Garmin Edge 510 vs 810

godtabh

Currently have a 500. Was due to pick up a 510 last week very cheaply and sell on the 500 but that fell through (the 510).

Still looking to pick up one and while looking for deals on the 510 been reading up on the 810.

I do a lot of solo cycles (about 99% of all cycles are solo) and some of them are get on a bike and see where we go so the open maps option on the 810 seems ideal.

I like the live tracking. Weather updates might be useful.

Other than the maps is there any major advantage of the 510 vs the 810? I've always just used my phone in the past when lost or keep going until I can figure out where I am

Inquitus

godtabh wrote: »

Currently have a 500. Was due to pick up a 510 last week very cheaply and sell on the 500 but that fell through (the 510).

Still looking to pick up one and while looking for deals on the 510 been reading up on the 810.

I do a lot of solo cycles (about 99% of all cycles are solo) and some of them are get on a bike and see where we go so the open maps option on the 810 seems ideal.

I like the live tracking. Weather updates might be useful.

Other than the maps is there any major advantage of the 510 vs the 810? I've always just used my phone in the past when lost or keep going until I can figure out where I am

I have a 500 and an 800, the maps on the 800 are nice and the take me home button allows you so wander aimlessly and then get turn by turn to take you home.

The breadcrumb trail works really well on the 500 for navigation, but having it overlaid on a real map means the 800 excels in this regard.

I find the battery life on the 500 significantly better than the 800, if doing rides above 200km in distance the 800 will run out of battery in the final 100km, the 500 is good for 12 hours or so. That's my only major gripe with the 800.

That aside they both fulfill exactly the same function and maps aside collect and display the same data.

godtabh

I've done a couple of 200km + rides with the 500 and never had a battery fail on me. Plan to do at least 1 200km, 250km and 300km ride in the summer.

ford2600

godtabh wrote: »

I've done a couple of 200km + rides with the 500 and never had a battery fail on me. Plan to do at least 1 200km, 250km and 300km ride in the summer.

Why stop....

350....

3 days in a row equals MF1200 plus a little 170 on last day...

Ole Rodrigo

Have you considered a second hand edge 705? With some tweeking you can get 18 hours out of the battery. TBH, I think the Garmin map functions are a bit redundant when you can pre plan a route on ridewithgps, along with carrying a smartphone.

godtabh

ford2600 wrote: »

Why stop....

My wife

ror_74 wrote: »

Have you considered a second hand edge 705? With some tweeking you can get 18 hours out of the battery. TBH, I think the Garmin map functions are a bit redundant when you can pre plan a route on ridewithgps, along with carrying a smartphone.

Thats why the edge 510 seems the sensible choice. Good battery. Plan route with garmin connect etc. The only downside is that if you go off the breadcrumb trail it can be hard to get back on

Inquitus

godtabh wrote: »

I've done a couple of 200km + rides with the 500 and never had a battery fail on me. Plan to do at least 1 200km, 250km and 300km ride in the summer.

Aye the 800 won't last a 300km Audax, the 500 will. Thats the main issue I have with the 800.

CheGuedara

I'm not sure that I'd buy an 810 just now, and it's not down to the battery life or the multitude of issues (including navigation and course following!) that apparently are to be resolved, but that I suspect it's soon to be superseded.

Garmin just released a golfing GPS called the Approach G8 and I'll eat my crasher if the same platform isn't released as the new bigger, better, screenier Edge 820/900/1000/whatever by the summer.

Sure, it'll probably have more issues than Time magazine at launch but it should cause the (surely bug fixed by then) 810 price to drop when it does.

Ole Rodrigo

godtabh wrote: »

Thats why the edge 510 seems the sensible choice. Good battery. Plan route with garmin connect etc. The only downside is that if you go off the breadcrumb trail it can be hard to get back on

Yeah. The value of having map functions on a Garmin (705/800/810) , as I see it, is for preplanned routes that you load into the device and follow on the day, such as audax, some sportives and holidays etc

Touring and training spins etc can be easily planned on a website, pen and paper and memory, which the 5 series is perfect for.

It might sound trite but reading a map and visualising a ride the day before is often more than adequate. Any curveballs - such as storms blowing signposts a**eways :pac: - and you can pull out a smartphone.

godtabh

ror_74 wrote: »

Yeah. The value of having map functions on a Garmin (705/800/810) , as I see it, is for preplanned routes that you load into the device and follow on the day, such as audax, some sportives and holidays etc

Touring and training spins etc can be easily planned on a website, pen and paper and memory, which the 5 series is perfect for.

It might sound trite but reading a map and visualising a ride the day before is often more than adequate. Any curveballs - such as storms blowing signposts a**eways :pac: - and you can pull out a smartphone.

based on that is it worth going from the 500 to the 510? Probably not

Ole Rodrigo

godtabh wrote: »

based on that is it worth going from the 500 to the 510? Probably not

Dont think so - unless you get extra battery time that's useful to you.

cormpat

ror_74 wrote: »

Have you considered a second hand edge 705? With some tweeking you can get 18 hours out of the battery.

How can you do this? The most I've gotten out of my 705 is about 8:30hrs...

BadCharlie

You could get a battery pack. I have a real light one "Duracell instant" gives another 1000mah. Can charge my iphone, light or edge 800 with it. 1000mah is not going to charge much, but enough to do me.

cormpat

BadCharlie wrote: »

You could get a battery pack. I have a real light one "Duracell instant" gives another 1000mah. Can charge my iphone, light or edge 800 with it. 1000mah is not going to charge much, but enough to do me.

Cheers, I thought it might have been something like changing a setting on it which would increase the battery life rather than adding another battery.

BadCharlie

Well it might be some tweaking u can do to the edge 705 to help save power. Just have to wait for other poster.

07Lapierre

cormpat wrote: »

Cheers, I thought it might have been something like changing a setting on it which would increase the battery life rather than adding another battery.

I used to get over 10 hours from my 705. Turning off the back light and not using any navigation features helps. Just use it to record speed/cadence, heartrate, position and elevation.

Ole Rodrigo

cormpat wrote: »

Cheers, I thought it might have been something like changing a setting on it which would increase the battery life rather than adding another battery.

You should get 12 hours out of the box. In addition:

- If you go through the settings and knock everything off - training partner, external devices, etc - and also knock the back light down as low as possible.
- The settings you cant turn off, keep them at their lowest setting, for example the map set at least amount of detail, auto zoom to off etc.
- Keep the data fields on the display to a minimum.
- I'd also move the training history files on to the PC and give it a hard reset once in a while. If you can't do that, delete the waypoint files from it as often as you can. These build up and it uses more battery life recording new training data.
- Don't load any SD card maps unless you need them.
- For Data recording set zero averaging to off and data points to smart recording.

Also, if you load a course, make sure its mapped out with a minimum of waypoints ( smaller file size ) Loading a course will eat the battery anyway, so you won't get as much battery life as you will without it.

If its just for recording a ride and and uploading to strava/ Garmin you should get up to 18 hours.

Inquitus

ror_74 wrote: »

You should get 12 hours out of the box. In addition:

- If you go through the settings and knock everything off - training partner, external devices, etc - and also knock the back light down as low as possible.
- The settings you cant turn off, keep them at their lowest setting, for example the map set at least amount of detail, auto zoom to off etc.
- Keep the data fields on the display to a minimum.
- I'd also move the training history files on to the PC and give it a hard reset once in a while. If you can't do that, delete the waypoint files from it as often as you can. These build up and it uses more battery life recording new training data.
- Don't load any SD card maps unless you need them.
- For Data recording set zero averaging to off and data points to smart recording.

Also, if you load a course, make sure its mapped out with a minimum of waypoints ( smaller file size ) Loading a course will eat the battery anyway, so you won't get as much battery life as you will without it.

If its just for recording a ride and and uploading to strava/ Garmin you should get up to 18 hours.

So if you dumb it down to below even say the level of an Edge 500, which can happily do breadcrumb navigation for 18 hours then you have a very expensive 500 thats er bigger and has a touchscreen?

Ole Rodrigo

Inquitus wrote: »

So if you dumb it down to below even say the level of an Edge 500, which can happily do breadcrumb navigation for 18 hours then you have a very expensive 500 thats er bigger and has a touchscreen?

Pretty much.:)

Although the 705 doesn't have a touch screen, and its pretty cheap second hand.

Personally, I like having the option of loading a preplanned route on the display. You won't get 18 hours doing that though.

If you're doing a long ride you can charge it up at a coffee stop. I've done a few credit card tours that have uploaded as single rides for over 900 km, just by charging it at the end of each day.

07Lapierre

Inquitus wrote: »

So if you dumb it down to below even say the level of an Edge 500, which can happily do breadcrumb navigation for 18 hours then you have a very expensive 500 thats er bigger and has a touchscreen?

Yes but its better to have it (mapping) and not need it, than to need it and not have it! .... at least, that my excuse for getting the 810

dissed doc

I think the routing is not trustworthy. I tour with maps on a handlebar mount and always prefer a paper map. the edge 800 I use for gps recording of the ride, the stats and several times I have used it to get me back on route by seeing that real signposts are wtong or I miss a turn, and can see the comparison of my paper map route andwhere the GPS is saying I am.

When I have tried to plan routes for full journeys with it, it has lost half the route, gone dead from the battery or routes all manner of places that seem crazy. I use The Plug to power the USB now and it's fine with that, but otherwise, around 6hrs of continuous use.

The final thing I use it for while not on the bike is planning routes manually using Mapsource. You can then upload planned routes to yhe 800 and it works well. I wouldn't chance a "live" route planning unless it is within a 5km distance because it has put me really off unless its a manual route I have uploaded.

Ole Rodrigo

07Lapierre wrote: »

Yes but its better to have it (mapping) and not need it, than to need it and not have it! .... at least, that my excuse for getting the 810

Better be looking at it than looking for it :pac:

The 810 looks pretty nice, was thinking of getting one. I heard the battery life was extended by taking out the training partner ( did anyone ever use that ? ) and the external device support.