Review: 800 Miles with the Garmin Edge 500

I think I’m going to try to review major pieces of gear after 800 miles of use.  800 seems like a good distance to do a review on something.  It’s enough time to make it through the bumps of a new purchase and get a feel for a product… but it’s not pretentious like 1,000 miles 😉

800 miles ago, I picked up a Garmin Edge 500.  I had been using a Cateye wireless cycle computer with cadence for the early part of the season.  It was a great device for the features it offered… all the basics and a one button interface.  Practically a Mac in cycle computer form.  However, I have been pushing myself more and more in my training trying to get ready for our cross country ride and trying to lose more weight.  I needed to be able to download stats to my computer, have integrated heart rate stats, and track where I’ve been on rides.

Enter the Garmin Edge 500.  I chose the 500 Edge because it offered what I wanted in GPS tracking without providing on screen mapping.  As nice as having real time mapping would be, I don’t think the products that exist in that space, the Edge 700 (discontinued but still sold and heavily used) and the Edge 800, really are quite ready for prime time.  The 800 in particular seems to have a lot of rough edges and needs a rework in order to be usable and stable.  Having real time mapping on our long rides would have been nice… way better than looking at cue sheets while riding in traffic.  But at the cost for an 800, I just couldn’t justify the investment for something that won’t be perfect.

I picked up the Edge 500 for quite the price from Performance.  I got the full kit (with HRM and cadence sensor) for 20% off on one of Performance’s “20% off any one item” sales.  Plus I used my Performance points and I think I got the whole thing for ~$250.  It was 800 miles ago… I don’t recall the exact amount 😉

Mounting the Edge 500 was a nice change from using shims and screws to get the computer put in place.  A couple of (what’s best described at “high tech rubber bands” put the holder on to your handlebars.  The cadence and speed sensor goes on your left chain stay with a little more difficulty, but still very easy.  The Edge 500 mounts and unmounts with a simple twist in and out of the holder.  Physically, a simple process.

Setup was straightforward.  Shockingly straightforward, actually.  No programming tire size or anything like that.  The Edge 500 figures all that out on its own.  Just start riding, and I guess based on the GPS combined with the information from the speed sensor it figures out what size wheels you have.  “Magic” sort of sums that up.  I’ve never had a computer I didn’t need to program before.

The display is highly customizable.  There are three screens be default you can cycle through using the buttons on the side.  Each screen can be customized to put whatever information you want on it… you can have up to (I think) 10 different metrics displayed on one screen.  The amount of metrics is really sort of mind bending.  For instance, one of the default screens shows my vertical climb rate in feet/hour.  I’m not really sure I’ve ever cared that I’m climbing vertically at 2,500 ft/hr, but it was more disconcerting than anything else.  I took a few minutes, customized it, and away I went.

When you’re done with a ride, you can upload all the stats from the ride on to Garmin’s tracking website, connect.garmin.com.  Through a browser plug-in, the Edge is automatically recognized by the website and all new activities are snarfed up.  The data in the ride info is comprehensive, including all the GPS data, cadence, heart rate, temperature, etc.  Connect does a good job of showing you all that info and has all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a site like that.  It’s not perfect, but none of the online tracking sites are.  I think how much you’ll like Garmin’s offering is a matter of personal preference.  Thankfully, most sites, including MapMyRide and RunningFreeOnline will automatically import Garmin data as well so you can use whatever site you want.

The Edge 500 is charged over the USB interface it uses for downloading data.  The battery has a heck of a long life.  Starting at 100% charge, I’ve never even come close to tapping the battery on a single ride.  I was on one 8 hour, 100 mile ride a few months ago, and I still had 70% charge at the end.  I’m not sure what others expect out of a rechargeable device, but I was impressed.

There are a LOT of pro’s to the Garmin.  Overall, I’m very happy with the purchase.  I have a much better handle on my training and how much I’ve been improving over the last few months.  I know where I’ve been, know how hard I’ve worked on various rides, and can make apples to apples comparisons to rides you do time over time.  Rather than bore you with all the pro’s, I’ll let you know some of the cons:

Elevation data:  The Garmin gets it’s on the fly elevation information from a barometric altimeter.  It’s usually pretty awesome, especially knowing the percent grade you’re climbing.  Knowing I’m on a 3% grade or a 5% grade helps me make better gear selections and control my effort early in a climb rather than getting nuked because I misjudge a hill.  However, the barometric altimeter has some reliability issues, especially when first coming outside and in really cold weather.  Sometimes right when I start I’ll be told I’m going up a 700% grade for a while until the computer figures itself out.  And when it’s cold the altimeter will just freak out entirely and not give me any info at all.  However, on the Garmin website, you can select to correct the barometric data using the topo data Garmin has.  Usually this results in a larger number of vertical feet for each ride… sometimes by nontrivial amounts.

Wheel sensor magnet: I’ve got bladed spokes on my bike.  A few times after I’ve transported the bike, I’ve had the magnet slide around and move away from the sensor.  It’s actually a little hard to get the magnet to bite back in place once it starts sliding around.  On a few rides, I’ve had to stop multiple times to try to tighten the sensor down even harder.

Temperature data: It takes about 15 minutes to start reading the correct temp.  Not a huge deal, but you’ll notice it in every ride you do.

That’s about all the cons.  Really, a short list for a $300 device.  My training has really improved since I’ve purchased the Edge 500… as has my enjoyment of riding.  Honestly, that’s been the surprising part.  I’m a bit of a gadget and stats geek.  Having the Edge 500 makes me want to ride more.  Even on easy rides, I like knowing I’m collecting data all the time.  I even use it when I’m riding rollers and use it as a straight up HRM when I’m doing other activities.  I was nervous when I first bought it, worrying that I was spending too much money on something that wasn’t really a step up from what I already had.  Turns out, I had nothing to worry about.  I’ve been very happy with my Edge 500.