Edge 810 Touchscreen GPS Bike Computer with Heart Rate Monitor and Speed/Cadence Sensor

I upgraded from an Edge 510 to get navigation and was surprised how much better the unit is overall. It's still nice and compact but the slight increase in screen size makes a big difference when viewing stats, especially when using 8 or 10 fields on the screen. I found the touch screen more responsive and easier to swipe than the 510 but that may be just me. The unit is also noticeably faster, especially when saving rides and have found it to be just as fast getting a GPS fix as the 510 even though it doesn't support the GLONASS satellite just GPS. The navigation is great as well, I was using courses on the 510 which were OK but turn-by-turn directions were limited at best and often non-existent (using both Garmin connect & ridewithgps.com). Using the same courses combined with Garmin Navigator maps are transformed, far richer in navigation and so far have been faultless. I tried using free OSM maps but found them to be limited nav wise compared to the £35 Garmin maps. This all refers to on-road navigation and have no experience with off-road. The screen is slightly grainier than the 510 but not by much and certainly doesn't bother me. The smartphone integration is useful for auto uploads to Garmin Connect but livetrack is unreliable, it seems to disconnect in patchy mobile areas and is seemingly unable to resume tracking - hopefully this will be fixed in future app updates. The weather is pretty pointless too. All in all If you're comparing the two and like the idea of full blown navigation then definitely go for the 810 but having said that the 510 is still a great little unit for stats.

When this device works, it is brilliant, genuinely brilliant. But when it fails it can be a complete nightmare. The good; - Small and light. - Battery life is very decent, gets me through 10 hours of road cycling (turn the backlight off). - The sync to phone has been rock solid for me. I get home from my ride, and it has been uploaded to Garmin and Strava before I have finished taking my shoes off. - Live segments is quite a lot of fun. - For the most part the navigation is very good, especially when loaded with Open Streetmap files. - Screen is clear and easy to read, the colour lines on maps are very useful when following a course. The bad - I am on my 3rd one. The first one stopped charging after 11 months, the second one just stopped switching on unless it was plugged in - this just seemed to happen overnight. It was fine and then went to leave for a ride and it switched off. Not used the 3rd yet. I use mine for commuting, so it gets a lot of charges. - The software can be buggy. You play russian roulette with software updates, some fix things, other things get broken. - Mine crashes randomly when using turn by turn navigation, completely rebooting and leaving me waiting on the roadside. This is supposedly fixed now, but I just leave turn by turn off and follow the course so I can't confirm. - It crashed 100 miles into a 120 mile ride, and took 10 miles to reboot and get a signal. Really seems to be the software that let's down an otherwise brilliant device. I put my two breaking down to bad luck, plenty of other people in my cycling club have not had the same problems.

Package and handling by Amazon - Top notch Garmin product review Great product for people who always get lost when out riding. Have mapping capabilities and works almost identical to a full fledged car GPS. Small and compact unit. Quarter mount is tight and secure. Product doesn't really come with my instruction on how to operate the 810 but you'll get it sooner or later. I got used to most functions in a day or two. Best thing about 810 is the turn by turn navigation, live track for my stalkers to follow me, and weather report (only if I bring my mobile out, and connected via bluetooth). Fantastic product, the Garmin 1000 seems too expensive and too many useless functions, price of 510 is just ten over quid cheaper than the 810, without the map. So naturally 810 is the way to go, do get it with at least some protection, a silicone case and a screen protector, you don't want to put dents and scratches on your garmin do you? This stuff is almost the price of my bike. I was really hesitant to buy this, my other options were Dakota, 510, 500, and other crappy GPS. I just wanna Strava, especially my ride to my cornerstore. After I got this, my motivation go get out and ride further increased. Psychological effect of making your money worth. If you're actually looking at this review, you probably have a bike, Strava, poor navigation skills, and an urge to spend. Go ahead, buy it. I bet you'll be adding miles onto your Strava. Oh, and it uploads automatically to Strava too, just spend one whole night to set this thing up to your mobile Strava app.

In principle the Garmin Edge 810 has all the functions a cyclist could want, ranging from monitoring your heart rate and delivered power to a full sat-nav, bringing turn-by-turn navigation to the bicycle. Also, everything is synced with your Garmin account as soon as you connect your phone to the unit. However, this unit is an enormous let-down when it comes to delivering these functions. On every third or so cycle ride I do, the unit crashes - just turns off. The turn by turn navigation misses an awful lot of turns. The synchronization over Bluetooth fails more often than it works. In practice, the unit is unreliable - terrible! The worst thing is that Garmin seems to be aware of this - in the few months since I have had the unit, I have had 2 new firmwares automatically installed when I connected the unit to the computer. However, the problems seem to become worse rather than going away ... If you do not believe me, have a look at the Garmin Edge 810 forum: https://forums.garmin.com/forumdisplay.php?362-Edge-810

I was previously using the Garmin Edge 200, which is a great little device. But I have started to get more serious about my cycling so thought I would upgrade after reading positive things about the Garmin Edge 810. I bought the bundle with Heart Rate Monitor and Speed/ Cadence sensor for £260 with only the basic map installed. It came with the new type of sensor for the Speed/ Cadence which was very easy to install, which makes it ideal for swapping over to another bike if you need to. The device itself is very easy to set up, there are many videos on Youtube to guide you through the menu’s and functions. Also I made a mistake in buying a separate out in front bike mount, but the bundle I got comes with the Garmin one inside the box. I am currently testing different maps for Road and Mountain biking. A good online resource for mapping is scarletfire co uk . You don’t need to pay full price for maps. And one map might not suit all your needs. Its is possible to find them for £0 if you look on the net. I’m using a 8GB memory card, and can fit OSM, City Navigator and the Discoverer maps on it. Connected to your mobile phone, you can upload your rides to Strava easily. I have not used it to its full potential yet, but so far I really like it and can see it benefitting my cycling a lot.

This is a good little device but it does have its faults. The first fault is that when cycling it gives you around 20m notice of a bend. Nowhere near enough time to slow down properly to take the bend at any reasonable speed so you keep over-shooting bends and doubling back on yourself. Also when it comes to a fork in the route it only shows the route you should take and does not show the route that you should not take. Guess what? You are pretty much guaranteed to take the wrong fork and end up doubling back on yourself. Also, importing routes from non-Garmin websites results in the route name not being displayed correctly. So you need to delete old routes off so you don't confuse yourself with what is on the screen. The data it gives you though is excellent. I thoroughly recommend going the full Garmin hog and getting the cadence and watt accessories if you can and if you are a serious enough enthusiast to want to have that data. The routing is pretty accurate but the issues with it not showing routes around the one you are taking does make this unit confusing to use if you are out in the wilds. On the streets where the turns are more evident then it is fine. Battery life is amazing. I used it on an 11 hour ride and still have just under 40% left. Ohhh .. if only Garmin batteries were used in phones!

After a few months of using a Garmin 510 I decided to upgrade to the Garmin 810 for the additional benefits of mapping capability and some reliability / stability issues with the former. The 810 is a bit bigger and heavier than the 510 but my early time with it, including the use of some freely available UK mapping on SIM card, has restored my faith in the Edge series. It is slightly more complex in available functionality should you want it but at the sub-£200 price paid for a touchscreen unit it is a steal in my view (prices on the web fluctuate wildly it seems). Uses the same firmware as the 510 but for me is less issue prone and more stable / reliable. Following courses I have prepared seems so much easier with the added mapping capability provided by this unit - more akin to a traditional satnav. Sealed battery life is fine for my needs and would be enough for a decent sportive over 6-8 hours and could be extended by switching off / tweaking some of the functions I guess. Basic mounts, AC adaptor and USB cable are in the box (no "out front" mounts included in the one I bought). Interesting that Garmin have recently changed the 510 to a 520 but kept with the 810 and 1000 variants.

Bit dated. If you already use Garmin connect with watches etc, this doesn’t sync/contribute to your daily fitness. In hindsight, I would’ve just bought the speed/cadence sensors and paired them to my Garmin watch.