General usability of Edge 830 - especially Strava segments

samburrows
2 months ago

I cant find any recent post on this, all are from 3+ years ago.  I have just moved from Wahoo Bolt to Edge 830 Solar.  I was very excited.  This has been short lived.  The Garmin IS SO COMPLICATED TO USE.  Trying to find how to do anything just ends in a depressing spiral through forums and unhelpful guide books.  Things i find challenging with the Edge 830 currently:

1 - Maps for MTB.  The default map is awful for mountiain biking.  Offroad trails appear as a thin black line at best most the time.  Wahoo show everything offroad super clear and its so easy to navigate.  I am so far having real issues using the Edge for mountain navigation.

2 - Trailforks for MTB.  To say this is not user friendly is an understatement.  After several days I still cant work out if i can ride, WITHOUT A ROUTE, and use the trailforks map to navigate as I believe this would show the detail i want.  Does anyone know?  Everything i have seen, albeit from years ago says you need a route imported.  

3 - Strava segments - This is my biggest issue.  100 starred segments only on the device, What? Why?  Everyone has way more than this starred.  TO get them onto your device seems ridiculously complicated.  From what I have been able to figure out, i need to go into Strava and segment by segment, unstar and star it.  This is insane.  It is the worst process ever.  I am yet to go on a ride and even have one pop up.  My Forerunner watch displays them with no issues, but the edge not so.

4 - UI.  So complicated.  I get lost trying to change screens, find a profile i want, Climb Pro is all over the place, etc etc

5 - I could go on but will leave it for now as its too depressing...

If anyone can help with any of the above, or if you can confirm I made the wrong move and should have upgraded to another Wahoo, much appreciated.

  • 0 2 months ago

    1. There are some different map colour schemes.  Try them and see if they are any better.  You can download Garmin compatible maps form other sources with different colour schemes.  If you really want to you can create your own maps so you have full control on how they look (you can't do this with a Wahoo unit).

    2.  No idea as I have never use Trailforks.

    3. Everyone has more than 100 Strava segments starred?  I have precisely 0 starred.  If segments is turned on in your Garmin and you are not navigating a route they will pop up as you approach.  If you are navigating a route you will need to create the route in Strava and sync it across to have the segments pop up mid route.

    4. As with any UI the more you use it the more you remember where everything is.  Profiles are selected by swiping right/left on the profile name on the home screen.  Data pages are changed by swiping left/right. To see the data pages you tap on the profile you want.

  • 0 2 months ago in reply to Wongataa

    Thanks for the reply. 
    1- the colour scheme is not the issue. It’s the fact that a path/trail on the garmin map is a very thin and hard to see black line, or not on there at all. It’s extremely difficult to use off road. I don’t feel I should have to go in forums and learn how to import maps (complicated) to get full value from a £400 purchase. 
    2- fair enough. 
    3- missing the point here. Segments should just sync, and  it should be more than 100. They don’t just sync. It’s another labour intensive process of staring and unstaring them in Strava. It’s complicated and a poor UX. Wahoo did not make me do this. As I said this far on three rides non have popped up on trails I ride constantly and have segments saved on. Poor. 
    4- yes I understand this will become more intuitive the more I use it. But again compared to the very simple and effective wahoo UI, this is a total nightmare on the Garmin. It is not user friendly and quick to pick up.