Garmin Edge 820 or 520?

[Mrgreeky]

I have the 820, for me it's a must, won the full range Garmin Varia, Lights, Radar and Varia  Vision Heads up display (Incredible item) The 820 integrates perfectly with all of them. The unit hasn't given me a moments issues. The only "issue" I had was a night ride doing single track I lost my chain on a steep decline, with the hard braking and sudden stop the 820 unit's "Insident detection" picked up incorrectly that I had crashed and sent out emergency notification to my emergency contacts. By the time I had a chance to deactivate it on my phone everyone was in contact with each other planning my rescue, co-ordinates were also sent. This will be a great function for road cycling in case of an accident were one is unable to notify anyone. I hope I never need to have that function activated again. But on the whole the 820 is the best unit I have tested.  

[Furbz]

i love my 520. 

memory is not an issue - never had a issue once with mine.

have loaded more detailed maps onto it (very easy to do)

and the buttons i don't find an issue except for initial setup. (newer software has made this easier than when i first setup)

 

820 is a lot more expensive for not a lot more.

maybe group ride? but i still have not heard okes raving about it

[SEANSTEP]

Have been running an 820 for a while now and no issues with screen or anything else.  Been used in stage races, hot, cold, muddy etc. I use it quite a bit to ride internationally on holidays and with free open street maps is superb for navigation in new areas, bigger screen, routable navigation and an SD card that you can load lots of different area maps on, exchange cards, expand etc while 520 limited to on board memory. 

 

I think it comes down to the ability to carry more maps and route better, if that is a driver for you then worth it.

Think you're confused mate. You are referring to the 1000 by the sound of it. The 820 is the same physical size as the 520. Has more memory but no SD slot. Pre loaded with maps.

[geomark]

Think you're confused mate. You are referring to the 1000 by the sound of it. The 820 is the same physical size as the 520. Has more memory but no SD slot. Pre loaded with maps.

Hmm, your right, had another look, its an 810 I'm using, so ignore my comments 

[Mrgreeky]

Think you're confused mate. You are referring to the 1000 by the sound of it. The 820 is the same physical size as the 520. Has more memory but no SD slot. Pre loaded with maps.

Not confused mate. Read up, 820 does everything the 1000 does, Has 16G memory but no extra memory slot and has the Insident detection which the 1000 doesn't have. Same size as 520. Has Topo Southern Africa pre loaded which includes cycling routes. Anything else you need to know?

[SEANSTEP]

Not confused mate. Read up, 820 does everything the 1000 does, Has 16G memory but no extra memory slot and has the Insident detection which the 1000 doesn't have. Same size as 520. Has Topo Southern Africa pre loaded which includes cycling routes. Anything else you need to know?

Mmm, no response required. Was not your post I was responding to. The person whose post I was responding to has graciously accepted he got the units wrong. Never disputed anything you said.

[V12man]

Be careful of touch screens. Especially if you MTB - as stated above, they get very scratched up and obviously dont like long finger gloves.

Fortunately you can put a VPS or plastic protector over the screen - the touchscreen still works fine.

[s14phoenix]

I have the 820, for me it's a must, won the full range Garmin Varia, Lights, Radar and Varia  Vision Heads up display (Incredible item) The 820 integrates perfectly with all of them. The unit hasn't given me a moments issues. The only "issue" I had was a night ride doing single track I lost my chain on a steep decline, with the hard braking and sudden stop the 820 unit's "Insident detection" picked up incorrectly that I had crashed and sent out emergency notification to my emergency contacts. By the time I had a chance to deactivate it on my phone everyone was in contact with each other planning my rescue, co-ordinates were also sent. This will be a great function for road cycling in case of an accident were one is unable to notify anyone. I hope I never need to have that function activated again. But on the whole the 820 is the best unit I have tested.

Although it is not funny to be in an accident I have to admit that your situation had we rolling on the floor now... I can see the medivac heli looking for you while you are already way up the road...

[splat]

I recently sold my 510 and got a 520. So far, so good, except for the part where I assumed it would show WhatsApp messages. I clearly didn't research that properly...

(Some people would hate that feature, I would have found it very useful)

[Meezo]

I recently sold my 510 and got a 520. So far, so good, except for the part where I assumed it would show WhatsApp messages. I clearly didn't research that properly...

(Some people would hate that feature, I would have found it very useful)

it does doesn't it?

 

...unless iphone

[AllAboutRides]

I've had the 820 ...very awesome all in one unit, its like the Edge1000 but smaller with extra features.

 

I can honestly say the touch screen is not very responsive and freeze a lot while you want to swipe between data screens. Experienced a lot of this at W2W this year....altough my wife got a sms from the device when I had a crash!!! Cool feature but and can make the wife worry! :-)

 

I would say of all the touch screen devices the 810 is the best!! and if you don't like the touch screen, the edge520 is you weapon!!!

[intern]

Interesting thread as I have been considering upgrading my 810, which has been flawless, to an 820. On reading the comments, I don't think there is any need to do so. I've had the 810 for about 3 years I think, and the touchscreen is completely unscratched and works perfectly well with gloves or no gloves. And the unit has literally only once failed - froze up - which a reset sorted out. I use mine on MTB and road bike.

[Robo]

Ordered a 520 as I heard was the best value for money. Hope it works well!

[madbradd]

Hi,

I have both and this is my opinion only.

The main difference is the touch screen and routable navigation... that is about all.

 

Personally I don't like the touchscreen. I mtb in long gloves and with dust etc the screen gets scratched.

I don't need routable navigation. I have loaded a Open Steets maps onto the 520 so I now have maps but can't do a street search etc. Not a drama for me.

 

Net result, my 520 is perfect for my needs. The 820 is a good unit but not worth the extra money for my needs...

 

PS - My 820 reads elevation of -40m at sea level. I few mates have the same issue and I'm sure Garmin will fix that in the future...

 

Hope that helps.

 

 

 

 

I went the 520 route exactly because of this. Didn't feel the premium was worth the benefits of the 820. The most attractive benefit for me was the crash detection.

 

Also had some experience with both the 1000 and 810 and while its an awesome unit I found that sweat on the touch screen made it a bit buggy.

[carbon29er]

The group ride thing on 820 is very appealing, particularly if you ride with mates who are slower/faster than you. Easy to see when the group is splitting and how far back they are. I'd shell out the cash for that feature alone.

 

BTW WhatsApp is an anomaly of the developing world which is why it rarely shows on in screen notifications. First world still uses SMS which shows.

[Rudi Pollard]

The group ride thing on 820 is very appealing, particularly if you ride with mates who are slower/faster than you. Easy to see when the group is splitting and how far back they are. I'd shell out the cash for that feature alone.

 

BTW WhatsApp is an anomaly of the developing world which is why it rarely shows on in screen notifications. First world still uses SMS which shows.

The funny thing is Whatsapp notifications works 100% with all the forerunner watches as well as the Fenix. For some reason they have not rolled it out to the Edge...