Why a Garmin Edge?

All I'm saying is that I know why I've enjoyed these devices in the past and this change takes that away.  Smart phones seem to do be able to do everything a Garmin Edge does, and better, and cheaper.  I thought there must be some reason Edges still exist, but now I'm not so sure.  It seems to me that their "killer feature" was to be able to operate independently, but now that they've lost that, they may really be obsolete.

Apologies, but I would call preserving privacy and being a "TNO" device a killer feature.  Killer or not, it seems to be the only truly unique feature the Edges had going.  Why did Garmin drop it?  I've looked around some and haven't seen a PR explanation.

I would call it a new change.  I'm not sure when they stopped posting the firmware, but I last checked for and downloaded firmware last Jan.  I'm not sure when they pulled the files but "years old" would be a max of 1.5 years.

The “killer feature” thing is nonsense.

Pretty much, no one cares about it and people are still buying them.

Also, that you don’t care about the much-worse privacy issues with smart phones is kind of hypocritical and weird. 

This thread isn't about me and I think you may be inferring things about me which are not true.

I've just asked why users of Garmin Edges choose them over smart phones with cycling computer apps.

I haven't committed to doing or not doing anything myself and I certainly haven't said that I "don't care about the much-worse privacy issues with smart phones".

Edge 530, perfect size and durability for mtb, dedicated functions.  I can't imagine using a phone instead of a bike computer for my purposes.  Also, part of the dedicated functions is the Garmin remote, I can page through and look at different screens without removing my hand from the handlebar.  Very important for mtb.

The Edge is not cheap, but much cheaper than wrecking a phone if the worst should happen.

There we go!  Phone mounts that can take the impacts of mountain biking are probably  somewhere between hard to find and non-existent.  And there's a Garmin Remote accessory I've never seen before.  I have seen a cool little Bluetooth media control cluster attached to a handlebar and used on Zwift to give some buttons on the handlebar, but that's going to be a different beast.  Would take quite a special app to use something like that for the things a Garmin Remote can do. 

It would be interesting to use a phone instead of bike computer but what Android app can solve all sensors like power, di2, cadence, speed, hr when the phone doesn´t have ANT+? 
I guess BT will have issues when more than 2 devices is connected.

TBH, I've never researched a cycling computer app.  I saw some around man years ago and figure there should be several pretty good ones out there by now.

As for how many Bluetooth devices can connect at once, sheesh, I've had so many problems with just a single device being both paired and connected, but I'm probably remembering old problems with Windows XP and different Bluetooth stacks I wrestled with forever ago.  Seems like I remember 7 as being a key number for number of BT connections, but I'm not sure which versions of BT that's for and I'll just bet that lots of phones can't manage to hit the spec consistently whatever it is.

Heck, I've even had sensor drop out problems with an ANT+ receiver sitting about a foot from a Wahoo Kickr smart trainer.  My experience is that all the wireless stuff works fine almost all the time but occasionally just doesn't and troubleshooting it's near impossible.  Still, there are so many people using this stuff more and more so surely the bugs will all be worked out someday.

Steve said:

TBH, I've never researched a cycling computer app.

Steve, get a life and stop this totally useless yes-no pingpong 'discussion'