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Finally pulled the trigger and bought this on Cyber Monday. Hope to make the most of an expensive toy. This mid-life crisis is really kicking in. Thought I'd start putting down a few thoughts while waiting for this to arrive.
Why get a cycling computer when a smartphone will do?
- Rugged. Not that iPhones are flimsy, but I like my phones to last a long time and having them bounce around on the handlebars under the blazing sun with the display brightness cranked up all the way probably doesn't do any favours for longevity. Turning off the display would help, but you won't get realtime metrics. I've also read some reports describing a degradation of camera autofocus after prolonged use on a bicycle mount.
- Battery life. With display always on, the Garmin should out last any phone in the daytime -- thanks to its transflective display. The ability to track for 24 hours or more should have most epic rides covered. And if that isn't enough, you can spring for the Garmin Charge Power Pack.
- Uninterrupted tracks. My pocket has a habit of triggering unwanted key-presses that can prematurely terminate a Runkeeper session. This has happened more than once to the disappointment of fellow riders who were hoping for a record of their adventures. I keep the phone in my pocket because I don't like it bouncing around on the handlebars. The other thing that happens is I pause tracking at a tea stop and forget to resume the track after the break. If battery life isn't an issue, one can just leave the device to track continuously.
- Subscription free. Most cycling apps on the iPhone are now subscription based. And the subscription costs can amount to several hundred dollars over the lifetime of a Garmin cycling computer. Sure, you can use most apps without subscribing to the advanced features, but that can be fairly limiting. As with all Garmin devices, you get to sync with Garmin Connect. This is both a phone app and a backend somewhat like most fitness apps except maybe not as strong in the social aspect. Interestingly, this savings from having to pay subscriptions is something most reviewers don't talk about.
- Worldwide maps with Garmin heatmap. The Edge 1030 Plus comes with access to worldwide maps (except for Asia). Previously, you had to roll your own maps from Openstreemaps if you needed maps outside the area from which you purchased the device. These are now included. Plus you get Garmin's cycling heatmaps which are an overlay of popular cycling routes gathered from Garmin's Connect backend. Only the Edge 1030 Plus has access to worldwide maps. Which is one of the reasons I got this model rather than the Edge 830, which would have been lighter and smaller. Well, that and the fact that the Edge 830 was sold out at the time I placed my order.
Where to get one
Prices on Amazon barely budged after a couple of months. No deals appeared over the Black Friday weekend. So I decided to go local and ordered from Parisilk via Lazada for 7% off the usual list price. The unit was delivered 48 hours after I ordered. Good service!
Setting up the new toy
This section isn't meant to be a comprehensive how-to, but more of a diary recording some of the stuff you need to do to get things up and running with the Garmin Edge 1030 Plus. I use an iPhone, so if you're in the Android camp, this may not work for you.
The zeroth thing (before you even unbox your shiny new toy) you should do is to install the Garmin Connect app on your phone, register for an account if you don't already have one and sign in. Sort of like what you need to do when setting up your Apple products.
If you're an Edge noob like I am, we'll need to configure everything from scratch rather than migrating settings from an older unit. Fire up the Garmin Connect app, unbox your toy and power it up by pressing on the button at the left edge of the device. If I remember correctly, it will then prompt you to configure your wifi and pair with your Garmin Connect app. Just make sure you have your wifi password handy and also Bluetooth enabled on your phone. Just remember to follow on-screen instructions and keep an eye on both your Edge and your phone because prompts and notifications can pop up on either device as you complete the setup process.
Oh, and my unit powered on with 92% battery capacity right out of the box. A nice touch. You can start doing stuff without first needing to plug it into the charger.
Taking the Edge for a walk
Took the Edge out for an after dinner stroll. Didn't feel like taking the bike out on the rain soaked streets. And thought I should take my time getting to know this one.
So I powered up the unit, waited about 10-20 seconds for the GPS to acquire lock and pushed on the start/stop button. This starts a track with your default activity profile. The track looked spot on and followed me around 90-degree corners without cutting corners on any of them.
One thing I soon discovered was that the screen kept shutting off. It turned out to be the Power Save mode. If you want your screen to stay on, go to Menu (the soft button at the bottom left of the activity screen marked with three stripes) --> Battery Save Mode and toggle Enable off. I would like to be able to glance down while cycling to read off data without having to touch the screen to wake it up.
Initial impressions
The last time I owned a cycling computer was more than a decade ago. It was a basic Cateye wired model. So this Garmin is a big step up.
Look and feel
The Edge 1030 Plus is a great example of understated design. It has a pleasant, clean outline, just like a phone on the front. There are no buttons on the front, just a screen. The power button lies on the left edge and a lap button and a start/stop button on the bottom edge. It is smaller in length and breadth than the first generation iPhone SE, but 2.5 times as thick (in part thanks to the mount that protrudes from the back by a couple of millimetres. I think it looks a lot nicer than a Wahoo. Maybe I'm biased. The whole thing feels solid in your hands and has some heft when you pick it up. Even though the entire case is made from plastic, it doesn't feel creaky or flimsy at all.
Mounting
Display
Here is where you need to set your expectations correctly. It has no where near the colour fidelity nor the resolution of a modern smart phone. What it does have is good visibility in bright sunlight without needing the backlight and good visibility at night with the backlight enabled. Data fields display very crisply. The maps on the other hand, are passable but not great. There isn't enough resolution or display area to do maps any justice. But they are there in case you really need them and it is good enough for you to follow routes or figure a way out in an emergency, but not very useful for planning routes. That is best left to a proper laptop or desktop or tablet.
Maps
More settings
First ride
Battery
Dropped 1% from 88% to 87% over the duration of a ride that lasted 45 minutes. Let's be conservative and say maybe it was actually from 88.49% to 86.50% drop which would mean 1.99%. I guess that's not too bad. Note that I only had GPS, no Galileo and no Glonass, no backlight on, display always on and only a Vivoactive 3 heart rate sensor connected. Data recording interval was set to "Smart" and battery save mode was disabled since I wanted to have the display always on. The backlight was set to time out after 15 seconds.
Garmin Edge 1030 Plus with box and out-front mount.
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