Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, and plenty more! Go check out the full list here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
2
Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
3
Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
4
My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
5
The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
European price is still sky high. 399 euro on Garmin shop, best deal 350. Recently saw a deal on the Bolt for 199, 239 is the regular price on al shops. Im a Garmin fan, but tempted to make a move. I wouldn’t for 50, but 110 is a different story!
Oeps, comparing 820 not 520. 520 is only 20 more over the Bolt.
In the Netherlands, the cheapest 520 is € 249,-. The 820 € 299,-…. (Futurum shop). Good times :).
Slight correction: 334 euro for the “real” 820, 299 euro is for the “explore” model that won’t record power data and misses some training features.
Price in CHILE (south america)
Garmin Edge 520 : USD 450
Garmin Edge 520 bundle: USD 550
Element BOLT : USD 280.
Bought a bolt last week!
Officials reseller still sell de 810 for USD 550.
A second hand with a lot use Edge 510 are sold for 300 usd !!!
Price are a madness here. So the element Bolt Price at 280USD is quite a deal.
As a bike shop owner we have never sold garmin due to the lack of margings and the strong random discounts you can find online Since wahoo bolt got launched we have prescribed them and we have sold over 70 units. The fact that there are no online discounts make it even better for us as there’s no discussion about the price.
Even if garmin matches the price, we still be prescribing the wahoo bolt, and i think still be selling as good or as better as the 520. Obviously, because the bolt is a good product, if it was a piece of junk we wouldnt be prescribing it!
Same here. We are doing very well with the Bolt.
So you’re saying that you don’t sell Garmin products and we’re to be impressed that you won’t “prescribe” the Garmin 520? You made a strong argument by listing multiple ways in which he Wahoo unit benefits you financially. You didn’t comment on any features.
I bet your customers really appreciate your “prescriptions.”
I’m sorry you do not understand how brick and mortar businesses operate. the only way to remain in business is to make profit. Every business should know how much their operating expenses are and then they can ensure they retain enough profit margin to ensure paying the bills and allowing growth,
What that bike shop is doing is the same thing every business does. Each business calculates the profit potential of each item or service they provide and they try to maximize the ones that make the most profit and minimize or eliminate the ones that do not.
They actually made one of the most important posts in this article. They called out Garmin for having a business model that does not support their own dealer body. Each dealer has to PURCHASE what they sell from the manufacturer. Why should they as a dealer not be loyal to the companies that are loyal to them? Are you critical of a specialized dealer for selling specialized items at their store? Specialized does not allow their dealers to sell on the internet to protect their dealer body from a price race to the bottom. Kudos to Wahoo for doing something similar. Kudos to the bike shop for being a smart business and watching their margins.
All that shop is doing is making a recommendation on a product they have for sale in their showroom. Promoting the product of a business partner, just like whatever line of bikes they sell, or shoes, or tires or whatever. The customer has responsibility to agree or disagree on the recommendation. They are not being forced to make a purchase.
I think daniel replies summarizes everything.
I tried the bolt, and i preferred it over garmin ( which i did have even if we did not sell it at the shop). I like the bolt, i preferred it over garmin, they protect the price, we sell it at the shop, i do reccommend it if you come to the shop. You are free of buying it or not. I do look for the feedback of my clients (90% ex-garmin users) and they say that they are uber happy with the change.
Basically i am not prescribing a piece of junk because they protect our margings. I am prescribing it because i genuinely think is a good product.
It would be stupid from my side to have wahoo bolts in stock and say: yeah we have wahoo bolt but we do reccommend you the garmin even if we think is an inferior product.
Some people pop by thr shop asking to buy a garmin 520 and i send them directly to amazon, because they would LAUGH at my face if i offered them a garmin with a 10% discount over the RRP, which is the only way we would have to make money on a garmin unit.
Daniel, it isn’t “not understanding” how a bricks and mortar company operates that is the issue here. I understand the frustration with Garmin, but think you are being shortsighted. It isn’t that you aren’t making any money selling Garmin, it’s that you aren’t making enough. And maybe this influences the number of units you are able to sell. But if you were my local bike store and decided not to stock a highly popular product from a supplier for these reasons, I would question your impartiality and advice and would go elsewhere. It becomes about trust, and you seem happy to risk this.
It’s impossible to calculate this lost revenue to a business, but if I’m not coming in to buy a non-existent Garmin, neither am I coming in to check out clothing, accessories or even a new bike. I think you’ll pay a price, it’s just hard to calculate.
Hi Barry
i think with my experience i can cuantify how much is the lost to the revenue of our business due to not stocking garmins: ZERO. If you are planning to buy a garmin with the maximum discount, is very likely, almost guaranteed, that is the only thing you are going to buy from my shop.
But you might be right and it could be that we are not making enough. Fair enough. But i will tell you a few things about the differences between a LBS and a online retailer.
We used to sell garmins before but we stopped selling them because people wanted online retailer price paired with the LBS service we provide you, and that´s not possible. If you buy a garmin from an online retailer and you have problems with it after 3 months, the ball is on Garmins warranty roof, and people do understand that it´s their problem deal with the warranty as they have bought it online. If garmins denies the warranty or gets delayed the client will be angry with Garmin, not with the online retailer.
We had many many issues where people would by from us and we were giving them online retailer price (making very little profit out of it), and the client wanted us to explain to him how it works, help him to install it, etc etc. (hey we start losing money straight after the sale as have make no profit) After a few months he would start having problems, and of course he is not going to reach garmin, he would reach us. And then we had to deal with garmin warranty, and bla bla bla so on and all this time we have been losing big money (as every minute counts). And if garmin denies the warranty for any reason then is not garmin problem, the clients has a problem WITH US and our reputation. I am happy to risk my reputation covering your brand if I am making profit out of your product, but if I am losing money because I am selling your product i am not going to risk my reputation as a LBS.
And believe me, very little money obtained from cross sales from this new clients we acquired from having garmin at online retail price in stock.
So it´s not the problem that we are not selling enough, if we want to sell enough we need to become an online retailer, deal with people over the phone, and deal with the sales as a online retailer would do, and we would´t be a LBS anymore.
So i have nohthing againts online sales, i buy myself online quite often. But if you are brand, you need to decide your strategy, and the options are:
1.- Pure onilne (like Canyon)
2.- Pure retail (no one does this).
3.- Online + Retail (like wahoo doing it right, or garmin doing it wrong).
If you as a brand want to be in the third section, you need to make sure you protect prices and you protect sales on both sides (online and retail). Before the main argument of the Garmin representative was that they had no competition and they could do whatever they wanted with the price and they would still sell online and they would still sell on the shop because if the shop did not have it they would lose sales. That point completely changes when you have a new player in the field that creates you competition like wahoo (and hopefully soon hammerhead)!
I’d point out that aside from price protection (which is really only a European thing, and won’t last that much longer for Wahoo in the grand scheme of things), the rest of what you said is no different for Wahoo.
If a consumer has an issue, they’re not going to get support from you for Wahoo anymore than they are a Garmin device. They’re going to go to Garmin or Wahoo. Both companies support those products basically forever for phone support (seriously, you can call for a device from 10 years ago at Garmin just fine). Same goes for warranty, both companies have the same 2 year EU warranties here.
I totally get your other reasoning – but to say the other things simply aren’t true. And I’d be hesitant to build that business case on that logic.
€219 @ Bike24.de
Well still is not enough difference to justify the online purchase versus your LBS. since 5 years ago for the shops is cheaper to buy online that buying from the garmin supplier.
Will be interesting to see if the 820 comes down a bit too (not necessarily $50). Just wondering if the an extra $50 gap between the 520 and 820 would cause a re-think…
I wish my bike shop conversations went like thats, it’s more like;
Customer – I’m looking for a bike computer, something like the Garmin 520 or Wahoo Bolt
Shop – We don’t stock either of those, you’d have to order them in, which do you want
Customer – Which is best?
Shop – Dunno, I can get the garmin in a week, but the wahoo looks like three weeks to arrive
Customer – I’m off to Wiggle, thanks (Other online shops available, such as clever training!)
So, if you don’t have them in stock, why should anyone order them for the MAP at your shop?
The superior strategy is to buy online for a discount and get free delivery to your doorstep.
Don’t you see that your USP as a bike shop is immediate availability (i.e. not having to wait for the postal service to arrive)?
– only applicable to accessories, not necessarily bikes –
Because if you don’t support your LBS, your LBS will disappear. Are you going to get your bike serviced online?
I’m being extreme here, but the case still stands. I shop online when the price benefits me, but if the price online is the same as the price at my LBS, I would rather support my local retailer than buy it online from someone that may or may not be an authorized retailer & may or may not be selling me legit OEM electronics.
The only time I shop online is when it’s something my LBS does not carry, or can not order. I’m fine paying more in store locally for something I can find cheaper online, especially after factoring in shipping*. As a loyal customer, I get discounts that come close to online pricing, and discounts on service. and many times, no labor charge for repairs. Just parts. Because my shop knows I spend my money there. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship that works out best in the long term for us both.
*I live in an isolated part of the country where many online retailers do not offer free shipping. Fortunately, Clever Training is NOT one of those, and they are my first stop when my LBS can not help.
Will this price drop impact the higher end models? Thinking they might want to keep the same price jump from the 520 to the higher end units rather than have it go up by $50
Maybe they will wait for the 1030 to come out so they can intro at a lower price point than the 1000 as a way to spur sales
The 520 is 2 years old now so with Garmins recent 3 year cycle it would be due a refresh next year, albeit the 1030 is already running 6 months over that cycle. If I was Garmin I’d be looking to refresh the much younger 820 rather than the 520, the reason being that it has significant touchscreen issues, is woefully underpowered for it’s navigation features and is also a bit physically small screenwise to sit between the 5X0 and the 10X0.
Thanks Ray, that link to GPLama is really interesting and it will be even more interesting to see the market shift with year on year as the Bolt hadn’t been out too long before that event.
An excellent comparrison would be on the UK RideLondon event on 30th July as there is a huge Strava following. A split on the longer and shorter routes would also be interesting. So much interest, so little time…
I have the Ride London 2017 data to present. Stay tuned! :)
Awesome! :) Discovered your channel through Ray & now binge watching. Great work, keep it up
The interesting thing is that the garmin has always been cheaper in Australia. The RRP of both products are the same ($399) but the Garmin 520 is constantly sold online for $320, while the wahoo is always at the RRP.
Confirmed for Canada – Looks like (apart from the official garmin site) the price went from 399 to 320 – Amazon, MEC and Costco (random) all have it at between 318 and 320.
This is a tactic known as ‘protecting the flank’ – they are probably not too worried about the 520 sales. But when Wahoo releases a higher cost (and profit) item – by having more people already using their cheaper one they continue to edge on the market… If you sacrifice a little at the bottom end (where margins are squeezed more), you make more at the top due to brand.
Also, I have no doubt Garmin – with their volume – has a lower cost price than their competitors….
Maybe next time include the pictures of the tacos and ice cream.
When will the Edge 1000 be replaced or refreshed?
Ray certainly can’t say but it is almost guaranteed in the next 3 weeks according to the inter-webs. But what will it add that is significant and at what price point are the questions.
link to gpsrumors.com
Can’t wait to hear more details.
The Vector 3 (sans pods), looks interesting too!
I find the debate which is better fascinating.
I have learned, the device is only part of the equation. The platform matters alot. I was a garmin loyalist, but decided to try the Magellan 505 (?) a while back. It was a good device. It had some things I liked, better mapping, etc. Had some major bugs also. But, all in all, a good device. Probably better than my garmin 800. What I found annoying after a while was that I didn’t reallize how vested I was into the garmin site. I had all my data in there. Now, with a cool site (tapa something), I could sink cross platform. But, I still got used to my garmin connect platform, and its pitfalls.
I have since switched back to the 520 and now primarily use my 935 for everything.
My exhaustive point being, there is more to picking a computer than the device itself. The 520 is a really solid device, the bolt is probably better. The 935 is fantastic and I think the best watch ever made. Garmin is a mega corporation with strong brand recognition. Most amateur and beginner riders will chose Garmin by name alone. I am supremely confident garmin will be around for years to come. Who knows about the lesser capitalized companys.
Just my Magellan learning experience.
OH, and I blame Ray for my magellan experience. He did a review which “made” me buy it. I expect preferential treatment in the giveaway next year!
I am vested in the Garmin ecosystem…while the Bolt looks interesting I really like some of the info from Garmin Connect such as All Day HR, sleep time, and power data. With multiple Garmin devices I would need to be overwhelmed to switch.
The syncing site is Tapariik – link to tapiriik.com
I’m biased in favor of Garmin myself. With lots of accessories and having always used Garmin Forerunner watches for my running, it wasn’t hard to weigh the pros of the 520 more heavily than the (few) cons. And the one con I keep coming across—no turn by turn directions—isn’t really a con in a practical sense for me. I loaded up a course from RideWithGPS, updated the internal map with a more detailed one, played around with the settings, and took it out for a course ride and got great turn by turn directions along the whole route. Very happy with this purchase.
As others have noted, it’ll now be $199 for the 520 when 20% off. That is really tempting whilst I can still get $50 for my Edge 705 on eBay. So if it’s true that the Bolt is not discounted online, then the 520 is now cheaper when bought on sale/online.
My only reservation about the 520, is that its late in the season here in the US, and. 530 must be 12-18 months out. Garmin will have had plenty of time to add in Bolt beating features to the 530 too.
I was curious whether the 520 was a significant contributor to the Garmin bottom line (which might shed some light on their motivation for repricing). It turns out that the Fitness segment (which includes cycling and lots of other products) was the largest revenue source for Garmin, though more profit was generated by the Marine sector.
Their annual report doesn’t give the breakdown of the Fitness segment by sport, but it’s probably safe to say that the cycling products, and particularly the 520, are a large enough category that it attracts a lot of attention at the C-level of Garmin.
Yup, I dove into some of those financials here just a couple weeks ago: link to dcrainmaker.com
Here’s how you can get the WAHOO Elemnt Bolt for $199
If you are thinking about getting the Bolt, now is a good time to receive two cash back offers through retailmenot.com ($20 – on $150 or more ) and ebates.com ($10 – 4% of total purchase), when you shop online at Backcountry.com. They also have free expedite shipping on orders over $50.
How to get the deal:
First, I clicked the backcountry.com deal link on retailmenot.com (see below for the link). The backcountry.com website then opened up and then I activated the ebates.com shopping trip using their google extension (an extension from the Chrome Store). You will click through the ebates.com screen to activate its shopping trip and then you will place your order with backcountry.com.
After receiving the cash back payments in a few weeks, I will have only paid $219.
To save an additional $20 – these have not been confirmed.
*If you click the backcountry.com referral link below, you might be able to apply an additional $10 to your order, thus paying only $209 after receiving the other cash back payments.
*If you click the ebates.com referral link below, you might be able to get an additional $10 on your ebates shopping trip, thus paying only $199 after receiving the other cash back payments.
**both additional savings might work if you do not already have account with them.
Referral Links:
Backcountry.com = link to refer.backcountry.com
*I don’t receive any referral bonuses.
EBATES.com = link to ebates.com
*I receive $5 a “friend” up to $50”, Thank you!
Link to the Backcountry.com deal on retailmenot.com:
link to retailmenot.com
Steps:
1. Follow the ebates.com referral link to create an account.
a. Go to the google chrome store and add their extension to your Chrome Browser.
2. Follow the backcountry.com referral link to receive a $10 discount and to create an account. (I’m not 100% that it will apply to your shopping trip).
3. Create a retailmenot.com account.
4. Click the retailmentnot.com Backcountry.com deal link to activate your shopping trip through retailmenot.com.
5. Once backcountry.com is open, using the ebates google extension, click to activate their shopping trip deal. Ebates varies every week on what % discount they are offering, mine was 4% at the time I purchased the Bolt.
6. Select the Bolt and apply the $10 backcoutnry.com refer a friend discount, and then place your order.
7. Receive the Bolt in two days and enjoy! Your cashback payments will arrive in month or two.
8. Final step: Ride your bike and be happy :)
I can confirm what was published by Adriaan in July.
At least the marketing department at Garmin is reading Ray’s blog, if the developers give a sheet…
You have to wonder once some of the other units start to ship, specifically the new Giant computer, if the prices will dip again this fall.
Since last week the Wahoo Bolt. Very good gps unit, easy to setup and full navigation enabled (which is limited available on the Garmin 520) and btw: very good display. So even for the same price: I would choose the Bolt over the 520. And I have numerous Garmin devices Fenix 3HR, Zumo 450 for the motorbike, 510 on the bike, but happy to see good alternatives that connect to all sorts of websites without trying you to use foremost Garmin Connect (a website that makes me itch all over my body)
The 520 is a great machine. Also have the 1000.
Garmin are clever with there whole eco system which keeps you locked in to keep the whole benefit.
I’d love the wahoo elemnt but have the Vector 2 pedals and would lose the cycling dynamics and would also lose the radar functionality.
Perhaps the 1030 will have to be the next upgrade
I was also swinging between the 520 and the elemnt bolt, decided to go with the bolt as it seemed the more innovative product. After a little more than one week with the device I am ok with it.
Points that bother me:
– I am not sold on the page zooming. I would rather change pages with the up/down button than zoom in/out. It takes me much longer to get to the desired data pages…
– It’s not possible to change number of HR zones or the naming of the HR zones.
– I am missing a decent (pdf) manual.
– The displayed map can only be zoomed in/out, but not moved.
– The missing online platform. At least for displaying the data after the ride it would be nice. The framework could be re-used from the live tracking feature…
– The compass! I don´t get the feeling the compass has any usage. Very slow for direction changes, very disappointed!
Things that I like:
– The support is super fast, responsive and helpful! So delighted for this experience, considering I already wait two weeks for any response of Time..
– Live tracking works really well and is displayed nicely.
– fast GPS signal – I am coming from a 910xt ;)
– Overall experience
I still love the Garmin 500 but the ease of data transfer with the 520 is getting more and more attractive!
I definitely get what you mean, Ray, about being able to quickly interact with the computer. Changing bikes and selecting routes is a little clunky on the 500 but it’s also a slower processor. I want to get on my bike and ride.
Can’t keep the Bolt in stock… Now, if Wahoo would only open up F-EC control on the unit…
I keep changing my mind about the bike computer, it’s crazy! I guess I’ll use my good olt fr310xt for a few more months until I can wrap my head around all this..
Is it just me but why are people even comparing the Bolt and 520. The fact the 520 doesn’t have turn by turn navigation or come with maps means it’s not really a rival – the garmin 820 is a far better comparison and then we are talking a massive saving if you buy the bolt.
I also can’t believe nobody talks about the complete and utter design flaw on the 520 and 820 too the start stop ride button and lap buttons are completely inacessable if use a mount which is “areo” flush with the handle bars (K-edge) type mount.
Be good to know if I’m the only one as not journalist seem to comment on this
People are comparing them because honestly it’s what most people are deciding between. I talked about this extensively in the post linked in the first line of this post. I explain precisely why the navigation on the Edge 820 is quite different than on BOLT, so it’s not so clear-cut.
As for the buttons, it’s been discussed and it is annoying – but for 95% of people it’s not a deciding factor.
The even bigger design flaw is the insult of putting 100mb of memory in the 520.
I bought a Garmin Edge 520 about a week ago on Clever Training at the reduced price after reading your and other reviews. What clinched the deal for me in Garmin’s favor is that the workflows for replacing the built-in map with a more detailed local one and for uploading courses, thanks in large part to your guides, were easy enough. I’ve always used Garmin Forerunners for my running so the price and the easy work set-up of the Edge made it an easy choice. A couple of rides later, I couldn’t be happier.
May not be a big deal for most but CIQ is the one feature that would push me to Garmin right now, without question. My particular interest is being able to have data pages that don’t just follow the basic data field grid pattern of a stock bike computer screens. Especially if you can do your own programming, the layout options are endless.
I bought my Garmin 520 on line from Evans Cycle back in December for $284 Canadian including shipping. (Shipping @ Evans is not free to Canada) Couldn’t be happier!
I noticed a “soft” price drop various places online for the past ~week, interesting…
I sold my 820 and 100 and moved to wahoo and have never looked back. Battery life is massively better, easier to use and the software is stable unlike the garmin lock-ups and crashes
‘First off, I do NOT see this as a sign of any new Garmin Edge 520 successor on the way.’ What makes you so sure?
I’m on the fence at the moment whether to get the 520. I know it’s a solid product that would meet my needs. Still, I don’t buy cycling computers very often so ensuring that whatever I get doesn’t end up in the legacy device bucket very quickly is a consideration. With the price drop it’s very tempting to take the plunge but on the other hand I feel like I’m in that classic want vs need situation. I can definitely live without it for some time but it would be nice to upgrade :)
Any rumors on a streamlined form factor Wahoo Elemnt (original), else will “settle” for the Bolt
Right as I tried to sell my 520 to buy a Bolt, they drop the price. Lol. But sold it today after I dropped the price to someone with an Elemnt who wanted a Garmin.
I hope the Edge 1030 coming this fall won’t see price bump over Edge 1000.
My bolt stopped working today, the screen faded off half way through a ride. Has anyone else had this problem? Interested to see if Wahoos after sales service is as good as people say.
Unfortunately my experience with Garmin is that their devices have lots of annoying (not to mention weird) little bugs where anything I’ve bought of Wahoo has been completely and utterly hassle free. Garmin just doesn’t seem to have the (software?) engineering competence to make their products as great as they could be. With this in mind even if a Garmin with similar features would be cheaper compared to Wahoo, I still wouldn’t be buying it.
I’m about to buy the Wahoo Bolt. I have a $100 gift card from REI that I got from signing up for their REI MasterCard. This card gives 5% cash back on REI purchases and because I’m member, I will get 10% in dividends. So the final price will be something around $132 (with tax and including the dividends + cashback). I guess it’s a good deal!!
So my 520 wouldn’t power on last night, despite having been fully charged the night before. I was thinking that this might wind up being a convenient time to replace it, but Garmin’s chat support was able to get the unit up and running again via some undocumented button pressing.
Has anyone documented what these button sequences actually do?
i really don’t understand. at the beginning of the year i got my garmin 520 bundled with HR and cadence / speed sensors for 249.00 and now it’s 249.00 just for the unit with nothing.
You paid $349, not $249. The sale ran from December 11th to December 24th, and was $349 for the bundle. The non-bundle was $249. Both were simply $50 off.
An identical sale ran from April 2nd to April 29th.
sorry i bought it in november 2016. nope, it was 249.00 and free shipping for the bundle. i just looked it up and yep 249.00
That was probably around black friday time then, Amazon had it for 199€ in Europe
Ahh, yeah, there was a day in November last year where a retailer on Amazon lowered the bundle to $249 sans-authorization from Garmin (Garmin has to authorize all US sales/discounts). It didn’t last long. In Europe and elsewhere, folks are free to price as they see fit.
I noticed that Ribble has the Edge 100 performance bundle 31% off. New model must be coming soon.
The more I read, the more confused I get.
All I want to do is to buy good technology that is reliable and not going to be out of date by next month.
It should not be this hard to decide what to do!
Edge 1030 Coming soon )))
Stages dropped price of Dash
Ray – I know you can’t comment but the edge 1030 price leak at $699 is absolutely insane.
Just to circle back on this…and this is why you don’t always trust online leaks. :)
I opted for the 520 basically for 2 reasons. I’ve been using the Garmin platform for a long time (Edge 305 and vivoactive). Also I wanted the Varia radar. By getting the 520, I didn’t need the Varia head unit, thus saving $100. The combo is working great.
While my Garmin stuff hasn’t been problem free, it’s been pretty good and I figure nothing is perfect. I’ve had good luck with Garmin customer service over the years.
I have been using the Garmin 520 since it came out and initially really loved it, but the touch screen IMO isn’t the best option. When you sweat a lot it can be a pain. Sweat dripping on the unit can change your screen, hand motions to switch screens can be delayed or not work. I had to set the unit to the lowest sensitivity level because at the highest screens would always change due to sweat.
The other issue is in bright sunlight where the screen can be a little difficult to see.
I opted to get the Wahoo Bolt because the sweat issues I am having with the Garmin shouldn’t exist.
IMO the Garmin Touch Screen is nice, but the unit should also have buttons to change screens and give you the option to use the touch screen or turn it off and just use buttons. They obviously didn’t test the unit a lot with people who sweat or they would have realized it has issues.
? The 520 doesn’t have a touchscreen.
Ray, I know that Garmin needs to “protect” it territory, but the element .fit files when uploaded to Garmin Connect sort of work, but don’t. They are displayed in the thumbnail, but not in the activity view. When trying to download they simply don’t show up. Isn’t .fit a standard format, or is it really proprietary?
It’s a standard format… but that doesn’t mean everyone follows the standard properly unfortunately (on both sides).
I don’t entirely know who’s at fault on this one.