1040 five times faster or is it the 1040 users?

1030 plus was a very small update and all development and issues were dealt with in the 1030 thread pretty much. 1040 is a real new generation of device with significant software changes. If you want to compare, compare 1030 (Not the Plus) to the 1040.

I have been through the Edge 510, 1000, 1030 and now I have the 1040.

For me the 1040 is the first Garmin I've used that isn't a mess with firmware instability and bugs. Every once in a while my 1040 loses the connection with my SRAM AXS system, but it reconnects pretty quickly. Otherwise, it has worked really pretty well. It has installed the latest firmware update since my last ride so here's hoping it remains stable for me.

Most probably you were late to the party. The firmware at product launch was super buggy...

That’s because I’m of right mind and don’t buy Garmin Edge computers at launch. I require compensation to be an alpha/beta software tester. 

if you're late to the party, yea everything is great! and the 1030 is also very good after numerous bug fixes... so I don't understand why 1040 is the first Garmin that isn't a mess with firmware instability and bugs.

I guess whether you understand my observation of it or not is immaterial. I have ridden 55,000+ miles on these devices in the last 9.5 years. When I say the 1040 is more stable than all the others for me I have pretty good idea of whether that is or isn’t true for how I configure and use them. I now have nearly 900 miles on the 1040 so if I observe that’s it’s far less buggy than the others for me than I think that’s a reasonable indicator of what’s true for me. When I stopped using my 1030 it still had a lot of buggy issues, especially with respect to ANT+ connectivity problems, and I was on the latest firmware with it. The 1040 just hasn’t been an issue, and works surprisingly well for me. I ride 6000 miles/year so I am pretty aware of what works and what doesn’t.

In my opinion the 1030 is still a buggy mess.

I’m with you and I’ve had the 1040 from the very start. I’ve had 800, 1000, 1030 and now 1040. The 1040 is way ahead in so many ways. The main reason I jumped straight onto the 1040 was that the 1030 even after a few years was still a pain with lock ups and other issues (and the broken tabs - dog ears - issue).  Even the other day I turned on the 1030 to see it reboot itself and the battery to have discharged all by itself).  The 1000 is ok but had the crappy power button, but lacks many good features of 1030 and 1040.  The 800 was ok but battery life not great and the screen not so good. Also lacked a lot of the great features of the 1040.

Overall even having a 1040 from pretty much day 1 I’m very pleased with it.