edge 500 v edge 510

lennymc · 02-12-2014 11:44am #1

Broke my edge 500, will cost about 100 quid to get a refurbished unit from Garmin, so, is it worth upgrading to the 510? I mainly use it for training with HRM and power meter. Has the power functionality changed much between the two? No huge interest in mapping or routes so not looking for the 810 (unless its silly cheap). Are there any other features that are worth looking at?

thanks,

Idleater · 02-12-2014 1:38pm

Wireless upload and more than 3 bike profiles are the updated features I'd appreciate most with the 510.

lennymc · 02-12-2014 1:41pm

Idleater wrote: »

Wireless upload and more than 3 bike profiles are the updated features I'd appreciate most with the 510.

are they worth a 150 quid premium tho? I've never had an issue with 3 bike profiles previously (I normally leave it on one bike profile).

godtabh · 02-12-2014 1:50pm

lennymc wrote: »

are they worth a 150 quid premium tho? I've never had an issue with 3 bike profiles previously (I normally leave it on one bike profile).

I upgraded to the 810 from the 500. Great upgrade. If you dont need maps the 510 is perfect

Idleater · 02-12-2014 2:00pm

lennymc wrote: »

are they worth a 150 quid premium tho? .

From an already working 500, no, I haven't decided to upgrade. From not having a working device, I'd consider it. Purely on it being a more recent device.

lennymc · 02-12-2014 2:07pm

godtabh wrote: »

I upgraded to the 810 from the 500. Great upgrade. If you dont need maps the 510 is perfect

the 510 looks good, but, apart from weather alerts and wireless I don't see what it offers above the 500. My broken 500 will cost 100 to get repaired with a refurbished as new unit. The 510 seems to be about 250. If I get the 500 repaired, that leaves me 150 to get some other bike bits...

first world problems and all that.....

07Lapierre · 02-12-2014 2:20pm

Upgrade to the edge 1000? anything else is a compromise.

codie · 02-12-2014 2:48pm

500 is good enough for anything.I had 510 and it went to pieces one day when it came off on the road.I purchased the 810 and have to say the 500 would do me fine.The 510 is suppose to be troublesome enough.There are a lot of units sent back to Garmin.My 810 went faulty after 6 months and Garmin replaced it but I think the 500 is the most reliable

godtabh · 02-12-2014 3:04pm

lennymc wrote: »

the 510 looks good, but, apart from weather alerts and wireless I don't see what it offers above the 500. My broken 500 will cost 100 to get repaired with a refurbished as new unit. The 510 seems to be about 250. If I get the 500 repaired, that leaves me 150 to get some other bike bits...

first world problems and all that.....

I use the live tracker, wireless upload and weather alerts a fair bit. The number one reason for getting the 810 was maps. I do a lot of long distance solo runs and am prone to getting lost so it helps to have maps.

jamesd · 02-12-2014 3:04pm

510 has better gps as does glossas too.

AIR-AUSSIE · 02-12-2014 3:12pm

The main ones would be touchscreen, larger screen, colour screen, cell phone integration and live tracking. I think it also can locate a gps signal quicker than the 500 but I've never found the 500 slow at that.

The touch screen may make it easier to control while riding than the physical buttons.. or maybe more difficult.

The cell phone connection would be handy for wireless uploading, not sure if many or anyone would really use live tracking.

I am currently looking at upgrading from a 500 to 810. I would not really consider upgrading to the 510 from a 500. Although on look alone I think the 510 looks way better. The 500 looks a children's toy in comparison...

Have a read of this review, if you haven't already. He tends to do very thorough reviews of garmin stuff: http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/01/garmin-edge-510-in-depth-review.html

lennymc · 02-12-2014 3:16pm

I've read all the drainmaker reviews - iirc he wasn't too impressed with the new feature set of the 510 compared to the 500, and I'm not getting an 810.

I'm seriously considering just buying another 500.

Ole Rodrigo · 02-12-2014 3:21pm

The battery life of the 500 is hard to beat. If you load a route and run it as a course is can take a few seconds to register a turn, and you might go off the route temporarily. That is the only drawback I've found with it. If you can anticipate this it wont cause much hassle.

Having a had a 705, 800 (temporarily) and 500, the 500 is my favorite. It covers the basics and does it well without cluttering up the handlebars.

MB Lacey · 02-12-2014 3:24pm

lennymc wrote: »

I've read all the drainmaker reviews - iirc he wasn't too impressed with the new feature set of the 510 compared to the 500, and I'm not getting an 810.

I'm seriously considering just buying another 500.

There's several on offer in the adverts section

lennymc · 02-12-2014 3:24pm

MB Lacey wrote: »

There's several on offer in the adverts section

Think they are all sale agreed or held or something

billyhead · 02-12-2014 8:36pm

I am planning to upgrade from a 200 (I know you have to start somewhere:)) to a 500 and was wondering if anyone knows where would be the cheapest place to get one. I would rather go brand new and get the cadence and heart rate functionality

clod71 · 02-12-2014 9:13pm

If I had to break my 500 tomorrow, I'd buy the 200. After the first 2/3 months, I never used hrm or cadence anymore... it's too much work!!!

lennymc · 03-12-2014 11:07am

clod71 wrote: »

If I had to break my 500 tomorrow, I'd buy the 200. After the first 2/3 months, I never used hrm or cadence anymore... it's too much work!!!

I use cadance alright, but I need a computer that shows power output, so the 200 is not suitable unfortunately.

billyhead · 03-12-2014 6:41pm

clod71 wrote: »

If I had to break my 500 tomorrow, I'd buy the 200. After the first 2/3 months, I never used hrm or cadence anymore... it's too much work!!!

Is it that bad? I am not the most patient person at the best of times:p so may just stick with the 200. I am not really into the heart rate stuff but the cadence is what I was interested in.

easygoing39 · 03-12-2014 10:52pm

I wouldn't go for a spin unless I was wearing my HRM!!

Jim Stynes · 03-12-2014 11:13pm

think i will go for the 510 but i am slightly worried about some of the reviews. doesn't seem as reliable as the 500. I am currently using the 910xt triathlon watch.

clod71 · 03-12-2014 11:26pm

lennymc wrote: »

I use cadance alright, but I need a computer that shows power output, so the 200 is not suitable unfortunately.

I was never going to suggest you to get a 200 lenny... It's just me thinking out loud.
I don't race, but I understand that if you do, both cadence and hrm can be somehow useful when out training.
Myself I used to get worried about spinning at 85 rather than 90 or keeping the heart rate down, etc... I cycle much better without any of it, but that's just me :rolleyes:

100 quid for a refurbished 500 sounds like a good deal

NeedMoreGears · 04-12-2014 7:59am

I just got a refurbished 500 after my old one had to go to garmin hospital - the battery life had dropped to around two hours. It looks brand new even though it's not. 68 sterling was the repair price but for some reason they let me off as the unit was only two years old.

I find the 500 great for reminding me to keep cadence a bit higher and hr is a handy training tool. I don't have a power meter.

lennymc · 04-12-2014 10:49am

I've decided to stick with the 500 and it's going to garmin hospital this week. Feel lost on the bike without it. Have a forerunner watch, but it's not the same.

oconnpad · 04-12-2014 10:59am

lennymc wrote: »

I've decided to stick with the 500 and it's going to garmin hospital this week. Feel lost on the bike without it. Have a forerunner watch, but it's not the same.

How does this work, you send your one off to them plus the fee and then they send you a refurb one back to you?

Is it garmin site itself or someone else who does this?

lennymc · 04-12-2014 11:03am

oconnpad wrote: »

How does this work, you send your one off to them plus the fee and then they send you a refurb one back to you?

Is it garmin site itself or someone else who does this?

pretty much as you described. you enter the details of the garmin unit and the problem at the garmin site, and they come back letting you know that it is either covered by warranty or not covered by warranty. If not covered they give you a number to ring, and the fee for the unit (£68.08 for an edge 500) and you book it in. You post it off to them and they post back a refurb'd unit. It says they have a 14 day turnaround time, but I wonder what people's experience of this is? I have a forerunner that I broke and had repaired previously, but can't remember the turnaround time. It's a pretty good service imho.

@needmoregears - how long did it take to get your issue resolved?

Koobcam · 04-12-2014 11:09am

For pure value for money, the 500 is hard to beat, with just about every conceivable metric covered. I suppose if you want maps then maybe a more exotic unit is required, but I can think of very few situations where I would ever need to use a mapping feature-I can just pull out my phone if I want to check the route, or better still, upload the route to my 500 and use the navigation on that. Battery life is also excellent-actually, as I understand it, the main reason why later edge models have quicker satellite pick-up is because they are Glonass-enabled, which means they have 12 more satellites with which to plot your position. However, this also reduces battery life (though unless you are into 3-400km Audax spins, this is also not normally a big issue). If my 500 was to fall off and be smashed to pieces in the morning, I think I'd just buy another 500.

Koobcam · 04-12-2014 11:10am

lennymc wrote: »

I've decided to stick with the 500 and it's going to garmin hospital this week. Feel lost on the bike without it. Have a forerunner watch, but it's not the same.

Use your phone while it's in hospital, you'll get double for all your climbing metres..

lennymc · 04-12-2014 11:13am

Koobcam wrote: »

Use your phone while it's in hospital, you'll get double for all your climbing metres..

no power or hrm on the phone unfortunately. Have hrm on the watch.

I read lots of reviews, looked at the features and pretty much came up with the same conclusion as you - if the edge 500 is broken, replace it with an edge 500 (especially seeing as how Garmin offer a great replacement service)

billyhead · 04-12-2014 6:07pm

lennymc wrote: »

no power or hrm on the phone unfortunately. Have hrm on the watch.

I read lots of reviews, looked at the features and pretty much came up with the same conclusion as you - if the edge 500 is broken, replace it with an edge 500 (especially seeing as how Garmin offer a great replacement service)

going to pull the trigger on a 500. Anyone know wheee would be the cheapest place or website to get one.

Pdoghue · 04-12-2014 7:42pm

I bought a 500 about 2 months ago and the cheapest I found was on Amazon UK. I paid 162 Euros, and then the Parcel Motel fee.

edge 500 v edge 510

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