The 130 has been a great device with just a few idiosyncrasies, but planning an out of state MTB trip soon, so I wanted the trail mapping. I've been hesitant to buy with the reported sensor drops, but they just went on sale again for $250 so I went for it. Initial impressions and some questions:
- Buttons in different places made the first three hours of ownership a nightmare while setting up! Two inadvertent LiveTrack notifications sent. Lol...
- Unit initialized and set up the basics just fine (internet, BT connection, software and map updates, etc.). Automatically updated FW from 8.XX to 9.10.
- Thankfully I'm already initiated in the Garmin ecosystem. I think I invested over 4 hours just in getting my screens set up as desired. I made a spreadsheet that listed all my 130 screens as a block diagram, using cells to indicate what I have and where it is for each screen. That helped tremendously. I didn't want touchscreen for mtb use, but it sure would have made set-up easier! Thousands of button pushes later...
- First ride last night. 19 miles, 2500 ft. of climbing on a familiar loop, so definitely some time to get to know.
- No sensor drops that I noticed. Using Remote, Wheels Speed, and HRM2.
- Ran navigation and followed a course even though I know the route very well. Allows some eye candy of seeing climbs approach and allowed me to experience different functions.
- Forksight?: Is this what makes a more zoomed out map appear at every stop? I can see the potential benefit if riding somewhere unknown. It puts you directly into the mode of being able to zoom and pan the map. But, not needing for a familiar route, it just gets in the way. I've turned it off for normal local rides, but could be helpful navigating unfamiliar trails.
- It even knows trail names as if they were street names. Impressive. Map was quite good for my known trail system.
- Tones!: I don't see an option for tones only for text alerts/phone calls! My 130 would still have a tone for text and phone calls even with "Tones Off". I think it's a bug, but I actually like that mode. With tones on, I was getting a beep for every bend in the trail. I go riding to get away from society. I don't want to hear constant beeping. But for the few texts or calls I get, I don't want to miss an emergency from a family member. Can tones be turned on just for text alerts and calls?
- Text alerts: Can only see the first few words if you miss the incoming initially? This is how my 130 is. Is there anyway to select the text and see the entire message if you missed when it came in? It's not always convenient to catch a text while mtb. I suppose it's the top right "Select" button I need to catch it? Can a button on the remote do that function?
- Climb Pro: Interesting, but popping up on its own is annoying. I think I've successfully turned off the pop-up feature, but hopefully I can still manually page to it if desired. I left the "Grade" as one of the data fields, and it was surprisingly responsive and seemed correct.
- BEST CIQ App: "My Edge2" It puts an analog speedometer and a bunch of other configurable data all on one screen. Highly recommended. For devices that can't use this more advanced version, use "My Edge", which worked fabulous even on my little 130. Hardly need any other screens with this app! Almost everything I need is on one screen.
- A note about sensor drops... I'm still curious if someone with the issue has tried turning off "Auto Pause". It shouldn't matter, but worth a try. I personally don't see the point of auto pause, GC still provides both overall and moving average with auto pause turned off. Strava still reports my average speed as the moving speed, not overall. So turning on auto pause only affects what you see as you ride, it doesn't change what gets shown on GC or Srava.
- I deliberately bought my unit directly from Garmin. With the sensor drop issues and some reports of altimeter problems, I wanted the newest build I could get my hands on. Best wishes for those having issues, I can only imagine the frustration.