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Garmin Edge 1000

Half-Fast Mike

Lanterne Rouge-et-vert
May 22, 2007
4,644
3,700
No actual product on shelves yet, but all sorts of reviewers seem to be melting their chamoises about it.

Garmin Edge minisite

I've been using Garmins for cycling since the original eTrex, i.e., before there were cycling GPS units. I currently use the Edge 810 and am pretty pleased with it. But I'm a gadget junkie and will mostly accept any excuse to upgrade. So far I can't see anything in the Edge 1000 to appeal to me except its very slightly larger (0.4") screen.

For Half-Fast Mike:

I don't use virtual partner, live tracking, weather, social media sharing or instant uploads via Smartphone although they're available on my Edge 810.

Battery life for the Edge 1000 is LOWER than on the Edge 810: 15 hours vs. 17 hours. It's heavier, too.

Landscape mode: Why?

MicroUSB cable instead of MiniUSB cable: Still need a cable.

Auto-calculation of round-trip routes, e.g., "give me a 80 km route to ride". That could be useful for some, I guess, but I know my routes or I plan them in advance.

Garmin Connect Segments: playing catchup with Strava. Zzzz.​

How about you? See anything you want…?

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Love that it has weather updates. Being unable to, you know, look up at the sky while riding, it would come in handy.

It looks proper bobbins, too. It's as if they asked to dig through Samsung's Galaxy reject bin about four years ago.

I'd only be slightly tempted if I were running Di2, which I'm not.
 
Watched the GCN unboxing a couple of days ago.



Maybe the only good feature is live tracking. Not totally sure how it works but a person at home could track you while riding, and can be good tool in emergencies. Even if my 705 is getting old, I don't see a reason for me to "upgrade" .. I still like simplicity, compact size and tactile buttons.


MicroUSB cable instead of MiniUSB cable: Still need a cable.
I think its there mainly for charging, and secondly for data transfer because it seems the 1000 can use WiFi "allowing wireless uploads to Garmin Connect". The literature says "you can also set up one or more Wi-Fi® hot spots, and the 1000 will automatically sync with Garmin Connect when in range", but no mention of turning WiFi OFF? There is your -2 hours battery life there, but maybe future FW will add a turn off feature.

I don't use virtual partner, live tracking, weather, social media sharing or instant uploads via Smartphone although they're available on my Edge 810.
Love that it has weather updates. Being unable to, you know, look up at the sky while riding, it would come in handy.
Weather? If the 1000 gets its info via the wirelessly tethered phone then it will go kaput once signal is lost up in the mountains. So not really usable, and will just drain your battery.
 
Well, not the "Ride train" subliminal they seem to be pushing. I'll stay on my bike thanks.
 
Looks nice but it is way too big. Why would you wnat landscape mode? Perhaps watching films while out riding?

I don't like all this integration with phones. I get out into the mountains on my bike to get away from it all. I don't want text reminders popping up on my cycling computer. I do like gadgets but I don't like the way Garmin is going with its products. I feel they are moving more towards all these stupid social networking sites.
 
So a big 'Meh' from Tokyo Cycling Club commentators so far.

I suppose I might look at the Edge 1000 more positively if I didn't already have an 810. "If I'm going to buy one I might as well get the most feature-packed one." But as an upgrade - meh.

I find the Strava world heat map fascinating. The UK and Netherlands are astonishing - you have to zoom in a long way before you see any gaps between the heat trails. And it's a real indicator of where Garmin's target audience rides: Western Europe, (mostly) coastal USA, east Australia and New Zealand. The UK and Netherlands are astonishing - you have to zoom in a long way before you see any gaps between the heat trails.

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What features would you like to see from Garmin on their cycling GPS devices?

For me, route pickup would be great. If you want to follow a programmed/imported route or track, the device will navigate you to the nearest point and carry on from there. This works on their hiking devices - eTrex, Oregon, Montana etc. But with Edge navigation, it always takes me to the beginning of the route.
 
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I'd like to see an "adventure" mode... Set a place I need to be at a certain time and a route is generated to fill up ride time. Routes are picked up through social sites like Strava or Garmin heat map data and also past performance on different road types. The route is dynamic. Re-calculate based on missed turns and actual performance. If your pace slower then expected, the route is updated to a more efficient route.

Imagined use case, early morning start, want to be back before the family wakes up at 6am:
  1. At home, 4:45am, set target for home at 6am.
  2. System provides a non-repeating route around the area, with a preference towards popular (in Strava / Garmin) ascents.
  3. Take off on the ride.
  4. Feeling good, shaving 30 seconds off a several segments. ETA shifts -5 minutes and route is updated to add five more minutes.
  5. Flat tire! Delayed by five minutes. Route updated again to account for the delay.

Or another wish I had these navigations had.. The ability to set which roads are to be avoided or favored. For example, I would like to avoid the east west route 20.
 
Yeah that would be very cool indeed.

Personally, I'd like them to focus on reducing the unit's footprint and improving performance as opposed to cramming in as many features as possible.

I imagine one thing which is being explored is the Garmins of the future becoming automatic shifting units for Di2-equipped bikes. If it can read which gear you're in, surely it can dictate it too? No doubt if/when this is released, it will be declared the knife in the back of cycling. Maybe then everyone will join me in friction-shifter land.
 
Basically, I want them to concentrate on making existing features work well instead of adding lots of new features.
  • I want longer battery life. I get a bit nervous when remaining charge drops below about 20% and this happens on my Garmin 500 even on the shortest of brevets (200 km). Even my Android phone (12 cm colour screen, LTE) has better battery life than the Garmin 500 with its tiny 4.5 cm black and white screen and undemanding user interface. Come on guys, most phone users have better access to wall sockets at home, in the office or car auxiliary power than cyclists on the road!
  • Also, I don't want it to tell me I'm "off course", only to say "course found" again the next second.
  • More dependable heart rate numbers would also be nice. Recently I have many false alerts of extremely high heart rate readouts (>170) while descending (!), i.e. when I was recovering after a climb in which I probably didn't top 155.
  • I wish they'd fix the bug in the Edge 500 where it shuts itself down during a recording when you don't acknowlegde an "external power lost" message using the Enter button.
  • I wish there was a display field to the upcoming elevation maximum (toge), something like "vertical climb remaining" or "horizontal climb remaining", when I'm doing a course.
 
The UK and Netherlands are astonishing - you have to zoom in a long way before you see any gaps between the heat trails.

Mike check it out! The UK and Netherlands are astonishing - you have to zoom in a long way before you see any gaps between the heat trails!!!
 
Hey Joe..... Jog on mate.
 
I agree with Joe. How about they concentrate on getting the fundamentals right before adding more half baked, half working features.

* Extending battery life by automatically cutting off things at a certain percentage is a good idea.
* Fix the navigate to start of course feature which I have found to be absurd in the routes it selects.
* Fix the reliability of the HR strap and GSC unit so they last as long as the head unit.
 
Instead of a battery ( how 19th century is that!) Why not run the unit off some of the power I'm producing myself?
(that's awesome power by the way.)

And a self warming Heartrate strap for the colder months. Putting that on in January is the worst part of winter riding!
 
I agree with Joe. How about they concentrate on getting the fundamentals right before adding more half baked, half working features.

* Fix the reliability of the HR strap and GSC unit so they last as long as the head unit.

I'm not sure if you saw the post regarding the HR straps? If you are having issues with the "soft" version of the Garmin HR monitor then I would strongly suggest getting the polar softstrap, the fasteners are placed exactly the same as the Garmin units. I have been using mine now for about 6 months without any issues and that includes spikes in the data.

There are several options for the GSC unit as any Ant+ unit will do the job and there are plenty out there that do the job and don't have the nasty little swing arm that tends to die on you. The other option is lose the Ant+ unit altogether and get a pair of Garmin Vector pedals as they calculate the RPM from the pedals - although not really a cost effective option.
 
+1 on the Polar straps. Was having major issues with my Garmin strap, especially on cold, dry winter days. No problems at all with the Polar one.
 
I think Garmin need to bite the bullet and integrate better with Strava instead of Garmin connect. It'll probably happen eventually.
Anyway, how about being able to select the segments you want to have a crack at before setting off and having the Garmin pop up the segment name and fastest time as you approach? It could also display the time gap plus or minus with the current leader on each chosen segment*.

Hardware-wise, I wonder if Garmin could implement wireless charging. The USB sockets seem to be a weak point in the waterproofing, especially on the Edge series.

+1 for the "off course / course found" alerts. Why not have a tolerance adjustment on this?

* I am well aware that Strava is not real racing.
 
The Garmin 800 is a good product. That said, I am hoping that mine will last for another few years, at which point smartphone battery life will have extended dramatically, Google map-driven apps and dynamo hub/USB charging options will have proliferated, and I will not need to buy the next generation of Garmin. I already find the Google map navigation beats the pants off of my (older) Toyota car navigation system most of the time. Another category of electronic device killed by the iPhone?
 
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