Does Edge 540 Have Any Significant Firmware Bugs?

D00M

Is there any firmware or bugs on Edge 540 that limits its usage significantly? 

I went thru this forum for the past year. Seems the biggest issue is the climb/grade accuracy.  Is this still a problem? 

Are there any other key issues?

My take on Garmin products are: good hardware, awful firmware support, overpriced at MSRP, only buy at discount.

I have owned 2 Garmin watches: Vivoactive 4 and Epix (Gen 2).  I had HR bug on my Epix (Gen 2) occurred in February 2024 and never fixed.  I swore I will not buy another Garmin product.

But here I am.  I am debating between buying Edge 540 or cheap Chinese bike computer.  540 costs more, and should be more polished than alternatives.  But I'm also concerned with firmware bugs that might cripple daily usage of device.

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    Now if we were to be honest, there will always be some small problems, but for me there are some small issues more related to the interface than to the functionality. I upgraded after about 5 years from 530 (no problems at all) and I can say that I am quite satisfied. And let's not forget also, that with the device itself you have also access to Garmin Connect web interface with all other functionality which you probably don't have with some unknown small device. 

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    D00M said:
    Seems the biggest issue is the climb/grade accuracy

    Unfortunately I don't care about this function...

    What I can say that I like a lot compared to the 530 is the speed of connecting to satellites and the battery. 

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    Why limit yourself to a cheap chinese bike computer only. Have you considered brands like Wahoo and their prior generation like the Roam V2 which could be on special in same price range?

    Your preferences and experiences may vary but 

    - i bought the edge 540 to replace my old wahoo bolt v1 (which replaced an even older edge 500 (oh those were the days)). I liked the spec'd battery life of the edge 540 as the primary reason

    - got frustrated at the UI, bloated features i didn't like and missing features i thought pretty standard after the wahoo. Also couldn't understand the lack of light sensor that actually reacted to shifts in lighting (i.e. dark tunnels etc).

    - bought a Wahoo Roam V2 and the edge 540 largely collected dust from there on...

    Maybe the best way to describe my experience with the edge 540.

    - I've posted on garmin's forums hoping for guidance or awareness of features that to me seemed common sense to have. (still here occasionally checking if those features are added yet)

    - i never even joined or posted on any wahoo forum as i've never felt the need too. 

    - on my bike packing trips where i'm cycling for multiple days, I take the Roam V2. 

    Your millage may vary but above is my experience. 

    For what it's worth the current new generation of bike computers this size (even those from Wahoo) don't look compelling enough to upgrade, I'm going to wait for the next gen before upgrading

  • 0 in reply to DavidC82

    This is my take.  At $30-$60, I suspect cheap Chinese bike computers work, but not well.  All depends if issue is more inconvenience versus functional problem.  For my needs, I suspect these models are sufficient.  And at these prices, I can overlook minor issues.

    Garmin, Wahoo, Hammerhead are around 5-10x the price.  For these prices, I expect perfection.  Well, bugs do occur; I get that.  But at least address bugs.  My experience was that Garmin introduced firmware bugs on fitness watch.  And just let it sit for 2+ years and ignore it.  That is not acceptable for my expectation. 

    I don't have experience with Wahoo or Hammerhead.

    I'm still on the fence.  On some days, I am thinking that I won't buy another Garmin device.  On other days, I'm debating to buy Edge 540 on discount ($250).