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Owners--would you buy an 830 again?

syncro87
over 5 years ago

Just before BCBS cut the Edge units from their discount program, I managed to snag one for 35% off.

The deal seemed too good to pass up, and although I own a dead reliable Fenix 1 and Cyclo 505, those units are pretty old and I justified upgrading due to the discount price on an 830.

I worked all weekend, so my unit is sitting on my stairs in a box, unopened.  Now that I have some free time, I've been perusing forums and Reddit, and have noticed a pretty significant amount of seeming dissatisfaction with the 830.  Seem to be a lot of complaints / issues / bugs.

Now, part of this may be the internet syndrome where things look worse than reality because the vocally unhappy people can be over represented on forums.  On the other hand, maybe the units really are unacceptably buggy.

So, I have the option of opening my package and dealing with any issues that come along, or returning the 830 to Garmin and either sticking with my outdated but reliable gear.

What say you, 830 folks?  Are things that bad in 830 Land, or at this point in time are the bugs getting ironed out and most owners happy that they bought the thing?


In other words, knowing what you know now, would you purchase again, or go in another direction?

Thanks.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to lytleric

    I wasn't implying that it just works, works, works...

    I don't use it for mountain biking.  And I am not even sure what autozoom while navigating means.  I use it for road cycling and navigating downloaded RideWithGPS type routes.  For navigation, I use the main stats screens with the turn by turn popups, not the map directly.  I've done rides up to 140km without any lockups.  But I don't use climb pro, forksight, live track or any of that.

    I found climb pro interesting but it was showing climbs when I had 2% grades and just got in the way.  I didn't bother trying to configure it and just disabled it.

    The TBT seems to work better than my 800 which would often miss TBT cues.  The 830 seldom misses them on the same routes.   There's still an issue with starting routes with the same start/end location but it's somewhat better than the 800.

    So my use case is pretty basic.  Some of the prompts are a bit confusing but I am getting used to them.  

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to DuaneHebert

    So I was the one that said it works, works, works.  But I should have clarified that it is for my use cases, which are greatly improved over the 520.  I'm similar to DuaneHebert, except I do use ClimbPro (following what was posted here).  I like the ClimbPro for what is left in the climb, although I wished it would apply even when navigation is turned off.  

    I use the 830 for Road, with navigation based on routes I create in Strava.  For navigation I have the turn by turn popups, use the map screen and zoom as I need as I go.  My 830 is integrated with my Di2, so I am able to navigate quickly between screens (way faster than the 520) through my hoods.  I ride roughly 3-4 times a week anywhere from 35km to 160km (1hr to 5hrs).  Longest ride with the 830 was 265km with navigation and lots of screen flipping, which was 8.5hrs of ride time and about 9.5hrs of elapse time with breaks and stops.  I have not had a freeze yet.  Battery life was fantastic on the 265km ride.  I meant to record it but didn't.  I just remember thinking I could do another couple of rides before needing to charge.

    When I ride, I have the following sensors connected:  Di2, Speed Sensor 2, HRM TRI, Rotor 2INpower, Varia.  Everything connects promptly, and the Varia controls are greatly improved.  I like that when I hit the stop button the light is automatically put into sleep mode to conserve battery.  Screen size is great, touchscreen is responsive and changing data screens is quick and easy.  The additional A-B layouts are a welcome feature as well.

    In terms of BT connection, I don't leave GC open on my phone (to conserve battery) when I ride.  So the phone is shown as disconnected.  However, the phone still holds a 2nd BT connection to the 830, as all text and alerts come through to my 830.  I only need GC open briefly to get the Strava IQ opened and the route downloaded.  When I checked my iPhone originally, I noticed that I have 2 x 830 connections.  I thought it was weird and deleted one originally.  This caused GC to not connect, so I deleted both and re-paired.  Garmin added back in the 2 830 BT connections and I just left them.  Maybe this is why I don't have BT issues?

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to ic3cold

    I have a strong feeling that deleting the second BT connection messes up. it did for me but i didnt realize until i read your message. I had to format and redo the pairing for it to work and now i have two 830's in my bluetooth settings. I think Garmin should have better documentation about it. if it did, we would have seen it already considering how many people had BT issues.

  • 0 over 5 years ago in reply to 5056419

    Should I post the 2 x Edge 830 BT connection somewhere for more feedback / consideration?

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    100% yes. It is just perfect - no issues, no shutdowns, no errors. In short, way better than my Elemnt Bolt

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I certainly would, there are some issues like wonky routing in the UK and the constant bluetooth quirks but nothing that annoys me enough to switch device. I love the new features, the faster performance and the long battery life. best garmin I ever owned.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    No, purely as the workout screen is just rubbish. The Bolt beats the 830 with this feature hands down.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I really wouldn't- I had issues with GPS tracking ("lost satellites") on the Edge 830 devices, which resulted in pretty horrible GPS tracking. I asked for a refund as using the device for navigation purposes was near impossible.

    Great little device otherwise, such a shame that this still hasn't been fixed....

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    Yes. Own an edge 25 and 1030 as well, having owned edge 800 and 820 too.

  • 0 over 5 years ago

    I would. It works a lot smoother than the Edge 1000 that it replaced, and the battery life is awesome. I've used it to track up to a 1200k ride, and it handled that. Certainly a lot better than Strava did after I was done.