to extend battery life ?” you could simple reply yes and it reduces all additional power drain settings, like minimising brightness, turn off virtual parter, etc…. This option should be available at any time with multiple questions about what you could turn off or down. like. reduce backlight to 15 secs, Y/N, reduce Brigthness Y/N, turn off Virtual partner Y/N, etc.. Its and expensive buggy piece of equipment and Garmin need to lift their game before some other company takes their market !!
I noticed that too about the mount and charging port. It’s hard to wedge the power connector into the port with the handlbar. The K-Edge mount is even worse in that it blocks the charging port completely (they engineered the mounting arm on the wrong side). I have a Fizik stem so I am now using the Barfly direct mount that works with the stem and Edge 1000. It does leave room for a charging cable without any problems.
Damian, I have the Edge 1000, having bought it last July. I bought it primarily because I had the 800 and found that as I’ve aged, my eyes just had difficulty reading the display. So I bought the 1000 mainly because of the larger display. I tour a lot all over the world and have used the Edge (had the 705, 800 and 810) to navigate me through major cities, using Garmin’s City Navigator maps. All my tours are self supported. I did a 5 month tour of Eastern Europe through 13 countries including Turkey, SE Asia every winter (I live in Colorado and just can’t take the cold weather anymore) for 4 months and recently completed a 4 month cycling tour of Australia from Brisbane to Melbourne, the Great Ocean Scenic Drive, and Tasmania. Currently as I write this, I’m 2 weeks into cycling Land’s End to John O’ Groats.
I ride a Surly LHT with a 100 mm Race Face stem. I use the standard Garmin mount on the stem (the round one with the rubber bands). I haven’t had any problem using an external battery I carry (I use the Goal Zero battery pack with their solar charger) in my handlebar bag. I just run the Garmin cable into the back of the 1000 and it charges while I’m riding. Granted it doesn’t allow the Garmin to lock into the mount fully (maybe 80%) but I have the device tethered to the handlebar with a re-usable ziptie should it fall off and in almost a year, it’s never fallen off on the tether.
Whenever I disconnect the Goal Zero battery pack, the device does not shut off at all. Never have seen or encountered this.
My only complaint with the 1000 is that I hate that Virtual Partner. If you disable Virtual Partner in any bike profile, it does not disable Virtual Partner if you load in a route or course (I use ridewithgps.com to develop all my routes). And because that stupid Virtual Partner is running in the background on routes I’ve loaded and am riding for the day, the Virtual Partner is running in the background and the battery performance is seriously degraded. I am finding that I only get maybe 4 hrs out of the battery riding a route I’ve developed because Virtual Partner is running at the same time. Thus, around 4 hrs or so, I need to hook up the Goal Zero battery pack to the Edge as an external power to charge the Edge. It’s ridiculous because the 800/810 allows you to disable the Virtual Partner BEFORE you hit ride on a route you’ve developed and downloaded to your Edge. But the OS for the 1000 does not allow for that. That’s my MAJOR complaint with this device. Other than that, I love it. My Brit biking buddy and I have ridden all these small country lanes on our ride the past 2 weeks and the Edge has navigated flawlessly for turn by turn and off course.
Hi Ray,
first of all Thumps up for your great reviews!
just a small correction: in your review you are mentioning the possibility to select different maps for differnt activity profiles. Unfortunately this does not work as it is supposd to do. If one changes the map visibilty settings in a specific profile these setting will be applied globaly for all activity profiles. A very annoying bug that seems to be well known for many users but still not solved from Garmin. It appears Garmin even refuses this to aknowledge this bug as a bug….
dear DC Rainmaker, do you know when we can expect a new Edge 510 or 810? I find the edge 1000 too big. many thanks in advance and apologies if you´ve already mentioned this in your comments. petur from Iceland
I had an Edge 800 and switched to an Edge 1000 because of its very bad screen, maps are unreadable, unusable in sunny weather. Other features of the Edge 800 are very good. Maps management is very easy (just copy the .img map file in the Garmin directory) and flexible with the possibility to have many maps on the microSD and individually select the active one(s) in the menu.
I had the opportunity to compare the screen of the Edge 800 with several other Garmin devices from the hiking range like Etrex, Oregon and the Edge 800 screen is by far the worst. I don’t understand why Garmin didn’t upgrade the screen for the Edge 810 and Touring.
The screen of the Edge 1000 is much better and for me this is the reason to go for an Edge 1000 instead of an Edge 810 that has similar features.
The bigger size of the Edge 1000 isn’t a real issue even if it would be possible to make a smaller device with the same screen size (the screen by far doesn’t cover the whole front face of the Edge 1000).
The compass is hard to read. Very clear compass arrow, but the N-E-S-W lettering around it is less easy to read. So I’ve always thought that it’d be better if that lettering could have N at the top, and the compass arrow could move. I haven’t found a way to do that – the arrow always points straight ahead. However, a week ago the compass arrow suddenly started pointing all over the place, so I assume that there must be some way of configuring it to have N at the top?
Is there a way of displaying maximum pulse rate during a ride? It displays it in the ride summary, but I can’t find how to display it during a ride.
And this last question surely must have a simple answer, but I haven’t managed to find it. If I’m navigating towards a destination and I wish it to stop navigating, how do I do that? I don’t wish it navigate to anywhere else. I just want it to stop navigating (in order that pictures of upcoming junctions don’t interrupt the display).
Hello,
Really excellent comments and advices here on that website – and a huge thank you to Ray for the excellent testing procedures he undertakes.
I just have one question: One big concern when considering the purchase of the Edge 1000 is the battery performance. I have now been reading several reviews in which people claim that they only have 4 -5 hours battery life, which is shocking in my opinion. I have also been reading reviews in which people say that the battery life of the Edge 1000 is comparable with that of the Edge 810. Now, assuming same adjustments (disable Bluetooth, Wifi) on both devices, how many hours does the Edge 1000 last for? I often do long day tours during which I really don`t fancy carrying an external battery pack with me…With my Edge 810 I am currently down to ca.50% after a whole day of riding (approximately 8 – 9 hours, maybe with a couple of pauses in between).
I appreciate any replies to my question. Thanks in advance!
Niki
Hi.
First, excuse my english, it’s not my mother language, I’ll do my best.
Regarding to your question, recently I made 4 bike rides who took 4 1/2 ~ 5 hours, each of them.
I started the rides with the battery charged 100% charged and came home with about 80%.
Bluetooth and wifi were disabled, screen brightness enough to be able to see in sunny day, no HRM, cadence monitor, etc..
I guess that the battery is more efficiently loaded if you charge using electrical outlet (which is how I charged it), instead of charging it using USB.
I am starting to really enjoy my Edge 1000. However, battery life is an issue. I recently rode 75 miles, starting with 100% battery charge (from USB, not outlet). Total time was about 6 1/2 hours (left running during breaks). Received a low battery warning (20% remaining) with about 1-2 miles left. This was using Course GPS, wifi, synched with my iPhone, etc.
I didn’t buy this device in order to shut everything off in order to extend battery life. I’m going to purchase a back up battery (Mophie w/ dual USB ports) and keep it in a little bag on the bike’s crossbar, just behind the Edge’s mount, in order to allow me to plug into extra battery life whenever I need it. The dual port on the battery will allow me to keep my phone charged as well.
For both of you – which setting for screen brightness did you use? The backlight setting is the biggest battery drain. I’d encourage one to turn-off the backlight altogether for daylight riding. After about 5 seconds, you get used to it in most cases.
Thank you Steven and Markus Brandl (btw, my mother tongue is german too :-) – and your english was perfectly fine!)!
Just one thing: Are you saying you are using approximately 20% of your battery power for each 41/2 – 5 hours ride? That would be amazing, after all!
I just wouldn`t really want to attach an external battery to my gps unit, to be frank. I mean…there is already enough crap on my bike when I am touring, I really don`t want to faff around with that. So yeah, i am trying to get a good idea on how long I could possibly ride with the gps. I do quite a bit of touring in my holidays (through whole countries…) and the longer battery life, the better. I hope Garmin will make it possible to disable the VP at some point soon.
With auto-backlight on, HRM and speed/cadence ANT+ sensors connected, bluetooth connection to the phone enabled, I see battery drain of about 10% per hour.
Nicola, from my experience, and I have had my 1000 now for almost a year, battery life depends upon what kind of usage you are using the Edge for. I bike tour about 6-7 months a year and use my 1000 (had the 800 and 810 but wanted a bigger display) for navigation for all my routes that I develop on ridewithgps.com. Here’s the problem and complaint I have with the 1000. On the 800/810, when you develop a route on ridewithgps.com or any other site to download as a course to your Edge, after you select the route course you want on the 800/810 and before you hit ride for it to calculate the course, there is a small icon to the far left which when you click on gives you 3 options: 1. turn on/off turn by turn, 2., turn on/off off course warning, 3. turn off/off Virtual Partner. Now, with the 800/810 if I turn on 1 and 2 and turn off Virtual Partner (who uses this thing??) I would routinely get 8 hrs of battery life. But with the 1000, under course settings, you are only given the option of 1 and 2, you CANNOT turn off Virtual Partner when you load a course. If you go to Bike Profile then Navigation on the 1000, it does give you the option to turn off Virtual Partner, however, here is the problem. That option is ONLY if you are just going out for a ride in your area, home, leisure, etc. Turning off Virtual Partner under your bike profile DOES NOT turn it off when you select a course to ride; Virtual Partner stays on by default and you cannot turn it off. So here is the problem, if you are bike touring or riding a long course you downloaded and selected, that Virtual Partner is going to be running in the background and it eats up battery life. It’s so bad that where I’d get 8 hrs riding the same course on the 800/810, I routinely now only get 4-5 hrs battery life on the 1000, all because Virtual Partner is running in the background and you have no way to turn the damn thing off. In fact, when you hit ride to ride the course you select on the 1000, it even shows at the bottom “updating Virtual Partner” and will flash at the bottom “Virtual Partner has completed the course”. Turning it off under bike profile does not turn it off when you select a course to ride for the day.
And what I do not understand, is that the software in the 800/810 is there, so why can’t they just use the same algorithm to give users the option to turn off Virtual Partner when riding a selected course?
I can tell you, that if you’re riding 8 hrs on a selected course on the 1000, you’re going to need an external battery to connect so you don’t run out of battery. I carry a Goal Zero backup battery pack and about 4-5 hrs into the ride, my Edge 1000 will be down to around 25% battery life and I have to connect the backup for charging. This is my second 1000 as used my first one for a 5 month tour of Australia this past Aug-Dec. and had lockup issues so Garmin had me return it for replacement when I got home in January That one did the same thing with battery life as the replacement I have. And yes, I have WiFi/ Bluetooth turned off as well as display turned down to a low setting and other settings turned off to minimize battery usage. To me, the battery life problem is that stupid Virtual Partner running in the background. I am currently in England finishing up a 2 month tour of England and Scotland (rode Land’s End to John O’Groats and all over England) and actually took an 800 as a backup device as well as the Goal Zero battery backup charger.
I will be at Interbike in Sept and want to talk with Garmin there face to face about this issue. Because to me, it should be a rather easy software update.
Hello Len,
Thanks so much for your feedback. That is really interesting information. I had the chance to take a look at the Garmin 1000 yesterday in comparison to my 810, and I have to say that I almost was a little bit disappointed by how much little more the screen was bigger. But ok, that doesn`t really have anything to do with my main concern…the battery span.
It seems to be weird not being able to to turn off the VP – and I agree with you – who needs that anyways??
I have been touring a lot with my Garmin, cycled through Iceland, Marocco, Switzerland and Austria using downloaded routes (not from the same website, but either self-plotted or other sites like gpsies.com), and yes, with the 810 it has always been easy to disable the VP (if necessary, because I don`t think I always had to do that).
I hope this is going to change with an update soon. Thanks for your thorough reply.
Niki
Niki, if you read a little further down in the comments, there is a reference to removing time stamps in the gpx file which supposedly disables Virtual Partner. I pulled up 4 of my course files from ridewithgps.com, downloaded a free file editor online, and then opened the gpx.track files. Each one I opened had a line for time and it was easy to delete. Won’t know until I get home and do this if in fact Virtual Partner is disabled. You would have to do this for every course gpx.track file you download to your Edge but at least if it disables VP, I’ll do it. I’d still like to see Garmin correct this and make the 1000 like the 800/810.
Thanks Len, I read those comments too. That might be a good solution to the problem – well, at least until an update fixes that issue permanently. It could become a bit a pain in the butt always having to remove the time stamps.
May I ask which free text editor you use? Thanks.
Thanks again for your reply!!
Sorry. I went to the link and followed this. Downloaded a file editor for free for Windows, then I opened 4 ridewithgps.com course files I’d developed for my ride here in England/Scotland (I’m finishing the tour now). Every one of the course files (gpx.track) I had developed have a time tag line the file. The proof of removing this line of time tag is to see if VP doesn’t run anymore on a course I download onto the Edge. I plan to develop several routes on ridewithgps.com later this week when I get back home in US, remove the time tag line, load onto the Edge and see if VP is not running. It’s a pain to have to do this but at least I won’t have that stupid thing running in the background and eating up battery.
Greg, I’ve done that as well, having done the Triple Bypass in Colorado with 4 passes above 13,000 ft in 9 hrs (125 mile ride). But, I wasn’t riding a downloaded course off Garmin Connect or ridewithgps.com. I went to the start, and hit start button on the Edge. That was with WiFi, Bluetooth, Backlight, and Virtual Partner turned off on Bike Profiles. Yeh, of course that works like that. But go try riding 126 miles Greg on a course you download off ridewithgps.com or Garmin Connect and see how long that battery life lasts. You missed what I was saying in my post.
I’ve connected my E1000 to Express and it wants to update the map(s). It doesn’t give you any choice as far as I can see which is a problem as they appear to be multi-Gigabyte downloads. I’ve attempted to update on multiple known ultra-fast connections (150MB+ fibre optic) but even after leaving it for 3hrs+ I’m still getting completion estimations of 15hrs+
I’m completely not fussed about updating the map(s) is there a way forward on this?
Thanks
O.K just un-pluged it after 6.5 hours with it showing as 32hrs to go. The firmware has updated but not the maps. While fiddling around I noticed that it is possible to select the updates you want and those you don’t. It appears that the Maps update is nearly 7GB…. which is absolutely crazy large.
Hi Len, i tried the approach to remove the timestamps using a tool called “GPXTimestripper.exe” which i found online. However for me this did unfortunatelly not work…
Seems like the only workaraound to avoid VP in the background for the time being is to only show the track permanently on the map display and follow it based on visual.
regards
Rainer
Its a great device, but i feel there could be some extra data fields available for the weather conditions that are picked up by the phone or WIFI. It would be great to be able to have a data field displaying the current wind direction in relation to the current heading. For example, if i am heading into the wind, display an arrow showing the wind coming towards me. If i have a tail wind, show the arrow coming from behind. Obviously the wind speed\direction is not real time data, but this would still be useful information.
You already have that info, of sorts. You can display your compass direction as a data field. Then if you swipe down on the screen it can show weather info including wind speed and direction, although I think that requires a BT connection to the phone app.
I just use my legs. If I’m riding into a headwind, they hurt. If I have a tailwind they feel better. ;)
I do exactly that although I just check the wind direction before I set off. The Bluetooth not auto connecting on the iPhone means I never connect that up. The weather should update off wifi before I set off. Frustrating that it doesn’t. It should sync courses over wifi too.
It would be useful to see it at a glance. Often I’m thinking “why am I struggling so much” or “wow I feel good”
Has anyone noticed more frequent and longer duration ANT+ dropouts and sometimes wild swings in PM wattage (i had a reading of 20,000 watts at one point…I know i’m getting strong, but not that strong) with their 1000 following the firmware upgrade to V3.1? The dropout happens mostly with my power/cadence (Stages) data, but HR (TickrX) and speed (garmin sensor) are far from immune.
My HRM strap (Garmin) or the 1000 sometimes yields wildly inaccurate data (last weekend on a flat route it rose inexorably to 214 while I was cruising along at 20 mph. My Apple Watch registered 124 at the same time, and I was no where near a Phil Liggett “Spot of bother.”
This week I’m in the Rockiess; two days ago my HRM transmitter went through the washer and dryer (hey, my wife was only trying to help!!!). Yesterday it performed flawlessly.
Please don’t take this as a recommendation of a way to “clear your head!”.
I’ve finally realised why I am getting longer battery life on routes I am following. It looks like you can switch off Virtual Partner via the activity profile. I had mine off for my training profile, hence getting no VP and good battery life whilst using TBT and following routes.
The inability to turn off Virtual Partner is one of the biggest complaints about the Edge 1000 on the Garmin forums. It can be turned off in the 810, but not the 1000. v4.10 of the firmware was just released to support Strava segments, but I don’t anything changed about Virtual Partner. OTOH: every firmware update breaks something that worked previously, so maybe they break that and it will be turned off for us. ;)
Earlier in this thread, I’d asked “Is there a way of displaying maximum pulse rate during a ride? It displays it in the ride summary, but I can’t find how to display it during a ride.”
Nobody replied, so I rang Garmin Support and asked them. And maximum pulse rate is not an available parameter.
However, you asked about post ride max pulse rate. And you’ll find that in the ride summary.
So you can see your maximum as an absolute number after the ride, but not during the ride.
“During ride” screen – With some instantaneous data
“After ride” screen – With mainly total and average data. It’s here that I’d like to show max heart rate in bmp and not in %, but now you’ve confirmed me that it’s not possible… Quite absurd actually, because as you point this parameter is shown in ride summary, it Garmin connect, in Strava, etc., so it should be easy to have it on screen too…
First of all, excellent review! Congratulations on that!
I bought an Edge1000 about 2 months ago. I set up each of the profiles for each of my bikes. I have 4. Therefore I can sort of have an odometer for each. I said “sort of” because it’s only been counting since I bought my Garmin. Is there any way to configure/reset the odometer (to be able to put each of my bikes’ lifetime odometer)?
Another question, if I’m riding a created segment, while riding, can I swipe to my data screens and back to the segment map again?
Thank you!
Older Garmin Edge models (I have the 800) allow you to set the odometer to an initial value; somehow, the programmers left this feature out on the 1000. It is also alarmingly easy to change from one pofile to another unintentionally, messing up the odometer for two bikes at once (the one you’re riding is undercounted, and the one you switched to is overcounted), and you cannot correct the totals when you notice the problem. They also changed the ability to control the “Virtual Partner” feature, which seems to account for faster battery drain.
I think the programmers may not have started coding the 1000 software from the 810 code, which allowed them to “forget” features they had already included in earlier models – bad practice in my opinion. Or I could be wrong, and some features got removed because the size of the program got too big.
It seems that when I’m riding a segment, my 1000 frequently and repeatedly gives me a notice that it wants to “recalculate” and I have to either say press the device to say yes or no. I’m not sure but this seems to occur only when I’m riding a segment. It doesn’t seem to do this all the time, nor does it seem to do it during all segments. I have to either press yes (or perhaps agree) or no (or perhaps disagree) to get my screen back. I find this pretty annoying. What’s going on when this happens? Why does it happen? What can I do to avoid the need to recalculate? What is being recalculated? Thanks.
The icon for On/Off on Turn Guidance is a mystery to me. Without actually using the Edge, I cannot tell whether I have Turn Guidance on or off. One looks like it is gray & black; the other seems to be gold & gray.
I have a U.S. Open street map Garmin Edge 1000. I have downloaded maps for France for bike trip in September. Can I use the 1000 in the rental car to navigate between Paris and Tours? I know the answer is a partial yes but can I choose a setting which will route us without any limitations?
I’m not sure what you mean by “limitations.” I know I used a Garmin 800 for my last bike trip in France a few years ago (Backroads, Brittany and Normandy) and it worked flawlessly on the bike. Tours was where my son and I started a trip now more than a decade ago when he was 14 (also Backroads). Fond memories. I don’t know if the Sunflowers are still in bloom in September, but one must see them in the fields to know how much more descriptive their French name (Tournesoleil) really is.
Thanks Jim but I think you missed the main point of my question. The Garmin will be fine on my bike. Will it also work in the rental car? Or will the routing keep us on Bike specific roads and ” limit us” from using major highways not suitable for bikes.
Turn on your Edge 1000, select the “Tools” icon, select an Activity Profile (maybe one of the standard ones such as Race or Train if you don’t use them, or set up a new one named “Car”), select Navigation, select Routing, then select Routing Mode. Set that to Automobile Driving, and you’re good to go.
Colin: Brilliant! The exact answer i needed to use the 1000 for cycling and driving there by rental car. So i downloaded the open street map files for France. I’d like to test them while in the US to make sure they open. The gmapsupp.img file is on the SD card in the Garmin folder. How do i test if it will work in France?
First, maybe you want to test that it works with the maps you have on the Edge now. Compare the routing for bicycle against the routing for automobile. Follow at least one automobile route.
There are instructions for adding to / replacing the supplied maps in another DC Rainmaker forum called “How to download free maps to your Garmin Edge 520/705/800/810/1000 & Touring”. I haven’t used the instructions myself, but I’ve seen comments that some people are having success, while others are having problems.
Once you have the new map for Europe (or just France – include a bit of territory around the borders, just in case), try to set up a course, and route for bicycle vs automobile. I don’t know how much more you can do beyond that until you get to France.
I appreciate this is not your job, but I thought I would try anyway. As a man in the know, is there any way you could get the word to Garmin that the Edge 1000 has an annoying/ potentially dangerous feature. The lap summary pop-up that shows on the screen during intervals is present for an awfully long time and the only way to rid it, is to tap the screen. When doing hard hill reps, people i train with are removing one hand from the bars to do this, endangering themselves and others.I believe this feature should be customisable, with an on/off and the ability to set the number of seconds on screen.
I have written to Garmin and suggested it as an improvement, but am still to see any change.
I hope you can help, and I apologise if you consider this an insulting request. I just really believe this should be addressed.
hi there,
garmin edge 1000 v5.0, 10 month old, taken good care of, today the buttons (power, lap, start/stop), just stopped working, or working in a completely messed-up manner. anyone experienced this? tried reset and reinstall, not working, the device itself works just fine, pressing the power button restarts the device but no change, meaning that the button itself works.
I just noticed the Di2 Gear Adjustment screen when I was adjusting my rear derailleur with the Edge 1000 on (usually never on). I understand that the “Front Adjustment” numbers will always read 0. But, why are there 3 “Read Adjustment” values ? When I adjust my rear derailleur, it only changes the middle value.
Are the “-16” and “16” values only there to show me the limits of the derailleur adjustment ? I thought that you only adjust the derailleur when in the 5th cog.
We bought the Garmin edge 1000 and the European map for a 350 km bike ride from Paris to London. I gotta say that we were terribly disappointed with this product. As you pointed out in your review it locked up throughout the entire trip – so much so that it was virtually unusable starting from day one (even after upgrading the software). We promptly returned the gps as soon our trip was finished. Unfortunately, the maps we bought could not be returned or transferred to another device. Our lessons learned: 1) don’t assume that just because its available for purchase it functions as described; 2) test out the device before buying any accessories.
What files are you looking for ? You can redownload the maps, the language files and let the Edge recreate the various settings files. I did a test where I totally wiped the internal storage of the 1000 and then redownloaded what was missing and everything worked fine.
original system files, garmin OS files, and the whole file system structure. but so far nevermind, i sent it back to garmin to fix it under warranty.
thx
Hi Ray!
I wonder if you have tried to download a BestBikeSplit power file on the Edge 1000 end ride after the power plan? if so, how did it work? i have the 920 but this does not really works on it yet, BBS says that they are trying to fix this with garmin…and if it would work, certainly not in triathlon mode, just in bike mode, and that does not help me much. So I am planning to get the edge 1000, but I would be happier to know that it works on it, before I buy it :) Thanks for your help!
Hi
I am looking to upgrade my 800 which has stopped connecting to my computer due to water ingress on the USB point. (Annoyingly it still works properly I just can’t access the data).
So do I get an 810, now pretty cheap and tried and tested, or due I get a 1000? I have read this review and it describes a number of issues with the unit, but the review was written over 12 months ago. Have the bugs been fixed, does the unit consistently operate correctly without locking up/crashing/etc. Does the bluetooth function work now. The difference is around £150 is it worth the extra money over an 810?
Thoughts please
1. Try a product like DeoxIT Connector Cleaner to get your USB port on the Edge 800 working again.
2. The Edge 1000 works pretty much flawlessly for me. I also have an 800, and I’ve been carrying both on rides, because the 1000 used to undermeasure distance and elevation gain. After a software update, the 1000 measures more elevation gain than the 800, but still shorts the distance a bit compared to the 800. I’m old, my vision is fading, so I like the larger screen size of the 1000.
3. Only you can decide if the price difference makes an 810 a better buy than the 1000, but if you get your 800 working again, I’d say skip the 810 and go for the 1000.
With regard to corrosion on your 800’s USB port, you might put some tape over the unit as an extra layer of protection on rainy or threatening days, assuming you can get it working again.
Garmin edge 1000. The most dissapointingly expensive P.O.S. cycle item that I’ve ever owned. I sold my 800 to get the 1000 purely for the strava segments. I’ve only had it a couple of months. When not navigating a course the unit is fine. No problems at all. But when navigating a course (which is what I use the 1000 for 99.9% of the time) firstly I find out that Strava segments doesn’t work when navigating a course but more importantly at some point instead of counting down the distance to the next turn it counts UP the distance from the turn I’ve just left! Sometimes it’s rectified itself after a short time but like today it didn’t sort itself out for over 50miles. The only way of knowing where you’re going is by following the line on the map screen which can sometimes be a bit dangerous as you have to keep glancing down all the time.
I did not expect to pay 300quid for something that is clearly does not function properly. So off on ebay it goes and I’m buying another 800 again!
I don’t have problems such as you describe, although I don’t use guidance 100% of the time. When I’m using guidance, things seem to work just fine. I’m using the maps Garmin supplied for US units.
The segment stuff (Garmin or Strava) doesn’t mean much to me. A couple of segments have snuck onto my 1000 that are on my regular routes; one of those seems to be going in the opposite direction, so it shows up, I get farther from it as I ride, and it goes away.
But the worst idea in your post is to sell your 1000 (no doubt at a loss) and buy an 800 (used?). If you’re determined to go away from the 1000, consider the 810, which is still getting software upgrades. Someday, you might want the lights or radar unit that can be controlled from the 1000 or 810, but not the 800.
Do you ever use the Garmin Forums to ask for help with your 1000? I think you can get more assistance there than at this site. Good luck, and enjoy your rides!
Thanks for your reply Colin. Must admit haven’t looked at alternatives it’s just that the 800 did the job perfect for me and I never had any issues with it. The Garmin forums are full of people with the same issues as me. It’s wierd how some devices have problems while others don’t!
Hi. Thanks for all the replies. I have taken the plunge and bought the 1000. I also use my Garmin for route finding most of the time I am riding and have found one thing makes a huge difference – Don’t use the POS ( to quote a previous reply) which is Garmin Connect to map routes. I have UK 1:50000 OS maps loaded and even using them the route directions are rubbish, it fails to indicate turns, doesn’t sound the off course warning, and is just generally rubbish.
However I cannot recommend highly enough ‘Ride with GPS’ ridewithgps.com It is vastly superior in every aspect to Garmin Connect – much easier and more accurate mapping tool, much better record logs and far easier to navigate. It doesn’t link to Strava, if you are into that, but it does have its own equivalent ‘segments’. Most importantly when following the programmed routes created on the site the Garmin works as it is presumably supposed to and indicates turns, off course and everything else we paid £300 for.
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Argh !!!!!!
anybody else lost all thier screen profiles.
I had three
(a) Race
(b) Train
(c) Tour
After update to 2.4 I’ve now got 2 x Train + 2 x Race (but with all the wrong screens) but my Tour one seems to still be correct.
WTF ….
Ok now in the process of loading all my screens back up but for the life of me I can’t figure out how to turn a Data Screen on if it is off.
I remember when I set this up when I first bought the unit it was pretty simple so wondering if in the new upgarde that have stuffed something up.
Screen 1 is on but Screen 2 is off and cant work out how to turn it on
Help …….
hi
any one try Segment Builder you can export Segments from Strava to a FIT-File
link to gniza.org
Thinking about 1000 becouse of this ,yesterday sold 800 on road was ok on mtb loosing gps :(
Darius
Hi Guys
I’ve just updated my firmware and am hoping for improvements in stability – it does seem to get better with each release so lets hope that continues.
A couple of questions. I just called my (android) phone and sure enough I got a notification on my edge but I can’t get the notification to go away. On the home screen (with the big RIDE button) I can see the missed notification icon at the top but there doesn’t seem to be any way of clearing it. For the text notification I clicked on it to look at the message and that removed it from the drawer.
Text messages seem a bit broken. I got the notification but when I tried to read the text all it did was display my email address… K De Weerd mentioned something about enabling message preview but I can’t find that setting anywhere.
Thanks
Using Samsung note 3. Garmin connect app updated. Firmware current on g1000. When my phone gets a text I see a brief on screen notice but it doesn’t say who the text is from. It also doesn’t show the content of the text. That makes it useless. Is there supposed to be more?
In the default messaging app on my S4, when I go into Settings under the header Notification Settings there is an option Preview message than can be enabled or disabled. When enabled, The notification contains the information of the sender and a preview of the message. When disabled, the notification only says you have a message.
I have found that this needs to be enabled for the GE1000 to display sender and content of the TXT.
In other apps, it might be different.
For example, in Handcent in Settings, Notification Settings, it is called ‘Private Mode’ which needs to be disabled if you want the content to be shown.
Hiya! Ray, thank you for the great reviews you put up. Based on your initial 1000 review, I was leaning back toward the 810, but decided to wait a bit and see how the updates would fare. I see Garmin is up to update 2.40 now for the 1000. Do you have any top line comments on how things have improved overall from your baseline review to 2.40? I’d also like to hear about battery life with 2.40, qualified by what’s running, what’s turned off, etc. Thanks in advance!
I’ve been travelling so I didn’t have a chance to get it updated until just tonight. So I don’t have too many thoughts there on stability/usability. However, I am impressed with some of the new little nuggets in there. One line in particular is actually really interesting…
Welcome your views when you have had a chance to ride with it.
Ray, ok…..you have us curious now… which is the “one line” you find interesting :-)
Scale Factor
Set up a new profile for a second bike, but when I add a data screen for odometer, it still reads the total mileage since I got the unit. Plus can’t change mileage on odometer at all… Any ideas?
Response to Rob #494
With Garmin, Odemeter is for total of unit, not per vehicle or “trip”.
My suggestion:
Reset unit to factory defaults; this erases all data and zeroes odometer of unit.
Then reconfigure unit to incorporate as many “profiles” as you need. You will of course lose previously stored distances.
I suppose later there will be a “hack” that will enable you to modify the data stored in the Edge 1000, and this will allow you to modify any data stored, in particular total odometer distance and distance per profile. Maybe this hack already exists for the Edge 800/810; a quick Internet search should help! If such is the cas, it my be applicable to teh Edge 1000!
Good luck!
You don’t need any hacks with the 800 (and presumably the 810, since it also has bike profiles). The 800 already has a per-bike odometer associated with each bike profile. It’s even settable so that you can put in the miles accumulated prior to starting to use the 800. Unfortunately for the 800 (at least my 800), as I recently discovered, there’s a maximum mileage that it can store and show, and anything after that is lost.
This is a problem new to the 1000, since Garmin got rid of bike profiles on it.
They should just let us input he odometer data as before. It’s like they provided half a solution for those of us that really miss bike profiles… I keep hoping they will do something…2.4 is a better step, but hope that’s not the last word on it. As to Paul’s comment… I had the 810 previously and other than the missing bike profiles I have found the 1000 better by far. I love that my rides automatically upload as soon as I hit save, and the screen is much easier to see. I also got the remote and it comes in very handy.
Will there ever be an Edge 820, or is the 1000 the 800 series successor?
As an Edge 800 User the only feature i miss since i am using the FR620 is the WI-FI and Bluetooth syncing option. I know the 810 would provide the Bluetooth connectivity, but at home i really love the WI-FI syncing.
As Eurobike ended without garmin edge hardware news is there any chance we will hear something at interbike? or is CES 2015 the event we might see something?
Anyway,
Thanks Ray for your great work!
The Edge 1000 is not seen as an Edge 810 successor, but rather carving out a new product line.
I don’t expect any near-term Edge 510/810 replacement. I’d say the earliest would be next spring (if that).
Seems like it would be hard to have an 810 replacement that wouldn’t cut into the 1000
While awaiting Ray’s opinion on 1000 battery life under Rel 2.40, I welcome any/all comments regarding same, and please add what you had turned off (e.g., WIFI) if anything.
thanks in advance!
Michael
about battery … looks better but still far from perfect
link to forums.garmin.com
Thanks, D. How many hours you getting?
Doesn’t seem to have improved for me. For my Commute in / out of work I am getting through about 15% of the battery each time on roughly a 70 minute ride.
I have everything on other than wifi: HRM, stages, speed sensor, Di2, virb, bluetooth
thanks GR!
Note that while this data is saved to the .FIT file, there’s no software tools available today to actually render it after the ride. So you can’t view your shifting information on Garmin Connect afterwards, nor any 3rd party platforms.
New kid on the block: http://www.di2stats.com Totally free.
Upload fit file.
See all sorts of data, pie charts, etc.
That’s pretty cool.
Ah – it’s back again. Whenever I have looked at home (where I have my fit files ready to upload) the site is down.
Anyone else seen that?
I’ve only tried once, so looks like I lucked out.
And, this also serves as a reminder to myself to actually input all the gearing in there. Since the initial pre-June non-save gearing bug, I never bothered to add it in on my new units. Still, pretty cool concept.
Well the thing that everyone said would happen when I told them I was getting Di2 happened this morning… My gears ran out of battery!
I was deliberately letting them run low to see if my Edge would show a popup saying that the battery was getting low – it didn’t.
When I set off this morning and I saw it was at 5% I wondered if I would make it into work and back before it ran out. I didn’t :-( had half my ride in and 18 miles home tonight in one gear – I’ll just pretend it’s a single speed!
I am surprised by this though. When my stages, phone or virb are running low on battery the Edge tells me – very very persistently for my phone actually. I think of all these accessories the gears are the one that is most going to upset your ride if it dies.
Perhaps this has just been overlooked by Garmin and it’ll be added in a firmware update. Is there an easy and reliable way to suggest features to Garmin?
I am pretty sure that the Ant+ transmitter for the Di2 has adversely affected battery life. I’m not bothered by that as it’s much better to be able to see the battery level.
Could be the di2 not sending an ANT+ low battery message, too. I don’t know about phone or virb, but stages definitely complains to the head unit when the battery is low link to stagescycling.freshdesk.com and even simple things like footpods will tell a Forerunner when the battery is low. I mean, it would be pretty easy to code an alarm when the percentage is low enough, but that isn’t necessarily what the Edge is doing when it gives low battery alerts for other devices.
Giles, interesting post on Di2. I think it has reduced battery life as well. Btw, when the di2 battery reaches the end, I heard that the first thing that happens is the front derailure stops leaving you with 50 remaining shifts on the rear derailure. Did that happen?
Interesting there was no final notice on the garmin.
I very rarely use my front derailure and this morning I was trying to conserve shifts so I didn’t try it – especially as it most likely take a lot more power.
I was actually surprised how quickly it got that low but maybe I’ve not been checking the level as much over the last few days.
Ray: Given the fairly critical review of bugs, etc. in your original writeup, it may be appropriate to do a followup update (as you’ve done in other devices), since firmware updates have in my opinion dealt with a fair number of these issues. Right now, people reading your review might get an overly negative impression of this device, that in my opinion now works quite well.
Yeah, it’s something I’m definitely looking at. I was somewhat waiting for an August update to move forward on that. But i’ll look at things over the course of the next month or so in usage.
Bob: Wholeheartedly agree. I put the 1000 on hold after reading Ray’s initial review and only now have ordered one because I’ve been tracking comments here that indicated to me that the bug situation was improving and heading in the right direction.
Ray: strongly encouraged.
Michael
I’m sure it’s something Ray will get to in all that spare time he must have between working, travelling, attending shows, meeting companies and doing triathlons!!! ;-)
Thanks for all the work you put into this site Ray!
GR: Yeah, Ray is like Jack Bauer: doesn’t sleep, go to the bathroom, etc.
Ray: Maybe editing the initial review earmarked 2.40, etc would be an option
MJS
Hey GREAT and very informative review. I have been seriously considering the Edge 1000, but am not sure now after your review AND all the complaints over at Garmin’s forum site! I have two questions:
1. How would you compare the Edge 1000 with its direct competitor, the Magellan Cyclo 505? I know the Magellan is $200.00 cheaper for the bundle and $170 cheaper for the standalone unit!
2. Can you please update your review to include any of the issues Garmin addressed in their two Firmware updates (Ver. 2,3 and 2.4)? It would be very helpful to those of us using your review as a deciding factor to track the issues (both bugs and “By Design” issues) and their subsequent resolutions.
Thanks again for the amazing review!
I see the Cycle 505 as a competitor more to the Edge 810 and Edge Touring than the Edge 1000. While it’s a solid unit for many cyclists, I have a hard time seeing the 505 at this point as a true performance unit. For example, lack of lap functionality (to break apart workouts), means it’s tougher for many performance-focused athletes to use.
On the other piece on firmware, as noted yesterday, it’s something I’ll be looking at over the next 30 days or so. By the same token, there are so many other new devices hitting the market this month that it’s tough for me to update this post every time Garmin releases a firmware update or gets around to fixing things that should have been there at the start.
What is the source of the temperature data? Is that built into the unit or do you need the Tempe sensor?
Internal, which, for the Edge series is perfectly fine since it’s away from your body.
Has anyone checked whether the Wahoo TICKR now worts with version 2.40 software?
I just used the Tickr X (latest firmware) with the Edge 1000 running (2.40 firmware). Everything worked just fine.
So I was wrong about the acTivity profile..in part…
If you set up a profile for each bike, you can then go to history and see totals for that bike/profile…you go to totals and can see for each profile and the device itself…it would be nice to be able to input the mileage so you have total miles for the bike before the unit added, but it isn’t that bad..so for example, I just got a new chain on my road bike and can keep track of mileage on this bike now with the new profile..
Awesome review!
As a 510 user, i was looking forward to the text function from the 1000, guess i’ll have to hold of a while longer.
After working quite well for a while my Edge 1000 has stopped automatically uploading my activities after each ride.
I have the latest update that shows your ride summary after hitting the save ride button. I get a prompt saying saving ride then a prompt saying loading ride (presumably to display the summary) but no uploading ride prompt.
I have checked in garmin connect mobile and the auto upload is still checked.
If I open garmin connect on my mobile and turn on the edge activities do sync correctly.
This may seem wierd — i’d really like to see sales figures for the edge 200, 500, 510, 810, and 1000 — even an estimate. How many higher-end (810, 1000) are they moving a year? Do they sell 20,000 of these, 100,000? 500,000? any data at all would be useful. Garmin’s results imply they made a lot more money in the fitness segment in the last quarter but a fair amount of that was running and the vivofit.
Yeah, it’s not something you’re likely to see Garmin release unfortunately.
After reading this review and the many comments, I finally took the plunge and ordered my Garmin 1000 bundle (2.40). Could not be more pleased. Thank you, Ray and thanx all who provided valuable feedback.
Hi Ray,
RE: link to dcrainmaker.com
How does the display show gear ratio? Do they show gear position number or gear teeth number?
Also is there a way for the gear indicator to show gear teeth number instead of gear position, for the front and rear gear indicator pages, much like the Shimano Flightdeck Display?
I wouldnt want to memorise what gear tooth is at a particular gear position when I look at the gear indicator display.
I’ll get some pics when I get back home Friday and update. When I originally wrote the review, due to the Di2 config bug I couldn’t actually show it if I wanted to. Now I can though.
Does anyone know how to make this thing display in Landscape mode? DC: I know you said the firmware upgrade was due in Summer 2014, have they done it yet?
Nothing yet. I’ll ask them tomorrow on a call (assuming they are on that call, but either way someone will know on that call).
Really like the reviews, and especially like the follow-ups that you do. In fact recently bought an Edge 1000.
I was wondering what the outcome of your call re. Landscape mode.
I find the length of time it’s taken Garmin to release this update perplexing (if not a bit annoying), especially given their reference to it in the sales materials pretty much from day 1 release.
Thanks in advance
Sorry, completely fell off my list. I just sent a note a second ago asking, will probably hear back later tonight.
Have been using my 1000 for a month now and very happy with it. Except for a new glitch that happened when I put on the Speed Sensor in the front wheel hub. I use a Stages Power Meter and use the GPS for my speed. I always have Pedal Smoothness on my main screen. When I attached the Garmin hub speed sensor, my pedal smoothness stopped working on the screen but the data showed that it still recorded in the background. I have tried everything and cant seem to get the Pedal Smoothness to start showing on the screen again. Could it be something with ANT signals?
Hmm, that’s definitely odd. I don’t suspect any signal issues there, but rather wonder if it’s something else code-level wise in the Edge 1000 causing an issue.
For mtb’ing, would it be possible to add something like a waypoint with visual or audio cues so that when you are riding up to it, it could provide some sort of audible warning? Something like or close to “Danger, switchback ahead” would be awesome.
Just to inform, apparently there is a problem with IOS 8 and text and missed call notifications on the Edge 1000. Garmin is working on a solution.
(I never update my phones right away.. too many bugs.. too many changes that destroy all of my delicate Bluetooth relationships)
Anyhoo, just wanted to confess, given my bitter Garmin complaints, that I bought the Edge 1000 (everyone says the bugs are fixed) and.. I LOVE IT.
LOVE IT! And I’m happy, albeit surprised, with how Garmin is making things better. I like the connection to Strava and myfitnesspal.
Also, some cool guy wrote a tool to get Strava segments into the Edge:
link to forums.garmin.com
I love the edge’s sleep mode, BT, wifi, screen crispness, GLOSNASS is amazing. Just overall really impressed. A very nice upgrade from my Edge 800.
Now that Apple iOS8 has a Health app and the Edge 1000 captures the data from my Tanita BC-1000 have you heard if Garmin has given any thought to sending the data to the Health app from the Connect App?
If I open the Connect app my weight from yesterday is in the profile so some of the data is displayed now, just not the body fat %, etc.
I haven’t seen anything that indicates they are planning to send data that way. Doesn’t mean they aren’t planning to, just haven’t announced anything yet.
Just purchased a 1000. Seems improved over the 800 in a number of ways except one that is important to me: I cannot install my New Leaf profile onto the 1000. Neither Training Center nor enewleaf will communicate with the 1000. Any idea whether this should be possible? Any feeling for the accuracy or method used by the 1000 for calorie calculation?
I’m pretty sure the Edge 1000, like other Garmin devices released in the last year, does not support the New Leaf profile any longer.
Hi, may sound like a daft question but… Is it possible to upload a route created in Strava to the edge 1000? I’m thinking about buying one but my local cycling club creates and share rides in strava so I want to be able to use the garmin for these.
Thanks
I just created a short loop from home back to home, named it, saved it, and exported it. It ends up in my Downloads directory (I’m on Windows 7.)
Then, following the directions in Strava, I copied it to the 1000’s Garmin/NewFiles directory, and restarted the 1000. It appeared in my Courses.
I hope that’s what you were asking, and that it’s helpful.
Ray,
I’ve had my EDGE 1000 for about two weeks now. I bought the 1000 at the same time as the Vector power meter. While waiting for it to arrive, I read your review.
Now, with 11 rides (and one lost one), all done with my 800 on the bike for comparison, I have a little input to share. First, the 1000 consistently under measures distance and ascent compared to the 800. Distance is off by about 0.2%. Ascent on flat rides has varied by up to 20% (168 vs 204); it is closer on climbing rides (as little as 2%) Calories reported are very much lower on the 1000 (around 30%). Total strokes are higher on the 1000 (by around 25%). Riding time is very close, maybe depending on the order in which I hit the start / stop buttons.
Since I turned on Power on the 800 about six rides ago, power numbers on the 1000 have been higher than on the 800. Left – right balance, interestingly, had my left leading for the first the first four rides, by as much as 56%. For the last seven, it’s been right foot leading by either 52% or 53%.
Strava’s biggest climber concurred on the measurement differences, and still uses the figures from his 800 to report his rides.
One “problem” that you mentioned with the 1000 was the lack of bicycle profiles. When I set up my 1000, I ignored the existing profiles, and added one I call “Colnago”. That’s the profile I always start. When I ride my Trek, I’ll add a profile for it. I think that gives me what I used to have with bike profiles – total distance by bike. Was there something more that you had with bike profiles that is still missing?
I appreciate your diligent testing and insight on these fun (and useful) tools/toys!
The difference in ride lengths may be linked to the fact that, by default, the Edge1000 estimates your wheel circumference based on GPS data of the first ride. If this estimated value is not exactly the same as the one your Edge800, there will be a difference. On the Edge1000, you can manually correct the default estimated value.
In my case, the Edge1000 estimated 2095 mm when the true value was 2100 (that is 2‰ or 0.2% difference)
Thanks for your reply.
Where is this estimate stored on the 1000? I went looking, but didn’t find it. I can see wheel size is 2094mm on the 800….
Connect your speed sensor to your Edge1000.
Go into the sensors page on the Edge1000 and select the speed sensor concerned.
Then review its properties and set the circumference manually.
I’m trying to do this right now. The cadence magnet is still on the left crank arm, and the speed magnet is still on the wheel. I put the GSC-10 back on the chain stay with a rubber band, added a sensor, put in the id, and now it says “Connect”. I press that, but it doesn’t finish, just keeps showing the “progress wheel”. Under details, it says I’ll get details after I connect.
I’ve tried rotating the pedals both backward and forward, but I still don’t see an end to “Connect”. The manual doesn’t tell me much. What am I failing to do?
My edge just updated to 2.50, wonder what the improvements are…….
It’s just fixes for iOS8: link to www8.garmin.com
Ahh…
Change History
Changes made from version 2.40 to 2.50:
Added support for iOS 8 call and text notifications.
anyone had any luck pairing the 1000’s Bluetooth smart features with an iPhone 6?.
My Edge (2.5) and the iphone (8.0.2) are running the latest updates but it refuses to connect. I have it connected to the phone but still cant get any txt and call alerts. its remarkable that this has still not been resolved by Garmin.
Same here, running iOS 8.02. Edge connects straight away when pairing but repeatedly disconnects and connects again whilst riding. Haven’t received any texts or missed calls whilst using it…..
Now that Garmin has incorporated cycling VO2max prediction into the 920xt, it sure would be nice for them to add that to the 1000 in a future firmware update.
I keep losing my loop rides. After every loop ride I press the stop pause button and the device starts a new ride rather than stopping the loop ride. Consequently I lose the data of the loop ride. Anyone have this problem or solution to it. What am I doing wrong ? I get directions etc during the ride so I am sure that I have started it right.
Has anybody else experinced a weird jump in thier Odometer Reading – mine seems to have jumped from about 1877 kms (since purchase) to 42,950kms. I have no idea how to chnage it back to the correct reading. Not a big issue as I don’t really care about my TOTAL kms done but curious if anybody else has experinced this and if there is a simple fix to reset it back to correct figure.
Such “jumps” can occur when the GPS has had a reception problem and has inserted in your “route” or “track” a point that is on the other side of the globe. You have never been there, but the GPS file thinks you have and thus computes a distance to go there and get back!
Ok went for another ride today and noticed the Odometer is not moving at all stuck on 42,950kms – any thoughts on how to reset without having to reset the whole unit and loose bike profiles (which seems to happen everytime they send a new software update ??
So that limitation is still there. On my Edge 800, two of my bike profiles have odometers that are stuck at 26687.6 miles (42950 km). Both bikes really do have more than that many miles (although in the case of one, about 1/2 of the total are “miles” done on rollers in the winter). There’s a maximum number for the odometer, although why it’s that particular value I have no idea (it’s not a power of 2, for example).
There’s a way to set the odometers to whatever you want, but you need the fit file repair tool. It has the ability to modify the odometers in the settings.fit file and then you update the edge with the new file.
http://fitfilerepairtool.info
It looks like 2^32 centimeters to me; i.e. 42,949,672.96 meters!
So last time I checked this page I read that Garmin will probably not support the D-fly DI2 on the edge 810 and decided that I am going out to get the new Edge 1000 and so I did last week.
Today while scanning the web guess what I bumped into: a pre-release firmware version for the edge 810 that adds support for shimano’s DI2 d-fly add-on. In any case its still buggy but shows that they are actually working on it.
For any one that is interested heres the link: link to www8.garmin.com
Cheers…
hi there,
activity profiles and map issues. edge 1000, v2.5, setting up a profile with a map then creating another profile with a different map ends up different profiles with different settings only the map is the same. after updating firmware and maps i did not perform a factory reset.
any suggestions?
map again. when I go to activity profiles-navigation-map-map visibility according to the manual, this is the advanced map settings in which I should get options for visibility mode, zoom level, text size, detail and shaded relief. I am getting only the visibility mode. Is this a failure of the manual or a bug? Could anyone please check on his/her own device? There is one pixel off on the screen, is it an issue for replacement?
guess what, a hard reset solved the advanced map options, and it turned out that the maps are global for each activity profiles, so the one set to a profile will be set for the others too, which is not good. garmin should solve this in the next firmware update. now i do not care about the dead pixel.
cheers
Has anyone figured out the wifi yet? Total rubbish – hasn’t connected once to my home router!!
Have you contacted support? It works fine for me and many others.
WiFi works here as well, though I must note that I rarely have it enabled and it seems to ‘forget’ my preferred network. So on the odd occasion that I turn WiFi on, I need to re-enter the connection details.
Do you always leave WiFi on? I’m wary of the impact on battery life.
Just re-read the review and I have a question about the touch screen. The performance you describe in “Bugs” makes it sound like touch screen is so bad that no matter how good or bad the underlying device is you could never consistently access the functionality in a user friendly way. Bugs are usually thought of as “software” but if the screen takes a lot of ghost inputs and messes you up every other time you try to accomplish something with it what’s the point of the device in the first place, and how do you judge it?
Hi!
The “bugs” that you write about. Have Garmin fixed them now (mid October, 2015), so you could change your recommendation for the better?
Regards,
Christian
the dead pixel was a stuck pixel, now it is gone, so this “little” garmin has been impoving, other than this it has been working flawless so far
just had my faulty 800 replaced with 1000.love the screen size as mapping so much clearer for touring .i am a bike guide and find the TBT excellent.BUT screen keeps locking on its own. how do i unlock it.???
it seems to unlock eventually but im not clear as to how it happens.i just keep hitting screen till something happens.
Have you updated to the latest firmware? I haven’t had any unexpected screen lock issues in months on the latest firmware.
thanks for help..
its brand new.just collected from shop.presume its up to date. how do i get firmware.is it on garmin connect?
Go ahead and download Garmin Express for your desktop. Then plug the Edge in from there. That’ll get your unit all updated and also enable you to quickly setup WiFi connectivity as well.
seemed to have sorted out locking screen problem .1000 working fine now.
one question re round trip routing.plotted 40 miler and took us on great route but we ended up on too many minor footpaths and cycleways.we were road biking.want to ne on quiet roads .how do i set it to keep me on secondary roads and not footpaths.
Hi Ray,
I have a Cervelo P3. Where is the best place to fit the cadence sensor as the frame potentially gets in the way compared to that of my road bike?
Thanks.
Strange. It could vary on cranks, but I didn’t have any fit issues with it. Obviously, going with the non-drive (left) side is best for clearance issues.
I had a try fitting on the drive side and the sensor appears to brush the frame. The only way to overcome the issue was to turn sensor so it was facing outwards away from the crank.
The potential issue with turning the sensor outwards is my shoe catching with each revolution.
The one thing that is exciting about this unit for me is the text alerts onscreen. My daughter suffers from Type 1 diabetes. While training, I need to track alerts and text messages from her school. I don’t like mounting my phone on my bike because of size and worries about damaging it. I see Strada has a smart computer with alert icons. Is anyone working on just showing a bit of text messages / incoming number for a call?
Seems like that would be useful for a large segment of this intended market.
The FR920TX actually does show you the first line of the text message, fwiw.
hi Ray
I’m just about to pull the financial trigger on a bike computer and can’t decide between this and the edge 810, money is not really an issue between the two but is the 1000 worth the extra £200 over the 810? If you had the cash for either which would you go for? (thinking longevity here aswell).
Also just finished climbing the Teide in Tenerife absolutely fantastic have you done it?
Thanks
Given the Edge 810 just got yet more features – Di2 and Segments, in general I’m not a huge fan of buying up to the Edge 1000 just for the heck of it.
As for Tenerife, I haven’t done yet it – but had some good friends just head down there the last two weeks…so we’re looking at getting down there stat!
Thanks Ray
I actually ordered the unit but it wasen’t shipped by day 5 from the supplier, so in the end I cancelled it. I’m going to grab the Edge 810 shortly as looking at it, its a bargain at the current price with the features – good advice, thanks.
As always, your excellent reviews posted on this site are very much appreciated.
Hi all, I’m having major problems with connecting to my iphone. Connectivity is constantly dropping out and will not re connect. I recieve no texts to my garmin while out riding
If the unit is sitting next to each other and doing that, then there’s a problem with one of the two. If it’s in your back pocket, it may be the problems I saw in the review. In any scenario, it’s best to ring up Garmin Support.
Does Edge 810 support di2?
Latest firmware info is:
Changes made from version 3.00 to 3.20:
Fixed an issue causing activities to not always be saved if the device is powered down immediately after saving a ride.
Nothing about Di2.
So how is it?
michal
The Edge 810 and 510 beta firmware version support Di2 now. It’s available here: link to forums.garmin.com
:) Thank you! (Man you’re fast :))) )
New beta firmware for the 1000 just came out, finally giving the Landscape option, plus a few other fixes we’ve been waiting for. I’ve installed it and its working fine.
Hi,
Just a detail regarding your round route routing comment:
“Perhaps that’s just because of the complexity of downtown Paris…”
At least on the screen of your Edge 1000 you are on the border between Helsinki and Espoo in Finland, not Paris, France. I should know, I do travel past that particular Hanasaari point about 200 days a year both ways.
The route as such is not at all a bad choice for a run, on the contrary. If only the weather was ok it should have been quite enjoyable.
Next time please just let me know and I’ll be more than happy to take you out on any guided ride along the seasides, be it summer or winter. You can have one of my bikes, I think we are quite close regarding size (185cm).
where do you go to download the beta version?
link to www8.garmin.com
Funny, yeah, I finished up the review while at the hotel out there. So needed a couple of final photos I was missing. Was quite a nice area for running/exploring though.
The map in the picture immediately caught my eye although I was just fast scrolling by that part of the review…
Glad to hear you enjoyed your stay.
How legible is the edge 1000 with the backlight off in daylight? I want to be able to maximize my battery life like i do with the gpsmap 62s. I can read the gpsmap 62s screen prefectly in daylight with the back light set to zero.
No problems at all with the backlight off during daylight. I usually have mine off.
Thanks for the great review Ray. I’ve been using a Cateye Stealth 50 for a while and haven’t had any complaints except for battery life. Now that I have the opportunity to get into a Garmin for the first time. would it be wise for me to go straight into the 1000 or should I invest in the 810? I’ve read a few threads where people have mentioned battery life issues with the 1000 v.s. better battery life on 810. Also a bit concerned with its large size and I like to mount my computers out front. The one thing I do like is the resolution. Do you feel it’s worth going for the 1000 over the 810 just for the better resolution? Thank you!
I bought the Edge 1000 when I purchased the Garmin Vector power meter system. I still have my Edge 800 (and I started with the 705). I did a fair amount of “guided” riding with the 800, and found the maps easy enough to view. The larger screened 1000 is better. I had the 800 mounted on my stem. The 1000 includes a “barfly” type mount,and is easier to read, both because of the screen size and the position. I think contrast is better, too. (Note: I’m 70, and my vision isn’t what it once was.)
The 810 and the 1000 both have extra features compared to the 800. I’ve used the Live Track a couple of times. I’ve only let the 1000 sync my ride to Garmin Connect once or twice. The 1000 has a couple of extras such as round trip routing that aren’t on the 810. I haven’t used them yet. (Go to Garmin.com, Shop, Cycling, and “compare” the two units for a concise look at the differences.) You have to decide whether the latest is worth the extra cost (a good part of which is due to standard maps, which you can make for free for the 810).
In my opinion, you have to decide you need, or want to use, or at least want to try, all the features, or you’re just wasting your money. A $600 cycling computer is slightly ridiculous. The Edge 200 will let you be a player on Strava at a quarter of the price.
Thank you for your input Colin. What if I told you that I would be paying just $200 for the 1000 or $0 for the 810? I was given a GoPro 4 silver a gift and have the opportunity to swap it out for the Garmin. I already have one GoPro so don’t really need a second one right now. so money is really not an obstacle. My main concern is that the 1000 may be too big (like mounting a cell phone on the bike) and that the battery life is poor. But I do hear the resolution is so much better on the 1000. Colin, how long does the battery last for you?
I’ve done one seven hour ride, where I had guidance on part of the way. Then I stopped using guidance, but I think it was still guiding me in the background (telling me I was off course). (I didn’t stop to make sure I had stopped guidance.) I had 30% battery left when I finished. I think that if I’d done everything right, I’d probably have had about 50% left. This seems acceptable to me, because I seldom do longer rides than that, and I ride almost every day. I also charge my Edge every day.
The unit is pretty big, but it hasn’t caused my bike to tip over, and no one I ride with has remarked that it looks ridiculous. I’ve been carrying both units recently, because I’m doing a Strava climbing challenge, and the 800 registers more elevation!
As for making the right decision, you have to go BIG!
Dino,
I pretty much had the same questions you did before I pulled the trigger on my edge 1000. Although I can’t give you a comparison on battery life compared to the 810, my little edge 200 had far more battery life. But that’s pretty much comparing apples to oranges.
I myself was worried about it’s size, but once I mounted it on the bike using the included front mount, it looks right at home. And beings there is a new beta update with the new landscape mode, you can mount the unit sideways. I haven’t tried that on my bike yet, but I did download the beta version and I am pretty impressed with this option.
The resolution is great in my opinion. It took me two months to make my decision on the edge 1000 and once I found a good deal on it I went for it.
For now I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
Thanks for the input Jerry. i used to attach my iPhone on the bike and did away with that because of its size plus wanted to conserve battery life on my phone…so I went with an actual cycling computer. While I do like my Cateye, it doesn’t have maps/navigation and the battery life is not great. Now I have an opportunity to either get the 810 as an even swap for my GoPro 4 Silver (it was a gift) or do the swap and pay the difference of $200 for the Edge 1000. While the resolution on the 1000 is very impressive, do you really think it’s a deal breaker when deciding between the two units? As for battery life, how many hours has the 1000 lasted for you?
What’s your take on this Ray? Thank you.
Dino,
I just bought my 1000 just a bit ago and have been on only one shakedown run.
I was out for about 3.5 hours and had about 65% left. I have heard about options for getting more battery life out of it so that is something I need to experiment with. I probably won’t be on a ride for more the 8 hours so battery life shouldn’t be a problem for me.
If your an ultra distance rider then you might have to take battery life into consideration.
Once again, I’m sure the size will grow on you once you see how nice the data displays are. I have a large Samsung Galaxy smart phone and it is smaller then the phone.
With the added options on the edge 1000 compared to the 810; and with you getting it for $200.00 bucks I wouldn’t think twice……go for it!
Thank you. Still thinking about it. I know for just $200 the 1000 is a bargain but not sure yet if I want the bigger unit. Still researching in regards to battery life and screen resolution difference between the 810 and 1000. More than likely I’ll end up getting the 1000 since it’s the latest. I was originally interested in getting one of the new Pioneer cyclo computers. Have you looked into those? Thanks!
I’d avoid the Pioneer head units. While I think their power meter is perfectly fine, I just don’t get the head unit. It’s clunky to use in my opinion.
Well the Pioneer head units are smaller in size compared to the 1000 and 850 but I still would like the maps/navigation features…therefore I’m going with Garmin. I just can’t decide if it would be a good idea just to get the 1000 since I would only have to pay $200 after trading in the GoPro 4 gift I was given at work. Or just trade in the GoPro 4 for the 810 as an even swap. Ray, how did you feel about its size? Do you think it’s too big of a unit for the bike? Also, what are your thoughts on the battery life? I don’t expect to ride extreme distances I would normally do about 100+ miles a day at our local charity rides which would take me about 5 to 6 hours at most. You feel the battery life on the 1000 is sufficient? Thank you.
Is it not possible to enter your ODO manually on the Edge 1000? Id like to input the mileage my bike currently has when switching from my Cateye to the Garmin and take it from there. If you’re not able to enter the information, does the 810 allow to enter it? Thanks!
Does anyone know about the question I have on the odometer with the Edge 1000? Not sure if it has already been answered. I’ve been reading around that you are not able to enter an the odometer manually onto the 1000. If not, has there been a firmware update to add this feature? I’m getting ready to make a purchase today :-)
You cannot enter an odometer value manually on the edge 1000. I am running the latest beta firmware. You can do this via manually editing the device totals .fit file, but that requires a fit file editor.
Thanks Bob. Well that is one feature I wish it did have since I’d like for it to read (more or less) the mileage I have placed on my bike. Also, regarding the maps, I hear that the 1000 comes with the OpenStreetMaps and not the Garmin CN maps. Have you looked at the difference between the two? If so, would I like the CN maps better? I’m a Garmin newbie so not sure. In other words, would it be best to get the 810 bundle that comes with the Garmin CN maps or get the 1000 with the base maps ? Thank you.
I was reading somewhere, there should be separate odometer for each profile you create. (Latest beta firmware) shouldn’t be that field modifiable?
michal
Yes, there are separate odometer totals for each profile now, plus a total device odometer, but no the present beta firmware (2.57 beta). does not allow you to modify them. As stated, you can use a fit file editor to do that.
I have been using the 1000 for the whole cycling season, and have not had any issue with the maps. They seem to be just as good as the CN maps I had on my Edge 800. I don’t see the need for the CN bundle.
ps. 2.57 beta gives you landscape mode, and from all reports finally fixes the Bluetooth issues that plagued some Iphone users. ( I have an Android and its always worked for me).
I had the Garmin maps on my 800, and I built an OpenStreetMaps map of the USA and replaced the Garmin maps. I believe I had more information available with OSM. The cost in time to build the map may rival the cost of buying the Garmin maps, but I was able to build a map for two friends as well, just for the price of the microSD cards.
When this question was asked, I went looking for a way to set the odometer, without success. It seems odd that you can create a profile for your bike(s), but the software presumes that they are “brand new” bikes with zero miles on them.
I created two new activity profiles for my Colnago and my Trek. I haven’t ridden the Trek using the Edge 1000. But at some point, I messed up and switched to using the “Race” profile, so now the Total mileage is correct, but the Colnago mileage is wrong. I’d like to have a way to fix it….
The one thing you miss out on using OSM maps, at least the last time I looked, was that if you buy Garmin topo maps BaseCamp will show you a 3D view, and even my old Edge 800 will do some shading to highlight the topography in addition to showing contour lines. Of course, that doesn’t matter if your alternative is buying CN.
Wait, so now you can have separate bike profiles on the 1000 like previous edge models? Was this feature added with the a firmware update? If so, which update was it?
As for modifying the odometer with a fit file editor, is there a link you can provide that will show how to go about doing this? Thank you.
Hey DC,
when can we expect the new generation of edge 5xx and 8xx (520 and 820 maybe) to come out?
Well, the 1000 is in the mail and I should be expecting it early next week. Hopefully sometime soon there will be a firmware update which will allow for us to manually enter and/or make edits to an odometer figure.. Otherwise, I’ll have to learn to live with starting back at zero. Thanks for all of your help everyone!
Dino
I think you will be very happy with your choice. You can always write a note for yourself in the Garmin Connect training Calender on your previous mileage from your other device and then just add the two totals.
Let us know what you think of the new Edge 1000 and hopefully you live in an area where the weather won’t keep you from trying it out.
hi Ray
i was wondering whether the edge 1000 fares better than edge 500 on temperature readings.
I agree with you that during the workout it definitely falls in the “oh, nice” category, but i find it useful when looking at past workouts.
When reviewing the edge 500 you noticed it read 10F more. My experience is similar, as i can see approximately a difference of 5C. Though my limited sample and the lack of close-by weather stations make it impossible to gauge whether the offset is constant…
I didn’t have time to read the whole review but noticed no W’ or anaerobic reserve capacity data field. A live display of anaerobic reserve would be very useful for racing. Do any other head units offer this function?
I’m not aware of any.
Hello. Does anyone else, with firmware 2.50 on their Edge 1000, have the wrong time-zone? Any clues as to how it can be corrected. It is four (4) hours off. Thanks.
Was wondering how the 1000 is faring now? It seems it was a bit of a disappointment when it came out but often Garmin units do get better with firmware updates. Is it a a good idea to upgrade from my 800 yet? I’ve been holding on to see if some of the bugs get ironed out and it’s Christmas soon!
It seems to be doing much better in the firmware department. That said, the Edge 810 also got many of the Edge 1000 features, like Di2 and Garmin Segments support.
Ray,
You imply the Edge 1000 is still overkill compared to lower priced models like the 810 or even the 510 for some users. Removing cost as a consideration can you recommend the 1000 after the recent firmware updates? Garmin has also posted Beta firmware that will hopefully GM soon and resolves more communication issues and includes horizontal orientation. I’m currently using the Edge 510 which I really like, but want Map functionality on the Trail for the Mountain bike and Streets for the Road bike. I’m riding in some unfamiliar areas and need decent on/off road map support without reaching for the iPhone 6 all the time. I am hoping the Edge 1000 will work. Of course I also want to keep the fitness functionality which work great for me on the 510.
Am wondering that myself with Wiggle.co.uk doing 25% off the basic model.
While I have used the beta a ton (on the Edge 1000), I generally find the Edge in its current forma generally reliable device. That said, I haven’t done a ton with the Bluetooth aspects since the summer, simply because I got so fed up with them not working. And I realize that some of the BT pieces are very user dependent (placement/clothing/bike/etc).
And there are things I REALLY like about the Edge 1000 – namely the sensor pool, without question it’s my favorite feature. But then again, it’s probably because I’ve got so many sensors that it makes my life easier (though, I wish there wasn’t an upper limit that I hit almost daily).
I bet the 810 didn’t get a larger screen and GLONASS support (actually, I’m not clear whether that’s a hardware/antenna issue or just a firmware thing). The only thing that concerns me about the 1000 is the elevation accuracy, and people compare it to the 810, but whose to say which is more accurate?
The Edge 1000 is definitely a bigger screen and different GPS chipset than the Edge 810, no real question there.
I didn’t see appreciable difference between any of them in my accuracy testing, as seen here: link to dcrainmaker.com
After having had a rather good day decided to splash out on the Edge 1000 Performance bundle. Unfortunately the decision brought my good day to a rather abrupt end. Have to wonder if Garmin do it on purpose….
Yet again the Edge is limited to pairing with 1 device So if I happen to have my work rather than personal smartphone I need to actively ‘forget’ the current phone and re-pair with the new phone until I need to use the old one when I have to go through the process again :(
Current S/W on the E1000 is 2.3 which isn’t the latest but E1000 claims its up to date. Does Garmin really expect me to pack my Mac Pro and 27″ thunderbolt display when I need to travel so I have access to Garmin Express and the required software updates? A whole host of features are denied to me because the SmartPhone revolution seems to have pasted Garmin by. Why can’t I populate my personal records, segments etc via Garmin Connect Android & BT? Why can’t the touch sceen on the E1000 be used to connect to say Starbucks free WiFi for firmware updates for instance? New Garmin Connect via a browser on a phone is a totally unuseable mess. The rubber flaps protecting the sdcard and usb port look rather flimsy on first inspection and when charging its no longer possible to lay the unit flat.
I’m a pretty normal guy who came to the E1000 via the equally flawed E810. Are my criticisms unfair? Am feeling really pee’d off about it.
For the pairing to a single device, this is actually pretty similar to every other wearable device I’ve tested from any company. I can’t actually think of any example that does allow dual pairing (offhand).
Firmware updates on the Edge are somewhat rare – every few months. One of the reasons why you don’t want to update your mapset (annual) over BLE is just that Bluetooth Smart is an incredibly slow protocal. To update the multi-GB maps over Bluetooth Smart, it’d literally take days (I could do the math to get the exact number of days, but it really is days).
WiFi does solve that of course, but the limitation there with Starbucks type WiFi is that you need to click ‘I agree’ on a browser window. The Edge 1000 doesn’t have a browser built in.
Thanks for the reply Ray….
None of my other portable hardware needs to be connected to configuration/CMS software on a desktop to update firmware or content ie Kindle, Galaxy Smartphone and iPod etc
Why can’t Garmin leverage the connectivity of a Smartphone to grab firmware and content like my Personal Records and use the Garmin phone App as a bridge to the Garmin hardware via WiFi? of which both the E1000 & FR620 have. Possibly 10 years ago Garmin would have had a point in doing it the way they do but in 2014/15???
Won’t be home for a few days yet and despite the Garmin App having all the data I want on the E1000 the device is 90% empty.
Apple doesn’t permit apps to bridge to a WiFi network as a straight pass-through (i.e. Internet sharing). It can of course act as an intermediary, but then again, for something like a 4.5GB mapset you’d never want to transfer that to the device via Bluetooth Smart. But for workouts and everything else (including PR’s) that does happen via the phone.
As for firmware updates, the Edge and FR series does grab them via WiFi for networks that are preconfigured. I do agree it’d be nice to configure networks on the FR series via the app – but the Edge series can be done directly.
Also, keep in mind your Kindle, Galaxy phone, etc… all have browsers on them.
Thanks Ray for your great reviews! Always good to read them.
Some thoughts I hope you can comment on: I use an edge 810 with different power meters. SRM and powertap. I program my training sessions in garmin connect and upload them to my edge. My 810 proves to be very unreliable. It crashes very often: just freezes the screen and stops working. My guess is all the inputs (interval program, HR sensor, speed sensor and powermeter) gets it to the limits of its capabilities in computing power and causes it to crash. Am I right or is it software bugs more than anything else causing my trouble?
My hope: edge 1000 = more computing power = less crashes when in the middle of carefully programmed training sessions.
Many thanks for your thoughts!
Jonathan,
Maybe since you use a couple of different power meters, you can answer a question I’ve been wondering about: Do different brands of power meters show different levels of wattage?
I have Garmin Vector, and a couple of friends have Pioneer and Stages. We’re all just “casual” power meter users, but it seems that Mr Pioneer registers higher levels of power than I do. Ms Stages (Mr Pioneer’s wife), I’m not so sure about yet.
If you’re getting crashes, I suspect you may have some corruption on the Edge 810 file system. To take care of that, copy all your activity files/workouts to your computer, and then clear off everything from the Edge (including the courses/tracks/workouts/etc…). Then do a full reset on the Edge 810. That’ll likely help. In almost every case for crashes on Garmin products that I usually see, it’s due to some sort of corruption in either the file system, or a file that the product tries to open (like an older activity file or such).
From there, you can go ahead and load the workouts from GC back over again.
Colin- Yes, they do. You can’t compare Stages and Pioneer unfortunately, especially if on different bikes with different riders. The power output would vary with a riders weight and terrain.
Seems to work…At least one very “stable ride” today.
So…my edge seems to be more stable now. A big wish however, would be better software on the computer side.
As I understand it you put a great deal of time in talking to garmin, which seems to be hard as a normal customer.
Something I never understood, and leads to a lot of frustration: why all those different software tools. Updating, mapping, route creation, training center…I lost count. And time and again it takes so much time to get things running properly.
My question to garmin would be: ” please please PLEASE…one program that does the same as express and training center, and possibly also a route creator in it.” This program would have more or less the same user interface as garminconnect. It would synchronise with my garmin when I plug it into the computer, and with GC when the computer comes online. With a solution like that, most of my issues would be sorted.
A couple of examples:
1 Why two buttons for importing and exporting workouts from my edge from and to training center? My idea: one button: “sync” then one question: would you like to retain data on your device: “yes” or “no”. And off we go.
2 Why can the user profile not be “just” synchronised? Because I travel a lot for work, I use several laptops and several devices. However, my user profile only changes when I do my lactate/CO2 test. Still, every time I log in there is this question “user profile on device and computer/GC isn’t the same”.
3 When I create a workout, it would be great if I saw it on GC and training center (preferably on both my computers). I find programming training sessions is just so much easier on training center than it is on GC.
Could you bring it in, Ray?
Many, many thanks for your help!
Jonathan
I agree on the user profile pieces, and the same for the workout creation. Actually, yeah, in general I do agree that things on Garmin Connect (workouts/routes) should just be there on the Edge. That said, I do think it makes sense to probably make that focused on Garmin Express with GC online integration, rather than Garmin Training Center, which is a bit old these days.
I’ve had a unit on test for 300 miles of use, and generally love it.
But how do Garmin continuously get away with exaggerating their battery life for this unit.
No sensors, no back light, one screen only (like the profiles function a lot) no activity while riding and battery lasted only 9 hours. So why fool us with 15 hrs in the specs!
Love the clarity of the mapping and the screen in sunlight and the very clear route following line in white.
One software thing I don’t like is that on tours away from PC’s I often set up a few routes using the route planner. You have shown one above with the list of places set up. There is then no option to save this as a named route. If you want to set up another you have to start all over again and lose your work! very poor Garmin, sort that out.
I prefer to look at the battery limitation as an opportunity/reason to stop cycling after 9 hours. ;)
I appreciate what a thorough review you did, thanks. I have two questions, my Edge 810 has started to act wonky, how many years should I expect this device to last before upgrading? I am concerned about the Bluetooth LiveTrack feature since its important to my family as I ride solo. Has it improved?
Thanks
I just wanted to point out some issues I’ve had with the Edge 1000 when I turn off GPS. I turn off GPS when I’m on a trainer. I have the wheel magnet and cadence/speed sensor installed so that it can record speed, distance and cadence even without GPS signal. It works fine until I stop. The timer does not stop but keeps going even though speed and distance go to zero (as they should) and the distance stops. Also, when I stop the time using the start stop button the unit freezes (this only happens when GPS is off). I have to do a soft reset to get it back but it loses some of the data that had been recorded. Hence I can’t use this method to stop the timer while I rest. I’ve made Garmin aware but they insist this shouldn’t happen. Perhaps I have a bad unit so I’d be interested if anyone else is having these issues.
I believe that Garmin devices have always ignored Auto Pause when GPS is off (indoors).
That said, the stop/start freezing is definitely not normal. I’d look to doing a hard reset of the unit and see if that helps.
Just tested this with my 1000 indoors, and there is a bug (feature). I am using beta firmware 2.57. With gps off, and using a rear speed sensor, its true that with auto pause on, it does not auto pause when the wheel stops and speed goes to zero. But if I then slowly move the wheel around and let the magnet give the sensor one “click” and then stop the wheel, auto pause happens. The border of the screen turns amber, the pause symbol comes up on the screen and the timer stops.
Looking to purchase a Garmin Edge 1000; also looking for a discount on it. Will the Clever Training VIP Program, give me 10% and/or are there other options
btw I am really enjoying your site.
Rich
Hi Rich-
Yup, with the VIP program you’re good to go with the 10% savings on the Edge 1000. Simply sign-up for the VIP program here first: link to dcrainmaker.com
Then 30 minutes later you’ll get your personal coupon code that’s good from there on out for any future purchases.
Thanks for the support!
Hi Ray,
Since your review in June, have Garmin addressed any of the cons / bugs you picked up on, as of now? I’m on the verge of plunging for the 1000 to replace my knackered Edge 500 unit.
Lastly, what are your thoughts about Shimano confirming that the mystery button in Di2 shifters will now be used to control our head units via their D-Fly box, once Garmin figure out a new firmware for this new integration? A gimmick?
Thanks
They’ve addressed quite a few, primarily around the touch screen and stability. The odometer was also fixed as well. I haven’t spent as much time on the Bluetooth pieces though, so I can’t confirm there.
The Di2 integration items are also now fixed too. On the new button just announced yesterday, my understanding/assumption is that they’re now broadcasting on the open ANT+ Remote Control profile, but, I need to validate that with someone first. Unfortunately my triathlon bike/TT setup doesn’t have said button as far as I know.
Yeah, I need to update things in that bug section…
There is a button on the underside of the aerobar end shifters
Hmm, I’m not seeing any buttons. Are they below the casing? link to dcrainmaker.com
I just tried getting the buttons to pair as an Edge remote. Tried pushing both at once, one at a time, combos to try to put it in pairing mode, but it wasnt detected. So, if they have implemented it as a regular ant+, I don’t see it.
I understood it to mean you have to update some software on the Shimano side first. I’ll need to dig out my cables…
They did come out with the latest firmware update for the D fly, and I did install that before testing it. The description of the d fly firmware update says that it implements the buttons feature.
Nov. 20, 2014 3.0.3 Add function to send iCTD information and ST-9070 remote control switch signal
does anyone have a view on whether the bundle is worth it… or save a bit and buy the device only???
For the bundle, I’d say it depends on two things:
1) Do you care about cadence?
2) Do you care about HR?
If you answer no to both of those, then, no. If yes, then perhaps. The new magnetless cadence sensor is pretty slick. But at the same time, the new Wahoo BlueSCv2 one does both dual ANT+ and Bluetooth Smart, whereas the Garmin is ANT+ only.
Thanks for checking on the auto pause bug. However, I’m running firmware 2.5. Where do I get the beta 2.57? As for bundle versus device only; in the past (e.g. Edge 800, 810, etc.) it’s been less expensive to buy the device and then search the web for lowest sensor prices. I’m not sure if that is still true but it’s worth investigating.
link to www8.garmin.com
Ugh, should ‘ve done more research. Just bought a Wahoo Tickr to have one strap for both the Tacx Smart and the Garmin, but when I couldn’t get it to work on the Edge 1000 even after the firmware update and went to Google, I found several people having issues with these.
Any solutions at all out there, or money wasted?
I haven’t quite been able to figure out the pattern why it works for some, but not others. Or even why it works for me about 90% of the time, but every once in a while pretends to ignore it. :-/
Thanks for the reply.
Guess I’m just not lucky with my straps. Soft premium strap that came with my FR 310XT gave up after a few months, its replacement did the same. Been using the old hard strap from my Edge 305 since. Finally decided to upgrade, now this …
Created a support request on the Wahoofitness site, we’ll see what they have to say about it. Guess I’ll be recording my Tacx rides with the FR and using the hard Garmin strap when riding outdoors.
FWIW : I did just try a master reset, to no avail.
What I do notice is that wearing the Tickr as I sit here typing and having the Edge beside me, it occasionally connects to the tickr and at the same time disconnects from the phone, only for a second later to connect to the phone again and drop the Tickr.
Could be coincidence I guess, but then again, when I turn Bluetooth off, it doesn’t even seem to find the Tickr at all, whilst it is at the same time connected to the FR 310XT as well as the Galaxy S4 through ANT+.
Something else I’ve just discovered on my Edge 1000 : scratches in the screen
The device is a mere few months old and for the life of me can’t think of anything it has went through so severe that it would warrant such a scratch. Heck, my phone has gone through a lot worse over a period of 2 years and compared to the Edge its screen looks flawless.
Not quite what I expected from such a high-end apparatus.
Ray
So! is the Edge 1000 worth the money? I have read many reviews (not just this one) and it is becoming a questionable purchase for me. after a year I would have thought the bugs would be worked out; bottom line does it work?
Your feedback would be appreciated
Rich
You can buy mine. I have a real issue with the screen not registering my touch which causes me to look down for prolonged periods whilst I attempt to get it to do what it should do from a single glance, this proves to be very dangerous when I should be looking ahead but lo and behold they are covered from liability by advising that you shouldn’t be operating it whilst moving (what a joke). I bought the remote as a workaround but that is too restricted in what you can and can’t do, why couldn’t you program all the buttons and for any function? so there is no real workaround for the bad screen which incidentally if you sweat on won’t work AT ALL! I hate this device, I can tolerate software to some degree as it can be fixed in time but the hardware (touch screen) cannot be so this device will never work.
Have you updated your firmware? And if not – have you tried contacting Garmin to replace? What you’re describing on the touch screen has been resolved since June.
Yes I keep up with updates maybe mine has a problem to be honest I hadn’t even considered it might be faulty which shows what my expectations are of garmin these days.. Thanks for the reply Ray I don’t make a single move when it comes to bike tech until I’ve consulted the master first
Ray, if issues with the touchscreen have been resolved, please add a note about it in the review.
As the discussion grows in size it’s virtually impossible for the people to Ctrl+F and read all the matched comments, just to see how well the touchscreen is doing after some time from the original review date.
Most of the problems you’re describing are faults with software, so those of us who just want the best edge money can buy, may hope these eventually will get resolved with firmware updates.
However, with screen it’s entirely different, as it’s hardware.
Are you saying that problems with touchscreen were caused by faulty firmware controlling the screen, or current 1000 units are manufactured with improved screen, hopefully resistive?
Specific Q.
I use an 810 right now. It’s okay but slow loading maps.
I can’t see it mentioned, but I may have missed it. Does the 1000 have a faster processor? Did you do side by side tests to see if it is better at loading maps and processing across maps. It annoys me when I have to stop because the 810 is being slow and I can’t load maps quick enough on the fly.
It’s considerably faster to load maps.
Thanks. I guess I’ll have to get one. Not really a decent alternative.
P.S. Really appreciate you reply to the comments personally. Awesome that you take time to do so. Really makes the blog.
For those of you that have asked if the Edge 1000 is worth it. the answer is a big — NO. I have had many issues with mine and the technical support people at Garmin refuse to believe that I’m having any issues with it. Lately the biggest issue is that it locks up when I end a ride so I have to reboot and it loses the ride. I have never been able to get the Bluetooth to pair with my iPhone and can’t use the pause function when on a trainer with the GPS off, i.e. it doesn’t pause when I stop to take a break. If anyone else is having these issues please call Garmin and tell them so that they don’t think I’m the only one.
Not sure what Garmin has had you try yet, but in 99% of cases I see with Garmin devices, locking up is due to one of two items:
1) A bad microSD card
2) Corruption on the hard disk.
With #2, that’s typically resolved by a hard reset and removal of all existing activity/course/settings data. You may have already tried that, and if so, I’d really have them just swap out the unit for you. I’ve yet to lose a single ride on any of the three Edge 1000’s I have (and have largely been using since May/June).
Mine locks up frequently at the end of a ride too when trying to upload via Bluetooth, causing me to reset which then means that I get more frustration than convenience from this function when it happens and I wonder why I’m paying extra for this “inconvenience”. That said it has been improving over the months and I haven’t actually lost a ride, I guess time will iron these things out one thing is for sure I’m not getting the next device, this one will be perfect in a year I suspect and I’ve learnt my lesson on early adoption the hard way.
Does anyone know if it’s possible to view the actual numerical battery % on the unit without plugging it in? I.e. When out on a ride, as you can on the Garmin 510. just having the little picture isn’t really enough for me.
Many thanks all
Yes, the battery % can be displayed as one of the many fields that can be selected for display on any of the data pages. The setting is General / Battery Level
Same question here. Edge 810 shows %. Cant find it on the 1000
Thanks was looking for that setting.
think he is not talking about the datafields but the battery icon in the top.
Yes that correct, it would be great to just view the % on the top of screen as is on my old 510.
I can’t help but think that currently the 1000 is a mixed bag. its adds great features, and loses basic things
True!!
I agree with the way Garmin implemented the 1000 in this case for several reasons
The status line is too small for me to be able to read while moving along a bumpy road, so it is just clutter on the screen as far as I am concerned. On the 1000, this line is only displayed on the Home screen. All other screens do not display this info.
Not everyone will be concerned about battery level, so why should they have to have it displayed all the time. When I am on a training ride, I know the unit has enough battery , so I dont care. When I am on a long audax, I do care about the battery level.
The way Garmin has implemented it, you can create different activity profiles to display only the info you are interested in, with a good clean format. The same is true for the other info on the status line (Date, temperature, etc)
WOO found it!! On the Garmin 1000, if you want to see the battery in %, when NOT on a ride, swipe down from the home screen and it shows the battery in % at the top of the menu showing screen brightness, no. satellites etc
Some people had correctly pointed out, you could create a data field to see the battery when riding, but we could still only see the battery graphic when the unit was ON, but no displaying a ride.
Who knows how to change the color of the guideline when using Round-Trip Routing?
Can’t find it..
I’m curious if people would pay for a properly tested/supported bike computer with greater customization – plugins, multiple routing engines, robust BLE/ANT+ support, generator/light integration, … What three features do you want most? What standard bike computer features do you not use?
I would argue that if Connect IQ ever makes it to the Edge lineup, you’d basically have exactly that level of flexibility.
WOO found it!! On the Garmin 1000, if you want to see the battery in %, when NOT on a ride, swipe down from the home screen and it shows the battery in % at the top of the menu showing screen brightness, no. satellites etc
Some people had correctly pointed out, you could create a data field to see the battery when riding, but we could still only see the battery graphic when the unit was ON, but no displaying a ride.
I bought my 1000 for Xmas – 2 rides of 10 miles and 37 miles – I have got to say, everything works perfectly – connected features, sensors, nav – am well pleased at the moment
I quit reading when I found out you can no longer track individual bike mileage which seems silly to eliminate. I am glad I found this review before I got rid of my 810. Thanks for saving me the hassle.
This statement in the review is not accurate. The Edge 1000 came with two predefined “profiles” – Train and Race, I think. I added another profile “Colnago” and a fourth “Trek”. I use one of my two profiles when I ride, and they keep track of distance by bike.
I have since deleted the other two profiles, because occasionally, when I’m starting a ride, I’ll touch the Edge in a way that causes the profile to change, and I would end up using one of those other profiles. The profiles control how many and which screens are used, and the fields on those screens, so suddenly, I wouldn’t have the “climbing” screen, or the one that displayed the temperature.
Now I’m pretty well set up the way I had my Edge 800 working (except that I have added Garmin Vector power meters to my Colnago).
Hi Ray
I think my thumb just got a great workout scrolling my iPad mini to the foot of all these comments :) thanks for your awesome support not just on new tech but older tech too.
Anyway I want to upgrade to the 1000 but have you had any wind from Garmin of a replacement for the 1000? It seems the bike computers go through longer life cycles than the watches at least before a replacement is announced but I don’t want to get the 1000 if something newer is on the horizon this year.
What do you think?
Thanks
Hello,
After using the Garmin 810 for over a year and a half with no real big bug, and quite satisfied, I nevertheless decides to buy the Garmin 1000 for the HD display and new additional functions.
From 1 day of use you realize quickly that it’s buggy on many points, and among other things, on its supposed functions you will find the following problems:
– Some words are not translated into French
– When the WiFi and Bluetooth are activated simultaneously impossible to connect the device ..
– If unfortunately your WPA2 key is too long it turns itself off as soon as you “enter” for no reason ??
– If you own an iPhone 6 can not connect via Bluetooth to have SMS alerts (see all English forums)
– GPS is totally inaccurate compared to 810
– The virtual partner is bugged
– Regarding autonomy after 6 months of operation, it reduced to 6 hours
Despite all the updates Garmin and mail sent to the support department bugs remain, it seems that the Garmin 1000 is reached as was previous generations.
I really regret my purchase especially when you know the price of this GPS sincerely go your way and you orienterez- another GPS … ..
Great Information. Thanks
Dear Ray,
As I thought it would be nice to keep you posted with some thoughts, here we go.
As discussed before I use my edge as a training help. My interval programs very often consist out of more than 15 steps. As I hate notes on my top tube I rather program it in my bike computer.
Just upgraded from the 810 to the 1000. I love it for several reasons.
1 More computing power, so booting in a couple of seconds rather than a couple of minutes.
2 Due to glonass capability(maybe also better GPS chip/software), no waiting anymore after switching it on. Switch on, put glove on: ready to ride immediately.
3 Synchronising time nearly reduced to zero due to WiFi capability.
4 More stable than the 810. I know you posted some suggestions on how to improve stability. But I found that the 810 never really was capable of doing what it is supposed to do. On long interval rides it would crash roughly one out of every 3-4 rides. I used the new 1000 for at least 15 rides now, it didn’t crash one single time.
5 Better screen. Again for training, this is fantastic because you are finally able to read everything you want to read in one data screen. I could understand people feel it’s a bit too bulky for racing, but for training (imho) it’s a great improvement.
6 Analysing workouts for my trainer is even possible on the edge itself through the “lap” function in “ride summary”.
One question on the edge: No VO2 Max capability on the edge. Do you know if this is this expected any time soon?
All in all I do believe it is much better and much more capable than the 810. To do things properly I also upgraded to a FR920. I must say: in terms of capability, stability and ergonomics Garmin finally solved quit some of the things that used to frustrate me.
Once they will be able to make the same devices a little bit smaller, most of my wishes will be fulfilled.
Only two more things open:
1 Better durability.
2 Better connect/training centre software. Especially some analysis tools like 2peak.com has them would be great.
Thanks again for all the good work! Love your site, keep going.
Best regards,
Jonathan
Thanks for the feedback guys on the device but you’ve got one person saying it’s great and another saying it’s not so I’m still stuck at 50/50 decision :)
I thought also that the 810 might be a safe bet but now having read feedback above I dont know what to do….
Martin T, the Garmin Edge computers are not nearly as bad as some posters would have you believe. They aren’t perfect, either. I know dozens of people who use them, and are satisfied with the functionality. Personally, I have owned the 705, 800, and 1000. I have over 2300 rides on Garmin Connect. I have almost never lost ride data. I added Garmin Vector power at the same time as I got my 1000, and they work well together. I have also used the Garmins to help me navigate, with good results. The 1000 has maps included, so you’re ready to go without buying maps from Garmin for extra bucks. One feature I’ve not yet tried is data transfer between Edge computers, but I can’t imagine that being a big deal for anyone. (The 705 had that feature, and I’ve wondered if the 1000 implementation is compatible with the 705.)
I have been trying to automatically upload rides over the past several days, and Wi-Fi hasn’t worked for me, but Bluetooth has (I have an iPhone 6). This is a widespread current problem, according the Garmin Forum.
If you’re trying to decide between the 810 at end of life and the 1000 which is new (or at least current), I don’t see any real choice – you are better off with the newer model. If the decision is whether to buy a Garmin Edge at all, I think they give more pleasure (and function) than pain, but you have to decide for yourself.
Hi Colin
Many thanks for your reply, apologies I didn’t see it until now.
How are you finding the battery life on the latest firmware? with wifi / bluetooth switched off (no phone notifications), some of the rides I am doing lately are 5-6 hours long (training for a 450 mile ride across 4 days in April), that is probably the decisive factor for me now. If the 1000 can last that long then I will go for that.
The 1000 has without doubt a fantastic screen (which is the main reason I am looking to buy a dedicated bike computer rather than just use my Fenix 2), the only feedback points that put me off it was the possibility it could freeze up during rides and you potentially lose your data.
Since my earlier reply, I have gotten the wi-fi working (my problem was that I wasn’t putting my password in correctly!). My rides get uploaded to Garmin Connect before I can even get into my house. So everything that I have tried is working.
I have several rides of nearly 5 hours duration and one of almost 7 hours so far this year. I’m trying to remember what the battery percentage was on the longest ride; I think I had at least 40% left.
Out of 103 activities when I’ve used the Edge 1000, I have had the computer shut down twice. There is no doubt that this is an irritation. You never know just when it happened (obviously, some time after you last looked at the screen and saw it was working). You have to stop right then and press the Power and Lap/Reset buttons until the unit wakes itself back up. I’ve found that I have lost a small amount of data each time, but the unit goes right back to recording, so you don’t lose everything.
I have two friends who each have the 1000, and they did La Vuelta Puerto Rico, which had a 152 mile day and a 133 mile day – no problems with the Edge.
Hope this helps!
Hi Colin
Many thanks for your original post and your following up one regarding battery life and experiences with the device, based on this and DC RM original review I bought the Garmin 1000 and am currently charging / updating / downloading the 5.5GB of maps after it was delivered today.
I am really looking forward to using it tomorrow on my first ride, thanks again for both of you, the device really does look the premium! beats using a Fenix 2 for cycling.
Enjoy the new toy – I mean tool – and your riding!
Thanks Colin!
Just for comparison sake and feedback of my own :) I went on a 88 mile ride with just short of 7,000 ft of total ascent, when I got back the battery was around 60% and this was with an average temp of 6c, very happy with the device – the screen is absolutely fantastic and the sheer amount of data fields you can fit on a single page makes it particularly awesome.
I would highly recommend it at this stage.
Cheers
I have posted several issues with the Garmin 1000 in the past. However, I must say that the latest firmware update fixed almost all of my issues. It has been functioning great for the past two weeks. As a reminder here are the issues I was having that are now fixed:
Auto pause didn’t work when GPS was off (when I ride indoors on trainer)
Unit locks up after I hit stop at end of ride.
Did not support multiple bikes (i.e. only had one odometer)
What isn’t fixed is pairing Bluetooth with my iPhone 6. Pairing with my iPhone 4S still works. I think several others have experienced the iPhone 6 pairing issue. I suppose Garmin will eventually issue a update to fix this.
How do you enter a wheel size for distance when using indoors ie a turbo
Sam, Bluetooth pairing is sort of working for me between my iPhone 6 and Edge 1000. There is a lot of discussion about this subject on the Garmin Forums:
link to forums.garmin.com
Basically, you need to make sure your iPhone 6 is up to date on software, that you have the very latest Garmin Connect Mobile app, and that your 1000 is also completely current on software. Then you need to back up the data on your 1000, do a master reset, and restore the data (info on doing this is on the Edge 1000 forum). After all this work, I’ve been able to upload my ride via Bluetooth right into Garmin Connect. I have not tried using Live Track since I got my iPhone 6. On the other hand, I haven’t made Wi-Fi work for uploading yet.
Ray,
I know i’ve read the information i’m looking for on your site, but i can’t find it now.
You recommended some cadence and speed sensors for the edge that was not made by garmin and they were transmiting both ANT+ and Bluetooth.
wish i could find that post or comment again and where to buy them.
Thanks,
Paul
I’ve tried setting the Edge 1000 to landscape mode, and it seems to work fine.
Looking at the Out Front mount, it appears that I only need to unscrew two screws in order to rotate the mount 90 degrees, and then I can mount the Edge sideways to actually try using it in landscape mode. Is that right?
Correct. Some non-Garmin mounts support twisting without having to undo screws.
Can you get the Garmin 1000 to connect direct to a wahoo kickr and stream data for in line apps?
Yes, though you can’t control the KICKR from it, but you can read distance, speed and power.
Has this changed since the review? An owner of 1000 and Wahoo Kickr mentioned that is can now be used as a head unit to control the trainer. He also alluded to being able to map a course then load it to the 1000 which would allow the Kickr to simulate the elevation and track the ride. Very computrainerish…
Just looking to confirm this and if so wondering if you’ve tried it and how well it worked.
Thanks!
Yup, about two weeks ago they rolled out FE-C support (officially, finally) on both KICKR models.
It’s about 9 months since the Edge 1000 was released, and it looks as though the connectivity (BT, BTLE, and WiFi) issues have been lessened if not resolved by firmware updates. My wife wants me to get the Edge 1000 so she won’t worry about where I am while I’m out on a ride. I see many hopeful posts here and on the Garmin forums regarding this working with current firmware for the phone (iPhone 6, fully updated) and device (I’m still on a non-communicating Edge 1000). Would you say that’s reasonably accurate?
Also, I’m wondering if I can do the uploading via WiFi using my iPhone as the personal hotspot for WiFi connectivity.
Thanks so much.
GREAT review!!!!!
In general I find most of the issues resolved – but by the same token I don’t spend a ton of time with the BT features of the Edge 1000.
As for using your WiFi hotspot with the Edge 1000, yup, it’s what I often do while travelling. Just set it up ahead of time and you’re good to go.
Can someone help with my di2 battery level screen. I go to gearing data page but i dont see battery level tab to select from only setting gearing options
thanks, John
hey, just happened upon your website recently while entering the market for a cycling computer. Wow, what a wealth of information. I’m stuck between the 800/810, the 1000, and the Magellan Cyclo 505. I think if the Edge Touring had a way to do heart rate/cadence, i’d probably go with that, as I don’t need all the other fancy stuff. Just want robust mapping, and a reliable way to track cadence and heart rate
Is there an updated way to kinda compare those guys to each other to help me make an informed decision, especially regarding how mature the firmware/software for each is? Does the Magellan work more consistently with less bugs? Is there a massive difference in the mapping capabilities between a 1000 and the Mag505, etc?
again, great site. I think I could spend, literally, days trying to read up on all this stuff. Thanks a ton for providing such a wealth of information!
Honestly, I’d go with the Edge 810. It continues to get very solid firmware updates/features and is a great option.
Well thank you for that.
ok then, that makes it easy, thanks for helping me make up my mind!
Hi,I’m from South Africa, and we have more and more multi day MTB races that you need GPS navigation to ride (no route markings). I am training for the Cape Epic in 2016 (8day 739km MTB race) and it looks as if they will also be going navigation for next year.
Will the 810 be the best way to go, even with out the Bluetooth 4.0? Harmon website gives very little info on upgrades and new features.
Yeah, I’d say either the 810 or 1000 will be ideal for you, especially since you have the larger MicroSD card potential for more storage (of maps).
There’s no impact on lack of BT4 with the navigation functions of the Edge 810.
Garmin continues to roll out new features to the Edge 810, such as last month getting a bunch of things.
Thanks that realy helps me allot.
How often do Garmin release a new version on a model like this? Is it every 12 months or every 24 months?
Regards,
Typically every 2 years.
I’ve not followed Garmin’s release schedule, but I think they’re a bit like Apple, in that a release jumps the “hundreds” place in their naming scheme is a reconception of the platform: i.e., Edge 500, 800, 1000, whereas the mature product at each platform conception changes the “tens” place; i.e.,, 510, 810, and perhaps an upcoming 1010.
Apple’s iPhones do this as 4 vs. 4s, 5 vs. 5s, 6 vs. perhaps this year’s 6s. Certainly works for them (last quarterly revenues bigger than those of MS, Google, and Yahoo combined).
The Edge 1000 is way beyond my needs and I want an 810. However, it would seem that the 810 might be due for a new release (like “820” or “900”). It has been about 2 years and a month since dcr reviewed the then-new 810 in-depth. What do you think, wait or buy?
this is a good point, and just as important, will the 820 be ‘rushed to market’ lacking mature firmware?
Despite the usual two-year cycle, I honestly wouldn’t expect a new 810 anytime soon. Given Garmin is still rolling out new features as of a few weeks ago, it’s a tell-tale sign they don’t have anything in store to replace that model (otherwise they’d have stopped rolling out new features).
great point, and great info man, thanks a ton!
Thanks for the review. I own an Edge 500, 810 and now a garmin 1000. I am much more positive than you on this new device. I had been looking for a while for a replacement to garmin 810, with a much better screen definition. When following a route on small mountain roads, the Garmin 1000 map is a huge improvement over the 810 (in particular when you are doing mountain bike on small paths). I don’t care much about segments, wifi, smart bluetooth and all the other functionalities which just drain your battery… but for me, better routing on maps, integration of Di2 and the new way of organizing sensors in a common pool are killer features. Some people raised the issue of battery time: it is pretty much the same as on the garmin 810. I have also no problem with the touchscreen, even under rain (probably the bugs you experienced have been fixed in my version of firmware).
hello, i have been using egde 800 for a long time. and like the ability to follow a route without starting the routing function. this way the track keep the colour chosen, and work well.
I cannot get this to work on my edge 1000. Anyone who know if this is supposed to work?
Hi, I thought i read somewhere that if you have 2 Edge 1000’s they have the ability to communicate between them? I dont remember to what extent (sharing route or whatever) but now im confused because i cant find that anywhere again. Was I imagining or do 2 Edge 1000 devices have the facility?
Yup, the functionality was released in a firmware update in the late June timeframe. It was post-review and given how rare it is for two people to actually have Edge 1000’s and want to share a route, I just haven’t had the chance to add it to the review.
The sharing is found under settings, and is called Device Transfers. As you work your way down the menu choices, you’ll see that the Edge looks for compatible devices (I wonder if the 705, which could share, is one of them?), and then you can choose what you want to share.
Notice that the Edge 1000 will transfer the file you select with all compatible devices in the area. At the start of a big ride, you would be sharing with lots of folks you don’t care to share with, so you may have to ride away from the group with the person you want to share with, then come back after transferring.
Thanks, I agree, its not really that important of a feature. Was hoping for a better feature. How amazing would it be if they included a way to live track another rider on the map so if you get seperated you always knew where each other was or how far ahead or behind.
Thanks again
In adjusting the rear derailleur of my Ultegra Di2 I discovered that the Edge 1000 displayed a screen with the state of the adjustments made.
I do not find a decryption of this option in the manual or on internet.
Maybe something to add to your review?
best regards,
Giel
I purchased the Edge 1000, August 2014 and recently completed a 3 1/2 month solo cycling tour of Australia and Tasmania. I used the 1000 exclusively for navigation with the Garmin Australia SD mapping card. My MAJOR complaing with this device is this: I developed routes for this tour from ridewithgps.com and downloaded them as required to my Edge 1000. When I first started out on the tour, I got turn by turn navigation and off course notificaition. However, later in the tour, Garmin came out with a software OS change which took away both the turn by turn and off course as default. It wasn’t until later again that they came out with another software change putting back in turn by turn but only by finding settings under a course and you had to make the change yourself.
My biggest compalint with this device is this. I had both the 705 and the 800. I bought the 1000 primarily for the larger display. Bot the 705 and the 800, whenever I dowload a route from ridewithgps.com that I have developed, I am able to go to settings under the route I’ve developed and the following options are provided: 1. turn by turn can be turned on/off., 2. Off course can be turned on/off, and 3. Virtual Partner can be turned on/off. However, now with the new software changes for the 1000, Garmin put back in the option to turn turn by turn navigation on/off and off course on/off (it’s a small setting to the far right when you load a course you’ve developed, before hitting Ride). But..here is now the problem with the 1000. If you load a course/route, you CANNOT turn off that stupid idiotic Virtual Partner. So that is now ALWAYS running in the background eating up battery life. So for example, my 705 and 800, I could routinely get 8-10 hrs of battery life riding a route I’d developed on ridewithgps.com. Now, because you cannot turn off that Virtual Partner when you load a route (you can only turn it off if you decide to just go out and ride without a course), I got battery life in the range of 4-5 hrs during my tour through Australia. This is insane. I cannot for the life of me, figure out why the software for the 705/800/810 allows you to turn off Virtual Partner when you’re riding a course/route you’ve downloaded but you can’t turn it off on the 1000. So now, because I use this device (1000) almost exclusively for self supported bike touring, I have to carry a backup battery to plug into the Edge 1000 to continue riding my route. I cannot understand paying $700 for this device and it doesn’t even perform to what you get on the 800.
Steve, I’m only partially addressing your comment. My 1000 is on firmware 2.7 which I think is the latest. Yesterday, while traveling near Santa Monica, I created a route on Mapmyride and uploaded the GPX file to my Garmin. I noted that while it showed the route, I did not have turn by turn directions. Your post caused me to take a closer look at settings. On 2.7 the setting is not exactly where you stated. You said, “it’s a small setting to the far right when you load a course you’ve developed, before hitting Ride. On 2.7, its the lower right, 3 horizontal lines symbol, before you load the ride. This is on the page before you get to the RIDE button. So Turn Guidance and Off Course warnings are universal and not course specific.
Just noticed this about Virtual Partner. Go to activity Profiles, then pick one, then Data screens, then down arrow and there is the on/off for Virtual Partner. That help?
I have vector and Edge 1000, absolutely great. In the cycling dynamics screen, there is the graphic of the pedal stroke and where the power is generated, the dark blue portion of the graphic displays peak power. Does anyone know how much power this measures – i.e. is peak power defined as more than 80 % of normal power?
Cheers
How do you enter a wheel size for distance when using indoors is a turbo
What a great review – so useful
Question – is it possible to load several maps on to a micro SD card to be used with the edge 1000?
thanks
wim
Yup, you can load different country maps on it. Just rename them differently when you save the file to your micro sd card because all the filenames are the same when downloaded.
Thank you for the amazing review. I tried to follow the link to get a Garmin 1000 and it isn’t working… Appears to be a broken link
Thanks
Eek, the Amazon or CT one isn’t working? I just tried the Amazon one…any chance it’s redirecting you to a non-US Amazon site? And if so – any chance you’re outside the US?
The link to Clever Training, it comes up with Page not not found 404.
I tried both of the links just above your spreed sheet of amazon asscessory.
Here is the address link to clevertraining.com
I will hold off until you fix the link. Thanks for your great reviews.
Don
I live in the CA in the USA.
I see, the in-line link. Fixed it. Sorry about that, look like some re-write logic that worked on the rest of the site broke there.
Also, just to ensure you save the 10%, definitely grab the VIP program here: link to dcrainmaker.com
You’ll sign-up for that first, and then you’ll get the 10% personal coupon code shortly thereafter via e-mail.
Thanks for the support!
Any discounts for Europeans?
Close…so very close. Hopefully by the end of the month.
‘Can’t Unlock Maps’ message on adding extra maps:
On the Edge 800/810 it’s very easy to add some extra maps on a micro SD card: Just create a folder ‘Garmin’ on the sd card and add maps named gmapsupp.img, gmapsup1.img, gmapsup2.img, etc…
Plug the card into the device and startup. The cards will be recornized and ready to use.
On my Edge 1000 I always had a error message on startup ‘Can’t Unlock Maps…’
After a while a found the way to add maps without that error message:
You can not add more than one map at the time ! So you must create a folder ‘Garmin’ on the sd card and put only one map into this folder called gmapsupp.img. Than put the sd card into the Edge 1000 and startup the device. The card will be accepted without an error message. Then you can add a second map on the sd card (notice that the device created some extra folders on the sd card). First you must rename the added map gmapsupp.img to gmapsup1.img so you can add the new map as gmapsupp.img. Put the sd card again into the device and startup. The new map will be ready to use without error message ‘Can’t Unlock maps…’
Repeat these steps for each map to add.
Have fun !
Thank you for an excellent review.
Can the 1000 track calories while on an indoor trainer? I currently have an Edge 800 and even though I have it reading power, speed, time and HR, calories always stays at zero.
Thanks!
Yes, it should be showing calories. Double-check that your user profile information is set in the unit (age/gender/weight/etc..)
Thank you for this great review – I can only imagine the hours you put into it!
You make very convincing arguments regarding the form factor. I agree completely and personally prefer the more compact Edge 800 to the “almost smartphone but thicker and uglier” Edge 1000. I would only wish for a higher resolution, if that can be achieved without affecting battery life too much.
It’s so typical of Garmin to not listen to all those feature requests. I’ve requested features too but then discovered Strava, where I found all the things I had wished for at Garmin Connect! Silly, really.
Thank you for the opportunity to sign up for Clever VIP. It saved me $70 on my new Garmin 1000 that was ordered yesterday through Clever, It also gave me priority shipping. WOW. I can’t wait. I bought the bundle and figure I saved about $118 from the prices on Amazon even with Prime and $130 over my local big box sports store. Thanks, Don
Thanks for the support Don – enjoy!
Is there any way to get overlapping power zones?
It is very annoying if they have to be consecutive.
Thanks
No. But then again, that’s kinda the point of zones. Explicit range definitions on a given metric. If you were in two power zones at once, what’s the value in that?
Hello !
Did finally GArmin made the option to set the square button of the remote to control a Virb ?
Thank you
The K-Edge mount for the 1000 is flawed. If you want to be able to take long rides and need external power to keep the Garmin going, you’ll quickly discover the arm on the K-Edge mount blocks the power port. The only way you can use external power with it is to set it up for landscape mode. Unfortunately, the Garmin out front mount is almost as bad in this regard. It doesn’t protrude far enough and the handlebar can get in the way, depending on the micro-USB connector tolerating a little bending. I have a Fizik stem and am waiting for BarFly to come out with a version of their Fizik mount for the 1000.
Garmin still needs much work with the software. It’s very buggy. I had so many problems with the latest v2.80 I reverted to 2.57beta which seems to be the leasts unstable version so far. I can’t believe that after a year Garmin still doesn’t have production quality firmware for this very expensive item. I have yet to uses TBT successfully for any ride longer than 40 miles. There is also the problem of sensors disconnecting mid-ride (and I am using all Garmin-branded ones).
Dean, I’ve had my Edge1000 for almost a year (got it last Aug), toured 4 months through Australia/Tasmania with it this past Aug-Nov and used my Goal Zero battery backup on my Edge while riding almost every day (as I was consistently riding on the road 7-10 hrs daily). I had no problem at all plugging into the USB connector on the back of the device and running the cable to my Goal Zero battery backup that I carried in my bike handlebar bag. Maybe your stem has a thicker diameter than mine, I dont’ know but I never experienced any problems.
Regarding TBT, I rode with v2.8 and consistently got turn by turn and off course warning without any problems as well. I just had to make sure that I had both turn on in the course settings. I use ridewithgps.com to develop all my routes, then download to my Edge. The Edge routed me without failure, turn by turn through Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart Tasmania, exactly as my route was developed. I also have the speed sensor and cadence sensors attached to my touring bike, road bike as well as a mountain bike and again, have not experienced any disconnect problems. I’ve been extremely happy with the device, having owned the 305, 705, 800 and 810 Garmin Edge series. I only upgraded to the 1000 because of the bigger display.
Len. I’m not the only experiencing the stability issues I referred to. The Garmin forums are full of posts about them. Just because it works for you doesn’t mean it works for everyone. Maybe you use it in a slightly different way from others who experience problems. The issues I experience are very real, and as a software engineer it’s not like I’m technically challenged when it comes to these things.
As for using external power, the K-Edge mount blocks the power port, period. You simply cannot plug in a cable using it in portrait mode. I have been able to get the Garmin out front mount to work, but it’s tight. It has nothing to do with the stem. It just doesn’t reach out in front of my handlebar far enough. Maybe you are using a thinner handlebar. I’m am using a 31.8mm, standard for a contemporary road bike, but the mount really needs to position the Garmin a few more mm further out from the bar.
You could try a USB cable that has a 90-deg angle connector. This should better fit in the tight space between the garmin and your handlebar.
I have a USB cable with a 90-deg USB connector. That’s what I use. There is no space for even that. The K-Edge mount blocks the port completely, leaving no room at al for any kind of cable. I switched to a Bar-Fly direct mount for my Fizik stem, and that works great.
How would the speed sensor be accurate? I installed it and there’s no way to set the wheel size. Won’t that make a difference in different wheel sizes? Will the speed and distance be accurate every time on a different sized wheel? but how?
Once the sensor is connected, you can tap on the sensor settings and set the wheelsize. It’ll be different for different wheel sizes.
I notice that it calibrates the speed sensor automatically the first time that it’s detected. (I assume that it determines the wheel circumference by noting how many wheel revolutions in a certain distance, which seems to be about a kilometre.)
If one swaps it to another wheel of a different size, how does one trigger recalibration? Disable/enable the sensor? To me, the logical way of doing it would be for it to check the calibration as a background task on the first kilometre of each ride.
Remove the sensor and re-add it
I will be riding a race på16 h. Will there be enough battery capacity to this race ?
No. You should take an external power supply. I ride centuries and often have to attach external power before I finish (within 8 hours or so).
You can buy USB power supplies on Amazon for about $20. I use the Jackery and it works well. link to amazon.com
Dean,
Which Jackery model would work for an Edge 1000, to roughly double battery life?
The 3200 mAH version I linked has worked fine for me. For another $5 you can get the 6000 mHA version, but it is a bigger case. I use a top tube grub bag to hold it and feed the cable from inside it thru to the Garmin on the handlebar.
8 t ! Can it be right? What is needed to improve 8 h ? Can you turn off bluetooth etc to improve battery capacity
Turning off communications (BT, Wifi, ANT+) will help battery life. Map display affects battery life too. I use ANT+, but not Wifi. For longer rides I disable BT. I get around 8-10 hours.
Years ago I had a Garmin Nuvi for in-car navigation. Garmin claimed 5 hours battery life. When I complained that I was getting less than two, they told me to turn off GPS to get better battery life. I am serious! They really said that to me.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for a great review, as always. I’ve read this a couple of times by now, probably.
You say “I’m not sure I’d personally recommend it at the price that it’s at. Perhaps a lower price, but not $600.”
Now, what is the price that you’d think it worth it despite its imperfections? Would 2/3 of the price justify it ($400US)? 50% of the price?
Would appreciate your thoughts.
Thanks Artur-
I’d say somewhere in the $399-$449 range. The thing is, Garmin keeps on adding tons to the Edge 810 lineup, so these days there’s almost no difference between the Edge 1000 except WiFi and the sensor pool concept (beyond the physical form factor/display).
Thanks Ray!
Hi Ray,
What a GREAT GREAT review! THANK YOU!
I devoured every word of both this review and the comments.
I have the Edge 800 for about 2 years and I am very happy with it. I never ran out of battery (even on a Century ride) and the maps are perfect for me.
I am only looking to upgrade so my wife can keep tabs on where I am. I mainly ride through Harriman State Park in NY and with miles and miles of roads and hills, it will give me some piece of mind knowing that I am always being tracked. Until this year I have never owned a smartphone so it wasn’t even an option.
My question is, after reading about the lousy bluetooth capabilities that exist in the 1000, does it pay to settle for an 810? I had also read in some reviews that the 810 isn’t too great when it comes to tracking either (the bluetooth ain’t that great either). Or should I just stay with the 800? Do you know of another device or service that would provide the tracking that I seek?
Thanks!
Mendy
I’d still go with the 810 to be honest. Garmin continues to add new features, heck, even last week, to it – and these days the features are almost identical to that of the Edge 1000 (minus the screen/size).
Does the Bluetooth feature work better now on the 810? That would be the only real reason that I would upgrade.
Just curious, you mentioned that they just added a new feature recently, is there a site where I can see the recent features that were added to the 810?
Also, why would they add to the 810 if they are looking for people to purchase the 1000?
Thanks!
Mendy
Edge 1000. I can’t see the maps – I can’t read the OpenFiets map
I live in California. I bought an Edge 1000 on Ebay. It came from Israel, and comes with European maps, but no US maps.
I bought a 32 GB SD card, and formatted it with FAT (on a macintosh).
I called it GARMIN1.
After putting the SD card in the Edge, I see that GARMIN1 has a subdirectory Garmin, and a number of files in GARMIN1/Garmin:
Activities
Courses
NewFiles
SQL
Segment_List
Segments
WIFI
Workouts
and one file: gmapsupp.img, which is supposed to be the OSM map for the USA
When I start the Ride. I don’t see any maps at all.
When I look at Activity Profiles->Ride->Navigation->Map->Map Information, Openfietsmap Lite is enabled. (I disabled all the other maps, in the hope that it would have to choose that one).
Questions:
1. Is there a way to verify that I downloaded the correct map to the computer?
2. Does the name of the volume on the SD card matter
3. Should I re-enable some of the built-in maps on the main storage?
Thanks,
Phil Morton
Berkeley, CA
USA
Why would it necessarily be the OSM file for the US if the device came from Israel? Most likely just from what you describe, you’re not seeing a map because it isn’t the right map.
Anyway, the easiest thing to do is first to install BaseCamp on your Mac (get it from garmin.com/osx, not from the App Store) if you haven’t already, and make sure the installer installs MapManager and MapInstall as well as BaseCamp. Then download the OSM map you want from openfietsmap or wherever else you want to get them after finding instructions on how to install them on your Mac. Install the maps on your Mac, and look at them using BaseCamp to make sure you’ve installed what you want. Then you can use MapInstall or BaseCamp to install whatever you want on the SD card.
It was understandable that a unit being shipped from Israel would have Europe/Middle East on it
I wanted the Edge 1000 for two reasons. The rubber cover on the Edge 800/810 lets moisture (probably my sweat) in, and after a while the USB port rusts up and it won’t take a charge any more. The 1000 uses a micro USB, that is better protected. My other reason for preferring the 1000 is that the screen is a bit larger and a bit brighter. As my vision gets a bit older this is an advantage.
My problem turns out to have been a pilot error.
I started over this evening from scratch – including reformatting the micro SD card. At link to garmin.openstreetmap.nl I selected California, and was able to copy the copy openfietsmap_lite_gmapsupp.zip directly to my system, without having to wait for the server at uni-wuppertal.de to prepare it and queue me up.
So now it works. I don’t know what my error was the first time round – probably not making a good selection.
Thanks to everyone for their suggestions.
I am relatively new to cycling (3 years) and haven’t owned a GPS device before. I ride a lot with other groups in towns that I’m unfamiliar with, and want the ability to recreate rides I’ve taken and be able to have turn by turn navigation when repeating the rides. Thus my interest in the Edge 810 and Edge 1000. I also am “on-call” many times when I ride, and the 1000’s feature of the Bluetooth Connectivity allowing text message alerts from my iPhone 6 seemed very attractive. I found your review very enlightening, and I’m wondering if the “Bugs” you described have now been addressed, especially regarding Live Tracking and text message alerts. Has your overall impression of the 1000 improved? Any other input/suggestions on my initial GPS purchase will be most appreciated. Thank you!
I just got a Withings WS-50 scale to integrate my weight into Garmin Connect (and as i hoped in my Garmin Edge 1000). Everything works fine (via MFP) within Garmin Connect. Here is always my actual body weight within the Garmin Edge 1000 settings. But on the device itself the profile data (incl. the body weight) won’t change after syncing (tried WIFI and via Garmin Express). Is this normal (can I ignore in this case the settings on the device) or is there a workaround always to get the actual user profile data on the edge 1000 itself as well? Thank you for help in advance!
Unfortunately no Garmin devices take the weight/age data from GC and push it back to the unit itself. Kinda silly, I agree.
Great write up, I`m seriously considering the Edge 1000 as I`m having various issues with my Cyclo 505. Does the 810 have the Round Trip now that its hard a few firmware upgrades or is this Touring and Edge 1000 only?
This is the only feature that would pull me toward the Edge 1000 (The bigger screen is nice but not essential for me)
No round trip routing unfortunately.
Thanks for the quick reply Ray :)
Hi!
I am looking to buy the 810 or 1000. I was wondering if Garmin ever upgraded the 810 firmware to enable phone/text messages on that device? I read the comments, but it is not clear.
Also what is not clear is if they finally fixed the phone/text notifications on the 1000?
Another quick question: is it now possible to be noticed of the segments while running a course? (I read in one of the comments that it was not possible). If not, does that mean that we cannot get compete a segment while doing a course?
I also read in the comments that the 810 is just like the 1000, but with a smaller screen. What features is it still lacking compared to the 1000?
Thanks for your inputs!
Phone/text is still broken on the 1000, at least for me with iPhone 5S iOS 8.2 and 1000 firmware v2.70 (I also tried 2.80 but that was really flakey). I can pair my iPhone for text notification OK. It works one time, and then it no longer works until I pair it again. I gave up on that feature.
And to complete the answers, no text notifications on the Edge 810.
Correct me if I am wrong. I have Edge 1000 two bikes and two sets of sensors (cadence and speed). But there is not any way I could record total mileage for each bike. I only can have total odometer. And this odometer can not be set to specific value. It will be zeroed when I reset (master reset) the device. Am I right?
Thank you :)
michal
If you set up two profiles (for example I have “Colnago” and “Trek”) and switch between them properly, the odometer for each profile will be reflected in History / Totals. For me, Colnago shows 3713 km, Trek shows 105 km.
If you want to “reset” these values annually, you can delete and recreate the profiles. Or if you get a new bike, you’d set up a new profile when you start riding it.
I deleted the “Race” and “Train” profiles, in hopes of making it easier to ensure that I’m using the proper profile for the bike I’m riding.
I do agree that it would be useful to be able to set device totals to an initial value other than zero, but then again, these totals are for the device, not for the rider, or for the bikes.
I currently got my trusty old Edge 800. There are three things that bugs me a bit with it.
– The time it takes to get GPS lock (can take up to 5 minutes on cloudy days – on clear days it only takes 10-30 seconds).
– The screen size/resolution when using the GPS. I’ve lost several turns because I had trouble seeing what was the course and what was the road and where the turn is. The screen seems alot better in regards to this on the edge 1000?
– The time it takes to load a pre-made course with turn-by-turn directions enabled. This can take several minutes.
Anyone know how these issues are on the Edge 1000?
1) GPS Lock: Much faster on newer devices, I can’t remember the last time I waited more then 20 seconds with the Edge 1000. Probably helps that it’s basically just starting/stopping in the same place.
2) Resolution is far better on the Edge 1000, just simply more pixels. And, it’s processing is better.
3) It’s under a minute or quite a bit less, depending on the course size.
Thanks a ton for the swift reply.
I guess that settles it for me then. For a.. directionally challanged.. person like myself, I can’t live without a good GPS. I’d never find my way home.. :)
Can edge 1000 be used to running?
Did you test it ?
Thanks
Technically you can take it running. But there’s no ‘Pace’ metric, only ‘Speed’. Also, activities will upload as cycling, though, you can certainly change that afterwards.
I’ve been using my 810 for running for ages now, just change the type from cycle to run on garmin connect.
Ray, your comments were super-helpful, especially in terms of price point comparisons and what price you’d think it’s worth it. I ended up getting it, and so far in home trainer environment, super happy with it.
Another quick question – is there a way to get Edge 1000 to display battery life in % rather than a simple bar?
Thank you.
“is there a way to get Edge 1000 to display battery life in % rather than a simple bar”
General -> Battery Level
On the Edge 1000 you can see the & batter by taking a finger and sliding it from the top of the screen down. On my unit I also get brightness settings, GPS status, sensors connected and wifi connection.
thanks guys, that’s great!.
I am new to edge 1000 got it in March and i am very happy with it. My question is is there any way to display the Edge 1000 display on a monitor for indoor training?
Rich
Will the Edge 1000 work with the new Apple watch via BT as a heart rate monitor?
No, it will not. Edge uses ANT+, not BT for sensors.
Actually, it’s even more simple than that: The Apple Watch doesn’t transmit that information out. It’s neither transmitted as a Bluetooth Smart HR strap, nor does it allow apps running on the watch to access the HR sensor at this time. There’s talk that down the road the 2nd will be allowed, but not near-term.
As an Apple fan boy, I have ordered an Apple Watch but I have zero expectations about heart rate accuracy while engaged in strenuous activity. I could be wrong but unless Apple has developed something new, Many of us have seen how hard it is for even a dedicated heart rate band like Scosche’s Rhythm + to work much less a “casual” product like the Apple Watch. I love the Rhythm+, but it has to be positioned “just so”.
I don’t think I missed this in your write-up but apologies if I did. For the navigation screen specifically, can you set the unit to switch to the turn notification automatically on approach and then switch back to a “default” screen or can this only be done manually?
Thanks!
I don’t know whether it’s a default setting or if I set it up that way, but my 1000 will switch from the current data screen to the navigation page at about 500 ft before the turn. Once I make the turn it will switch back to the data page.
Thanks a lot for this fantastic review.
I’ve got my Edge 1000 a few days ago and your review will be a great help.
Thanks a lot once again.
Can it display map while riding? No navigation, just want to see where I’m at in the map and its surrounding location.
Yup, no problems just showing the map page as-is.
I guess the same functionality is available in edge 810 too?
Correct.
Wonderful review. Thank you. I may have missed it – and if so, I apologize – but is the Edge 1000 waterproof? If I ride in the rain do I need to cover it with a plastic bag? Thanks.
Yup, it’s IPX7 waterproofed, so it can sit at 1-meter deep for 30 minutes. Rain is no problem at all. Even the USB port is internally waterproofed, though, you mostly want to keep the stopper on that section to avoid issues with micro-SD card corrosion, since the card itself isn’t waterproofed. Enjoy!
Hi,
In Edge 1000 you get the capabilities of registering multiple sensors. In 810 or 510, how do you managed multiple powermeter sensors in one bike? Is it using a Bike Profile to set each ANT+ individually to that one bike? Thanks in advance.
After you do the double pair thing with your iPhone, do you have to do anything else to make text message and phone call alerts appear on your screen? Do you have to somehow set up one of the boxes on the screen to except alerts from your iPhone? My iPhone is showing that I have paired those connections. But on my ride, after I stopped I saw I got one text message. It’s far as I know I got an alert on the screen. I read in your review that you found this feature inconsistent at best. Am I simply experiencing some of the same? Thanks.
How do you create and upload a segment? Thanks.
How do you create a segment and get it on the edge 1000? Thanks.
I called Garmin support and a helpful guy walked me through creating a segment. Boy, what a pain. Wish I was out riding instead of doing this.
Created 18 segments. Only took me 2 hours.
You could have just used the conversion software thats available on the internet to copy segments from Strava!
How well does it cope off-road?
And is it worthwhile investing in the Edge 1000 or should I purchase a Edge 810?
As a 500 user I’m still waiting for the proper upgrade…
small size with thin display bezel.
better GPS tracking.
ant+ BT and WiFi with Strava integration (not for the segment, but generally Strava website is much useful than Garmin Connect).
20hrs battery.
faster performance.
clearer screen.
watetproof USB connector without rubbet flap.
200USD for the main unit.
So the old Edge 705 is getting a bit long in the tooth (slow start up, navigation rather flakey), and spurred on by getting a new bike, I was considering upgrading.
Trawling through the comments, while the 1000 has improved with firmware upgrades, there still seems lots of love for the 810.
I use the 705 for the training stats mainly, and occasionally use the navigation (mainly as it’s rather slow and inconsistent/clunky on the 705).
I want a battery life to be OK for a full day’s riding – so greater than 10-12 hours hours for the more epic (read tired and probably a bit lost) rides.
The text alerts would a nice bonus and so would be a bigger , easier to read screen. (Assume Poloroid glasses don’t play up?). Plus looking forward to doing more touring and finding more routes.
So is the 1000 worth the bigger bucks as it stands over the 810?
Appreciate any suggestions.
Personally, no, it’s not.
The Edge 810 has gotten so many updates over the last 4-5 months that it has almost everything the Edge 1000 does software-wise. So much so in fact that while I was using the Edge 1000’s this past fall, I’ve gone back to the smaller Edge 810’s actually. Go figure.
Thanks for the quick reply Ray – I think the 200 Euro difference as well, pushes me towards the 810.
Ray – your website and reviews are the best I’ve seen. Thanks.
810 or 1000 if the price difference was around $50 (unique opportunity). First Garmin bundle purchase for me. I like all sorts of riding (road, trail, gravel, mountain, a little ‘cross).
Cheers!
OK…I may have been wrong, looks more like ~$500 for the 1000 and $400 for the 810….
I purchased the Garmin 1000 recently. Loaded the Garmin software on my PC at work, no problem. Runs windows 7. My home computer is a Lenovo Yoga Pro 3 Laptop, runs Windows 8.1. I cannot get the Garmin software to run properly. It downloads successfully, adds the icon to the desktop and toolbar, but when I try to open either one, it flashes open and then closes. I uninstalled the software, and reinstalled, with the same result. I found a Microsoft discussion about this, but no solutions. One person said he solved the issue by downloading using Firefox, which I tried, unsuccessfully.
Have you heard of this issue? Any suggestions? Thanks
I have the Garmin Edge 1000, an iPhone 6, and Shimano current generation Dura-Ace Di2 Groupo (Compact 50-34/11-28) on my S-Works Roubaix SL4.. I’ve just added the Shimano D-fly, installed and configured by my bike shop (hidden in the frame rather than perched on the chain stay). I have one screen configured to show numeric and graphic displays of my current gear settings as well as the Garmin and Di2 battery levels.
My issue is that the graphic display of current gear cuts in and out. I don’t know if this is a connection issue, but one suggestion that it’s not is that the graph can change from configured and displaying the ring and cluster positions of the derailleur to generic (4 possible front ring positions-hard to believe we’ll ever have front derailleurs that do that!), 11possible cluster positions, none of them highlighted, while the numeric display still says “50-11” or whatever the current gear positions really are. The numeric display DOES blank from time to time as well, but that’s pretty transient. I’ve never seen the numeric display blanked but the graphic display correct.
Does anyone have the D-fly, and if so, have you experienced this? I’ve not been back to the shop that built my bike for me yet. One of their managers has a D-fly, but I think I was their first customer to buy one.
>> This unit shouldn’t have been released in its current state. It’s simply too buggy at this time.
Have the major bugs been fixed with firmware updates?
I am amazed to discover that the battery in the Garmin 1000 is the same 1100mAh battery deployed in the Garmin 800 series in 2010 when the 800 launched.
We know that battery draw on the 1000 is greater, so its a bit weak that Garmin failed to adopt any improvements in battery life since 2010. Whatever happened to Moore’s Law?
Yup to battery life. Road 7.5 hours on a century Saturday. I think at about 6 hours I got the low battery warning. I brought an extra external battery and cable and top tube bag to carry it. I wanted the record of the century. Good thing I remembered. Sad the battery life is so short.
I do the same thing for century rides. I add a top tube bag with a USB external battery (I have the Jackery – 3200mAh).
One has to be careful in selection of mounts. Not all Edge 1000-compatable mounts work with external power (e.g. K-Edge blocks the USB port). Even the Garmin supplied mount can be tricky to get right. I am now using the new BarFly direct stem mount for my Fizik stem – they just came out with one that fits the 1000.
So, you get the low battery warning, and then you have to stop, hook up the external battery charger in your top tube bag, and then start rolling again? Thanks.
Gene, no I monitor battery life as one of my items on the Garmin. When it gets to 30% or under, I hook up my Goal Zero battery backup.
My 810 lasted well over 12 hours for a 155 mile ride, simply turn the backlight off completely
My 1000 doesn’t last that long, even when I don’t use the backlight or maps. I have four Garmin sensors (HRM, Speed, Cadence, Remote). I have a BT connection to my iPhone, but Wifi is disabled. I have tried disabling BT, but that doesn’t make enough of a difference not to carry external power for long rides.
I wouldn’t touch the 1000.
Today mine crashed mid ride and then when it starts up it says ‘cannot unlock maps’. So no maps or routing for the rest of the ride and probably the rest of the say to try and make it work again.
Wish I had never bought the thing, just one problem after another.
Thanks for the fantastic reviews Rainmaker! I have the 1000 which replaced the 810, purely because the screen resolution on the 810 got to me. I also have the Wahoo RFLTR+ with Cyclemeter, but I find that the Ascent information is almost always significant out compared to Garmin.
I am about to upgrade my group set to the Shimano XTR Di2. Do you know if I will need the Shimano SM-EWW01 Wireless unit for Di2 to display the gear information on the 1000, and whether this will work with the XTR Di2 group set?
Thanks!
Issue with mini USB port ON BACK OF EDGE 1000
I had my Garmin connected to my MacBook and it was charging but not being recognized as a drive. I was trying to upload a route. I tried different cables and nothing worked. I then noticed that if the cable plug was in just the right position it would connect but any movement resulted in disconnection. Bummer. I emailed Garmin support, told them my USB port was “loose” and they immediately agreed to replace the unit if within the one year warranty. Mine was within warranty by 3 days! Just worth checking as yours approaches warranty end.
Ray, given all the recent watches support Garmin Connect IQ, would you think Garmin would be working on a Edge 1010 to include Connect IQ support, assuming they can’t do it via a firmware update to the 1000?
I would seriously doudt they would do it via firmware, even if it was technically possible. The only time Garmin seems to back port significant features is when thouse feature facilitate selling a product (like support for vectors).
Given the Edge 1000 was only released barely a year ago, I don’t foresee a replacement anytime soon.
By the same token, I think they’re vastly missing an opportunity to bolster Connect IQ with a wide swath of users that might actually care (cyclists looking for a Strava app), or a trainer control app (i.e. TrainerRoad), etc….
Just ordered one for 315 € on eBay!
I’m suprised by a couple of things. #1. The bar mount is too short to access the charging port while riding. This is a problem if you do touring or very long rides. I also hear that if you charge the unit from an external battery and then remove the power it turns it self off. This is pretty dumb. Lastly I wrote to Garmin about 18 mths ago asking them to change the low battery warning to some intelligent logic which asks if you would like to minimise battery drain. So it would ask a question “do you want to reduce power usage to extend battery life ?” you could simple reply yes and it reduces all additional power drain settings, like minimising brightness, turn off virtual parter, etc…. This option should be available at any time with multiple questions about what you could turn off or down. like. reduce backlight to 15 secs, Y/N, reduce Brigthness Y/N, turn off Virtual partner Y/N, etc.. Its and expensive buggy piece of equipment and Garmin need to lift their game before some other company takes their market !!
I noticed that too about the mount and charging port. It’s hard to wedge the power connector into the port with the handlbar. The K-Edge mount is even worse in that it blocks the charging port completely (they engineered the mounting arm on the wrong side). I have a Fizik stem so I am now using the Barfly direct mount that works with the stem and Edge 1000. It does leave room for a charging cable without any problems.
Damian, I have the Edge 1000, having bought it last July. I bought it primarily because I had the 800 and found that as I’ve aged, my eyes just had difficulty reading the display. So I bought the 1000 mainly because of the larger display. I tour a lot all over the world and have used the Edge (had the 705, 800 and 810) to navigate me through major cities, using Garmin’s City Navigator maps. All my tours are self supported. I did a 5 month tour of Eastern Europe through 13 countries including Turkey, SE Asia every winter (I live in Colorado and just can’t take the cold weather anymore) for 4 months and recently completed a 4 month cycling tour of Australia from Brisbane to Melbourne, the Great Ocean Scenic Drive, and Tasmania. Currently as I write this, I’m 2 weeks into cycling Land’s End to John O’ Groats.
I ride a Surly LHT with a 100 mm Race Face stem. I use the standard Garmin mount on the stem (the round one with the rubber bands). I haven’t had any problem using an external battery I carry (I use the Goal Zero battery pack with their solar charger) in my handlebar bag. I just run the Garmin cable into the back of the 1000 and it charges while I’m riding. Granted it doesn’t allow the Garmin to lock into the mount fully (maybe 80%) but I have the device tethered to the handlebar with a re-usable ziptie should it fall off and in almost a year, it’s never fallen off on the tether.
Whenever I disconnect the Goal Zero battery pack, the device does not shut off at all. Never have seen or encountered this.
My only complaint with the 1000 is that I hate that Virtual Partner. If you disable Virtual Partner in any bike profile, it does not disable Virtual Partner if you load in a route or course (I use ridewithgps.com to develop all my routes). And because that stupid Virtual Partner is running in the background on routes I’ve loaded and am riding for the day, the Virtual Partner is running in the background and the battery performance is seriously degraded. I am finding that I only get maybe 4 hrs out of the battery riding a route I’ve developed because Virtual Partner is running at the same time. Thus, around 4 hrs or so, I need to hook up the Goal Zero battery pack to the Edge as an external power to charge the Edge. It’s ridiculous because the 800/810 allows you to disable the Virtual Partner BEFORE you hit ride on a route you’ve developed and downloaded to your Edge. But the OS for the 1000 does not allow for that. That’s my MAJOR complaint with this device. Other than that, I love it. My Brit biking buddy and I have ridden all these small country lanes on our ride the past 2 weeks and the Edge has navigated flawlessly for turn by turn and off course.
Hi Ray,
first of all Thumps up for your great reviews!
just a small correction: in your review you are mentioning the possibility to select different maps for differnt activity profiles. Unfortunately this does not work as it is supposd to do. If one changes the map visibilty settings in a specific profile these setting will be applied globaly for all activity profiles. A very annoying bug that seems to be well known for many users but still not solved from Garmin. It appears Garmin even refuses this to aknowledge this bug as a bug….
regards
Rainer
dear DC Rainmaker, do you know when we can expect a new Edge 510 or 810? I find the edge 1000 too big. many thanks in advance and apologies if you´ve already mentioned this in your comments. petur from Iceland
I had an Edge 800 and switched to an Edge 1000 because of its very bad screen, maps are unreadable, unusable in sunny weather. Other features of the Edge 800 are very good. Maps management is very easy (just copy the .img map file in the Garmin directory) and flexible with the possibility to have many maps on the microSD and individually select the active one(s) in the menu.
I had the opportunity to compare the screen of the Edge 800 with several other Garmin devices from the hiking range like Etrex, Oregon and the Edge 800 screen is by far the worst. I don’t understand why Garmin didn’t upgrade the screen for the Edge 810 and Touring.
The screen of the Edge 1000 is much better and for me this is the reason to go for an Edge 1000 instead of an Edge 810 that has similar features.
The bigger size of the Edge 1000 isn’t a real issue even if it would be possible to make a smaller device with the same screen size (the screen by far doesn’t cover the whole front face of the Edge 1000).
Three naïve questions about my Garmin Edge 1000.
The compass is hard to read. Very clear compass arrow, but the N-E-S-W lettering around it is less easy to read. So I’ve always thought that it’d be better if that lettering could have N at the top, and the compass arrow could move. I haven’t found a way to do that – the arrow always points straight ahead. However, a week ago the compass arrow suddenly started pointing all over the place, so I assume that there must be some way of configuring it to have N at the top?
Is there a way of displaying maximum pulse rate during a ride? It displays it in the ride summary, but I can’t find how to display it during a ride.
And this last question surely must have a simple answer, but I haven’t managed to find it. If I’m navigating towards a destination and I wish it to stop navigating, how do I do that? I don’t wish it navigate to anywhere else. I just want it to stop navigating (in order that pictures of upcoming junctions don’t interrupt the display).
Thanks,
Dave
Hello,
Really excellent comments and advices here on that website – and a huge thank you to Ray for the excellent testing procedures he undertakes.
I just have one question: One big concern when considering the purchase of the Edge 1000 is the battery performance. I have now been reading several reviews in which people claim that they only have 4 -5 hours battery life, which is shocking in my opinion. I have also been reading reviews in which people say that the battery life of the Edge 1000 is comparable with that of the Edge 810. Now, assuming same adjustments (disable Bluetooth, Wifi) on both devices, how many hours does the Edge 1000 last for? I often do long day tours during which I really don`t fancy carrying an external battery pack with me…With my Edge 810 I am currently down to ca.50% after a whole day of riding (approximately 8 – 9 hours, maybe with a couple of pauses in between).
I appreciate any replies to my question. Thanks in advance!
Niki
@ Nicola Mason
Hi.
First, excuse my english, it’s not my mother language, I’ll do my best.
Regarding to your question, recently I made 4 bike rides who took 4 1/2 ~ 5 hours, each of them.
I started the rides with the battery charged 100% charged and came home with about 80%.
Bluetooth and wifi were disabled, screen brightness enough to be able to see in sunny day, no HRM, cadence monitor, etc..
I guess that the battery is more efficiently loaded if you charge using electrical outlet (which is how I charged it), instead of charging it using USB.
Regards.
Niki,
I am starting to really enjoy my Edge 1000. However, battery life is an issue. I recently rode 75 miles, starting with 100% battery charge (from USB, not outlet). Total time was about 6 1/2 hours (left running during breaks). Received a low battery warning (20% remaining) with about 1-2 miles left. This was using Course GPS, wifi, synched with my iPhone, etc.
I didn’t buy this device in order to shut everything off in order to extend battery life. I’m going to purchase a back up battery (Mophie w/ dual USB ports) and keep it in a little bag on the bike’s crossbar, just behind the Edge’s mount, in order to allow me to plug into extra battery life whenever I need it. The dual port on the battery will allow me to keep my phone charged as well.
Hope that helps.
For both of you – which setting for screen brightness did you use? The backlight setting is the biggest battery drain. I’d encourage one to turn-off the backlight altogether for daylight riding. After about 5 seconds, you get used to it in most cases.
Thank you Steven and Markus Brandl (btw, my mother tongue is german too :-) – and your english was perfectly fine!)!
Just one thing: Are you saying you are using approximately 20% of your battery power for each 41/2 – 5 hours ride? That would be amazing, after all!
I just wouldn`t really want to attach an external battery to my gps unit, to be frank. I mean…there is already enough crap on my bike when I am touring, I really don`t want to faff around with that. So yeah, i am trying to get a good idea on how long I could possibly ride with the gps. I do quite a bit of touring in my holidays (through whole countries…) and the longer battery life, the better. I hope Garmin will make it possible to disable the VP at some point soon.
With auto-backlight on, HRM and speed/cadence ANT+ sensors connected, bluetooth connection to the phone enabled, I see battery drain of about 10% per hour.
Nicola, from my experience, and I have had my 1000 now for almost a year, battery life depends upon what kind of usage you are using the Edge for. I bike tour about 6-7 months a year and use my 1000 (had the 800 and 810 but wanted a bigger display) for navigation for all my routes that I develop on ridewithgps.com. Here’s the problem and complaint I have with the 1000. On the 800/810, when you develop a route on ridewithgps.com or any other site to download as a course to your Edge, after you select the route course you want on the 800/810 and before you hit ride for it to calculate the course, there is a small icon to the far left which when you click on gives you 3 options: 1. turn on/off turn by turn, 2., turn on/off off course warning, 3. turn off/off Virtual Partner. Now, with the 800/810 if I turn on 1 and 2 and turn off Virtual Partner (who uses this thing??) I would routinely get 8 hrs of battery life. But with the 1000, under course settings, you are only given the option of 1 and 2, you CANNOT turn off Virtual Partner when you load a course. If you go to Bike Profile then Navigation on the 1000, it does give you the option to turn off Virtual Partner, however, here is the problem. That option is ONLY if you are just going out for a ride in your area, home, leisure, etc. Turning off Virtual Partner under your bike profile DOES NOT turn it off when you select a course to ride; Virtual Partner stays on by default and you cannot turn it off. So here is the problem, if you are bike touring or riding a long course you downloaded and selected, that Virtual Partner is going to be running in the background and it eats up battery life. It’s so bad that where I’d get 8 hrs riding the same course on the 800/810, I routinely now only get 4-5 hrs battery life on the 1000, all because Virtual Partner is running in the background and you have no way to turn the damn thing off. In fact, when you hit ride to ride the course you select on the 1000, it even shows at the bottom “updating Virtual Partner” and will flash at the bottom “Virtual Partner has completed the course”. Turning it off under bike profile does not turn it off when you select a course to ride for the day.
And what I do not understand, is that the software in the 800/810 is there, so why can’t they just use the same algorithm to give users the option to turn off Virtual Partner when riding a selected course?
I can tell you, that if you’re riding 8 hrs on a selected course on the 1000, you’re going to need an external battery to connect so you don’t run out of battery. I carry a Goal Zero backup battery pack and about 4-5 hrs into the ride, my Edge 1000 will be down to around 25% battery life and I have to connect the backup for charging. This is my second 1000 as used my first one for a 5 month tour of Australia this past Aug-Dec. and had lockup issues so Garmin had me return it for replacement when I got home in January That one did the same thing with battery life as the replacement I have. And yes, I have WiFi/ Bluetooth turned off as well as display turned down to a low setting and other settings turned off to minimize battery usage. To me, the battery life problem is that stupid Virtual Partner running in the background. I am currently in England finishing up a 2 month tour of England and Scotland (rode Land’s End to John O’Groats and all over England) and actually took an 800 as a backup device as well as the Goal Zero battery backup charger.
I will be at Interbike in Sept and want to talk with Garmin there face to face about this issue. Because to me, it should be a rather easy software update.
Hello Len,
Thanks so much for your feedback. That is really interesting information. I had the chance to take a look at the Garmin 1000 yesterday in comparison to my 810, and I have to say that I almost was a little bit disappointed by how much little more the screen was bigger. But ok, that doesn`t really have anything to do with my main concern…the battery span.
It seems to be weird not being able to to turn off the VP – and I agree with you – who needs that anyways??
I have been touring a lot with my Garmin, cycled through Iceland, Marocco, Switzerland and Austria using downloaded routes (not from the same website, but either self-plotted or other sites like gpsies.com), and yes, with the 810 it has always been easy to disable the VP (if necessary, because I don`t think I always had to do that).
I hope this is going to change with an update soon. Thanks for your thorough reply.
Niki
Niki, if you read a little further down in the comments, there is a reference to removing time stamps in the gpx file which supposedly disables Virtual Partner. I pulled up 4 of my course files from ridewithgps.com, downloaded a free file editor online, and then opened the gpx.track files. Each one I opened had a line for time and it was easy to delete. Won’t know until I get home and do this if in fact Virtual Partner is disabled. You would have to do this for every course gpx.track file you download to your Edge but at least if it disables VP, I’ll do it. I’d still like to see Garmin correct this and make the 1000 like the 800/810.
Len
Thanks Len, I read those comments too. That might be a good solution to the problem – well, at least until an update fixes that issue permanently. It could become a bit a pain in the butt always having to remove the time stamps.
May I ask which free text editor you use? Thanks.
Thanks again for your reply!!
Apparently you can remove the time stamps from the gpx files using a txt editor to disable VP
link to forums.garmin.com
What does time stamp have to do with Virtual Partner???
Try reading the link
Sorry. I went to the link and followed this. Downloaded a file editor for free for Windows, then I opened 4 ridewithgps.com course files I’d developed for my ride here in England/Scotland (I’m finishing the tour now). Every one of the course files (gpx.track) I had developed have a time tag line the file. The proof of removing this line of time tag is to see if VP doesn’t run anymore on a course I download onto the Edge. I plan to develop several routes on ridewithgps.com later this week when I get back home in US, remove the time tag line, load onto the Edge and see if VP is not running. It’s a pain to have to do this but at least I won’t have that stupid thing running in the background and eating up battery.
I have to disagree with len, I just did a 126 mile ride in just under 8 hours with an hour there and back and my 1000 had 39% battery left.
I turned the following off
Glosnass
Back light completely off
Wifi
Bluetooth
Glosnass?
Greg, I’ve done that as well, having done the Triple Bypass in Colorado with 4 passes above 13,000 ft in 9 hrs (125 mile ride). But, I wasn’t riding a downloaded course off Garmin Connect or ridewithgps.com. I went to the start, and hit start button on the Edge. That was with WiFi, Bluetooth, Backlight, and Virtual Partner turned off on Bike Profiles. Yeh, of course that works like that. But go try riding 126 miles Greg on a course you download off ridewithgps.com or Garmin Connect and see how long that battery life lasts. You missed what I was saying in my post.
Let, I was following a course downloaded off garmin connect for 126 miles today. The only think is I started it en route…
Rubbish phone, Len I was following a 126 mile course downloaded off Garmin Connect. I think you missed what I was saying in my post.
This is the exact course I followed
link to connect.garmin.com
Update issue…
I’ve connected my E1000 to Express and it wants to update the map(s). It doesn’t give you any choice as far as I can see which is a problem as they appear to be multi-Gigabyte downloads. I’ve attempted to update on multiple known ultra-fast connections (150MB+ fibre optic) but even after leaving it for 3hrs+ I’m still getting completion estimations of 15hrs+
I’m completely not fussed about updating the map(s) is there a way forward on this?
Thanks
O.K just un-pluged it after 6.5 hours with it showing as 32hrs to go. The firmware has updated but not the maps. While fiddling around I noticed that it is possible to select the updates you want and those you don’t. It appears that the Maps update is nearly 7GB…. which is absolutely crazy large.
My first major update of the bike routes in Europe did not work on my mac. Connected to an old school PC it made the update in 3 hours.
Thanks Claus, That’s interesting as I’m using a MacBook Pro. I’m wondering if there’s an easier way to get this update?
Hi Len, i tried the approach to remove the timestamps using a tool called “GPXTimestripper.exe” which i found online. However for me this did unfortunatelly not work…
Seems like the only workaraound to avoid VP in the background for the time being is to only show the track permanently on the map display and follow it based on visual.
regards
Rainer
I’m still not convinced VP is theissue as I road 9 hours with VP and had 38% left on Saturday.
I had Bluetooth and Wifi OFF
Backlight auto off and backlight down to ZERO
GPS set to GPS (ie Glosnass OFF)
For all other 4 hour rides I’ve had all that on and had no issues.
Its a great device, but i feel there could be some extra data fields available for the weather conditions that are picked up by the phone or WIFI. It would be great to be able to have a data field displaying the current wind direction in relation to the current heading. For example, if i am heading into the wind, display an arrow showing the wind coming towards me. If i have a tail wind, show the arrow coming from behind. Obviously the wind speed\direction is not real time data, but this would still be useful information.
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You already have that info, of sorts. You can display your compass direction as a data field. Then if you swipe down on the screen it can show weather info including wind speed and direction, although I think that requires a BT connection to the phone app.
I just use my legs. If I’m riding into a headwind, they hurt. If I have a tailwind they feel better. ;)
I do exactly that although I just check the wind direction before I set off. The Bluetooth not auto connecting on the iPhone means I never connect that up. The weather should update off wifi before I set off. Frustrating that it doesn’t. It should sync courses over wifi too.
It would be useful to see it at a glance. Often I’m thinking “why am I struggling so much” or “wow I feel good”
Has anyone noticed more frequent and longer duration ANT+ dropouts and sometimes wild swings in PM wattage (i had a reading of 20,000 watts at one point…I know i’m getting strong, but not that strong) with their 1000 following the firmware upgrade to V3.1? The dropout happens mostly with my power/cadence (Stages) data, but HR (TickrX) and speed (garmin sensor) are far from immune.
My HRM strap (Garmin) or the 1000 sometimes yields wildly inaccurate data (last weekend on a flat route it rose inexorably to 214 while I was cruising along at 20 mph. My Apple Watch registered 124 at the same time, and I was no where near a Phil Liggett “Spot of bother.”
This week I’m in the Rockiess; two days ago my HRM transmitter went through the washer and dryer (hey, my wife was only trying to help!!!). Yesterday it performed flawlessly.
Please don’t take this as a recommendation of a way to “clear your head!”.
I’ve finally realised why I am getting longer battery life on routes I am following. It looks like you can switch off Virtual Partner via the activity profile. I had mine off for my training profile, hence getting no VP and good battery life whilst using TBT and following routes.
HTH someone else!
That doesn’t disable Virtual Partner if you are executing a course. It only turns off the screen for it.
OK weird as some replies back someone was saying they only get 4 hour battery life due to VP. I get 8 hours plus following a course with mine.
The inability to turn off Virtual Partner is one of the biggest complaints about the Edge 1000 on the Garmin forums. It can be turned off in the 810, but not the 1000. v4.10 of the firmware was just released to support Strava segments, but I don’t anything changed about Virtual Partner. OTOH: every firmware update breaks something that worked previously, so maybe they break that and it will be turned off for us. ;)
Hi,
I don’t find how to show post ride max heart rate in absolute value, only in %
Am I doing something wrong ???
Thanks Folks !!!
Earlier in this thread, I’d asked “Is there a way of displaying maximum pulse rate during a ride? It displays it in the ride summary, but I can’t find how to display it during a ride.”
Nobody replied, so I rang Garmin Support and asked them. And maximum pulse rate is not an available parameter.
However, you asked about post ride max pulse rate. And you’ll find that in the ride summary.
So you can see your maximum as an absolute number after the ride, but not during the ride.
Dave
Thanks Dave,
In fact, I use only 2 screens :
“During ride” screen – With some instantaneous data
“After ride” screen – With mainly total and average data. It’s here that I’d like to show max heart rate in bmp and not in %, but now you’ve confirmed me that it’s not possible… Quite absurd actually, because as you point this parameter is shown in ride summary, it Garmin connect, in Strava, etc., so it should be easy to have it on screen too…
Good rides !
First of all, excellent review! Congratulations on that!
I bought an Edge1000 about 2 months ago. I set up each of the profiles for each of my bikes. I have 4. Therefore I can sort of have an odometer for each. I said “sort of” because it’s only been counting since I bought my Garmin. Is there any way to configure/reset the odometer (to be able to put each of my bikes’ lifetime odometer)?
Another question, if I’m riding a created segment, while riding, can I swipe to my data screens and back to the segment map again?
Thank you!
Older Garmin Edge models (I have the 800) allow you to set the odometer to an initial value; somehow, the programmers left this feature out on the 1000. It is also alarmingly easy to change from one pofile to another unintentionally, messing up the odometer for two bikes at once (the one you’re riding is undercounted, and the one you switched to is overcounted), and you cannot correct the totals when you notice the problem. They also changed the ability to control the “Virtual Partner” feature, which seems to account for faster battery drain.
I think the programmers may not have started coding the 1000 software from the 810 code, which allowed them to “forget” features they had already included in earlier models – bad practice in my opinion. Or I could be wrong, and some features got removed because the size of the program got too big.
It seems that when I’m riding a segment, my 1000 frequently and repeatedly gives me a notice that it wants to “recalculate” and I have to either say press the device to say yes or no. I’m not sure but this seems to occur only when I’m riding a segment. It doesn’t seem to do this all the time, nor does it seem to do it during all segments. I have to either press yes (or perhaps agree) or no (or perhaps disagree) to get my screen back. I find this pretty annoying. What’s going on when this happens? Why does it happen? What can I do to avoid the need to recalculate? What is being recalculated? Thanks.
Under Segments there is a menu for options. One is Turn Guidance. It might be On. You probably want that to be Off.
The icon for On/Off on Turn Guidance is a mystery to me. Without actually using the Edge, I cannot tell whether I have Turn Guidance on or off. One looks like it is gray & black; the other seems to be gold & gray.
Which is which?
Thanks,
Colin
I have a U.S. Open street map Garmin Edge 1000. I have downloaded maps for France for bike trip in September. Can I use the 1000 in the rental car to navigate between Paris and Tours? I know the answer is a partial yes but can I choose a setting which will route us without any limitations?
I’m not sure what you mean by “limitations.” I know I used a Garmin 800 for my last bike trip in France a few years ago (Backroads, Brittany and Normandy) and it worked flawlessly on the bike. Tours was where my son and I started a trip now more than a decade ago when he was 14 (also Backroads). Fond memories. I don’t know if the Sunflowers are still in bloom in September, but one must see them in the fields to know how much more descriptive their French name (Tournesoleil) really is.
Thanks Jim but I think you missed the main point of my question. The Garmin will be fine on my bike. Will it also work in the rental car? Or will the routing keep us on Bike specific roads and ” limit us” from using major highways not suitable for bikes.
I don’t think it will be ‘fast’ enough for car driving… Try it at home first would be my suggestion
William, look at post #921 – I messed up and didn’t make it a reply to your post.
Oops, the software changed the number of my reply – it’s probably going to be #923. It starts out “Turn on your Edge”….
Turn on your Edge 1000, select the “Tools” icon, select an Activity Profile (maybe one of the standard ones such as Race or Train if you don’t use them, or set up a new one named “Car”), select Navigation, select Routing, then select Routing Mode. Set that to Automobile Driving, and you’re good to go.
Colin: Brilliant! The exact answer i needed to use the 1000 for cycling and driving there by rental car. So i downloaded the open street map files for France. I’d like to test them while in the US to make sure they open. The gmapsupp.img file is on the SD card in the Garmin folder. How do i test if it will work in France?
Thanks all
First, maybe you want to test that it works with the maps you have on the Edge now. Compare the routing for bicycle against the routing for automobile. Follow at least one automobile route.
There are instructions for adding to / replacing the supplied maps in another DC Rainmaker forum called “How to download free maps to your Garmin Edge 520/705/800/810/1000 & Touring”. I haven’t used the instructions myself, but I’ve seen comments that some people are having success, while others are having problems.
Once you have the new map for Europe (or just France – include a bit of territory around the borders, just in case), try to set up a course, and route for bicycle vs automobile. I don’t know how much more you can do beyond that until you get to France.
Hi Ray,
I appreciate this is not your job, but I thought I would try anyway. As a man in the know, is there any way you could get the word to Garmin that the Edge 1000 has an annoying/ potentially dangerous feature. The lap summary pop-up that shows on the screen during intervals is present for an awfully long time and the only way to rid it, is to tap the screen. When doing hard hill reps, people i train with are removing one hand from the bars to do this, endangering themselves and others.I believe this feature should be customisable, with an on/off and the ability to set the number of seconds on screen.
I have written to Garmin and suggested it as an improvement, but am still to see any change.
I hope you can help, and I apologise if you consider this an insulting request. I just really believe this should be addressed.
Many Thanks
Matt Norris
I completely agree!
hi there,
garmin edge 1000 v5.0, 10 month old, taken good care of, today the buttons (power, lap, start/stop), just stopped working, or working in a completely messed-up manner. anyone experienced this? tried reset and reinstall, not working, the device itself works just fine, pressing the power button restarts the device but no change, meaning that the button itself works.
Ray,
I just noticed the Di2 Gear Adjustment screen when I was adjusting my rear derailleur with the Edge 1000 on (usually never on). I understand that the “Front Adjustment” numbers will always read 0. But, why are there 3 “Read Adjustment” values ? When I adjust my rear derailleur, it only changes the middle value.
Are the “-16” and “16” values only there to show me the limits of the derailleur adjustment ? I thought that you only adjust the derailleur when in the 5th cog.
Thanks !
Great review!!
Is there a limit to the size of the Micro DS card you can use on the Garmin Edge 1000?
The max Micro SD card size is 32 GB which is a limit of the file system. I have a 16 GB in mine which loads pretty much everything you need.
HI there. Thanks for the thorough review!
We bought the Garmin edge 1000 and the European map for a 350 km bike ride from Paris to London. I gotta say that we were terribly disappointed with this product. As you pointed out in your review it locked up throughout the entire trip – so much so that it was virtually unusable starting from day one (even after upgrading the software). We promptly returned the gps as soon our trip was finished. Unfortunately, the maps we bought could not be returned or transferred to another device. Our lessons learned: 1) don’t assume that just because its available for purchase it functions as described; 2) test out the device before buying any accessories.
hi
is there anyone who has the very original file set saved from the edge’s internal memory, as it was out of the factory?
thx
What files are you looking for ? You can redownload the maps, the language files and let the Edge recreate the various settings files. I did a test where I totally wiped the internal storage of the 1000 and then redownloaded what was missing and everything worked fine.
Pierre,
original system files, garmin OS files, and the whole file system structure. but so far nevermind, i sent it back to garmin to fix it under warranty.
thx
Hi Ray!
I wonder if you have tried to download a BestBikeSplit power file on the Edge 1000 end ride after the power plan? if so, how did it work? i have the 920 but this does not really works on it yet, BBS says that they are trying to fix this with garmin…and if it would work, certainly not in triathlon mode, just in bike mode, and that does not help me much. So I am planning to get the edge 1000, but I would be happier to know that it works on it, before I buy it :) Thanks for your help!
Hi
I am looking to upgrade my 800 which has stopped connecting to my computer due to water ingress on the USB point. (Annoyingly it still works properly I just can’t access the data).
So do I get an 810, now pretty cheap and tried and tested, or due I get a 1000? I have read this review and it describes a number of issues with the unit, but the review was written over 12 months ago. Have the bugs been fixed, does the unit consistently operate correctly without locking up/crashing/etc. Does the bluetooth function work now. The difference is around £150 is it worth the extra money over an 810?
Thoughts please
1. Try a product like DeoxIT Connector Cleaner to get your USB port on the Edge 800 working again.
2. The Edge 1000 works pretty much flawlessly for me. I also have an 800, and I’ve been carrying both on rides, because the 1000 used to undermeasure distance and elevation gain. After a software update, the 1000 measures more elevation gain than the 800, but still shorts the distance a bit compared to the 800. I’m old, my vision is fading, so I like the larger screen size of the 1000.
3. Only you can decide if the price difference makes an 810 a better buy than the 1000, but if you get your 800 working again, I’d say skip the 810 and go for the 1000.
With regard to corrosion on your 800’s USB port, you might put some tape over the unit as an extra layer of protection on rainy or threatening days, assuming you can get it working again.
No question. Go for the 1000. The improvement in screen quality alone was worth more than the price increase for me.
Thanks for the tips.Have taken the plunge and ordered a 1000, which are currently less than £300 on Amazon
Garmin edge 1000. The most dissapointingly expensive P.O.S. cycle item that I’ve ever owned. I sold my 800 to get the 1000 purely for the strava segments. I’ve only had it a couple of months. When not navigating a course the unit is fine. No problems at all. But when navigating a course (which is what I use the 1000 for 99.9% of the time) firstly I find out that Strava segments doesn’t work when navigating a course but more importantly at some point instead of counting down the distance to the next turn it counts UP the distance from the turn I’ve just left! Sometimes it’s rectified itself after a short time but like today it didn’t sort itself out for over 50miles. The only way of knowing where you’re going is by following the line on the map screen which can sometimes be a bit dangerous as you have to keep glancing down all the time.
I did not expect to pay 300quid for something that is clearly does not function properly. So off on ebay it goes and I’m buying another 800 again!
I don’t have problems such as you describe, although I don’t use guidance 100% of the time. When I’m using guidance, things seem to work just fine. I’m using the maps Garmin supplied for US units.
The segment stuff (Garmin or Strava) doesn’t mean much to me. A couple of segments have snuck onto my 1000 that are on my regular routes; one of those seems to be going in the opposite direction, so it shows up, I get farther from it as I ride, and it goes away.
But the worst idea in your post is to sell your 1000 (no doubt at a loss) and buy an 800 (used?). If you’re determined to go away from the 1000, consider the 810, which is still getting software upgrades. Someday, you might want the lights or radar unit that can be controlled from the 1000 or 810, but not the 800.
Do you ever use the Garmin Forums to ask for help with your 1000? I think you can get more assistance there than at this site. Good luck, and enjoy your rides!
Thanks for your reply Colin. Must admit haven’t looked at alternatives it’s just that the 800 did the job perfect for me and I never had any issues with it. The Garmin forums are full of people with the same issues as me. It’s wierd how some devices have problems while others don’t!
Hi. Thanks for all the replies. I have taken the plunge and bought the 1000. I also use my Garmin for route finding most of the time I am riding and have found one thing makes a huge difference – Don’t use the POS ( to quote a previous reply) which is Garmin Connect to map routes. I have UK 1:50000 OS maps loaded and even using them the route directions are rubbish, it fails to indicate turns, doesn’t sound the off course warning, and is just generally rubbish.
However I cannot recommend highly enough ‘Ride with GPS’ ridewithgps.com It is vastly superior in every aspect to Garmin Connect – much easier and more accurate mapping tool, much better record logs and far easier to navigate. It doesn’t link to Strava, if you are into that, but it does have its own equivalent ‘segments’. Most importantly when following the programmed routes created on the site the Garmin works as it is presumably supposed to and indicates turns, off course and everything else we paid £300 for.