Navigation: for my first ride I created a course to test the navi. I was pleasantly surprised with it. As Komoot didn’t know the shortcut near us, I mapped the road route. However on leaving the house I went the shortcut way and it picked up the course, even the off-road trail that is not in the Komoot maps. I was impressed with that.
ClimbPro bar: on my detour I had the map screen up. The ClimbPro bar showed I was climbing, when in fact I was descending. I realised that it was showing me the planned route and not where I was. That is crap from Garmin, they have to say “Off course, no data”.
Re-routing: I went several times off-course on purpose and it always picked up the way back to my route, albeit with the wrong ClimbPro. But it did take at least 50M to say “Course found”.
ClimbPro only works if you have a “course” running. I only created 80% of my route and once it was finished, there was no more ClimbPro for my big climb home. Garmin has the maps, disappointing that you have to set a course to see the climbs. Basically you have to know what you are going to do for it to work, that’s pathetic. Why do I need a course, and stick to it, when I know my way around? I often decide to go here and there on a whim.
Once you start a big climb you have a full screen showing the coming gradients & remaining distance. At times on this screen ClimbPro was in a position that was obviously false, it then jumped to the correct position, again pathetic. (I have set set the top GPS mode.)
Map screen: was ok but the + & - icons permanently on the screen is a step backwards. On the 1000 you have to tap the screen for them or come up. In the 1040 they cover part of the map, that’s crap.
With the ClimbPro selected, you have a bar at the bottom of the screen that shows you the gradient, that’s ok, but when I was doing 4-5% it was still showing green, they need more colours or shades to give a real view. They also need to show the actual gradient in the bar, they have the info.
Data field screens: are pretty good with the new font. It was clear even in bright sun. The brightness seemed to change well. Also choosing “the hand” to adjust the screen for map position or zoom worked pretty well once the glove had selected the option.
When it showed the “Turns” map it took 5-6 seconds to revert back to the original screen, that’s far too long.
I also see that the “Gradient” is still at least 50M behind the actual, that’s also crap.
Pause: At one point I stopped to see on the map which route I had planned. When you stop the screen shows the “Pause” screen over the map. That’s ridiculous, you can’t see the map. If you touch the screen it goes back to just the map, but after a few seconds, it reverts to the “pause” screen. I don’t think Garmin developers actually go on the bike in areas where they need to check the way! (This may be a setting, but I haven’t found anything yet.)
Temp:: Another big minus was the Temperature calibration. I went on my test today between 14:00 - 16:00 CET. According to Garmin, I had an avg. of 36C and a max. 41C. Over 40C is a deadly temp. I have done other comparative rides in the last week that showed a max. of 35C and these rides felt a lot hotter than today. Ma wife was out at the same time, and in the same place, with her Fenix 5, this showed a max of 34C.
Battery: On the plus side, the battery is currently amazing. I think I left with 96% and after over 2hrs I returned with 94%. So all the pathetic comments on the web about, “oh wow Solar great”, should get a sense of reality. Solar is a ***king waste-of-time gimmick, especially when other hardware requirements such as LTE, that should have been prioritised, were ignored.
Training & Power stats: I didn’t have any of these screens defined as I am fed up with wearing an HR Monitor and do not have Power Meter pedals. I am also not interested in all this stuff into which Garmin has invested a lot of time & effort. (I think all the health & training “features” are there basically designed to sell the Power-Meter pedals.)
In summary: all the professional websites are touting Solar…Solar…Solar. How many people will outlay the extra for it, especially with current, excellent, battery performance?
- Also all these sites also blab on about the Training; Health and other Stats. They all, of course, have the Power Meter pedals. How many of your average riders have that and are also prepared to wear an HR Monitor in 35C temps. These things are all great for some, but at what expense to other features for all.
- Too many things are still too slow to respond, many no better than my 1000. Garmin needed to up the processor chip, which apparently it is the same as the 1030+, which is in turn 2 years old. A brand new top-of-the-range bike GPS needs a up-to-date processor.
- Whilst the screen appeared to be pretty good I have not been out where I actually need the map. I wonder if the resolution will be good enough in unknown places where I want to see detail. However, it is again years behind modern standards and is something that should have been updated.
- The screen real-estate should also have been increased by reducing the bezels. Even a few mm would have been an improvement without negatively affecting the stability of the unit.
- The Navigation appears at first ride to be very good. This is the main reason for me to spend this amount of money, but time and uncharted territory will be the real test.
