Alternative to a P.O.S. Garmin 810
Discussion
I am on my 4th Garmin 810 in 18 months and am getting pretty f
ked off with how totally unreliable they are. So far I've had hardware issues, software issues, and the plastic lugs that hold the unit to the bar mount have snapped off.
This time the ste-bag has decided it no longer wants to communicate with any other devices either via cable or bluetooth - although it charges via cable none of my PC's or Macs recognise it.
When I turn it on the screen presents itself back to front and inside out, it's lost all of it's settings etc and it won't let me restore the old settings - I've been onto Garmin and they have basically said 'tough' it's out of warranty but we'll sell you another reconditioned piece of st for £80 that might last another 3 months, or might not........
Basically I've totally had it with Garmin, I've spent over £200 on replacement unit's because they are out of warranty and am not prepared to continue to feed Garmin's greedy replacement unit policy anymore.
Does anyone have a viable alternative to the 810? I've just come across the Wahoo Elemnt which looks good, same sort of price and functions but I can't find anyone who has actually used one. Any other alternatives I should consider????
ked off with how totally unreliable they are. So far I've had hardware issues, software issues, and the plastic lugs that hold the unit to the bar mount have snapped off. This time the s
te-bag has decided it no longer wants to communicate with any other devices either via cable or bluetooth - although it charges via cable none of my PC's or Macs recognise it. When I turn it on the screen presents itself back to front and inside out, it's lost all of it's settings etc and it won't let me restore the old settings - I've been onto Garmin and they have basically said 'tough' it's out of warranty but we'll sell you another reconditioned piece of s
t for £80 that might last another 3 months, or might not........Basically I've totally had it with Garmin, I've spent over £200 on replacement unit's because they are out of warranty and am not prepared to continue to feed Garmin's greedy replacement unit policy anymore.
Does anyone have a viable alternative to the 810? I've just come across the Wahoo Elemnt which looks good, same sort of price and functions but I can't find anyone who has actually used one. Any other alternatives I should consider????
okgo said:
500 - original and best
I've got an Edge 500, bought second-hand off eBay two (maybe three) years ago. It's not been perfect, but the issues it's had have either sorted themselves out, or been down to operator error or a jiffed PC killing the uploaded data.Not reliable in extremely wet weather or very low pressure systems though. 'spikey' data and frankly ridiculous elevation gains are possible. But generally speaking, so long as you remember to start and stop the unit before or after stops, it's pretty good at doing more than I really need it to do.
Worst part? The 'breadcrumb trail' navigation. Often it fails to draw the route for you when it cycles through the various screens, most annoying when you ride past a turn you ought to have taken, but it won't draw the 'map' to see where you went wrong/how to put things right.
I don't know about anyone else but I'm sold on the Wahoo Elemnt!
I love my Cateye Stealth, it does exactly what it says on the tin and I'm not fussed about navigation and Strava Live Segments (at the moment). I've dreaded having to find a new cycle-puta because I wanted to avoid Garmins and there's not a huge number of decent options. But when it dies, which it will do at some point... it'll be the Elemnt for me!
I love my Cateye Stealth, it does exactly what it says on the tin and I'm not fussed about navigation and Strava Live Segments (at the moment). I've dreaded having to find a new cycle-puta because I wanted to avoid Garmins and there's not a huge number of decent options. But when it dies, which it will do at some point... it'll be the Elemnt for me!
yellowjack said:
okgo said:
500 - original and best
I've got an Edge 500, bought second-hand off eBay two (maybe three) years ago. It's not been perfect, but the issues it's had have either sorted themselves out, or been down to operator error or a jiffed PC killing the uploaded data.Not reliable in extremely wet weather or very low pressure systems though. 'spikey' data and frankly ridiculous elevation gains are possible. But generally speaking, so long as you remember to start and stop the unit before or after stops, it's pretty good at doing more than I really need it to do.
Worst part? The 'breadcrumb trail' navigation. Often it fails to draw the route for you when it cycles through the various screens, most annoying when you ride past a turn you ought to have taken, but it won't draw the 'map' to see where you went wrong/how to put things right.
Thanks for the replies, I'll drop Gruffy a note and get his opinion on the Wahoo
I had a 500 for years and never had any issues with it until the mount snapped and the unit bounced out of the holder and was promptly run over by a car.
I've upgraded to the 810 and when it's working it's a great little tool, but 4 unit's isn't bad luck, it's a lack of quality control!
I had a 500 for years and never had any issues with it until the mount snapped and the unit bounced out of the holder and was promptly run over by a car.
I've upgraded to the 810 and when it's working it's a great little tool, but 4 unit's isn't bad luck, it's a lack of quality control!
I don't know anyone with a 500 who's ever had a problem. Yes they're clunky and outdated but when your unit sts its brains out during a ride, there's nothing more frustrating.
I've just got an 820 and used the nav function for the first time yesterday when we rode a c2 ride. Unfortunately it started raining and I hadn't used the screen lock so by the time I looked down, the unit managed to self navigate to the courses page and delete the course I was on. What are the chances?!
Anyway, 3 weeks and its seems pretty good (and stable) probably offering more than I'll need ... its a huge step up on the 510 I had and has the mapping of the 1000 without the size.
Like the OP, I would have looked at another company other than Garmin but there's no one to compete with them as yet.
ts its brains out during a ride, there's nothing more frustrating. I've just got an 820 and used the nav function for the first time yesterday when we rode a c2 ride. Unfortunately it started raining and I hadn't used the screen lock so by the time I looked down, the unit managed to self navigate to the courses page and delete the course I was on. What are the chances?!
Anyway, 3 weeks and its seems pretty good (and stable) probably offering more than I'll need ... its a huge step up on the 510 I had and has the mapping of the 1000 without the size.
Like the OP, I would have looked at another company other than Garmin but there's no one to compete with them as yet.
I had a similar thing with my Garmin 810 on Friday. Had a 285km ride in the books, and everything worked well when it wanted to.
The device crapped itself twice. The first I had a 'broken' file I was able to stitch back on but the second time it's crashed and then continued without appearing to have an error (speed, cadence, HR etc was being tracked) apart from the time looking to be a little borked. I get to the destination, upload and find I've somehow covered that 75km missing component as the crow flies and therefore have no data for it!
Looking into the Wahoo or similar competition shortly if it continues playing up I think
The device crapped itself twice. The first I had a 'broken' file I was able to stitch back on but the second time it's crashed and then continued without appearing to have an error (speed, cadence, HR etc was being tracked) apart from the time looking to be a little borked. I get to the destination, upload and find I've somehow covered that 75km missing component as the crow flies and therefore have no data for it!
Looking into the Wahoo or similar competition shortly if it continues playing up I think
I've had exactly the same reliability and out of warranty issues with Garmin, and won't ever buy another of their products again. I've been making do with my phone, which isn't absolutely ideal, but is better than being ripped off yet again by Garmin, so it's good to hear that at long last it sounds like they've got some competition.
Maybe they'll have to stop taking the piss out of their customers quite so much now!!
Maybe they'll have to stop taking the piss out of their customers quite so much now!!
Bah!
Scratch that... Just had a look at the Wahoo Elemnt. Near enough the same price as a Garmin 820 but with a black & white screen, and no ability to add OS maps?
Lezyne is even worse. OK, it's a lot cheaper, but even the top end one has no mapping on it whatsoever, so is bloody useless unless you're on a route you already know.
Looks like the wait to challenge Garmin goes on...
Scratch that... Just had a look at the Wahoo Elemnt. Near enough the same price as a Garmin 820 but with a black & white screen, and no ability to add OS maps?
Lezyne is even worse. OK, it's a lot cheaper, but even the top end one has no mapping on it whatsoever, so is bloody useless unless you're on a route you already know.
Looks like the wait to challenge Garmin goes on...
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