This past weekend I did a 3 day, 200 mile bikepacking trip using my 1040 Solar. I started Friday with it fully charged and used it for navigation as well as having a Varia radar and 4iiii P3 power meter connected (I've never had the connection issues others have had).
Over the course of the weekend my 1040 was on for 23 hours of runtime and is at 67% battery remaining. No charging other than what was gained through solar. According to Garmin Connect I gained 2.5 hours from solar over the weekend. I do have an anti-glare screen protector installed but I have no idea if that affects solar collection or not... I was extremely pleased with this result and like that it is 1 less thing to worry about on a multi-day trip.
Overall it did what it was supposed to do and I had no issues with the unit itself. The only minor complaint is still the fact that Garmin Connect requires a perfect internet connection to pull a ride from the Edge to the phone. I still don't understand why GC can't transfer and store the ride locally on the phone until a good internet connection is available. I don't care if my ride doesn't instantly sync to Strava, but I do not want to wander around a campground trying to find 3+ bars of service just to get my ride off of the Edge so I can shut it down for the night...
I just wanted to add a positive user experience to the normally less than positive posts. Not everyone is unhappy with their 1040s contrary to what one would think by most of the threads in this forum.
