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First Ride

Senior Vagabond
over 4 years ago

When on my first ride today with Garmin 830 (and RTL 515). Coming from a long time Edge 800 user I am still trying to figure out some of the nuances and differences other than the obvious.

Can anyone tell me what the colored (green and red/yellow) box outlines are for when you start/stop the timer? 

 Timer Start Mode - How does Prompted work? Do I get a message to manually start once I reach 6mph?  That being the case what is the Manual setting then? 

I rode for just over 2 hrs. with Varia light/radar running as well. I did have the backlight up to about 90% due to current ambient sunlight. I started with full 100% charged battery. At end of ride my battery level was only 56%. I was not connected to any other apps other than Varia. Is this huge battery drain normal? My Edge 800 with max screen brightness would maybe only drop about 15% after 2 hours. 

My biggest concern is the total lack of volume with beep notification. I have already posted this concern before I even took a ride based on other users' comments on multiple forums but did not realize how bad it would be. Once I got to speeds around 10-12mph forget about hearing the notifications (mainly from Varia radar being sent as cars approached). I have the 830 mounted as close to me as possible on top of the bar but still very weak compared to my 800. Is this as good as it will get? 

I think I will really like this upgrade as soon as I have everything figured out but time will tell. Appreciate any comments and recommendations. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Wongataa

    Ok I retested the battery level again today in a very controlled setting. I turned it on with the level reading 97% and left it on my desk for 1 hour without anything running except it did connect to my phone. Although I was not connected to any sensors I noticed the device was searching for them. After one hour the battery level was 84%, a drop of 13%. Again this was just sitting on my desk, so better than I stated before but still seems a little high when it is not doing anything?????

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Senior Vagabond

    IDK how much different the power consumption is when stationary compared to riding.  The BT tx and rx are running, the ANT+ rx is running, gps rx is running, and it's continually calculating position, if not writing it to memory.  The display is on, though IDK how much rewriting to it goes on.  The wifi rx probably goes on periodically to check if wifi is available.  Anyway, power consumption wise, it's doing most of what it does if you were riding.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Senior Vagabond

    I'll perform the same test to see what I get.  Did you start an activity for this test?  Or just turn the 830 on and leave it?  (Mine automatically goes to sleep after a while if I leave it on without doing anything.)

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to lytleric

    My test was basically how looigi described it. I did not have auto sleep turned on and Backlight was on Auto. It was just sitting on the desk and performing the functions that are normal after power on without taking a ride. 

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Senior Vagabond

    Ok, here's what I've got.  I charged my 830 to 100%, then pulled it from the charger and left it on my desk, turned on, auto sleep off, auto brightness on.  After one hour, I have 90% battery remaining.  For the first 40 minutes or so, it was on the windowsill until I picked up to check on it.  At that point it was at 93%.  I then moved it onto my desk, where it wasn't in direct sunlight.  My guess is that while it was on the windowsill, the brightness was on full bright, and when I moved it off the windowsill, it lowered the brightness.

    So I suppose a 13% drop after one hour is not out of the realm of possibility, depending on how bright the ambient lighting is at your desk (and therefore how much the auto brightness turns up the screen brightness level).

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to lytleric

    In full sunlight the backlight won't be on at all.  It isn't like a phone where you need a bright backlight to see the screen in bright conditions.  The backlight will come on in darker conditions with auto brightness on.

    These head units have a display more like a digital watch - they are designed to be able to visible with no backlight and only require one in darker conditions when there isn't enough light to reflect off the back of the display to clearly see what is on the display.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to Wongataa

    That's not true, at least in my case.  On my 830, with autobrightness turned on, the screen will be at full brightness in sunlight.  When I move it out of the sunlight, the backlight brightness dims. The only time the backlight will turn off is when the backlight timer shuts it off (if set to a time--mine is set to "always on").  In full sunlight, the backlight is definitely on.  Whether or not it needs to be on to see the screen is a different question.

  • 0 over 4 years ago in reply to lytleric

    Good news, at least for me. I rode 2.5 hours w/o course navigation but speed/cadence and radar/light sensors activated along with normal smartphone and GPS connectivity. I had the backlight turned on Auto. Battery level only dropped 13% (97% to 84%). I was in both direct sunlight and shaded areas as well. Hopeful to ride longer tomorrow with all sensor and course nav I have. I will see how well it holds up at my max connectivity. My guess is about 60%