Browsing the Garmin web site and I noticed the 1040 (non-solar) is no longer listed as available, 1050, 1040 Solar, various 540/840 but no standard 1040? Tried a couple of regional web sites and same story?
Browsing the Garmin web site and I noticed the 1040 (non-solar) is no longer listed as available, 1050, 1040 Solar, various 540/840 but no standard 1040? Tried a couple of regional web sites and same story?
I had wondered why all my local bike shops had heavy discounts on the 1040, Garmin-Blake or others does this mean the 1040 is "past it"? There is a huge pile of pending changes in the 23.x/24.x betas but is Garmin now not actively promoting / selling the little more than 2 year old 1040
I figure that with the 1050 released with all the 1040 functionality and more, the differentiating factor between 1040 and 1050 is battery life / endurance. Garmin have already said they will keep marketing the 1040 to endurance riders and backpackers.
To limit the number of SKUs, Garmin probably decided to only keep offering the model with the best endurance, which is the 1040 Solar. While this is bad news for people still wanting to buy the non-solar 1040, it does mean people that already own 1040 (Solar of regular) units will keep support for the time being. I also expect 1040 Solar models to come down in price, since the 1050 will probably be the preferred model for most riders. This means you might be able to buy a 1040 Solar for the price of a regular 1040 soon. Depending on your priorities, this might be a positive (slight battery life increase compared to regular 1040) or negative (slightly dimmer display) thing.
While this is bad news for people still wanting to buy the non-solar 1040, it does mean people that already own 1040 (Solar) units will keep support for the time being
On that,
1040 and 1040 Solar use the same firmware. If 1040 solar gets an update, 1040 NON solar will get it also. So as garmin said that they will continue supporting the 1040 series, that goes for both models. Not only one.
Solar has its only benefit of the Slightly extended battery life that its not even noticeable on a on rides that are under 5h but on the flip side it has a dimmer display because of the solar layer.
Other than that, only visual difference on the body(except the screen) its White side body(non solar) vs Black side body (solar)
On that,
1040 and 1040 Solar use the same firmware. If 1040 solar gets an update, 1040 NON solar will get it also. So as garmin said that they will continue supporting the 1040 series, that goes for both models. Not only one.
That's what I meant when I wrote '1040 (Solar)' instead of '1040 Solar', but I'll edit the wording to take away the confusion.
By the way, there are more differences between Solar and non-Solar versions, being the included bumper case and MTB mount, and the additional storage memory (64 vs. 32 GB). Those might be useful or not, depending on usage.