Greatest Garmin bike computer systems

Bike computer systems are extremely helpful instruments for monitoring and guiding your bike rides, whether or not you stick with pavement or journey on the paths. Garmin provides a full vary of bike computers, however fortunately, there are fewer choices than you will discover in Garmin’s watch and fitness tracker lineup. Nonetheless, there are many selections for a variety of budgets and desires, so you may make positive to seek out the Garmin bike laptop that is greatest for you.

All of Garmin’s head models present no less than fundamental journey and efficiency knowledge, together with mapping and navigation instruments. Nonetheless, relying in your chosen mannequin, the show kind, dimension, specific features, and worth will, naturally, fluctuate.

Greatest Garmin bike laptop total

Garmin’s newest bike laptop is a significantly spectacular machine with an extended listing of options, making it my favorite bike computer throughout any model. To begin, Garmin lastly addressed one of the frequent complaints about Garmin bike computer systems: the outdated show know-how. The newest Garmin bike laptop encompasses a vibrant and brilliant liquid crystal show that appears far more fashionable. The touchscreen could be very snappy and responsive, making it really feel reasonably like a smartphone.

Past appears, the Edge 1050 can also be filled with helpful options. It provides a built-in speaker that features as a loud bell and notifies you of hazards on the highway due to crowdsourced info, very similar to Waze does. There’s additionally an Incident Detection function and the flexibility to be notified if a member of your group journey has an incident.

The Edge 1050 provides extremely correct multi-band GNSS for exact location, mapping, pace, and distance knowledge throughout your rides. The big show makes it simple to make use of for navigation, with turn-by-turn instructions and easy accessibility to routes.

The one draw back is the brilliant show does influence battery life, nevertheless it nonetheless gives 20 hours of battery life in demanding conditions (Multi-GNSS Multi-Band, all of the sensors, LiveTrack enabled, map web page on fixed show, and course following). At $700, it is an costly bike laptop, nevertheless it’s arduous to beat for critical cyclists in search of a feature-rich, exact software.

Greatest Garmin bike laptop for battery life

Garmin Edge 1040 Photo voltaic

Lengthy battery life with photo voltaic charging

The Garmin Edge 1040 Photo voltaic is a complicated bike laptop with photo voltaic charging capabilities to increase battery life. It provides a sturdy listing of options for navigation, efficiency, and security with an enormous show that makes it simple to see info throughout your rides.

Professionals

• Glorious battery life with photo voltaic charging
• Comes with a lot of equipment
• Massive show is straightforward to learn in all circumstances
• Numerous efficiency and navigation options

Cons

• Photo voltaic charging is simply helpful in particular conditions
• Show appears a bit outdated

For some, prolonged battery life is extra vital than a vibrant, fancy show. The Edge 1040 Photo voltaic sits simply above the Edge 1050 by way of worth however provides greater than double the battery life when utilized in sunny places. The show is a transflective TFT touchscreen constructed with Garmin’s Energy Glass. Together with two photo voltaic panels above and beneath the show, the machine will get roughly 40 hours of life in considerably demanding use circumstances with minimal photo voltaic charging. Sunny rides would fare even higher, promising as much as 50 hours of life.

Learn our evaluate

The Garmin Edge 1040 Photo voltaic gives in depth battery life with an extended listing of options, however the show is a letdown.

The Edge 1040 Photo voltaic provides helpful navigation instruments, together with turn-by-turn course and the flexibility to sync routes from Strava and different platforms simply. It additionally warns you should you’re coming as much as a busy highway or tight flip, even should you aren’t following a route. Just like the Edge 1050, it options multi-band GNSS for extremely correct location knowledge and the flexibility to pair coronary heart fee sensors and energy meters.

As anticipated from a top-tier Garmin bike laptop, you will have entry to a sturdy listing of efficiency and coaching instruments. That features stamina insights, so you will get an concept of what kind of tempo you’ll be able to preserve in your route and coaching standing to assist gauge in case you are over or under-training. You’re going to get on-device day by day recommended exercises and may even add an occasion to get adaptive coaching instruments. It is a expensive software, nevertheless it’s price it for these critical about efficiency.

Greatest Garmin bike laptop for most individuals

Garmin Edge 540

A steadiness of options and worth

The Garmin Edge 540 is a mid-tier bike laptop with a colour show and button-only controls. It provides loads of navigation instruments, adaptive teaching, and multi-band GNSS for correct knowledge in your rides. 

Professionals

• Loads of navigation instruments
• Appropriate with adaptive coaching
• Works with further sensors
• Correct location knowledge

The Edge 540 sits roughly in the course of the Garmin bike laptop lineup. It provides a steadiness of worth and options that’s superb for many riders. It gives much more knowledge than the smaller Edge 130 Plus, with full restoration and coaching load lined. You will have loads of metrics to your journey, together with energy compatibility and indoor bike coach management. It provides multi-band GNSS for correct location knowledge, and the colour show helps navigation with turn-by-turn routing and re-routing.

The smartphone connectivity gives LiveTrack, cellphone notifications, and far more, whereas connectivity contains Wi-Fi for updates and syncing and not using a cellphone connection. Plus, there’s Bluetooth and ANT+ for connectivity to different sensors, including to the instruments you’ll be able to make the most of. It gives as much as 26 hours of battery life, which is a lot lengthy for most individuals.

The most important draw back for some is that the Edge 540 does not have a touchscreen. It is button management solely, which is without doubt one of the large variations between this unit and the dearer fashions. The two.6-inch show can also be smaller than the opposite choices, although it nonetheless provides sufficient actual property to simply see the map and your stats throughout rides.

Greatest price range Garmin bike laptop

Garmin Edge 130 Plus

Primary however succesful

The Garmin Edge 130 Plus sits on the entry level to Garmin’s bike laptop lineup. It’s compact and light-weight, with a monochrome MIP show. Although the options are paired down in comparison with dearer choices, it provides all the mandatory journey stats and coaching options for cyclists who do not want something fancy. 

Professionals

• Compact and light-weight
• Navigation with flip prompts
• ClimbPro function for hilly areas
• Loads of connectivity choices

Cons

• Monochrome, non-touchscreen show
• Restricted mapping instruments

The Garmin Edge 130 Plus is Garmin’s entry-level bike laptop. It is a compact and lightweight unit that provides you the important particulars about your journey. It has a GPS and altimeter, so it provides route monitoring and a few navigation. Nonetheless, it is not multi-band, so it will not be fairly as exact as dearer fashions. Just like the Edge 540, the Edge 130 Plus is button-controlled solely, although it has a monochrome display screen.

There isn’t any mapping on the machine, so it is a breadcrumb path solely from imported routes, with notifications of when to show. It can route again to the beginning, however there is no re-routing provided if you enterprise astray. The altimeter implies that ClimbPro is obtainable, exhibiting a visible graph of the hill you are climbing and the way a lot additional there may be to go.

The Edge 1030 Plus connects to your smartphone, enabling knowledge syncing with Garmin Join, LiveTrack, and cellphone notifications. It is also appropriate with a variety of sensors utilizing ANT+ or Bluetooth and helps indoor coach management. It is fairly paired down from Garmin’s different fashions however gives all of the fundamentals, making it a worthwhile software for all types of riders.

FAQ

Q: Does a biking laptop want Bluetooth and ANT+ connectivity?

A motorbike laptop does not essentially want Bluetooth or ANT+ connectivity, however these options will assist you to pair further sensors like coronary heart fee displays, cadence sensors, and energy meters. Moreover, Bluetooth connectivity will assist you to pair your cellphone with the machine to sync your knowledge and get cellphone notifications. When you can actually do with out these connectivity choices, they do add some good options and performance.

Q: What are the options to a motorcycle laptop?

Not everybody needs or wants a standalone bike laptop. If that is the case, you will get a lot of bike laptop options in your cellphone. A cellphone mount and cycling app can supply navigation instruments, security options, and fundamental knowledge assortment, although with out the accuracy of a standalone unit.